ANACONDA: a new tool to improve mortality and cause of death data

The need to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to have access to reliable and timely mortality data has created a strong demand in countries for tools that can assist them in this. ANACONDA (Analysis of National Causes of Death for Action) is a new tool developed for this purpose which allows countries to assess how accurate their mortality and cause of death are. Applying ANACONDA will increase confidence and capacity among data custodians in countries about their mortality data and will give them insight into quality problems that will assist the improvement process.; ANACONDA builds on established epidemiological and demographic concepts to operationalise a series of 10 steps and numerous sub-steps to perform data checks. Extensive use is made of comparators to assess the plausibility of national mortality and cause of death statistics. The tool calculates a composite Vital Statistics Performance Index for Quality (VSPI(Q)) to measure how fit for purpose the data are. Extracts from analyses of country data are presented to show the types of outputs.; Each of the 10 steps provides insight into how well the current data is describing different aspects of the mortality situation in the country, e.g. who dies of what, the completeness of the reporting, and the amount and types of unusable cause of death codes. It further identifies the exact codes that should not be used by the certifying physicians and their frequency, which makes it possible to institute a focused correction procedure. Finally, the VSPI(Q) allows periodic monitoring of data quality improvements and identifies priorities for action to strengthen the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system.; ANACONDA has demonstrated the potential to dramatically improve knowledge about disease patterns as well as the functioning of CRVS systems and has served as a platform for galvanising wider CRVS reforms in countries

El Barrio Yungay y sus funciones particulares

El autor entrega una visión global del barrio Yungay, desde lo conceptual y lo histórico hasta el estudio de la percepción que tienen de él sus actuales habitantes. Lo resalta como uno de los más antiguos de la ciudad de Santiago, y hoy uno de los doce barrios mayores de la comuna de Santiago. El trabajo entrega también estudios sobre sus funciones, tales como servicio de transporte, equipamientos comerciales, administrativos, sociales, culturales y de esparcimiento.L’auteur nous transmet une vision globale du quartier Yungay, du point de vue conceptuel et historique à travers l’étude de sa perception par ses propres habitants. Il s’agit de l’un des quartiers les plus anciens de la ville de Santiago, et de nos jours, il correspond à l’un des douze quartiers les plus importants de la commune de Santiago. Ce travail s’intéresse à ses fonctions, telles que le service de transport, d’équipements commerciaux, administratives, sociales, culturelles et de distraction.The author provides an overview of the Yungay area, from the conceptual and historical point of view to the study of the perception about it of its present inhabitants. What stands out as one of the oldest ‘barrios’ in the city of Santiago, and today one of the twelve larger neighborhoods over the commune of Santiago. This paper also presents studies about its functions, such as transportation services, commercial equipment, administrative, social, cultural and leisure activity

Improving the quality of cause of death data for public health policy: are all 'garbage' codes equally problematic?

All countries need accurate and timely mortality statistics to inform health and social policy debates and to monitor progress towards national and global health development goals. In many countries, however, civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems are poorly developed. Consequently, the statistics they produce are not fit for purpose. In part, this arises because the physicians certifying cause of death (COD) have either not been adequately trained in how to complete a death certificate according to the current International Statistical Classification of Diseases – Version 10 (ICD-10) [1], or they fail to appreciate the public health importance of what is often perceived as a largely administrative task [2]. This can be reinforced by cultural attitudes and perceptions among hospital administrators, who are generally unaware of the critical contribution that accurate medical certification of CODs makes to generating essential public health intelligence that can be used for planning. Unsurprisingly, these system deficiencies usually result in a high proportion of CODs being assigned to ‘garbage’ codes [3]. These have little or no public health value because they are too vague, are an immediate or intermediate COD, or are impossible as an underlying cause of death (UCOD). For example, septicaemia is often chosen as the underlying or precipitating COD when it is, in fact, the immediate cause arising from a many possible UCODs including communicable or non-communicable diseases, or an injury [3]. Prevention strategies would differ markedly depending on the UCOD; hence the importance of correct certification. Garbage codes bias a country’s true pattern of mortality. Studies of the quality of mortality statistics carried out in Thailand [4], Sri Lanka [5], and Iran [6], for example, have repeatedly found that the population’s likely true mortality pattern was considerably different from the pattern reported by the CRVS system. These discrepancies have been largely attributed to physicians’ extensive use of garbage codes

Transcriptome analysis of Thapsia laciniata rouy provides insights into terpenoid biosynthesis and diversity in apiaceae

