Using European travellers as an early alert to detect emerging pathogens in countries with limited laboratory resources

BACKGROUND: The volume, extent and speed of travel have dramatically increased in the past decades, providing the potential for an infectious disease to spread through the transportation network. By collecting information on the suspected place of infection, existing surveillance systems in industrialized countries may provide timely information for areas of the world without adequate surveillance currently in place. We present the results of a case study using reported cases of Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1 (Sd1) in European travellers to detect "events" of Sd1, related to either epidemic cases or endemic cases in developing countries. METHODS: We identified papers from a Medline search for reported events of Sd1 from 1940 to 2002. We requested data on shigella infections reported to the responsible surveillance entities in 17 European countries. Reports of Sd1 from the published literature were then compared with Sd1 notified cases among European travellers from 1990 to 2002. RESULTS: Prior to a large epidemic in 1999–2000, no cases of Sd1 had been identified in West Africa. However, if travellers had been used as an early warning, Sd1 could have been identified in this region as earlier as 1992. CONCLUSION: This project demonstrates that tracking diseases in European travellers could be used to detect emerging disease in developing countries. This approach should be further tested with a view to the continuous improvement of national health surveillance systems and existing European networks, and may play a significant role in aiding the international public health community to improve infectious disease control

[Methods and Expenditure for Protection Against Mosquitos in Households of Kinshasa, Zaire]

An investigation on the knowledge, behaviour and practices regarding the protection against mosquitoes was carried out in June 1990 among 420 households in six districts of urban Kinshasa. Most of the surveyed families (92.4 %) consider mosquitoes as a nuisance and 83.8 % say to do something about it. Among the latter, 43,5 % spend money for their protection: incense coils (85.6 %), insecticide sprays (55.5 %), bednets (38.6 %). In May 1990, families have spent a median sum of US$5.00, which was at that time about the price of an impregnated bednet. 89.5$ 4.00 is judged as acceptable). Impregnated bednets being an efficient method of malaria control, financially accessible and acceptable, their utilization should be further encouraged by the national programme of malaria control and primary health care

Pratiques et dépenses pour la protection contre les moustiques dans les ménages à Kinshasa, Zaïre

An investigation on the knowledge, behaviour and practices regarding the protection against mosquitoes was carried out in June 1990 among 420 households in six districts of urban Kinshasa. Most of the surveyed families (92.4%) consider mosquitoes as a nuisance and 83.8% say to do something about it. Among the latter, 43.5% spend money for their protection: incense coils (85.6%), insecticide sprays (55.5%), bednets (38.6%). In May 1990, families have spent a median sum of US$5.00, which was at that time about the price of an impregnated bednet. 89.5$ 4.00 is judged as acceptable). Impregnated bednets being an efficient method of malaria control, financially accessible and acceptable, their utilization should be further encouraged by the national programme of malaria control and primary health care.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

A study of the alkylation and rearrangement products of chiral 1,3-oxazolidine- and thiazolidine-2-thiones

Homochiral 1,3-oxazolidine-2-thiones and 1,3-thiazolidine-2-thiones are useful chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis. Our interest in chiral amino dienes drove us to consider the preparation of dienes (1a) and (1b) bearing those auxiliaries. Trying to synthesize such dienes by alkylation of the corresponding heterocycles with 1,4-dihalogeno-2-butenes, we found several rearrangement reactions leading to new compounds that we fully characterized. In particular, we found a new access towards 4-vinyl-1,3-thiazolidin-2-ones

Immunoenzymatic localization of prolactin-like immunoreactivity in decidual cells of the endometrium from pregnant and nonpregnant women

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

outsidebroadcast-rigging-bitesize20-truckarrives.mp4

<div>This video is part of a series that shows how riggers placed cables, cameras, microphones and other vital equipment in place at the beginning of an outside broadcast assignment.</div><div><br></div><div>This footage was filmed in May 2016 on location at Northop Hall hotel near Hawarden in Flintshire, United Kingdom.</div><div><br></div><div>A team of veteran television outside broadcast camera operators, electricians, riggers, sound engineers, producers and production assistants who worked on BBC outside broadcasts in the 1960s and 1970s recreated various aspects of their work.</div><div><br></div><div>Their working practices and memories were filmed using fixed miniature cameras and recorded using wireless microphones. The recreations and conversations were free-flowing with occasional questions and interventions from the ADAPT crew.</div><div><br></div><div><b>About the project</b></div><div>ADAPT (2013-8) is a European Research Council project at Royal Holloway University of London. The project studies the history of technologies in television, focussing on their everyday use in production activities.<br></div><div><br></div><div>ADAPT examines what technologies were adopted and why; how they worked; and how people worked with them. As well as publishing written accounts, the project carries out 'simulations' that reunite retired equipment with the people who used to use it.</div><div><br></div><div>Participants in these simulations explain how each machine worked and how different machines worked together as an 'array'; how they adapted the machines; and how they worked together as teams within the overall production process.</div