Continuity and changes in the morphology of urban Sudanese homes

Paper presented at the XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing, 27-30 September 2005,"Transforming Housing Environments through Design", University of Pretoria.Through a topological analysis of Sudanese house plans and settings, collected from the city of Omdurman, this paper detects a shift in the house type aspired and developed by people during the last four decades. The traditional mud house with its scattered rooms is no longer the prevailing trend; neither are its modified patterns, the institutional house. People today build a compact concrete frame house that encloses all spaces, activities, & people in one built unit. However, despite the new design trends some of the traditional house features, such as the high boundary walls and the segregation between male/female domains, continued to exist in the newly developed types of houses in Omdurman.Authors of papers in the proceedings and CD-ROM ceded copyright to the IAHS and UP. Authors furthermore declare that papers are their original work, not previously published and take responsibility for copyrighted excerpts from other works, included in their papers with due acknowledgment in the written manuscript. Furthermore, that papers describe genuine research or review work, contain no defamatory or unlawful statements and do not infringe the rights of others. The IAHS and UP may assign any or all of its rights and obligations under this agreement

Prevalence and Associated Symptoms of Helicobacter pylori Infection among Schoolchildren in Kassala State, East of Sudan

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of H. pylori infections among schoolchildren and investigate the associations between H. pylori seropositivity and existence of gastrointestinal symptoms. Methods. A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted during a period from January to December 2012 at Kassala state, east of Sudan. Schoolchildren from different primary schools were enrolled in the study. Sociodemographic characteristics and gastrointestinal symptoms were recorded from each child. A rapid immunochromatographic test was performed for the detection of H. pylori IgG antibodies. Data on patient demographic characteristics, clinical diagnosis, and findings of H. pylori infection were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics. Results. Among 431 schoolchildren, H. pylori seropositivity was found to be 21.8%. The majority of children (79; 84%) had BMI below the normal range. The most frequent symptoms associated with H. pylori infections were nausea (25.5%), followed by gastric pain (24.5%) and heart pain (20.2%). There were statistically significant differences in H. pylori seropositivity between boys and girls (p=0.003). Conclusions. The prevalence of H. pylori infection among schoolchildren in Kassala city has been documented. Although the majority of the disease was associated with several gastrointestinal symptoms, the role of infection in the etiology of abdominal symptoms needs further investigations

Informed decision-making before changing to RDT: a comparison of microscopy, rapid diagnostic test and molecular techniques for the diagnosis and identification of malaria parasites in Kassala, eastern Sudan

Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are promoted for the diagnosis of malaria in many countries. The question arises whether laboratories where the current method of diagnosis is microscopy should also switch to RDT. This problem was studied in Kassala, Sudan where the issue of switching to RDT is under discussion. Two hundred and three blood samples were collected from febrile patients suspected of having malaria. These were subsequently analysed with microscopy, RDT (SD Bioline P.f/P.v) and PCR for the detection and identification of Plasmodium parasites. Malaria parasites were detected in 36 blood samples when examined microscopically, 54 (26.6%) samples were found positive for malaria parasites by RDT, and 44 samples were positive by PCR. Further analysis showed that the RDT used in our study resulted in a relatively high number of false positive samples. When microscopy was compared with PCR, an agreement of 96.1% and k = 0.88 (sensitivity 85.7% and specificity 100%) was found. However, when RDT was compared with PCR, an agreement of only 81.2 and k = 0.48 (sensitivity 69% and specificity 84%) was found. PCR has proven to be one of the most specific and sensitive diagnostic methods, particularly for malaria cases with low parasitaemia. However, this technique has limitations in its routine use under resource-limited conditions, such as our study location. At present, based on these results, microscopy remains the best option for routine diagnosis of malaria in Kassala, eastern Suda

Daratumumab-based treatment for immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis

