Insulin resistance and arterial stiffness: impact of gestational diabetes on pulse wave velocity

Background: Gestational diabetes is an intolerance of glucose with the first appearance during the pregnancy. This hyperglycaemia status, because of the pre-existing insulin-resistance, constitute a favourable land of arterial stiffness. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of non obese gestational diabetes on arterial stiffness by measuring the pulse wave velocity (PWV).Methods: We recruited 60 pregnant women aged from 20 to 35 years old. They were between twentieth four and thirtieth five weeks of gestational age. Subjects were divided into two groups: the first group (G1), considered as control group, included 25 normoglycemic pregnant subjects without any history of illness or risk factors of gestational diabetes; the second group (G2) included 35 women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). All pregnant women had not history of smoking, were not taking decoction or medicine, which could disturb pregnancy evolution. Anthropo-physiological and biochemical parameters studied, were: age, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), triglyceride, cholesterol and HOMA-IR index. The PWV between finger and toe (PWVft) was measured by pOpmètre®.Results: The two groups are matched by age (G1:28±4ans; G2:29±3ans) and BMI (G1:25.6±1.27; G2:26.9±1.3). Blood pressure (BP) values are in normal interval (systolic BP: [110-132mmHg]; diastolic BP: [63-87mmHg]; mean BP: [79-103mmHg]). Total cholesterol (G1:0.95±0.08;G2:2.4±0.7; p˂0.0001), HDL cholesterol (G1:0.44±0.02; G2:0.76±0.2; p˂0.0001, LDL cholesterol (G1:0.40±0.05; G2:1.3±0.5; p˂0.0001), triglyceride (G1:0.57±0.45; G2:1.6±0.4;p˂0.0001), HOMA.IR (G1:1.31±1.05; G2:7.4±1.07; p˂0.01), PWVft (G1:5.99±1.23; G2:10.3±1.9; p˂0.0001) are significantly higher in diabetic group. PWVft is positively correlate to HOMA-IR index, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (r=0.3348, p=0.032; r=0.5275, p˂0.0001; r=0.4855,p˂0.0001; r=0.5581, p˂0.0001respectively).Conclusions: Gestational diabetes might induce an increase of pulse wave velocity expressing increment of arterial stiffness. This last constitute an early underlying cardiovascular risk.

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Family Structure and Intrahousehold Resource Allocation: Evidence from Mali

One of the features of the production system in many countries of West Africa is the coexistence of both collectively-managed and individually-managed ‘private’ plots within the same. Within these households, economic activities are influenced by socio-cultural norms, which impact agricultural input decisions. This paper uses a two-year panel data on Mali to investigate intrahousehold allocation of productive resources across collective plots and ‘private’ plots. A major contribution of this paper is the clear distinction it makes between collective plots and the head’s ‘private’ plots, which is vital in understanding whether the observed yield and input differentials across collective plots and ‘private’ plots are due to headship or to the attributes of the collective plots. We find that significantly higher yields are achieved on collective plots relative to ‘private’ plots and this yield differential persists after restricting the sample to heads that control the collective plots and their own private plots. The estimations of the intensity of labor use show that collective plots are more intensively farmed with male-labor and child labor whereas the opposite is observed for femalelabor. However, after isolating the gender effect by excluding female-controlled plots from the sample, we find that collective plots are more intensively farmed than male-controlled ‘private’ plots regardless of the labor source. We infer from these results the importance of taking the gender component into account when studying intrahousehold farm-labor allocation. Unlike previous similar studies that only focus on labor allocation, we also investigate chemical fertilizer application. We find that the probability of fertilizer application tends to be higher on ‘private’ plots while the intensity of its use is higher for collective plots. These contrasting findings highlight the importance to investigate not only the probability of the use of a given technology but also the intensity of its application, especially for inputs such as fertilizer that requires a certain amount in order to obtain a yield response

How Do Nuclear and Extended-Family Households Differ in Labor Allocation Decisions due to Agricultural Technology Adoption? Evidence from Burkina Faso

Abstract: Households adopting new agricultural technologies often face labor constraints influencing the extent to which such technologies are productive and profitable. Such labor constraints differ for nuclear and extended-family households. In a randomized control trial, we estimate the heterogeneous treatment effect of an efficacious fertilization technique called microdosing by differences in household structure. The encouragement design which allocated starter packs and microdosing training to assigned households induced extended family households to reduce labor to agricultural activities, while nuclear households increased such labor activities. These differentiated effects are dominated by households who had previously used fertilizer. Thus, microdosing does not completely relieve the binding labor constraint for extended households who previously used broadcast fertilizer methods. Although nontrivial labor allocation is necessary for both broadcast and microdosing, for extended households, microdosing lowers total person-days to agricultural production by 18% relative to mean labor allocation at baseline, whereas nuclear households increase labor allocation to agricultural production by 36%

