Mortality and Malnutrition Among Populations Living in South Darfur, Sudan: Results of 3 Surveys, September 2004.

CONTEXT: Mass violence against civilians in the west of Sudan has resulted in the displacement of more than 1.5 million people (25% of the population of the Darfur region). Most of these people are camped in 142 settlements. There has been increasing international concern about the health status of the displaced population. OBJECTIVE: To perform rapid epidemiological assessments of mortality and nutritional status at 3 sites in South Darfur for relief efforts. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In August and September 2004, mortality surveys were conducted among 137,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 3 sites in South Darfur (Kass [n = 900 households], Kalma [n = 893 households], and Muhajiria [n = 900 households]). A nutritional survey was performed concomitantly among children aged 6 to 59 months using weight for height as an index of acute malnutrition (Kass [n = 894], Kalma [n = 888], and Muhajiria [n = 896]). A questionnaire detailing access to food and basic services was administered to a subset of households (n = 210 in each site). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Crude and under 5-year mortality rates and nutritional status of IDPs in Kass, Kalma, and Muhajiria, South Darfur. RESULTS: Crude mortality rates, expressed as deaths per 10,000 per day, were 3.2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2-4.1) in Kass, 2.0 (95% CI, 1.3-2.7) in Kalma, and 2.3 (95% CI, 1.2-3.4) in Muhajiria. Under 5-year mortality rates were 5.9 (95% CI, 3.8-8.0) in Kass, 3.5 (95% CI, 1.5-5.7) in Kalma, and 1.0 (95% CI, 0.03-1.9) in Muhajiria. During the period of displacement covered by our survey in Muhajiria, violence was reported to be responsible for 72% of deaths, mainly among young men. Diarrheal disease was reported to cause between 25% and 47% of deaths in camp residents and mainly affected the youngest and oldest age groups. Acute malnutrition was common, affecting 14.1% of the target population in Kass, 23.6% in Kalma, and 10.7% in Muhajiria. CONCLUSION: This study provides epidemiological evidence of the high rates of mortality and malnutrition among the displaced population in South Darfur and reinforces the need to mount appropriate and timely humanitarian responses

Dietary unsaturated fatty acids affect the mammary gland integrity and health in lactating dairy cows

Background Information about the effects of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) supplementation on the health and integrity of the mammary gland in lactating dairy cows is lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of unprotected dietary UFA on the global expression pattern of genes in the mammary gland tissue of grazing dairy cows, and to translate this information into relevant biological knowledge. Methods Twenty-eight Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were randomly assigned to 4 different concentrated UFA-sources for 23 days after which all cows were switched to a non-UFA-supplemented concentrate for an additional 28 days. On the last day of both periods, mammary gland biopsies were taken to study genome-wide differences in gene expression on Bovine Genome Arrays. Results Supplementation with UFA reduced the concentration of short chain fatty acids (FA), C16 FA and saturated FA in the milk, whereas that of trans-FA increased. One major finding was that canonical pathways associated with remodelling and immune functions of the mammary gland were predominantly down-regulated during UFA supplementation and negatively correlated with the concentration of milk trans-FA. Conclusions Supplementing grazing dairy cows with unprotected dietary UFA can affect the remodelling and immune functions of the mammary gland with potential consequences for its integrity and health, as well as milk quality

Alteration of gene expression in mammary gland tissue of dairy cows in response to dietary unsaturated fatty acids

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of supplementing unprotected dietary unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) from different plant oils on gene expression in the mammary gland of grazing dairy cows. A total of 28 Holstein–Friesian dairy cows in mid-lactation were blocked according to parity, days in milk, milk yield and fat percentage. The cows were then randomly assigned to four UFA sources based on rapeseed, soybean, linseed or a mixture of the three oils for 23 days, after which, all 28 cows were switched to a control diet for an additional 28 days. On the last day of both periods, mammary gland biopsies were taken to study genome-wide differences in gene expression on Affymetrix GeneChip® Bovine Genome Arrays (no. 900493) by ServiceXS (Leiden, The Netherlands). Supplementation with UFAs resulted in increased milk yield but decreased milk fat and protein percentages. Furthermore, the proportion of de novo fatty acids (FAs) in the milk was reduced, whereas that of long-chain FAs increased. Applying a statistical cut-off of false discovery rate of q-value

Soil CO2_2 efflux in Central Amazonia: Environmental and methodological effects

Soil respiration plays a significant role in the carbon cycle of Amazonian rainforests. Measurements of soil respiration have only been carried out in few places in the Amazon. This study investigated the effects of the method of ring insertion in the soil as well as of rainfall and spatial distribution on C

