Podoconiosis in East and West Gojam Zones, Northern Ethiopia

Background: Podoconiosis is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) that is prevalent in red clay soil-covered highlands of tropical Africa, Central and South America, and northern India. It is estimated that up to one million cases exist in Ethiopia. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of podoconiosis in East and West Gojam Zones of Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia. Methodology/Principal Findings: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in Debre Eliyas and Dembecha woredas (districts) in East and West Gojam Zones, respectively. The survey covered all 17,553 households in 20 kebeles (administrative subunits) randomly selected from the two woredas. A detailed structured interview was conducted on 1,704 cases of podoconiosis identified in the survey. Results: The prevalence of podoconiosis in the population aged 15 years and above was found to be 3.3% (95% CI, 3.2% to 3.6%). 87% of cases were in the economically active age group (15–64 years). On average, patients sought treatment five years after the start of the leg swelling. Most subjects had second (42.7%) or third (36.1%) clinical stage disease, 97.9% had mossy lesions, and 53% had open wounds. On average, patients had five episodes of acute adenolymphangitis (ALA) per year and spent a total of 90 days per year with ALA. The median age of first use of shoes and socks were 22 and 23 years, respectively. More men than women owned more than one pair of shoes (61.1% vs. 50.5%; x2 = 11.6 p = 0.001). At the time of interview, 23.6% of the respondents were barefoot, of whom about two-thirds were women. Conclusions: This study showed high prevalence of podoconiosis and associated morbidities such as ALA, mossy lesions and open wounds in northern Ethiopia. Predominance of cases at early clinical stage of podoconiosis indicates the potential for reversing the swelling and calls for disease prevention interventions

Early life diarrhoea and later blood pressure in a developing country: the 1982 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort study

Background: It has recently been hypothesised that acute dehydration in early childhood may "programme'' increased blood pressure via salt retention. We examined whether there was an association between episodes of diarrhoea (a proxy for acute dehydration) and later measured blood pressure.Methods: In the 1982 Pelotas birth cohort study (Brazil), parents/carers reported hospital admissions for diarrhoea in the first 12 and 20 months of study members' lives. Blood pressure was subsequently measured directly in adolescence (aged 15, 18, 19 years) and early adulthood (aged 23 years).Results: We found no evidence of an association between diarrhoea in the first 12 months of life and blood pressure measured at any point in adolescence or early adulthood. These findings were unchanged after adjustment for a range of covariates. Equally null results were apparent when diarrhoea admissions in the first 20 months of life, access to home sanitation and use of piped water were the exposures of interest.Conclusions: Early life proxies for dehydration and diarrhoea were unrelated to later blood pressure in this examination, the most comprehensive to date, of the potential association

Synchronous oceanic spreading and continental rifting in West Antarctica

Magnetic anomalies associated with new ocean crust formation in the Adare Basin off north-western Ross Sea (43 – 26 Ma) can be traced directly into the Northern Basin that underlies the adjacent morphological continental shelf, implying a continuity in the emplacement of oceanic crust. Steep gravity gradients along the margins of the Northern Basin, particularly in the east, suggest that little extension and thinning of continental crust occurred before it ruptured and the new oceanic crust formed, unlike most other continental rifts and the Victoria Land Basin further south. A pre-existing weak crust and localisation of strain by strike slip faulting are proposed as the factors allowing the rapid rupture of continental crust

Unique Continuation for Schr\"odinger Evolutions, with applications to profiles of concentration and traveling waves

We prove unique continuation properties for solutions of the evolution Schr\"odinger equation with time dependent potentials. As an application of our method we also obtain results concerning the possible concentration profiles of blow up solutions and the possible profiles of the traveling waves solutions of semi-linear Schr\"odinger equations.Comment: 23 page

Spatial distribution of podoconiosis in relation to environmental factors in Ethiopia: a historical review

BACKGROUND An up-to-date and reliable map of podoconiosis is needed to design geographically targeted and cost-effective intervention in Ethiopia. Identifying the ecological correlates of the distribution of podoconiosis is the first step for distribution and risk maps. The objective of this study was to investigate the spatial distribution and ecological correlates of podoconiosis using historical and contemporary survey data. METHODS Data on the observed prevalence of podoconiosis were abstracted from published and unpublished literature into a standardized database, according to strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. In total, 10 studies conducted between 1969 and 2012 were included, and data were available for 401,674 individuals older than 15 years of age from 229 locations. A range of high resolution environmental factors were investigated to determine their association with podoconiosis prevalence, using logistic regression. RESULTS The prevalence of podoconiosis in Ethiopia was estimated at 3.4% (95% CI 3.3%-3.4%) with marked regional variation. We identified significant associations between mean annual Land Surface Temperature (LST), mean annual precipitation, topography of the land and fine soil texture and high prevalence of podoconiosis. The derived maps indicate both widespread occurrence of podoconiosis and a marked variability in prevalence of podoconiosis, with prevalence typically highest at altitudes >1500 m above sea level (masl), with >1500 mm annual rainfall and mean annual LST of 19-21°C. No (or very little) podoconiosis occurred at altitudes 24°C. CONCLUSION Podoconiosis remains a public health problem in Ethiopia over considerable areas of the country, but exhibits marked geographical variation associated in part with key environmental factors. This is work in progress and the results presented here will be refined in future work

