Assessing the long-term welfare effects of the biological control of cereal stemborer pests in East and Southern Africa: Evidence from Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia

The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), undertook a biological control (BC) programme for control of stemborers from 1993 to 2008, to reduce cereal yield losses due to stemborer attack in East and Southern Africa. The programme released four biological control agents—the larval parasitoids Cotesia flavipes and Cotesia sesamiae, the egg parasitoid Telenomus isis and the pupal parasitoid Xanthopimpla stemmator—to control the economically important stemborer pests Busseola fusca, Chilo partellus and Sesamia calamistis. Two of the natural enemies that were released got established and spread to many localities in the region. This study adopted the economic surplus model based on production, market and GIS data to evaluate the economic benefits and cost-effectiveness of the programme in three countries—Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia. Findings show that the biological control intervention has contributed to an aggregate monetary surplus of US$1.4 billion to the economies of the three countries with 84$ 272 million for both crops and ranged from US$142 million for Kenya to US$ 39 million for Zambia. The attractive internal rate of return (IRR) of 67% compared to the considered discount rate of 10%, as well as the estimated benefit–cost ratio (BCR) of 33:1, illustrate the efficiency of investment in the BC research and intervention. The estimated number of people lifted out of poverty through the BC-programme was on average 57,400 persons (consumers and producers) per year in Kenya, 44,120 persons in Mozambique, and 36,170 persons in Zambia, representing an annual average reduction of poor populations, respectively of 0.35, 0.25 and 0.20% in each of the three countries. These findings underscore the need for increased investment in BC research to sustain cereal production and improve poor living conditions

Animal-related factors associated with moderate-to-severe diarrhea in children younger than five years in western Kenya: A matched case-control study

Background Diarrheal disease remains among the leading causes of global mortality in children younger than 5 years. Exposure to domestic animals may be a risk factor for diarrheal disease. The objectives of this study were to identify animal-related exposures associated with cases of moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) in children in rural western Kenya, and to identify the major zoonotic enteric pathogens present in domestic animals residing in the homesteads of case and control children. Methodology/Principal findings We characterized animal-related exposures in a subset of case and control children (n = 73 pairs matched on age, sex and location) with reported animal presence at home enrolled in the Global Enteric Multicenter Study in western Kenya, and analysed these for an association with MSD. We identified potentially zoonotic enteric pathogens in pooled fecal specimens collected from domestic animals resident at children’s homesteads. Variables that were associated with decreased risk of MSD were washing hands after animal contact (matched odds ratio [MOR] = 0.2; 95% CI 0.08–0.7), and presence of adult sheep that were not confined in a pen overnight (MOR = 0.1; 0.02–0.5). Variables that were associated with increased risk of MSD were increasing number of sheep owned (MOR = 1.2; 1.0–1.5), frequent observation of fresh rodent excreta (feces/urine) outside the house (MOR = 7.5; 1.5–37.2), and participation of the child in providing water to chickens (MOR = 3.8; 1.2–12.2). Of 691 pooled specimens collected from 2,174 domestic animals, 159 pools (23%) tested positive for one or more potentially zoonotic enteric pathogens (Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli, non-typhoidal Salmonella, diarrheagenic E. coli, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, or rotavirus). We did not find any association between the presence of particular pathogens in household animals, and MSD in children. Conclusions and significance Public health agencies should continue to promote frequent hand washing, including after animal contact, to reduce the risk of MSD. Future studies should address specific causal relations of MSD with sheep and chicken husbandry practices, and with the presence of rodents

Ancient DNA and deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers

Multiple lines of genetic and archaeological evidence suggest that there were major demographic changes in the terminal Late Pleistocene epoch and early Holocene epoch of sub-Saharan Africa(1-4). Inferences about this period are challenging to make because demographic shifts in the past 5,000 years have obscured the structures of more ancient populations(3,5). Here we present genome-wide ancient DNA data for six individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years (doubling the time depth of sub-Saharan African ancient DNA), increase the data quality for 15 previously published ancient individuals and analyse these alongside data from 13 other published ancient individuals. The ancestry of the individuals in our study area can be modelled as a geographically structured mixture of three highly divergent source populations, probably reflecting Pleistocene interactions around 80-20 thousand years ago, including deeply diverged eastern and southern African lineages, plus a previously unappreciated ubiquitous distribution of ancestry that occurs in highest proportion today in central African rainforest hunter-gatherers. Once established, this structure remained highly stable, with limited long-range gene flow. These results provide a new line of genetic evidence in support of hypotheses that have emerged from archaeological analyses but remain contested, suggesting increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. DNA analysis of 6 individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years, and of 28 previously published ancient individuals, provides genetic evidence supporting hypotheses of increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

A facility-based study of women' satisfaction and perceived quality of reproductive and maternal health services in the Kenya output-based approach voucher program

