Features of Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19 Patients with Dysphonia

Introduction To explore the prevalence of dysphonia in European patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and the clinical features of dysphonic patients. Methods The clinical and epidemiological data of 702 patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 were collected from 19 European Hospitals. The following data were extracted: age, sex, ethnicity, tobacco consumption, comorbidities, general and otolaryngological symptoms. Dysphonia and otolaryngological symptoms were self-assessed through a 4-point scale. The prevalence of dysphonia, as part of the COVID-19 symptoms, was assessed. The outcomes were compared between dysphonic and non-dysphonic patients. The association between dysphonia severity and outcomes was studied through Bayesian analysis. Results A total of 188 patients were dysphonic, accounting for 26.8% of cases. Females developed more frequently dysphonia than males (p=0.022). The proportion of smokers was significantly higher in the dysphonic group (p=0.042). The prevalence of the following symptoms was higher in dysphonic patients compared with non-dysphonic patients: cough, chest pain, sticky sputum, arthralgia, diarrhea, headache, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. The severity of dyspnea, dysphagia, ear pain, face pain, throat pain and nasal obstruction was higher in dysphonic group compared with non-dysphonic group. There were significant associations between the severity of dysphonia, dysphagia and cough. Conclusion Dysphonia may be encountered in a quarter of patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and should be considered as a symptom list of the infection. Dysphonic COVID-19 patients are more symptomatic than non-dysphonic individuals. Future studies are needed to investigate the relevance of dysphonia in the COVID-19 clinical presentation

Property relations by other means : conflict over dryland resources in Benin and Mali

Conflicts over natural resources and property concern the distribution of entitlements to resources and social identities. The highlighting of this continuity enables the insertion of conflict into a broader historical and theoretical framework dealing with social change, as well as access to and control over resources. However, this reveals nothing about the discontinuity between tensions over natural resources and outbreaks of conflict involving physical and symbolic violence. Case studies carried out in Mali and Benin provide an empirical basis for the discussion of the following set of exploratory hypotheses: they stress the continuity between conflict and property within the frame of a theory of access to natural resources; they emphasise the plurality of actors involved in disputes over natural resources in African drylands beyond the farmer-herdsman configuration; and they see resource conflict, property and policy as a matter of persuasion, that is, representation and narrative

Shift in Herders' Territorialities from Regional to Local Scale: The Political Ecology of Pastoral Herding in Western Burkina Faso

International audienceIn Burkina Faso, livestock sedentarization programmes are still at the top of policy makers’ agendas and at the heart of their discourse, despite huge changes in land cover, land use and territorialities in rural areas. This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of livestock policies targeting the sedentarization of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa by specifically highlighting the territorial consequences of such policies. This paper suggests that policies directed at improving livestock governance in a context of climate change and changes in land cover and land tenure need to focus on securing pastoralists’ reticular territories, which are made up of corridors and numerous areas of pastureland, rather than on creating disconnected state ranches