Lutte étagée ciblée et pulvérisation à très bas volume. Une protection insecticide du cotonnier moins onéreuse et plus respectueuse de l'environnement

La lutte étagée ciblée consiste à évaluer le niveau des populations de ravageurs la veille du traitement. Les insectes observés sont les chenilles des capsules ou des feuilles, les acariens, les aleurodes et les pucerons. Les niveaux de population sont confrontés à des seuils d'intervention et les résultats obtenus guident les choix des doses et des types d'insecticides utilisés. En 1995, 1 519 postes d'observateurs saisonniers ont été créés, pour une rémunération globale de 56 millions de francs CFA. Prévulgariséesur 407 ha en 1990, la lutte étagée ciblée a été vulgarisée sur 85 000 ha en 1995. Cette innovation nécessite la mise en oeuvre d'importants moyens dans le domaine de la formation et du suivi. La pulvérisation à très bas volume (TBV) épand 10 litres de bouillie aqueuse par hectare. Les insecticides utilisés sont des concentrés émulsionnables, moins chers que les insecticides pour ultra bas volume. A dose de matière active égale, un traitement TBV est 20 % moins cher qu'un traitement ULV. Les anciens appareils de traitement ultra bas volume ont été adaptés pour la pulvérisation TBV par un changement de buse et l'adjonction d'un réservoir auxiliaire. L'utilisation de la pulvérisation TBV a réduit les risques d'intoxication des opérateurs par inhalation (nuage de pulvérisation moins volatile) et par contact (bouillies insecticides aqueuses et moins concentrées). En permettant des économies de matières actives atteignant 30 à 40 %, la lutte étagée ciblée a permis de limiter les effets néfastes potentiels de la protection insecticide sur l'environnement. En 1992, la protection insecticide coûtait 9 005 francs CFA à l'hectare. En 1995, malgré la dévaluation, elle a coûté 10 700 francs CFA à l'hectare. En francs CFA constants, le coût de la protection insecticide a chuté de 41 % entre 1992 et 1995. Pour la campagne agricole 1995, l'économie réalisée a dépassé 900 millions de francs CFA

MinLinMo: a minimalist approach to variable selection and linear model prediction

Generating prediction models from high dimensional data often result in large models with many predictors. Causal inference for such models can therefore be difficult or even impossible in practice. The stand-alone software package MinLinMo emphasizes small linear prediction models over highest possible predictability with a particular focus on including variables correlated with the outcome, minimal memory usage and speed. MinLinMo is demonstrated on large epigenetic datasets with prediction models for chronological age, gestational age, and birth weight comprising, respectively, 15, 14 and 10 predictors. The parsimonious MinLinMo models perform comparably to established prediction models requiring hundreds of predictors.publishedVersio

The role of intervening pregnancy loss in the association between interpregnancy interval and adverse pregnancy outcomes

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Pre-pregnancy lifestyle characteristics and risk of miscarriage: the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.

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Paternal and maternal birthweight and offspring risk of macrosomia at term gestations: A nationwide population study

Background There is a paucity of data on whether parents' macrosomia (birthweight ≥4500 g) status influences the risk of macrosomia in the offspring. The role of maternal overweight in the generational effect of macrosomia is not known. Objective To estimate the risk of macrosomia by parental birthweight at term and evaluate if this risk varied with maternal body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) early in pregnancy. Methods We used data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway on all singleton term births (37–42 gestational weeks) during 1967–2017. The primary exposure was parental macrosomia, and the outcome was macrosomia in the second generation. The secondary exposure was maternal BMI. We used binomial regression to calculate relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval. We assessed potential unmeasured confounding and selection bias using a probabilistic bias analysis and performed analyses with and without imputation for variables with missing values. Results The data included 647,957 singleton parent-offspring trios born at term. The prevalence of macrosomia was 3.2% (n = 41,396) in the parental generation and 4.0% (n = 25,673) in the offspring generation. Macrosomia in parents was associated with an increased risk of macrosomia in offspring, with the RR for both parents were born macrosomic being 6.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.31, 8.05), only mother macrosomic 3.37 (95% CI 3.17, 3.57) and only father macrosomic RR 2.22 (95% CI 2.12, 2.33). These risks increased by maternal BMI in early pregnancy: if both parents were born macrosomic, 17% of infants were macrosomic among mothers with normal BMI. If both parents were macrosomic and the mothers were obese, 31% of offspring were macrosomic. Macrosomia-related adverse outcomes did not differ with parental macrosomia status. Conclusions Parents' weight at birth and maternal BMI appear to be strongly associated with macrosomia in the offspring delivered at term gestations.publishedVersio

Hospitalization following influenza infection and pandemic vaccination in multiple sclerosis patients: a nationwide population-based registry study from Norway

Under embargo until: 2020-12-23Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are at increased risk of infections and related worsening of neurological function. Influenza infection has been associated with increased risk of various neurological complications. We conducted a population-based registry study to investigate the risk of acute hospitalization of MS patients in relation to influenza infection or pandemic vaccination in Norway. The entire Norwegian population in the years 2008–2014 was defined as our study population (N = 5,219,296). Information on MS diagnosis, influenza infection and vaccination were provided by Norwegian national registries. The self-controlled case series method was used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) in defined risk periods. 6755 MS patients were identified during the study period. Average age at first registration of an MS diagnosis was 51.8 years among men and 49.9 years among females (66.9%). The IRR for emergency hospitalization among MS patients the first week after an influenza diagnosis was 3.4 (95% CI 2.4–4.8). The IRR was 5.6 (95% CI 2.7–11.3) after pandemic influenza, and 4.8 (95% CI 3.1–7.4) after seasonal influenza. Pandemic vaccination did not influence risk of hospitalization [IRR within the first week: 0.7 (95% CI 0.5–1.0)]. Among MS patients, influenza infection was associated with increased risk for acute hospitalization while no increased risk was observed after pandemic vaccination. Influenza vaccination could prevent worsening of MS-related symptoms as well as risk of hospitalization.acceptedVersio