Thapsia laciniata Rouy (Apiaceae) produces irregular and regular sesquiterpenoids with thapsane and guaiene carbon skeletons, as found in other Apiaceae species. A transcriptomic analysis utilizing Illumina next-generation sequencing enabled the identification of novel genes involved in the biosynthesis of terpenoids in Thapsia. From 66.78 million HQ paired-end reads obtained from T. laciniata roots, 64.58 million were assembled into 76,565 contigs (N50: 1261 bp). Seventeen contigs were annotated as terpene synthases and five of these were predicted to be sesquiterpene synthases. Of the 67 contigs annotated as cytochromes P450, 18 of these are part of the CYP71 clade that primarily performs hydroxylations of specialized metabolites. Three contigs annotated as aldehyde dehydrogenases grouped phylogenetically with the characterized ALDH1 from Artemisia annua and three contigs annotated as alcohol dehydrogenases grouped with the recently described ADH1 from A. annua. ALDH1 and ADH1 were characterized as part of the artemisinin biosynthesis. We have produced a comprehensive EST dataset for T. laciniata roots, which contains a large sample of the T. laciniata transcriptome. These transcriptome data provide the foundation for future research into the molecular basis for terpenoid biosynthesis in Thapsia and on the evolution of terpenoids in Apiaceae.Damian Paul Drew, Bjørn Dueholm, Corinna Weitzel, Ye Zhang, Christoph W. Sensen and Henrik Toft Simonse

Medicinal and ethnoveterinary remedies of hunters in Trinidad

BACKGROUND: Ethnomedicines are used by hunters for themselves and their hunting dogs in Trinidad. Plants are used for snakebites, scorpion stings, for injuries and mange of dogs and to facilitate hunting success. RESULTS: Plants used include Piper hispidum, Pithecelobium unguis-cati, Bauhinia excisa, Bauhinia cumanensis, Cecropia peltata, Aframomum melegueta, Aristolochia rugosa, Aristolochia trilobata, Jatropha curcas, Jatropha gossypifolia, Nicotiana tabacum, Vernonia scorpioides, Petiveria alliacea, Renealmia alpinia, Justicia secunda, Phyllanthus urinaria,Phyllanthus niruri,Momordica charantia, Xiphidium caeruleum, Ottonia ovata, Lepianthes peltata, Capsicum frutescens, Costus scaber, Dendropanax arboreus, Siparuma guianensis, Syngonium podophyllum, Monstera dubia, Solanum species, Eclipta prostrata, Spiranthes acaulis, Croton gossypifolius, Barleria lupulina, Cola nitida, Acrocomia ierensis (tentative ID). CONCLUSION: Plant use is based on odour, and plant morphological characteristics and is embedded in a complex cultural context based on indigenous Amerindian beliefs. It is suggested that the medicinal plants exerted a physiological action on the hunter or his dog. Some of the plants mentioned contain chemicals that may explain the ethnomedicinal and ethnoveterinary use. For instance some of the plants influence the immune system or are effective against internal and external parasites. Plant baths may contribute to the health and well being of the hunting dogs

Genome-wide Analyses of the Structural Gene Families Involved in the Legume-specific 5-Deoxyisoflavonoid Biosynthesis of Lotus japonicus

A model legume Lotus japonicus (Regel) K. Larsen is one of the subjects of genome sequencing and functional genomics programs. In the course of targeted approaches to the legume genomics, we analyzed the genes encoding enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of the legume-specific 5-deoxyisoflavonoid of L. japonicus, which produces isoflavan phytoalexins on elicitor treatment. The paralogous biosynthetic genes were assigned as comprehensively as possible by biochemical experiments, similarity searches, comparison of the gene structures, and phylogenetic analyses. Among the 10 biosynthetic genes investigated, six comprise multigene families, and in many cases they form gene clusters in the chromosomes. Semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase–PCR analyses showed coordinate up-regulation of most of the genes during phytoalexin induction and complex accumulation patterns of the transcripts in different organs. Some paralogous genes exhibited similar expression specificities, suggesting their genetic redundancy. The molecular evolution of the biosynthetic genes is discussed. The results presented here provide reliable annotations of the genes and genetic markers for comparative and functional genomics of leguminous plants

Plants Attract Parasitic Wasps to Defend Themselves against Insect Pests by Releasing Hexenol

Plant volatiles play an important role in defending plants against insect attacks by attracting their natural enemies. For example, green leaf volatiles (GLVs) and terpenoids emitted from herbivore-damaged plants were found to be important in the host location of parasitic wasps. However, evidence of the functional roles and mechanisms of these semio-chemicals from a system of multiple plants in prey location by the parasitoid is limited. Little is known about the potential evolutionary trends between herbivore-induced host plant volatiles and the host location of their parasitoids.. Specifically, we found that volatile profiles from healthy plants revealed a partly phylogenetic signal, while the inducible compounds of the infested-plants did not result from the fact that the induced plant volatiles dominate most of the volatile blends of the host and non-host plants of the leafminer pests. We further show that the parasitoids are capable of distinguishing the damaged host plant from the non-host plant of the leafminers.Our results suggest that, as the most passive scenario of plant involvement, leafminers and mechanical damages evoke similar semio-chemicals. Using ubiquitous compounds, such as hexenol, for host location by general parasitoids could be an adaptation of the most conservative evolution of tritrophic interaction. Although for this, other compounds may be used to improve the precision of the host location by the parasitoids