The Rise of Chinese Investments in Africa: For Whose Benefit?

Ever since China’s rise as a global superpower, there have been numerous debates about its role in Africa both from an Afrocentric and Eurocentric perspective. This is while some view its presence in Africa as that of a donor because of its growing investments, others are not entirely convinced and see China’s rising footprints in Africa as another colonialist state in need of looting Africa its resources. By utilizing a qualitative methodology, this paper ponders Chinese investments in Africa with the view of assessing the drivers underpinning China-Africa relations and how this has been beneficial to both parties concerned. In this vein, the study shows that China-Africa engagements are not something new, their relations dates back for decades though became more prominent from the 1950s after the Bandung Conference. Since then, China has risen to be a prominent player with regards to investments in Africa. It has further established various institutes aimed at strengthening its grip as a noticeable state in Africa’s development and political landscapes. The paper concludes by outlining that China has in some way benefited Africa through its investments over the past few decades and these relations have been beneficial to both parties. However, it argues that for more prosperous relations moving forward, African leaders should utilize institutes such as the Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation (FOCAC) to articulate clear policies for their engagement(s) with China and to protect their small and fragile economies from cheap Chinese imports.&nbsp

Corruption and Its Implications for Development and Good Governance: A Perspective from Post-Colonial Africa

Abstract: One of the many impediments to a specific region, country and/or continents political, social and economic growth prospects is corruption, the aim of this paper is to unearth the drivers and consequences of corruption in post-colonial Africa. Corruption is a global phenomenon; however when observing global corruption statistics and/or trends, it seems to be more prominent in underdeveloped continents such as Africa. Corruption in Africa is purely driven by low levels of economic growth, bad governance structures weak constitutions political instability, high levels of poverty coupled with high and ever-increasing levels of unemployment. We argue that post the colonial era, there has been a rise of corruption activities within the continent where individuals including some African heads of states have looted the continent of its resources meant for the general populace. In this sense, corruption takes resources meant for the poor, limits foreign direct investments (FDI) and has severe effects on a continent that is already the least developed in the world

Medical students using the technique of 55-word stories to reflect on a 6-week rotation during the integrated primary care block

Background. Reflection and reflective practice are identified as a core competency for graduates in health professions education. Students are expected to be in a position to process experiences in a variety of ways through reflective learning. In doing so, they can explore the understanding of their actions and experiences, and the impact of these on themselves and others. Objectives. To draw on 5-weekly reflections by final-year medical students during the integrated primary care block placement. These reflections explore the learning that occurred during the rotation and the change in experiences during this period, and illustrate the use of reflection as a tool to support the development of professional practice. Methods. This descriptive qualitative study analysed students’ 55-word reflective stories during a 6-week preceptorship in either a rural or urban primary healthcare centre. The writing technique of short 55-word reflective stories was used to record student experiences. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted using MAXQDA software. This involved identifying the most commonly used words for each week through a word cloud, highlighting each week’s most notable focus for learning to generate themes and sub-themes. Results. Analysis of 127 logbook entries generated 464 stories on a range of experiences that had a significant impact on learning. Students’ reflections in the first 2 weeks were linked to personal experiences and views about the block. In subsequent weeks, reflections focused on the individual responses of students to the learning experiences regarding the curriculum, patient care, ethics, professionalism and the health system. Conclusions. The reflections highlighted the key learning experiences of the medical students and illustrated how meaning is constructed from these experiences. The 55-word stories as a reflection tool have potential to support reflection for students, and provide valuable insight into medical students’ learning journey during their clinical training

International Graduate Student Labor as Mergers and Acquisitions

This study critically examines the self-reported experiences of international graduate students using a framework understanding internationalization as acquisitions and mergers. Students reported positive experiences with their advisors. However, students’ accounts of laboratories and other research settings were diverse, ranging from co-contributors to knowledge and respected collaborators to employed cheap labor that their advisors depended upon for their own gains. In some cases, these students feared that their funding would be cut off or dismissed from the program (and consequently deported from the US) if they challenged their advisors. Whether such apprehensions were valid is unknown as this study focused on perceptions of the students only. The findings do lead to important future directions for research and practice

