159 research outputs found
Calibration and Cross-Validation of Accelerometery for Estimating Movement Skills in Children Aged 8-12 Years
This study sought to calibrate triaxial accelerometery, worn on both wrists, waist and both ankles, during childrenâs physical activity (PA), with particular attention to object control motor skills performed at a fast and slow cadence, and to cross-validate the accelerometer cut-points derived from the calibration using an independent dataset. Twenty boys (10.1 ±1.5 years) undertook seven, five-minute bouts of activity lying supine, standing, running (4.5kmphâ1) instep passing a football (fast and slow cadence), dribbling a football (fast and slow cadence), whilst wearing five GENEActiv accelerometers on their non-dominant and dominant wrists and ankles and waist. VO2 was assessed concurrently using indirect calorimetry. ROC curve analysis was used to generate cut-points representing sedentary, light and moderate PA. The cut-points were then cross-validated using independent data from 30 children (9.4 ± 1.4 years), who had undertaken similar activities whilst wearing accelerometers and being assessed for VO2. GENEActiv monitors were able to discriminate sedentary activity to an excellent level irrespective of wear location. For moderate PA, discrimination of activity was considered good for monitors placed on the dominant wrist, waist, non-dominant and dominant ankles but fair for the non-dominant wrist. Applying the cut-points to the cross-validation sample indicated that cut-points validated in the calibration were able to successfully discriminate sedentary behaviour and moderate PA to an excellent standard and light PA to a fair standard. Cut-points derived from this calibration demonstrate an excellent ability to discriminate childrenâs sedentary behaviour and moderate intensity PA comprising motor skill activity.N/
A randomised trial in Mali of the effectiveness of weekly iron supplements given by teachers on the haemoglobin concentrations of schoolchildren
Objective: To assess the effect on the haemoglobin concentrations of schoolchildren of weekly iron tablets administered by teachers.
Design: Sixty schools were randomly assigned to two groups: in 30 schools children were given weekly for 10 weeks a tablet providing 65 mg of iron and 0.25 mg of folic
acid; in the other 30 schools no iron tablets were given. All children were dewormed and given vitamin A before the study began. The haemoglobin concentration of up to
20 randomly selected children in each school was estimated before and 2 weeks after the end of treatment.
Setting: Rural community schools in Kolondieba district of Mali.
Subjects: Some 1113 schoolchildren aged 6-19 years with a mean of 11.4 years.
Results: The haemoglobin concentration of treated children rose on average by 1.8 g l -1 (P < 0.001) and the prevalence of anaemia fell by 8.2% (P < 0.001); in
untreated children the haemoglobin concentration fell by an average of 22.7 g l -1 (P < 0.001) and the prevalence of anaemia rose by 9.4% (P < 0:001). The fall in haemoglobin concentration among untreated girls of 24.0 g l21 was greater than in untreated boys (20.3 g l -1 (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Weekly iron tablets given by teachers prevented a general fall in the haemoglobin concentrations of untreated children, and led to a small but statistically
significant rise among treated children (P < 0.001). Young children benefited more than children aged </=12 years, and girls benefited more than boys
The impact of food assistance on food insecure populations during conflict: evidence from a quasi-experiment in Mali
Mali, a vast landlocked country at the heart of West Africa in the Sahel region, is one of the least developed and most food insecure countries in the world. Mali suffered from a series of political, constitutional and military crises since January 2012, including the loss of government control of northern territories from April 2012 until January 2013. A range of humanitarian aid interventions were scaled up in response to these complex crises. In this study, we exploit data from a unique pre-crisis baseline to evaluate the impact of humanitarian aid on the food security of rural populations. We design a quasi-experimental study based on two survey rounds, five years apart, in the Mopti region in Northern Mali. Data was collected from 66 communities randomly selected from within food-insecure districts. Study outcomes include household expenditures and food consumption and a proxy for child nutritional status (height measurements). We estimate program impact by combining propensity score matching and difference-in-difference. Food assistance was found to increase household non-food and food expenditures and micro-nutrient availability. Disaggregating by degree of conflict exposure showed that the effects on childrenâs height and caloric and micro-nutrient consumption were mostly concentrated in areas not in the immediate vicinity of the conflict, unlike the increase in food expenditures that were driven by households located in close proximity to armed groups. The effects were also concentrated on households receiving at least two forms of food assistance. In villages where armed groups were present, food assistance improved household zinc consumption and also appeared to support food expenditures. Food transfers are thus found to exert a protective effect among food insecure population in conflict context
