Effectiveness and Cost of Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets and Indoor Residual Spraying for the Control of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: A Cluster-Randomized Control Trial in Morocco.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) remains an important public health problem in Morocco. A cluster-randomized trial was conducted with the following three study arms: 1) long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) plus standard of care environmental management (SoC-EM), 2) indoor residual spraying (IRS) with α-cypermethrin plus SoC-EM, and 3) SoC-EM alone. Incidence of new CL cases by passive and active case detection, sandfly abundance, and cost and cost-effectiveness was compared between study arms over 5 years. Incidence of CL and sandfly abundance were significantly lower in the IRS arm compared with SoC-EM (CL incidence rate ratio = 0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.15-0.69, P = 0.005 and sandfly abundance ratio = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.18-0.85, P = 0.022). Reductions in the LLIN arm of the study were not significant, possibly due to poor compliance. IRS was effective and more cost-effective for the prevention of CL in Morocco

New Ethylenediamine Crosslinked 2D-Cellulose Adsorbent for Nanoencapsulation Removal of Pb (II) and Cu (II) Heavy Metal Ions: Synthesis, Characterization Application, and RSM-Modeling

The main objective of the present work is to elaborate on a new eco-friendly and efficient adsorbent designated for aquatic micropollutants removal. However, the synthesis of the Ethylenediamine Crosslinked 2D-Cellulose green adsorbent was carried out successfully, by partial grafting of benzyl entities onto hydroxyl groups of HEC, and crosslinking with ethylenediamine ED. Further, the new ethylenediamine crosslinked 2D-Cellulose was used as a biosorbent for nanoencapsulation removal of copper and lead heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. The proposal chemical structures of unmodified and modified materials were confirmed using FTIR, XRD, TGA, and SEM–EDX analysis. Furthermore, many parameters of the optimization for Pb (II) and Cu (II) in terms of removal efficiency including pH, adsorbent amount, and contact time were optimized by response surface methodology with a Box–Behnken design. Based on the desirability optimization with three factors, the maximal removal was 99.52% and 97.5% for Pb(II) and Cu(II), respectively and was obtained at pH = 5.94, 22.2 mg as the optimal adsorbent amount, and 21.53 min as contact time

Semidiscretization for a Doubly Nonlinear Parabolic Equation Related to the p(x)-Laplacian

This paper studies a time discretization for a doubly nonlinear parabolic equation related to the p(x)-Laplacian by using Euler-forward scheme. We investigate existence, uniqueness, and stability questions and prove existence of the global compact attractor

Epidemiological study on acute cutaneous leishmaniasis in Morocco

Objective: To describe and compare the epidemiological features of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) caused by Leishmania tropica, and zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) due to Leishmania major in Morocco. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of ZCL and ACL cases reported during the last ten years in Morocco (2004–2013). Epidemiological data were analyzed by using Pearson's correlation method as well as Tukey test and digital maps were produced for incidence repartition calculated by using ArcMap GIS version 10. Results: A total of 41656 cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis were notified between 2004 and 2013 in Morocco. The mean incidence was 139 cases/100000 population/10 years and it was significantly higher in 2010. In the spatial context, ACL form was the most common in Morocco, while ZCL was the most important in terms of the number of reported cases. For both forms, the highest incidence occurred in females and children (0–14 years). When analyzed according to the number of cases in each province, Errachidia (8728 cases) and Azilal (3523 cases) were the most affected by ZCL and ACL, respectively, while the highest incidence was noted in Zagora (231 cases/100000 population/10 years) and in Chichaoua (97 cases/100000 population/10 years), for ZCL and ACL, respectively. Maps of incidence repartition were performed to identify the risk area of ZCL and ACL. Conclusions: ZCL and ACL are still major health problems in Morocco. We highlight the spatiotemporal change of cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence through the country during the last ten years and we underline the correlation between ZCL incidence and the percentage of rural population in Morocco

Characteristics and ceramic properties of clayey materials from Amezmiz region (Western High Atlas, Morocco)

Five clayey materials from two quarries located in the Amezmiz region (Morocco) were sampled and investigated for their physical, chemical, mineralogical and thermal characteristics to evaluate their potential suitability as raw materials in various ceramic applications. Physical properties were identified by particle size distribution, consistency limits and total organic content. Chemical, mineralogical, and thermal properties were investigated by XRF, XRD, and TG/DTA techniques, respectively. A common raw material in pottery manufacturing of Morocco was used as reference sample (REF). Results show that the main oxides in the samples were SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3, whereas the other oxides were present only in small quantities. Quartz, illite and vermiculite were present as dominant mineral phases with minor kaolinite, calcite and smectite. The results showed that three of the studied clayey materials have adequate characteristics for the production of structural ceramics. However, for the two other clays it is necessary to add more plastic clays to enhance the workability

Virus-associated human cancers in Moroccan population: From epidemiology to prospective research

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