Development of HPLC analytical protocol for artemisinin quantification in plant materials and extracts SUMMARY

Abstract Quantification of artemisinin purity and amount in plant material and extracts to date has been characterized by a considerable inconsistency in values. This is likely to be due to the adoption of varied analytical procedures and use of inappropriate to the specific applications analytical techniques. In this paper we are attempting to further develop artemisinin analysis to the point where a universally acceptable reference method is available to the research and end-users communities. Thus, we have developed and validated an HPLC-RI method and optimised an HPLC-ELSD method. We used the gradient HPLC-UV method recommended by the current artemisinin Monograph as a comparison for the method improvements presented herein, and show the limitations for its application scope. The data reported should help to allow more reliable laboratory analysis of artemisinin in both pure samples and in A. annua extracts

Mortality under early access to antiretroviral therapy vs Eswatini’s national standard of care : the MaxART clustered randomized stepped‐wedge trial

Objectives Current WHO guidelines recommend the treatment of all HIV-infected individuals with antiretroviral therapy (ART) to improve survival and quality of life, and decrease infection of others. MaxART is the first implementation trial of this strategy embedded within a government-managed health system, and assesses mortality as a secondary outcome. Because primary findings strongly supported scale-up of the 'treat all' strategy (hereafter Treat All), this analysis examines mortality as an additional indicator of its impact. Methods MaxART was conducted in 14 Eswatinian health clinics through a clinic-based stepped-wedge design, by transitioning clinics from then-national standard of care (SoC) to the Treat All intervention. All-cause, disease-related, and HIV-related mortality were analysed using the Cox proportional hazards model, censoring SoC participants at clinic transition. Median follow-up time among study participants was 292 days. There were 36/2034 deaths in SoC (1.77%) and 49/1371 deaths in Treat All (3.57%). Results Between September 2014 and August 2017, 3405 participants were enrolled. In SoC and Treat All interventions, respectively, the multivariable-adjusted 12-month all-cause mortality rates were 1.42% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66-2.17] and 1.60% (95% CI: 0.78-2.40), disease-related mortality rates were 1.02% (95% CI: 0.40-1.64) and 1.10% (95% CI: 0.46-1.73), and HIV-related mortality rates were 1.03% (95% CI: 0.40-1.65) and 0.99% (95% CI: 0.40-1.58). Treat All had no impact on all-cause [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.12, 95% CI: 0.58-2.18, P = 0.73], disease-related (HR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.52-2.11, P = 0.90), or HIV-related mortality (HR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.46-1.87, P = 0.83). Conclusion There was no immediate benefit of the Treat All strategy on mortality, nor evidence of harm. Longer follow-up of participants is needed to establish long-term consequences

Using detergent to enhance detection sensitivity of African trypanosomes in human CSF and blood by Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP)

<p><b>Background:</b> The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, with its advantages of simplicity, rapidity and cost effectiveness, has evolved as one of the most sensitive and specific methods for the detection of a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms including African trypanosomes. While many LAMP-based assays are sufficiently sensitive to detect DNA well below the amount present in a single parasite, the detection limit of the assay is restricted by the number of parasites present in the volume of sample assayed; i.e. 1 per µL or 103 per mL. We hypothesized that clinical sensitivities that mimic analytical limits based on parasite DNA could be approached or even obtained by simply adding detergent to the samples prior to LAMP assay.</p> <p><b>Methodology/Principal Findings:</b> For proof of principle we used two different LAMP assays capable of detecting 0.1 fg genomic DNA (0.001 parasite). The assay was tested on dilution series of intact bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood with or without the addition of the detergent Triton X-100 and 60 min incubation at ambient temperature. With human CSF and in the absence of detergent, the LAMP detection limit for live intact parasites using 1 µL of CSF as the source of template was at best 103 parasites/mL. Remarkably, detergent enhanced LAMP assay reaches sensitivity about 100 to 1000-fold lower; i.e. 10 to 1 parasite/mL. Similar detergent-mediated increases in LAMP assay analytical sensitivity were also found using DNA extracted from filter paper cards containing blood pretreated with detergent before card spotting or blood samples spotted on detergent pretreated cards.</p> <p><b>Conclusions/Significance:</b> This simple procedure for the enhanced detection of live African trypanosomes in biological fluids by LAMP paves the way for the adaptation of LAMP for the economical and sensitive diagnosis of other protozoan parasites and microorganisms that cause diseases that plague the developing world.</p&gt

