Soil-vegetation patterns in secondary slash and burn successions in Central Menabe, Madagascar

Slash and burn agriculture is a traditional and predominant land use practice in Madagascar and its relevance in the context of forest preservation is significant. At the end of a cycle of culture, the fields become mostly weed covered and the soil fertility starts to drop. As a consequence, these fields are abandoned (they are called “monka”) and the farmers, in the best case, re-use old surfaces where the vegetation has recovered to some extent. Nevertheless, some of the farmers continue to extend part of their cultures into the natural forest. In order to decrease deforestation, the paper focuses on the potential for agricultural re-use of monkas. To do so, we present the soil–vegetation pattern along a slash and burn successional gradient from newly cultivated surfaces to surfaces abandoned for 40 years. Vegetation relevés were carried out on 61 plots sampled on yellow and red soils, and soil variables such as loss of ignition, pH, total carbon content and total nitrogen content were measured. Results show that: (1) by the 10th year of abandonment woody species are increasing, and after 21–30 years herbaceous plants become less dominant, (2) the species richness increases with age of abandonment, but flattens out by 40 years, (3) by 20 years of fallow, the loss of ignition, total carbon and total nitrogen show similar values or even higher values than in cultivated surfaces, (4) the yellow soils are related to higher pH more than the red soils and are preferred for cultivation, but the higher pH of yellow soils is not associated with higher species richness. Given these results, we conclude that fields older than 20 years have recovered sufficient fertility to be re-used as agricultural land. This re-use would decrease impacts on natural forests. But beyond the nutrient perspective, critical problems remain, including the growing demand for arable land and the need for cultivation to control invasive weeds

Journal of three years' residence in Abyssinia.

Mode of access: Internet

Characteristics and well-being of urban informal home care providers during COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study

Objectives Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed many healthcare systems, which has hampered access to routine clinical care during lockdowns. Informal home care, care provided by non-healthcare professionals, increases the community’s healthcare capacity during pandemics. There is, however, limited research about the characteristics of informal home care providers and the challenges they face during such public health emergencies.Design A random, cross-sectional, population-based, RDD, telephone survey study was conducted to examine patterns of home care, characteristics of informal home care providers and the challenges experienced by these care providers during this pandemic.Setting Data were collected from 22 March to 1 April 2020 in Hong Kong, China.Participants A population representative study sample of Chinese-speaking adults (n=765) was interviewed.Primary and secondary outcome measures The study examined the characteristics of informal home care providers and self-reported health requirements of those who needed care. The study also examined providers’ self-perceived knowledge to provide routine home care as well as COVID-19 risk reduction care. Respondents were asked of their mental health status related to COVID-19.Results Of the respondents, 25.1% of 765 provided informal home care during the studied COVID-19 pandemic period. Among the informal home care providers, 18.4% of respondents took leave from school/work during the epidemic to provide care for the sick, fragile elderly and small children. Care providers tended to be younger aged, female and housewives. Approximately half of care providers reported additional mental strain and 37.2% reported of challenges in daily living during epidemic. Although most informal home care providers felt competent to provide routine care, 49.5% felt inadequately prepared to cope with the additional health risks of COVID-19.Conclusion During public health emergencies, heavy reliance on informal home healthcare providers necessitates better understanding of their specific needs and increased government services to support informal home care

Oseltamivir for coronavirus illness: post-hoc exploratory analysis of an open-label, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial in European primary care from 2016 to 2018

Background: Patients infected with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) are being treated empirically with oseltamivir, but there is little evidence from randomised controlled trials to support the treatment of coronavirus infections with oseltamivir.Aim: To determine whether adding oseltamivir to usual care reduces time to recovery in symptomatic patients who have tested positive for coronavirus (not including SARS-CoV-2).Design and setting: Exploratory analysis of data from an open-label, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial during three influenza seasons, from 2016 to 2018, in primary care research networks, in 15 European countries.Method: Patients aged ≥1 year presenting to primary care with influenza-like illness (ILI), and who tested positive for coronavirus (not including SARS-CoV-2), were randomised to usual care or usual care plus oseltamivir. The primary outcome was time to recovery defined as a return to usual activities, with minor or absent fever, headache, and muscle ache.Results: Coronaviruses (CoV-229E, CoV-OC43, CoV-KU1 and CoV-NL63) were identified in 308 (9%) out of 3266 randomised participants in the trial; 153 of these were allocated to usual care and 155 to usual care plus oseltamivir; the primary outcome was ascertained in 136 and 147 participants, respectively. The median time to recovery was shorter in patients randomised to oseltamivir: 4 days (interquartile range [IQR] 3-6) versus 5 days (IQR 3-8; hazard ratio 1.31; 95% confidence interval = 1.03 to 1.66; P = 0.026).Conclusion: Primary care patients with ILI testing positive for coronavirus (not including SARS-CoV-2) recovered sooner when oseltamivir was added to usual care compared with usual care alone. This may be of relevance to the primary care management of COVID-19.</div

A review and agenda for integrated disease models including social and behavioural factors

International audienc