Activity budget of Preuss’s red colobus (Procolobus preussi) in Korup National Park, South-West region, Cameroon

Preuss’s red colobus is critically endangered and endemic to Cameroon and Nigeria. It is one of the least studied red colobus species and therefore further knowledge about the species is crucial for conservation work. Activity budget of Preuss’s red colobus was carried in the southern part of Korup National Park, South West region of Cameroon for 18 months and was aimed at contributing to the understanding of the species general behavioural pattern for conservation. Time interval scan sampling method was used for this study. Two thousand three hundred and three individual observations were recorded from 273 group scans for 462 hours. Results revealed general activity time budget for the species, activity related to seasonality,  period of the day and age class. In general, this species spent 1: 1: 1: 4: 2 resting, feeding, moving, others and socializing respectively. In wet season they spent more time in all the activities 1: 1: 1: 1: 4 resting, moving, feeding, other and socializing respectively more than in the dry season. Their activity budget within a day revealed the following results: feeding 9: 7: 6 afternoon, morning, mid-day respectively, moving 1: 1: 4 mid-day, morning, afternoon respectively, resting 1:1:2 mornings, mid-day and afternoon respectively, socializing 4: 1:0:2 mornings, mid-day, afternoon respectively and other 1: 1: 3 morning, mid-day, afternoon respectively. Results on the activity budget of age class indicate that adults spent more time feeding (16.31%), resting (25.72%), moving (13.09) than juveniles and infants but infants spent more time socializing (5.55%) than adults (1.58%) and juveniles (00%). This study therefore gives a basic clue of activity budget of Preuss’s red colobus, specific for Korup National Park, experiencing human threat. This information can play an important part for the proper management and conservation of this species.© 2015 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Keywords: Behavioural patterns, red colobus, conservation, scan sampling, seasonality, time perio

The effect of the anglophone crisis on youth sexual and reproductive health in the Northwest region of Cameroon: a qualitative study

# Background The ongoing armed conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, named the "Anglophone crisis", has had a deleterious impact on the health and wellbeing of the populations inhabiting these regions, especially adolescents and youth, but there is sparse evidence on the effect of the crisis on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This study aimed to describe the effects of the crisis on adolescent SRH and identify stakeholder recommendations for strategies to address the SRH of youth in their crisis-impacted communities. # Methods This was a secondary analysis of qualitative data collected during discussion forums with 316 community stakeholders, including parents (n=63), youths (n=81), religious leaders (29), neighborhood leaders (n=23), secondary school teachers (n=28), health professionals (n=37), pharmacists (n=5), local drug vendors (n=13), media representatives (n=12), and non-governmental organization representatives (n=29), in Bamenda, northwest region, Cameroon. A total of 12 homogenous discussion groups of 5 to 41 participants in each were conducted between May and July 2020. Session recordings were transcribed and then analyzed using Dedoose qualitative data management software and a text analysis approach. # Results The results indicate that the crisis led to internal displacements and idleness among adolescent and youth, which increased their social and economic vulnerabilities, including to sexual violence and transactional sex. Resulting SRH effects were unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted Infections, unsafe abortions, maternal mortality, and psychosocial distress. Community stakeholders recommended that strategies to improve adolescent and youth SRH outcomes in these conflict-hit regions focus on spreading information about SRH, providing SRH services, and addressing issues of idleness. # Conclusions The armed conflict in the Northwest region of Cameroon has had consequences on adolescent and youth's adverse SRH outcomes, such as unintended pregnancies, transactional sex, rapes, unsafe abortions, and maternal death. The findings of this study highlight the importance of raising awareness on SRH risks of adolescents and youth and the necessity of adopting a community approach in developing interventions and policies to improve adolescent and youth SRH in regions affected by armed conflicts

Engineering serendipity: high-throughput discovery of materials that resist bacterial attachment

Controlling the colonisation of materials by microorganisms is important in a wide range of industries and clinical settings. To date, the underlying mechanisms that govern the interactions of bacteria with material surfaces remain poorly understood, limiting the ab initio design and engineering of biomaterials to control bacterial attachment. Combinatorial approaches involving high-throughput screening have emerged as key tools for identifying materials to control bacterial attachment. The hundreds of different materials assessed using these methods can be carried out with the aid of computational modelling. This approach can develop an understanding of the rules used to predict bacterial attachment to surfaces of non-toxic synthetic materials. Here we outline our view on the state of this field and the challenges and opportunities in this area for the coming years

Mineral chemistry, bulk rock geochemistry, and S-isotope signature of lode-gold mineralization in the Bétaré Oya gold district, south-east Cameroon

Lode‐gold mineralization in the Bétaré Oya gold district is related to a series of quartz–sulphide veins that define a steeply dipping NNE–SSW‐trending brittle–ductile shear zone. The veins transect metasedimentary sequences in the vicinity of small granitic intrusions. Quartz veins range from barren (massive quartz) to mineralized with textures that vary from foliated, sheared, vuggy, fractured, and sugary to brecciated with inclusions of altered wall rock. They contain gold, pyrite, and galena in addition to chalcopyrite and both hypogene and supergene haematite and covellite. Parameters that consistently define primary gold mineralization in the area include silicification, sulphidation, sericitization, K‐feldspar alteration, haematitization, and carbonatization. Gold grains recovered from heavy mineral concentrate and grains that occur as inclusions in pyrite were characterized by microchemical methods. The gold grains are zoned and exhibit a simple internal structure of partly deformed and leached rims and high‐purity intragranular veinlets. Gold is alloyed with Ag; gold fineness varies between 859 and 877 in the core and from 958 to 997 in the leached rims. Inclusions of gold in pyrite cluster between 875 and 900. Pyrite has up to 0.59 wt% Au, and other trace elements occur in low quantities but for Pb (0.13 wt%), Ag (1.36 wt%), and Sb (1.63 wt%). The bulk trace element signature of the veins is characterized by Au, Ag, As, Bi, Ba, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, Sb, Sr, V, W, Zn, and Zr. This depicts a geochemical association of Au ± Cu ± Bi ± As ± Pb. The occurrence of Au as well as elevated Pb and Zn could suggest a granitic source for the ore‐bearing fluid. The auriferous quartz veins are characterized by a widespread in δ34S from 2.8 to 14.9‰ pointing to multiple sources of sulphur in the system, perhaps a mixture of sulphur from the metasedimentary and the granitic rocks