233 research outputs found

    Effect of Preventive Supplementation with Zinc and other Micronutrients on Non-Malarial Morbidity in Tanzanian Pre-School Children: A Randomized Trial.

    Get PDF
    The efficacy of preventive zinc supplementation against diarrhea and respiratory illness may depend on simultaneous supplementation with other micronutrients. We aimed to assess the effect of supplementation with zinc and multiple micronutrients on diarrhea and other causes of non-malarial morbidity. Rural Tanzanian children (n = 612) aged 6-60 months and with height-for-age z-score < -1.5 SD were randomized to daily supplementation with zinc (10 mg) alone, multi-nutrients without zinc, multi-nutrients with zinc, or placebo. Children were followed for an average of 45 weeks. During follow-up, we recorded morbidity episodes. We found no evidence that concurrent supplementation with multi-nutrients influenced the magnitude of the effect of zinc on rates of diarrhea, respiratory illness, fever without localizing signs, or other illness (guardian-reported illness with symptoms involving skin, ears, eyes and abscesses, but excluding trauma or burns). Zinc supplementation reduced the hazard rate of diarrhea by 24% (4%-40%). By contrast, multi-nutrients seemed to increase this rate (HR; 95% CI: 1.19; 0.94-1.50), particularly in children with asymptomatic Giardia infection at baseline (2.03; 1.24-3.32). Zinc also protected against episodes of fever without localizing signs (0.75; 0.57-0.96), but we found no evidence that it reduced the overall number of clinic visits. We found no evidence that the efficacy of zinc supplements in reducing diarrhea rates is enhanced by concurrent supplementation with other micronutrients. By reducing rates of fever without localizing signs, supplementation with zinc may reduce inappropriate drug use with anti-malarial medications and antibiotics. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00623857

    Argon, krypton, and xenon abundances in the solar wind measured in silicon from the genesis mission

    Get PDF
    Up to now solar wind (SW) abundances of Kr and Xe have been exclusively determined using SW irradiated regolith [1]. Hence, one of Genesis’s major objectives is to obtain the heavy noble gas composition of the present-day SW using artificial targets exposed to the SW for 2.5 years. SW abundances will allow to study fractionation processes upon SW formation, e.g., due to the first ionization potential (FIP-effect) [2]. This is of importance to deduce solar abundances of noble gases and other elements from SW data. Solar, i.e., photospheric, abundances of noble gases are indirectly determined due to the lack of suitable lines in the spectrum. Recently, solar abundance estimates for Ne and Ar were strongly reduced whereas Kr and Xe changed only slightly [3]. This led to a dramatic decrease of the solar Ar/Kr ratio by a factor of ~3 from the earlier value [4] of 2140. If true, this change would invalidate theories of heavy noble gas fractionation in the SW identified with regolith data [1, 5]. The Kr and Xe composition in present-day SW will enable us to reassess solar abundances and fractionation theories. Thus, we concentrate here on abundances of Ar, Kr and Xe in the bulk SW
    • …
    corecore