The association between child Schistosoma spp. infections and morbidity in an irrigated rice region in Mali: a localized study
Schistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases endemic to Mali. There has been insufficient investigation of the morbidity burden in highly endemic irrigated rice areas with the ongoing mass drug administration with praziquantel. In February 2005, a year after an initial mass drug administration in 2004, we performed the first cross-sectional survey of schistosomiasis in the Kokry-Bozo village in the Office du Niger rice irrigation region. In the fourteen years since this survey, there has been almost no research into schistosomiasis morbidity in Mali due to lack of funding. Therefore, the 2005 survey supplies near-baseline data for any future research into the treatment impacts in the area
Uvéite antérieure tuberculeuse chez un enfant au Centre de Santé de Référence de la Commune V du District de Bamako
Introduction : La sphĂšre oculaire est une localisation rare de la tuberculose. Nous rapportons un cas de cette infection Ă localisation oculaire chez une jeune fille malienne. DĂ©crire les lĂ©sions oculaires au cours dâune infection tuberculeuse. Observation :Il sâagit dâune Ă©tude de cas clinique descriptive concernant une fillette de 13 ans, reçue en consultation dans notre service pour rougeur et baisse de lâacuitĂ© Ă lâĆil droit Ă©voluant progressivement depuis quelques mois. MalgrĂ© les multiples consultations et traitements reçus, les symptĂŽmes persistaient et sâaggravaient insidieusement. Dans ses antĂ©cĂ©dents, nous nâavons pas trouvĂ© de notion de traumatisme oculaire, ni de contage tuberculeux. Lâexamen ophtalmologique rĂ©vĂšle une uvĂ©ite antĂ©rieure granulomatose avec baisse importante de lâacuitĂ© visuelle. Lâexamen des crachats est nĂ©gatif, en revanche, lâIDR Ă la tuberculine est phlyctĂ©nulaire avec un diamĂštre dâinduration > 35mm. Le traitement anti tuberculeux selon le protocole du Programme Nationale de Lutte contre la Tuberculose (PNLT) a permis une amĂ©lioration clinique et fonctionnelle rapide, puis la guĂ©rison de la patiente. Conclusion : Le diagnostic de la tuberculose oculaire est difficile dans les pays en voie de dĂ©veloppement. Il nĂ©cessite la mise Ă disposition de nouveaux outils diagnostics et une collaboration multidisciplinair
Stakeholder Mapping, Social Network and Multi-Stakeholder Strategies Analysis in Maliâs small ruminant value chain, Plus a Dive into Innovative Multi-Stakeholder Innovation Platforms as a Form & Driver of Inclusive SAPLING Innovation Packages
ContrÎle de qualité des médicaments antipaludiques au Mali
Les molĂ©cules antipaludiques rencontrĂ©es et prĂ©levĂ©es dans les diffĂ©rentes rĂ©gions du Mali et du district de Bamako, ont Ă©tĂ© analysĂ©es au Laboratoire National de la SantĂ©. Les Ă©chantillons analysĂ©s provenaient dâAfrique, dâEurope, dâAsie et dâAmĂ©rique. LâĂ©chantillonnage a concernĂ© 303 Ă©chantillons analysĂ©s, dont 260 Ă©taient conformes, soit un taux de 85,8% et 43 Ă©taient non conformes, soit 14,2%. Les non conformitĂ©s dĂ©celĂ©es provenaient toutes des formes comprimĂ©s et injectables et concernaient spĂ©cifiquement les molĂ©cules de quinine. Les non-conformitĂ©s dĂ©celĂ©es Ă©taient de 03 types : lâabsence de principe actif indiquĂ©, le surdosage et le sous-dosage. Suivant le circuit de prĂ©lĂšvement dans la chaĂźne de distribution, les nonconformitĂ©s ont Ă©tĂ© dĂ©celĂ©es en majoritĂ© dans les hĂŽpitaux et les Centres de santĂ© (40 Ă©chantillons) et secondairement au niveau des dĂ©pĂŽts de vente privĂ©s (03 Ă©chantillons)
Uptake of plasmodium falciparum gametocytes during mosquito bloodmeal by direct and membrane feeding
Plasmodium falciparum remains one of the leading causes of child mortality, and nearly half of the worldâs population is at risk of contracting malaria. While pathogenesis results from replication of asexual forms in human red blood cells, it is the sexually differentiated forms, gametocytes, which are responsible for the spread of the disease. For transmission to succeed, both mature male and female gametocytes must be taken up by a female Anopheles mosquito during its blood meal for subsequent differentiation into gametes and mating inside the mosquito gut. Observed circulating numbers of gametocytes in the human host are often surprisingly low. A pre-fertilization behavior, such as skin sequestration, has been hypothesized to explain the efficiency of human-to-mosquito transmission but has not been sufficiently tested due to a lack of appropriate tools. In this study, we describe the optimization of a qPCR tool that enables the relative quantification of gametocytes within very small input samples. Such a tool allows for the quantification of gametocytes in different compartments of the host and the vector that could potentially unravel mechanisms that enable highly efficient malaria transmission. We demonstrate the use of our gametocyte quantification method in mosquito blood meals from both direct skin feeding on Plasmodium gametocyte carriers and standard membrane feeding assay. Relative gametocyte abundance was not different between mosquitoes fed through a membrane or directly on the skin suggesting that there is no systematic enrichment of gametocytes picked up in the skin