Could we find any signal of the stratosphere-ionosphere coupling in Antarctica?

An investigation searching for a possible coupling between the lower ionosphere and the middle atmosphere in Antarctica is here performed on the basis of stratospheric vertical temperature profiles and ionospheric absorption data observed at the Antarctic Italian Base of Terra Nova Bay (74.69S, 164.12E) during local summer time. The result obtained by applying a multi-regression analysis and a Superimposed Epoch Analysis (SEA) shows a statistically significant ionosphere-stratosphere interaction. In particular, by selecting stratospheric temperature maxima occurring at different heights as the referring epoch for the SEA approach, the ionospheric absorption is found to show a positive and/or negative trend (several days) around it. The tendency for an increasing/decreasing absorption is obtained for temperature maxima occurring below/above the stratospheric level of about 17-19 km, respectively

Diabetes status and post-load plasma glucose concentration in relation to site-specific cancer mortality: findings from the original Whitehall study

ObjectiveWhile several studies have reported on the relation of diabetes status with pancreatic cancer risk, the predictive value of this disorder for other malignancies is unclear. Methods: The Whitehall study, a 25year follow-up for mortality experience of 18,006 men with data on post-challenge blood glucose and self-reported diabetes, allowed us to address these issues. Results: There were 2158 cancer deaths at follow-up. Of the 15 cancer outcomes, diabetes status was positively associated with mortality from carcinoma of the pancreas and liver, while the relationship with lung cancer was inverse, after controlling for a range of potential covariates and mediators which included obesity and socioeconomic position. After excluding deaths occurring in the first 10years of follow-up to examine the effect of reverse causality, the magnitude of the relationships for carcinoma of the pancreas and lung was little altered, while for liver cancer it was markedly attenuated. Conclusions: In the present study, diabetes status was related to pancreatic, liver, and lung cancer risk. Cohorts with serially collected data on blood glucose and covariates are required to further examine this area

Height and risk of death among men and women: aetiological implications of associations with cardiorespiratory disease and cancer mortality

OBJECTIVES: Height is inversely associated with cardiovascular disease mortality risk and has shown variable associations with cancer incidence and mortality. The interpretation of findings from previous studies has been constrained by data limitations. Associations between height and specific causes of death were investigated in a large general population cohort of men and women from the West of Scotland. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Renfrew and Paisley, in the West of Scotland. SUBJECTS: 7052 men and 8354 women aged 45-64 were recruited into a study in Renfrew and Paisley, in the West of Scotland, between 1972 and 1976. Detailed assessments of cardiovascular disease risk factors, morbidity and socioeconomic circumstances were made at baseline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Deaths during 20 years of follow up classified into specific causes. RESULTS: Over the follow up period 3347 men and 2638 women died. Height is inversely associated with all cause, coronary heart disease, stroke, and respiratory disease mortality among men and women. Adjustment for socioeconomic position and cardiovascular risk factors had little influence on these associations. Height is strongly associated with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and adjustment for FEV1 considerably attenuated the association between height and cardiorespiratory mortality. Smoking related cancer mortality is not associated with height. The risk of deaths from cancer unrelated to smoking tended to increase with height, particularly for haematopoietic, colorectal and prostate cancers. Stomach cancer mortality was inversely associated with height. Adjustment for socioeconomic position had little influence on these associations. CONCLUSION: Height serves partly as an indicator of socioeconomic circumstances and nutritional status in childhood and this may underlie the inverse associations between height and adulthood cardiorespiratory mortality. Much of the association between height and cardiorespiratory mortality was accounted for by lung function, which is also partly determined by exposures acting in childhood. The inverse association between height and stomach cancer mortality probably reflects Helicobacter pylori infection in childhood resulting inor being associated withshorter height. The positive associations between height and several cancers unrelated to smoking could reflect the influence of calorie intake during childhood on the risk of these cancers