Visual Loss in Postconflict Southern Sudan

Buchan discusses two studies in southern Sudan that provide the first estimates of the prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision for this region since before the 21-year conflict began

Prevalence of Trachoma in Unity State, South Sudan: Results from a Large-Scale Population-Based Survey and Potential Implications for Further Surveys

Large parts of South Sudan are thought to be trachoma endemic but baseline data, required to initiate interventions, are few. District-by-district surveys, currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), are often not financially or logistically viable. We therefore adapted existing WHO guidelines and combined eight counties (equivalent to districts) of Unity State into one survey area, randomly sampling 40 villages using a population-based survey design. This decision was based on a trachoma risk map and a trachoma rapid assessment, both identifying the state as likely to be highly endemic. The survey confirmed trachoma as being hyperendemic throughout Unity State, meaning that large-scale intervention should be initiated now. Simulation studies were conducted to determine the likely outcome if fewer (n = 20) or more (n = 60) villages had been sampled, confirming that precision decreased or increased, respectively. Importantly, simulation results also showed that all three sample sizes would have led to the same conclusion, namely the need for large-scale intervention. This finding suggests that district-by-district surveys may not be required for areas where trachoma is suspected to be highly prevalent but that are lacking baseline data; instead districts may be combined into a larger survey area

The Ovaherero/Nama Genocide: A Case for an Apology and Reparations

This research examines the consequences of the Ovaherero and Nama massacres occurring in modern Namibia from 1904-08 and perpetuated by Imperial Germany. Recent political advances made by, among other groups, the Association of the Ovaherero Genocide in the United States of America, toward mutual understanding with the Federal Republic of Germany necessitates a comprehensive study about the event itself, its long-term implications, and the more current vocalization toward an apology and reparations for the Ovaherero and Nama peoples. Resulting from the Extermination Orders of 1904 and 1905 as articulated by Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Imperial Germany, over 65,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama peoples perished in what was the first systematic genocide of the twentieth century. This study assesses the historical circumstances surrounding these genocidal policies carried out by Imperial Germany, and seeks to place the devastating loss of life, culture, and property within its proper historical context. The question of restorative justice also receives analysis, as this research evaluates the case made by the Ovaherero and Nama peoples in their petitions for compensation. Beyond the history of the event itself and its long-term effects, the paper adopts a comparative approach by which to integrate the Ovaherero and Nama calls for reparations into an established precedent

The effect of Irvingia gabonensis seeds on body weight and blood lipids of obese subjects in Cameroon

Dietary fibres are frequently used for the treatment of obesity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Irvingia gabonensis seeds in the management of obesity. This was carried out as a double blind randomised study involving 40 subjects (mean age 42.4 years). Twenty-eight subjects received Irvingia gabonensis (IG) (1.05 g three time a day for one month) while 12 were on placebo (P) and the same schedule. During the one-month study period all subjects were on a normocaloric diet evaluated every week by a dietetic record book. At the end, the mean body weight of the IG group was decreased by 5.26 ± 2.37% (p < 0.0001) and that of the placebo group by 1.32 ± 0.41% (p < 0.02). The difference observed between the IG and the placebo groups was significant (p < 0.01). The obese patients under Irvingia gabonensis treatment also had a significant decrease of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and an increase of HDL-cholesterol. On the other hand, the placebo group did not manifest any changes in blood lipid components. Irvingia gabonensis seed may find application in weight lose

Denotational Semantics of Mobility in Unifying Theories of Programming (UTP)

UTP promotes the unification of programming theories and has been used successfully for giving denotational semantics to Imperative Programming, CSP process algebra, and the Circus family of programming languages, amongst others. In this thesis, we present an extension of UTP-CSP (the UTP semantics for CSP) with the concept of mobility. Mobility is concerned with the movement of an entity from one location (the source) to another (the target). We deal with two forms of mobility: • Channel mobility, concerned with the movement of links between processes, models networks with a dynamic topology; and • Strong process mobility, which requires to suspend a running process first, and then move both its code and its state upon suspension, and finally resume the process on the target upon reception. Concerning channel mobility: • We model channels as concrete entities in CSP, and show that it does not affect the underlying CSP semantics. • A requirement is that a process may not own a channel prior to receiving it. In CSP, the set of channels owned by a process (called its interface) is static by definition. We argue that making the interface variable introduces a paradox. We resolve this by introducing a new concept: the capability of a process, and show how it relates to the interface. We then define channel mobility as the operation that changes the interface of a process, but not its capability. We also provide a functional link between static CSP and its mobile version. Concerning strong mobility, we provide: • The first extension of CSP with jump features, using the concept of continuations. • A novel semantics for the generic interrupt (a parallel-based interrupt operator), using the concept of Bulk Synchronous Parallelism. We then define strong mobility as a specific interrupt operator in which the interrupt routine migrates the suspended program

Blindness in Sudan: Is It Time to Scrutinise Survey Methods?

Kuper and Gilbert discuss the limitations of a new survey of blindness in a war-torn area in southern Sudan, published in PLoS Medicine

Travel Is a Key Risk Factor for Malaria Transmission in Pre-Elimination Settings in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of the Literature and Meta-Analysis.

By sustaining transmission or causing malaria outbreaks, imported malaria undermines malaria elimination efforts. Few studies have examined the impact of travel on malaria epidemiology. We conducted a literature review and meta-analysis of studies investigating travel as a risk factor for malaria infection in sub-Saharan Africa using PubMed. We identified 22 studies and calculated a random-effects meta-analysis pooled odds ratio (OR) of 3.77 (95% CI: 2.49-5.70), indicating that travel is a significant risk factor for malaria infection. Odds ratios were particularly high in urban locations when travel was to rural areas, to more endemic/high transmission areas, and in young children. Although there was substantial heterogeneity in the magnitude of association across the studies, the pooled estimate and directional consistency support travel as an important risk factor for malaria infection