Temporal distribution of gastroenteritis viruses in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: seasonality of rotavirus

Abstract Background Acute gastroenteritis is one of the most common diseases among children and adults, and continues to cause a major problem of public health in Burkina Faso. The temporal pattern of rotavirus, norovirus, sapovirus, astrovirus, adenovirus and Aichivirus A was studied by examining prevalence of gastroenteritis viruses in association with meteorological variables in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Methods Stool samples from 263 children under 5 years of age and 170 older children patients, adolescent and adults with gastroenteritis were collected in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from November 2011 to September 2012. Enteric viruses were detected using real-time or end-point (RT-) PCR. Temperature, humidity and monthly rainfall were recorded from the National Meteorological Direction. Categorical data were compared by Chi-square tests and the effect of weather variables and monthly prevalence were analyzed using Pearson Correlation Coefficient test. Results The prevalence of rotavirus infections was significantly higher in the dry season (Season S1) compared to the wet season (season S2) (p = 0.03) among the population of children under 5 years of age. No statistically significant difference was observed regarding other gastroenteritis viruses comparing the dry season and the wet season. Positive cases of rotavirus, norovirus, adenovirus and sapovirus in children under 5 years of age were correlated with temperature (r = −0.68, p = 0.01; r = −0.74, p < 0.001; r = −0.68, p = 0.01; r = −0.65, p = 0.02, respectively) and only rotavirus, adenovirus and astrovirus were correlated with relative humidity (r = −0.61, p = 0.04; r = −0.54, p = 0.08; r = −0.51, p = 0.1 respectively). No correlation was observed with rainfall. In older children, adolescent and adults patients, rotavirus and norovirus correlated with relative humidity (r = −0.58, p = 0.05; r = 0.54, p = 0.08 respectively), but, no correlation was observed between the temperature and the rainfall. Conclusion This study extends knowledge on the monthly fluctuations on the prevalence of viral gastroenteritis. These results can provide valuable information necessary to alert health care providers when a period of infection in the community is likely to occur. The transmission of these viruses in Burkina Faso could depends on multiple factors including climatic variables

Changes in body mass index and hemoglobin concentration in breastfeeding women living with HIV with a CD4 count over 350: Results from 4 African countries (The ANRS 12174 trial)

Introduction: Breastfeeding is recommended for infants born to HIV-infected women in low-income settings. Both breastfeeding and HIV-infection are energy demanding. Our objective was to explore how exclusive and predominant breastfeeding changes body mass index (BMI) among breastfeeding HIV1-positive women participating in the ANRS12174 trial (clinical trial no NCT0064026). Methods: HIV-positive women (n = 1 267) with CD4 count >350, intending to breastfeed HIV-negative infants were enrolled from Burkina Faso, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia and counselled on breastfeeding. N = 1 216 were included in the analysis. The trial compared Lamivudine and Lopinavir/Ritonavir as a peri-exposure prophylaxis. We ran a linear mixed-effect model with BMI as the dependent variable and exclusive or predominant breastfeeding duration as the key explanatory variable. Results: Any breastfeeding or exclusive/predominant) breastfeeding was initiated by 99.6% and 98.6% of the mothers respectively in the first week after birth. The median (interquartile range: IQR) duration of the group that did any breastfeeding or the group that did exclusive /predominant breastfeeding were 9.5 (7.5; 10.6) and 5.8 (5.6; 5.9)) months, respectively. The median (IQR) age, BMI, CD4 count, and HIV viral load at baseline (day 7) were 27 (23.3; 31) years, 23.7 (21.3; 27.0) kg/m2, 530 (432.5; 668.5) cells/μl and 0.1 (0.8; 13.7)1000 copies/mL, respectively. No major change in mean BMI was seen in this cohort over a 50-week period during lactation. The mean change between 26 and 50 weeks after birth was 0.7 kg/m2. Baseline mean BMI (measured on day 7 postpartum) and CD4 count were positively associated with maternal BMI change, with a mean increase of 1.0 kg/m2 (0.9; 1.0) per each additional baseline-BMI kilogram and 0.3 kg/m2 (0.2; 0.5) for each additional CD4 cell/μl, respectively. Conclusion: Breastfeeding was not negatively correlated with the BMI of HIV-1 infected Sub-Saharan African mothers. However, a higher baseline BMI and a CD4 count >500 cells/μl were associated with maternal BMI during the exclusive/ predominant breastfeeding period. Considering the benefits of breast milk for the infants and the recurrent results from different studies that breastfeeding is not harmful to the HIV-1-infected mothers, this study also supports the WHO 2016 guidelines on infant feeding that mothers living with HIV should breastfeed where formula is not safe for at least 12 months and up to 24 months, given that the right treatment or prophylaxis for the infection is administered. These findings and conclusions cannot be extrapolated to women who are immune-compromised or have AIDS