none269siBACKGROUND Systemic immunoglobulin light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is characterized by deposition of amyloid fibrils of light chains produced by clonal CD38+ plasma cells. Daratumumab, a human CD38-targeting antibody, may improve outcomes for this disease. METHODS We randomly assigned patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis to receive six cycles of bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone either alone (control group) or with subcutaneous daratumumab followed by single-agent daratumumab every 4 weeks for up to 24 cycles (daratumumab group). The primary end point was a hematologic complete response. RESULTS A total of 388 patients underwent randomization. The median follow-up was 11.4 months. The percentage of patients who had a hematologic complete response was significantly higher in the daratumumab group than in the control group (53.3% vs. 18.1%) (relative risk ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1 to 4.1; P<0.001). Survival free from major organ deterioration or hematologic progression favored the daratumumab group (hazard ratio for major organ deterioration, hematologic progression, or death, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.93; P=0.02). At 6 months, more cardiac and renal responses occurred in the daratumumab group than in the control group (41.5% vs. 22.2% and 53.0% vs. 23.9%, respectively). The four most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were lymphopenia (13.0% in the daratumumab group and 10.1% in the control group), pneumonia (7.8% and 4.3%, respectively), cardiac failure (6.2% and 4.8%), and diarrhea (5.7% and 3.7%). Systemic administration-related reactions to daratumumab occurred in 7.3% of the patients. A total of 56 patients died (27 in the daratumumab group and 29 in the control group), most due to amyloidosis-related cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis, the addition of daratumumab to bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone was associated with higher frequencies of hematologic complete response and survival free from major organ deterioration or hematologic progression.noneKastritis E.; Palladini G.; Minnema M.C.; Wechalekar A.D.; Jaccard A.; Lee H.C.; Sanchorawala V.; Gibbs S.; Mollee P.; Venner C.P.; Lu J.; Schonland S.; Gatt M.E.; Suzuki K.; Kim K.; Cibeira M.T.; Beksac M.; Libby E.; Valent J.; Hungria V.; Wong S.W.; Rosenzweig M.; Bumma N.; Huart A.; Dimopoulos M.A.; Bhutani D.; Waxman A.J.; Goodman S.A.; Zonder J.A.; Lam S.; Song K.; Hansen T.; Manier S.; Roeloffzen W.; Jamroziak K.; Kwok F.; Shimazaki C.; Kim J.-S.; Crusoe E.; Ahmadi T.; Tran N.; Qin X.; Vasey S.Y.; Tromp B.; Schecter J.M.; Weiss B.M.; Zhuang S.H.; Vermeulen J.; Merlini G.; Comenzo R.L., Bradley Augustson, Fiona Kwok, Peter Mollee, Simon Gibbs, Chantal Doyen, Greet Bries, Isabelle Vande Broek, Ka Lung Wu, Koen Theunissen, Koen Van Eygen, Michel Delforge, Nathalie Meuleman, Philip Vlummens, Angelo Maiolino, Breno Moreno de Gusmão, Carlos Eduardo Miguel, Edvan Crusoe, Fernanda Moura, Fernanda Seguro, Jandey Bigonha, Juliane Musacchio, Karla Zanella, Laura Garcia, Marcelo Eduardo Zanella Capra, Reijane Alves de Assis, Rosane Bittencourt, Vania Hungria, Walter Braga, Wolney Barreto, Christopher Venner, Donna Reece, Emilie Lemieux-Blanchard, Kevin Song, Michael Sebag, Selay Lam, Victor Zepeda, Haitao Zhang, Jianda Hu, Jin Lu, Juan Li, Songfu Jiang, Ting Niu, Wenming Chen, Xiaonong Chen, Zhen Cai, Zhou Fude, Maja Oelholm Vase, Morten Salomo, Niels Abildgaard, Alain Fuzibet, Anne-Marie Stoppa, Arnaud Jaccard, Bertrand Arnulf, Bruno