A method of active case detection to target reservoirs of asymptomatic malaria and gametocyte carriers in a rural area in Southern Province, Zambia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Asymptomatic reservoirs of malaria parasites are common yet are difficult to detect, posing a problem for malaria control. If control programmes focus on mosquito control and treatment of symptomatic individuals only, malaria can quickly resurge if interventions are scaled back. Foci of parasite populations must be identified and treated. Therefore, an active case detection system that facilitates detection of asymptomatic parasitaemia and gametocyte carriers was developed and tested in the Macha region in southern Zambia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Each week, nurses at participating rural health centres (RHC) communicated the number of rapid diagnostic test (RDT) positive malaria cases to a central research team. During the dry season when malaria transmission was lowest, the research team followed up each positive case reported by the RHC by a visit to the homestead. The coordinates of the location were obtained by GPS and all consenting residents completed a questionnaire and were screened for malaria using thick blood film, RDT, nested-PCR, and RT-PCR for asexual and sexual stage parasites. Persons who tested positive by RDT were treated with artemether/lumefantrine (Coartem^®). Data were compared with a community-based study of randomly selected households to assess the prevalence of asymptomatic parasitaemia in the same localities in September 2009.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, 186 and 141 participants residing in 23 case and 24 control homesteads, respectively, were screened. In the case homesteads for which a control population was available (10 of the 23), household members of clinically diagnosed cases had a 8.0% prevalence of malaria using PCR compared to 0.7% PCR positive individuals in the control group (p = 0.006). The case and control groups had a gametocyte prevalence of 2.3% and 0%, respectively but the difference was not significant (p = 0.145).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This pilot project showed that active case detection is feasible and can identify reservoirs of asymptomatic infection. A larger sample size, data over multiple low transmission seasons, and in areas with different transmission dynamics are needed to further validate this approach.</p

A Viral Vectored Prime-Boost Immunization Regime Targeting the Malaria Pfs25 Antigen Induces Transmission-Blocking Activity

The ookinete surface protein Pfs25 is a macrogamete-to-ookinete/ookinete stage antigen of Plasmodium falciparum, capable of exerting high-level anti-malarial transmission-blocking activity following immunization with recombinant protein-in-adjuvant formulations. Here, this antigen was expressed in recombinant chimpanzee adenovirus 63 (ChAd63), human adenovirus serotype 5 (AdHu5) and modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) viral vectored vaccines. Two immunizations were administered to mice in a heterologous prime-boost regime. Immunization of mice with AdHu5 Pfs25 at week 0 and MVA Pfs25 at week 10 (Ad-MVA Pfs25) resulted in high anti-Pfs25 IgG titers, consisting of predominantly isotypes IgG1 and IgG2a. A single priming immunization with ChAd63 Pfs25 was as effective as AdHu5 Pfs25 with respect to ELISA titers at 8 weeks post-immunization. Sera from Ad-MVA Pfs25 immunized mice inhibited the transmission of P. falciparum to the mosquito both ex vivo and in vivo. In a standard membrane-feeding assay using NF54 strain P. falciparum, oocyst intensity in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes was significantly reduced in an IgG concentration-dependent manner when compared to control feeds (96% reduction of intensity, 78% reduction in prevalence at a 1 in 5 dilution of sera). In addition, an in vivo transmission-blocking effect was also demonstrated by direct feeding of immunized mice infected with Pfs25DR3, a chimeric P. berghei line expressing Pfs25 in place of endogenous Pbs25. In this assay the density of Pfs25DR3 oocysts was significantly reduced when mosquitoes were fed on vaccinated as compared to control mice (67% reduction of intensity, 28% reduction in prevalence) and specific IgG titer correlated with efficacy. These data confirm the utility of the adenovirus-MVA vaccine platform for the induction of antibodies with transmission-blocking activity, and support the continued development of this alternative approach to transmission-blocking malaria subunit vaccines