The association between the functional movement screen (tm), y-balance test, and physical performance tests in male and female high school athletes
Background: Poor balance, lack of neuromuscular control, and movement ability are predictors of performance and injury risk in
sports and physical activity participation. The Functional Movement Screenâą (FMSâą) and lower quarter Y-Balance Test (YBT) have
been used by clinicians to evaluate balance, functional symmetry, and static and dynamic movement patterns, yet little information exists regarding the relationship between the FMSâą, YBT, and physical performance tests (e.g. vertical jump) within the high
school population.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the FMSTM, dynamic balance as measured by the
YBT and physical performance tests (standing long jump, vertical jump, Pro Agility Test) in male and female high school
athletes.
Study Design: Cohort study.
Methods: Fifty-six high school athletes (28 females, 28 males; mean age 16.4 ± 0.1) who participated in organized team sports were
tested. Participants performed the FMSâą, YBT, and three physical performance tests (standing long jump, vertical jump, Pro Agility
Test).
Results: Females outperformed males on the FMSâą and YBT, while males outperformed females on the performance tests. In both
sexes, the composite FMSTM score was positively correlated with the left and composite YBT scores. Agility was negatively correlated with composite FMSTM in males (p < 0.05) and the left and composite YBT in females (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The FMST M and YBT may evaluate similar underlying constructs in high school athletes, such as dynamic balance
and lower extremity power. The results of this study demonstrate the utility of the FMS and YBT to relate multiple constructs of
muscular power to an individualâs ability to balance. Furthermore, establishing the need for the utilization and application of
multiple field-based tests by sports medicine professionals and strength and conditioning coaches when evaluating an athleteâs
movement and physical performance capabilities. Utilization of multiple field-based tests may provide the first step for the development of injury prevention strategies and long-term athlete development programs
Evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of praziquantel against schistosomes in seven countries with ongoing large-scale deworming programs
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends periodic assessment of the therapeutic efficacy of praziquantel (PZQ) to detect reduced efficacy that may arise from drug resistance in schistosomes. In this multi-country study (2014), we assessed the therapeutic efficacy of a single oral dose of PZQ (40 mg/kg) against Schistosoma mansoni (Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mali, Madagascar and Tanzania), S. haematobium (Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mali, Tanzania and Zanzibar) and S. japonicum (the Philippines) infections in school-aged children, across a total of 12 different trials. Each trial was performed according to the standardized methodology for evaluating PZQ efficacy as described by the WHO. Overall, therapeutic efficacy, measured as the reduction in arithmetic mean of schistosome egg counts following drug administration (egg reduction rate; ERR), was high for all three schistosome species (S. mansoni: 93.4% (95%CI: 88.8-96.8); S. haematobium: 97.7% (95%CI: 96.5-98.7) and S. japonicum: 90.0% (95%CI: 68.4-99.3). At the trial level, therapeutic efficacy was satisfactory (point estimate ERR >= 90%) for all three Schistosoma species with the exception of S. mansoni in Cameroon where the ERR was 88.5% (95%CI: 79.0-95.1). Furthermore, we observed that in some trials individual drug response could vary significantly (wide 95%CI) and that few non-responsive individuals could significantly impact ERR point estimates. In conclusion, these results do not suggest any established reduced efficacy of the standard PZQ treatment to any of the three schistosome species within these countries. Nevertheless, the substantial degree of variation in individual responses to treatment in some countries underpins the need for future monitoring. The reported ERR values serve as reference values to compare with outcomes of future PZQ efficacy studies to ensure early detection of reduced efficacies that could occur as drug pressure continues increase. Finally, this study highlights that 95%CI should be considered in WHO guidelines to classify the therapeutic efficacy of PZQ
- âŠ