Aspects of the fecundity of the black-chinned tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron in the Fosu lagoon, Ghana

The black-chinned tilapia, Sarotherodon melanotheron (Pisces: Cichlidae), which dominated the Fosu Lagoon fishery, was exposed to pollution, siltation, fishing pressure, destructive fishing methods, and climate change. Samples of black-chinned tilapia were obtained with cast net, drag net and gill net, out of which 441 gravid specimen were randomly selected and dissected to remove eggs which were then counted. The absolute fecundity varied from 20 eggs to 370 eggs with a mean of 78 ± 33 eggs. Fish that had fecundity below and above the reported minimum of 200 eggs constituted 98.86 percent and 1.14 percent of the total sample, respectively, indicating that fecundity is below the minimum number of eggs the species is reportedly capable of producing. Positive, linear, weak and significant relationships were found between absolute fecundity and body parameters indicating that absolute fecundity is independent of body parameters, and could be influenced by biological, environmental, or anthropogenic factors. Condition factor ranged between 2.26 SL and 10.63 SL. Length at first maturity was 4.8 cm SL and 6.4 cm TL, respectively, confirming the precocious reproductive habit of the species. The size structure of the S. melanotheron population is dominated by small-sized fish of SL 7.0 – 7.9 cm (44.90 %) and 6.0 – 6.9 cm SL (32.65 %) ranges, which together accounted for 77.55 percent of the total sample. It is recommended that the fecundity and other reproductive parameters of the species be investigated during the dry and wet seasons in order to determine the reproductive potential and strategies for survival of the species

Implementing Preventive Chemotherapy through an Integrated National Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program in Mali

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of chronic infections that affect the poorest group of the populations in the world. There are currently five major NTDs targeted through mass drug treatment in the affected communities. The drug delivery can be integrated to deliver different drug packages as these NTDs often overlap in distribution. Mali is endemic with all five major NTDs. The integrated national NTD control program was implemented through the primary health care system using the community health center workers and the community drug distributors aiming at long-term sustainability. After a pilot start in three regions in 2007 without prior examples to follow on integrated mass drug administration, treatment for the five targeted NTDs was gradually scaled up and reached all endemic districts by 2009, and annual drug coverage in the targeted population has since been maintained at a high level for each of the five NTDs. Around 10 million people received one or more drug treatments each year since 2009. The country is on the way to meet the national objectives of elimination or control of these diseases. The successes and lessons learned in Mali are valuable assets to other countries looking to start similar programs

Performing dialogical truth and transitional justice : The role of art in the becoming post-apartheid of South Africa

In this article I elaborate on the potential role of the arts in the becoming post-apartheid of South Africa. As the close readings of discursive and visual artefacts such as Country of my Skull (Antjie Krog), The Man who Sang and the Woman who kept Silent (Judith Mason), and Indlovukati (Nandipha Mntambo) underline, articulating the memory of trauma in order to be able to create something new is not a linear and finite process but a cycle that has to be reiterated, time and again. Art’s dialogical character, materiality, and medium specificity allow it to perform contested truths and articulate complexities, in such a way as to help constitute new and multilayered communitie

Intraocular pressure and gonioscopic findings in rural communities mesoendemic and nonendemic for onchoceriasis, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

PURPOSE: To report on glaucoma-related ocular parameters, namely intraocular pressure and peripheral anterior synechiae, in the presence of onchocercal infection. METHODS: Two computer-generated random samples of individuals were drawn from communities mesoendemic and nonendemic for onchocerciasis respectively. Applanation tonometry and gonioscopy were carried out on these individuals. RESULTS: Four hundred and thirty-six and 319 individuals from the mesoendemic and nonendemic communities were examined respectively. The mean intraocular pressure was 1.58 mmHg lower in the individuals from the mesoendemic communities compared with those from the nonendemic communities (p < 0.001) despite the prevalence of peripheral anterior synechiae being higher in the mesoendemic communities. In these communities, there was strong evidence that the prevalence of peripheral anterior synechiae increased with increasing microfilarial load. CONCLUSIONS: Onchocercal infection produces a low-grade inflammatory process, which may result in a lowering of intraocular pressure despite the formation of peripheral anterior synechiae. Glaucomatous optic nerve damage may therefore not be the primary cause of visual loss in ocular onchocerciasis as this occurs late and is probably preceded by other blinding onchocercal pathology