Background: This is a facility-based study designed to assess perceived quality of care and satisfaction of reproductive health services under the output-based approach (OBA) services in Kenya from clients’ perspective. Method: An exit interview was conducted on 254 clients in public health facilities, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations and private facilities in Kitui, Kilifi, Kiambu, and Kisumu counties as well as in the Korogocho and Viwandani slums in Nairobi, Kenya using a 23-item scale questionnaire on quality of reproductive health services. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability test, and subgroup analysis using linear regression were performed. Results: Clients generally had a positive view on staff conduct and healthcare delivery but were neutral on hospital physical facilities, resources, and access to healthcare services. There was a high overall level of satisfaction among the clients with quick service, good handling of complications, and clean hospital stated as some of the reasons that enhanced satisfaction. The County of residence was shown to impact the perception of quality greatly with other social demographic characteristics showing low impact. Conclusion: Majority of the women perceived the quality of OBA services to be high and were happy with the way healthcare providers were handling birth related complications. The conduct and practice of healthcare workers is an important determinant of client’s perception of quality of reproductive and maternal health services. Findings can be used by health care managers as a guide to evaluate different areas of healthcare delivery and to improve resources and physical facilities that are crucial in elevating clients’ level of satisfaction

Shotgun metagenomics data of sediment microbiome of unprotected arid-tropical natural wetlands in South Africa

Sediment samples from 10 different arid-tropical natural wetlands in Limpopo Province, South Africa, were collected in August 2021 to investigate the microbial community structure, diversity, species richness, and functional metabolic potential. To achieve this, we employed the high-throughput Illumina NextSeq 2000 platform for shotgun sequencing of the sediment microbiome. The raw fastq files have been deposited in the NCBI SRA database as BioProject ID PRJNA972844 and Biosample accession numbers SRX20358958 to SRX20358949. The following tables represent supplementary material of a preliminary overview of the dataset in terms of the relative abundance of enzyme gene families (Table 1) and pathways (Table 2) across the wetland sediments detected from shotgun sequencing results.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Hospitals with higher volumes of emergency general surgery patients achieve lower mortality rates: A case for establishing designated centers for emergency general surgery

Background: Higher volume has been associated with lower mortality for several surgical diseases. It is not known if this relationship exists in the management of Emergency General Surgery (EGS). Our hypothesis was that EGS patients treated at hospitals with higher EGS volume experienced lower mortality rates than those treated at low-volume hospitals. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of 2010 National Inpatient Sample data, maintained by the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research as a representative national sample of inpatients. Patients with EGS diseases were identified using American Association for the Surgery of Trauma definitions using ICD-9 codes (2,640,725 patients from 943 hospitals). Multivariable hierarchical logistic regression model was used to estimate the risk-standardized mortality rate (RSMR) for each hospital, adjusted for patient (age, sex, race, ethnicity, insurance type, socioeconomic status, comorbidities) and hospital (region, location, bed size, teaching status, ownership) characteristics. A cubic spline regression model with 4 knots was used to identify the volume associated with low mortality rates. Results: The volume of EGS patients treated was inversely associated with hospital mortality rate. RSMR in hospitals in the highest quintile of volume (median, 7424 patients) was 1.62% (95% CI: 1.61-1.64%); at hospitals in the lowest quintile of volume (median, 68 patients), it was 6.1% (95% CI: 6.0-6.2%) (p \u3c 0.0001). Mortality rate stabilized at an annual volume of 688 (95% CI: 554-753) patients. The mortality rate in hospitals that treated fewer than 688 patients was 5.0% (95% CI: 4.8-5.1%), compared to 1.99% (95% CI: 1.96-2.01%) at those that treated 688 or more patients (p \u3c 0.0001). Conclusion: EGS patients treated at hospitals with a higher volume of EGS patients experienced lower mortality rates, with a possible threshold of 688 patients per year. A regionalized system of EGS care where complex patients are treated at large-volume centers may improve patient outcome

The financial burden of emergency general surgery: National estimates 2010 to 2060

Background: Adoption of the acute care surgery model has led to increasing volumes of emergency general surgery (EGS) patients at trauma centers. However, the financial burden of EGS services on trauma centers is unknown. This study estimates the current and future costs associated with EGS hospitalization nationwide. Methods: We applied the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma\u27s DRG International Classification of Diseases-9th Rev. criteria for defining EGS to the 2010 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data and identified adult EGS patients. Cost of hospitalization was obtained by converting reported charges to cost using the 2010 all-payer inpatient cost-to-charge ratio for all hospitals in the NIS database. Cost was modeled via a log-gamma model in a generalized linear mixed model to account for potential correlation in cost within states and hospitals in the NIS database. Patients\u27 characteristics and hospital factors were included in the model as fixed effects, while state and hospital were included as random effects. The national incidence of EGS was calculated from NIS data, and the US Census Bureau population projections were used to estimate incidence for 2010 to 2060. Nationwide costs were obtained by multiplying projected incidences by estimated costs and reported in year 2010 US dollar value. Results: Nationwide, there were 2,640,725 adult EGS hospitalizations in 2010. The national average adjusted cost per EGS hospitalization was $10,744 (95$10,615-$10,874); applying these cost data to the national EGS hospitalizations gave a total estimated cost of$28.37 billion (95% CI, $28.03-$28.72 billion). Older age groups accounted for greater proportions of the cost ($8.03 billion for age ≥ 75 years, compared with$1.08 billion for age 18-24 years). As the US population continues to both grow and age, EGS costs are projected to increase by 45% to $41.20 billion (95$40.70-$41.7 billion) by 2060. Conclusion: EGS constitutes a significant portion of US health care costs and is expected to rise with the demographic changes in the population. Trauma centers should conduct careful financial analyses of their EGS services, based on their unique case mix and payer mi