Moulin, Bruno Royer, David Ghez, Denis Caillot, Dominique Chauveau, Franck Bridoux, Lauriane Clement-Filliatre, Lionel Karlin, Lotfi Benboubker, Mamoun Dib, Margaret Macro, Mohamad Mohty, Olivier Decaux, Olivier Hermine, Olivier Tournilhac, Philippe Moreau, Salomon Manier, Sylvain Choquet, Véronique Dorvaux, Alexander Carpinteiro, Axel Nogai, Britta Besemer, Christoph Roellig, Roland Fenk, Stefan Knop, Stefan Schönland, Timon Hansen, Argiris Symeonidis, Efstathios Kastritis, Gabor Mikala, Tamás Masszi, Zsolt Nagy, Celia Suriu, Hila Magen, Iuliana Vaxman, Lev Shvidel, Meir Preis, Moshe Gatt, Noa Lavi, Osnat Jarchowsky, Tamar Tadmor, Yael Cohen, Angelo Vacca, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Boccadoro, Maurizio Martelli, Maurizio Musso, Michele Cavo, Chihiro Shimazaki, Hiroyuki Takamatsu, Kazutaka Sunami, Kenshi Suzuki, Nagaaki Katoh, Shinsuke Iida, Takayuki Ikezoe, Tomoaki Fujisaki, Yuta Katayama, Chang Ki Min, Ho-Jin Shin, Jin Seok Kim, Jung Yong Hong, Ki Hyun Kim, Sung-Soo Yoon, Aline Ramirez, Alvaro Cabrera, Christian Ramos, David Gomez Almaguer, Deborah Martinez, Guillermo Ruiz, Helen Dayani Caballero, Juan Antonio Flores Jimenez, Annemiek Broijl, Laurens Nieuwenhuizen, Monique Minnema, Paula Ypma, Wilfried Roeloffzen, Dominik Dytfeld, Grzegorz Charlinski, Grzegorz Helbig, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Sebastian Grosicki, Wieslaw Jedrzejczak, Albert Oriol Rocafiguera, Elham Askari, Fernando Escalante Barrigon, Isabel Krsnik Castello, Javier De la Rubia Comos, Jesus Martin Sanchez, Joaquin Martinez Lopez, Jose Angel Hernandez Rivas, Luis Felipe Casado Montero, Maria Jesus Blanchard Rodriguez, Maria Teresa Cibeira Lopez, Maria Victoria Mateos Manteca, Marta Sonia Gonzalez Perez, Mercedes Gironella Mesa, Rafael Rios Tamayo, Ramon Lecumberri Villamediana, Ricarda Garcia Sanchez, Sunil Lakhwani, Yolanda Gonzalez, Hareth Nahi, Kristina Carlsson, Markus Hansson, Ulf-Henrik Mellqvist, Ali Unal, Burhan Ferhanoglu, Hayri Ozsan, Levent Undar, Mehmet Turgut, Mehmet Yilmaz, Meral Beksac, Muhlis Cem Ar, Muzaffer Demir, Sevgi Besisik, Ashutosh Wechalekar, Jamie Cavenagh, Jim Cavet, Mark Cook, Rachel Hall, Adam Waxman, Anuj Mahindra, Cesar Rodriguez Valdes, Christine Ye, Craig Reeder, Daphne Friedman, David Siegel, Divaya Bhutani, Edward Libby, Eva Medvedova, Frank Passero, Giada Bianchi, Giampaolo Talamo, Guido Tricot, Hans Lee, Heather Landau, Jan Moreb, Jason Valent, Jeffrey Matous, Jeffrey A Zonder, Jesus Berdeja, Jonathan Kaufman, Keith Stockerl-Goldstein, Keren Osman, Ketan Doshi, Kevin Barton, Larry Anderson, Manisha Bhutani, Mehmet Kocoglu, Michael Rosenzweig, Michael Schuster, Michaela Liedtke, Morie Gertz, Naresh Bumma, Natalie Callander, Raymond Comenzo, Robert Vescio, Roger Pearse, Sandy W Wong, Stacey A Goodman, Stefano Tarantolo, Taimur Sher, Tibor Kovacsovics, Tomer Mark, Vaishali Sanchorawala, William BensingerKastritis E.; Palladini G.; Minnema M.C.; Wechalekar A.D.; Jaccard A.; Lee H.C.; Sanchorawala V.; Gibbs S.; Mollee P.; Venner C.P.; Lu J.; Schonland S.; Gatt M.E.; Suzuki K.; Kim K.; Cibeira M.T.; Beksac M.; Libby E.; Valent J.; Hungria V.; Wong S.W.; Rosenzweig M.; Bumma N.; Huart A.; Dimopoulos M.A.; Bhutani D.; Waxman A.J.; Goodman S.A.; Zonder J.A.; Lam S.; Song K.; Hansen T.; Manier S.; Roeloffzen W.; Jamroziak K.; Kwok F.; Shimazaki C.; Kim J.