Modeling biogeomorphological interactions in underwater nourishments

To prevent sandy coastlines from further erosion, nourishments are executed in which sand is usually put underwater at the foreshore. Waves and currents transport the sand on the beach and in this way stabilize the coastal profile. Little is known about the interactions of these so-called shoreface nourishments with the benthic populations inhabiting the coastal strip. Benthos is affected by the nourishments, but benthic populations could in turn affect the morphological evolution of the nourished coast. Monitoring has shown that the benthic community will mainly recovery after ca. 1 year. However, the impact of benthos on the sediment dynamics and hydrodynamics is unknown. In this paper we focus on tube building worms, which have a large abundance in the foreshore, live in patches of several square meters in diameter and protrude several centimeters from the sediment in the water column. Tube building worms are included in a numerical modeling tool (Delft3D), by explicitly accounting for the influence of cylindrical structures on drag and turbulence by an extra source term of friction force in the momentum equation and an extra source term of Total Kinetic Energy (TKE) and turbulent energy dissipation in the k-ε equations respectively. The model is validated against field and flume experiments and it shows a significant influence on flow velocities near the bed, bed shear stress and bed-load transport rates. Moreover, model results reveal that tube building worms are able to stabilize nourishments and slow down the migration of the outer breaker bar. Present model explorations indicate that future research should focus on the measurement of the patchy distribution of bio-engineers in the foreshore and their impact on the sediment dynamics and hydrodynamics. Such knowledge will enable process based modeling of the spatial and temporal variation in biological activity on the morphological development of the coastal profile and also it will lead to validation of the proposed model with field measurements.</jats:p

Recent progress in understanding climate thresholds: ice sheets, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, tropical forests and responses to ocean acidification

This article reviews recent scientific progress, relating to four major systems that could exhibit threshold behaviour: ice sheets, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), tropical forests and ecosystem responses to ocean acidification. The focus is on advances since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5). The most significant developments in each component are identified by synthesizing input from multiple experts from each field. For ice sheets, some degree of irreversible loss (timescales of millennia) of part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) may have already begun, but the rate and eventual magnitude of this irreversible loss is uncertain. The observed AMOC overturning has decreased from 2004–2014, but it is unclear at this stage whether this is forced or is internal variability. New evidence from experimental and natural droughts has given greater confidence that tropical forests are adversely affected by drought. The ecological and socio-economic impacts of ocean acidification are expected to greatly increase over the range from today’s annual value of around 400, up to 650 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere (reached around 2070 under RCP8.5), with the rapid development of aragonite undersaturation at high latitudes affecting calcifying organisms. Tropical coral reefs are vulnerable to the interaction of ocean acidification and temperature rise, and the rapidity of those changes, with severe losses and risks to survival at 2 °C warming above pre-industrial levels. Across the four systems studied, however, quantitative evidence for a difference in risk between 1.5 and 2 °C warming above pre-industrial levels is limited

In vivo quantification of photosensitizer fluorescence in the skin-fold observation chamber using dual-wavelength excitation and NIR imaging

A major challenge in biomedical optics is the accurate quantification of in vivo fluorescence images. Fluorescence imaging is often used to determine the pharmacokinetics of photosensitizers used for photodynamic therapy. Often, however, this type of imaging does not take into account differences in and changes to tissue volume and optical properties of the tissue under interrogation. To address this problem, a ratiometric quantification method was developed and applied to monitor photosensitizer meso-tetra (hydroxyphenyl) chlorin (mTHPC) pharmacokinetics in the rat skin-fold observation chamber. The method employs a combination of dual-wavelength excitation and dualwavelength detection. Excitation and detection wavelengths were selected in the NIR region. One excitation wavelength was chosen to be at the Q band of mTHPC, whereas the second excitation wavelength was close to its absorption minimum. Two fluorescence emission bands were used; one at the secondary fluorescence maximum of mTHPC centered on 720 nm, and one in a region of tissue autofluorescence. The first excitation wavelength was used to excite the mTHPC and autofluorescence and the second to excite only autofluorescence, so that this could be subtracted. Subsequently, the autofluorescence-corrected mTHPC image was divided by the autofluorescence signal to correct for variations in tissue optical properties. This correction algorithm in principle results in a linear relation between the corrected fluorescence and photosensitizer concentration. The limitations of the presented method and comparison with previously published and validated techniques are discussed