Fat Content and Fatty Acids Profile in Follow-on Formulas Commercialized in Côte d'Ivoire

This study evaluates the follow-on formula for infants. These products are available under several brands in the Ivorian market. In order to verify their conformity to the WHO standards a post-market control by gravimetric method and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry is executed to evaluate the quantity and quality of fat products contained in the milks of brands available in Côte d’Ivoire. Out of the nine brands of milks analyzed, only four of them were close to the values revealed by their manufacturers, whereas the other products had their values below their respective indications

Epidemiological, clinical, and therapeutic profiles of patients treated for arterial hypertension in the Cardiology Department of Kinshasa General Hospital (Formerly Maman Yemo), DRC

Introduction Artery hypertension (AH) is still the main risk factor for several complications, including coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and renal dysfunction. Purpose This study aimed to determine the epidemiological and therapeutic characteristics of patients treated for high blood pressure at the Cardiology Department of the General Hospital of Kinshasa. Methodology: A retrospective descriptive study of records of patients admitted for hypertension to the Department of Cardiology of the General Hospital of Kinshasa was conducted. This study covers two years from January 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023. Results The incidence was 9.2% in the cardiology department and 2.9% in the general hospital. The average age was 55.4 to 12.3, the extremes were 25 to 90, and patients were 51 to 75 years old (54.1%). Women are more affected (59.5%), and the male-female ratio is 0.6. Alcohol consumption is the main complaint in 35.1 percent of cases, while the most reported clinical signs are dizziness, headaches, and muscle dyspnea in 89.3 percent, 77.1 percent, and 53.4 percent, respectively. As for treatment, 100% of patients received medical care and 55.7 % of patients had low-salt diets. According to the distribution of prescribed drugs, diuretics (100%), conversion enzyme inhibitors (78.6%), anticalcitamines (66.4%), and beta-blockers (41.2%) are the most prescribed drugs. In 94.6% of cases, the result was good, with a death rate of 5.4%. Conclusion We can say that arterial hypertension is now a major concern for all medical and paramedical staff. Despite the efforts currently being made, we still see many patients with hypertension every day

Impact of Plasmodium falciparum infection on the frequency of moderate to severe anaemia in children below 10 years of age in Gabon

BACKGROUND: Improving the understanding of childhood malarial anaemia may help in the design of appropriate management strategies. METHODS: A prospective observational study over a two-year period to assess the burden of anaemia and its relationship to Plasmodium falciparum infection and age was conducted in 8,195 febrile Gabonese children. RESULTS: The proportion of children with anaemia was 83.6% (n = 6830), higher in children between the ages of six and 23 months. Those under three years old were more likely to develop moderate to severe anaemia (68%). The prevalence of malaria was 42.7% and P. falciparum infection was more frequent in children aged 36-47 months (54.5%). The proportion of anaemic children increased with parasite density (p 60%), but was unrelated to P. falciparum parasitaemia. CONCLUSION: Malaria is one of the main risk factors for childhood anaemia which represents a public health problem in Gabon. The risk of severe malarial anaemia increases up the age of three years. Efforts to improve strategies for controlling anaemia and malaria are needed

Newcastle Disease Virus in Madagascar: Identification of an Original Genotype Possibly Deriving from a Died Out Ancestor of Genotype IV

In Madagascar, Newcastle disease (ND) has become enzootic after the first documented epizootics in 1946, with recurrent annual outbreaks causing mortality up to 40%. Four ND viruses recently isolated in Madagascar were genotypically and pathotypically characterised. By phylogenetic inference based on the F and HN genes, and also full-genome sequence analyses, the NDV Malagasy isolates form a cluster distant enough to constitute a new genotype hereby proposed as genotype XI. This new genotype is presumably deriving from an ancestor close to genotype IV introduced in the island probably more than 50 years ago. Our data show also that all the previously described neutralising epitopes are conserved between Malagasy and vaccine strains. However, the potential implication in vaccination failures of specific amino acid substitutions predominantly found on surface-exposed epitopes of F and HN proteins is discussed

Self-Reactivities to the Non-Erythroid Alpha Spectrin Correlate with Cerebral Malaria in Gabonese Children

BACKGROUND: Hypergammaglobulinemia and polyclonal B-cell activation commonly occur in Plasmodium sp. infections. Some of the antibodies produced recognize self-components and are correlated with disease severity in P. falciparum malaria. However, it is not known whether some self-reactive antibodies produced during P. falciparum infection contribute to the events leading to cerebral malaria (CM). We show here a correlation between self-antibody responses to a human brain protein and high levels of circulating TNF alpha (TNFα), with the manifestation of CM in Gabonese children. METHODOLOGY: To study the role of self-reactive antibodies associated to the development of P. falciparum cerebral malaria, we used a combination of quantitative immunoblotting and multivariate analysis to analyse correlation between the reactivity of circulating IgG with a human brain protein extract and TNFα concentrations in cohorts of uninfected controls (UI) and P. falciparum-infected Gabonese children developing uncomplicated malaria (UM), severe non-cerebral malaria (SNCM), or CM. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: The repertoire of brain antigens recognized by plasma IgGs was more diverse in infected than in UI individuals. Anti-brain reactivity was significantly higher in the CM group than in the UM and SNCM groups. IgG self-reactivity to brain antigens was also correlated with plasma IgG levels and age. We found that 90% of CM patients displayed reactivity to a high-molecular mass band containing the spectrin non-erythroid alpha chain. Reactivity with this band was correlated with high TNFα concentrations in CM patients. These results strongly suggest that an antibody response to brain antigens induced by P. falciparum infection may be associated with pathogenic mechanisms in patients developing CM