-S.; Crusoe E.; Ahmadi T.; Tran N.; Qin X.; Vasey S.Y.; Tromp B.; Schecter J.M.; Weiss B.M.; Zhuang S.H.; Vermeulen J.; Merlini G.; Comenzo R.L., Bradley Augustson, Fiona Kwok, Peter Mollee, Simon Gibbs, Chantal Doyen, Greet Bries, Isabelle Vande Broek, Ka Lung Wu, Koen Theunissen, Koen Van Eygen, Michel Delforge, Nathalie Meuleman, Philip Vlummens, Angelo Maiolino, Breno Moreno de Gusmão, Carlos Eduardo Miguel, Edvan Crusoe, Fernanda Moura, Fernanda Seguro, Jandey Bigonha, Juliane Musacchio, Karla Zanella, Laura Garcia, Marcelo Eduardo Zanella Capra, Reijane Alves de Assis, Rosane Bittencourt, Vania Hungria, Walter Braga, Wolney Barreto, Christopher Venner, Donna Reece, Emilie Lemieux-Blanchard, Kevin Song, Michael Sebag, Selay Lam, Victor Zepeda, Haitao Zhang, Jianda Hu, Jin Lu, Juan Li, Songfu Jiang, Ting Niu, Wenming Chen, Xiaonong Chen, Zhen Cai, Zhou Fude, Maja Oelholm Vase, Morten Salomo, Niels Abildgaard, Alain Fuzibet, Anne-Marie Stoppa, Arnaud Jaccard, Bertrand Arnulf, Bruno Moulin, Bruno Royer, David Ghez, Denis Caillot, Dominique Chauveau, Franck Bridoux, Lauriane Clement-Filliatre, Lionel Karlin, Lotfi Benboubker, Mamoun Dib, Margaret Macro, Mohamad Mohty, Olivier Decaux, Olivier Hermine, Olivier Tournilhac, Philippe Moreau, Salomon Manier, Sylvain Choquet, Véronique Dorvaux, Alexander Carpinteiro, Axel Nogai, Britta Besemer, Christoph Roellig, Roland Fenk, Stefan Knop, Stefan Schönland, Timon Hansen, Argiris Symeonidis, Efstathios Kastritis, Gabor Mikala, Tamás Masszi, Zsolt Nagy, Celia Suriu, Hila Magen, Iuliana Vaxman, Lev Shvidel, Meir Preis, Moshe Gatt, Noa Lavi, Osnat Jarchowsky, Tamar Tadmor, Yael Cohen, Angelo Vacca, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Boccadoro, Maurizio Martelli, Maurizio Musso, Michele Cavo, Chihiro Shimazaki, Hiroyuki Takamatsu, Kazutaka Sunami, Kenshi Suzuki, Nagaaki Katoh, Shinsuke Iida, Takayuki Ikezoe, Tomoaki Fujisaki, Yuta Katayama, Chang Ki Min, Ho-Jin Shin, Jin Seok Kim, Jung Yong Hong, Ki Hyun Kim, Sung-Soo Yoon, Aline Ramirez, Alvaro Cabrera, Christian Ramos, David Gomez Almaguer, Deborah Martinez, Guillermo Ruiz, Helen Dayani Caballero, Juan Antonio Flores Jimenez, Annemiek Broijl, Laurens Nieuwenhuizen, Monique Minnema, Paula Ypma, Wilfried Roeloffzen, Dominik Dytfeld, Grzegorz Charlinski, Grzegorz Helbig, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Sebastian Grosicki, Wieslaw Jedrzejczak, Albert Oriol Rocafiguera, Elham Askari, Fernando Escalante Barrigon, Isabel Krsnik Castello, Javier De la Rubia Comos, Jesus Martin Sanchez, Joaquin Martinez Lopez, Jose Angel Hernandez Rivas, Luis Felipe Casado Montero, Maria Jesus Blanchard Rodriguez, Maria Teresa Cibeira Lopez, Maria Victoria Mateos Manteca, Marta Sonia Gonzalez Perez, Mercedes Gironella Mesa, Rafael Rios Tamayo, Ramon Lecumberri Villamediana, Ricarda Garcia Sanchez, Sunil Lakhwani, Yolanda Gonzalez, Hareth Nahi, Kristina Carlsson, Markus Hansson, Ulf-Henrik Mellqvist, Ali Unal, Burhan Ferhanoglu, Hayri Ozsan, Levent Undar, Mehmet Turgut, Mehmet Yilmaz, Meral Beksac, Muhlis Cem Ar, Muzaffer Demir, Sevgi Besisik, Ashutosh Wechalekar, Jamie Cavenagh, Jim Cavet, Mark Cook, Rachel Hall, Adam Waxman, Anuj Mahindra, Cesar Rodriguez Valdes, Christine Ye, Craig Reeder, Daphne Friedman, David Siegel, Divaya Bhutani, Edward Libby, Eva Medvedova, Frank Passero, Giada Bianchi, Giampaolo Talamo, Guido Tricot, Hans Lee, Heather Landau, Jan Moreb, Jason Valent, Jeffrey Matous, Jeffrey A Zonder, Jesus Berdeja, Jonathan Kaufman, Keith Stockerl-Goldstein, Keren Osman, Ketan Doshi, Kevin Barton, Larry Anderson, Manisha Bhutani, Mehmet Kocoglu, Michael Rosenzweig, Michael Schuster, Michaela Liedtke, Morie Gertz, Naresh Bumma, Natalie Callander, Raymond Comenzo, Robert Vescio, Roger Pearse, Sandy W Wong, Stacey A Goodman, Stefano Tarantolo, Taimur Sher, Tibor Kovacsovics, Tomer Mark, Vaishali Sanchorawala, William Bensinge