Contribution de l’échographie dans le dépistage et le diagnostic des cancers du sein : une expérience de Yaoundé, Cameroun

L’objectif de cette étude était de rechercher la contribution de l’échographie dans le dépistage et le diagnostic des lésions mammaires à Yaoundé, Cameroun. Il s’agissait de décrire les anomalies cliniques, échographiques, éventuellement anatomopathologiques pour des lésions suspectes et les confronter. L’étude était transversale descriptive sur une période de 12 mois ; constituée de 103 femmes âgées de 45 ans et plus. La moyenne d’âge a été de 53 ans. La douleur mammaire était le principal symptôme (21,4%). Les anomalies échographiques ont été retrouvées chez 43 femmes (41,7%). Les plus fréquentes ont été les nodules tissulaires (29,1%). Les lésions d’allure bénigne (ACR2) ont été retrouvées chez 26 (25,24%) femmes et celles suspectes de malignité (ACR3, ACR4, et ACR5) chez 17 (16,5%) dont 14 ont bénéficié d’une biopsie. L’examen anatomopathologique a révélé 8 cas de carcinomes (57,14%). L’échographie bien conduite dans un contexte socio-économique défavorisé oriente le diagnostic de cancer du sein

Evaluation of the nutritional status of infants from mothers tested positive to HIV/AIDS in the health district of Dschang, Cameroon

INTRODUCTION: Poor infant feeding practices are common in Africa, resulting in physical and intellectual developmental impairments. Good feeding practices are crucial, especially in the first year of growth. HIV/AIDS has worsened the clinical and nutritional status of both mothers and their children, exacerbating high rates of malnutrition. The aim of this study was to assess by participative approach, the nutritional status of infants from mothers tested positive to HIV in the health district of Dschang. METHODS: This is a cross sectional study with a period of recruitment of 2 years (2010-2012). Data Collection was done by the aim of a personal slip followed by training to strengthen the nutritional and hygienic capacity of targeted parents. Height and weight of infants were measured and body mass index (BMI) calculated. RESULTS: Significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) was noticed in height-for-age z-score (HAZ) of girls aged between 1 to 2 years compared to 1-year old girls as well as to boys of all ages, defining them as stunted. Furthermore, the weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) results indicate that both girls and boys of all age are in moderate state of malnutrition. The results of BMI thinness classified according to gender and age groups, indicates that most infants (68/130, 52.3%) showed grade 2 thinness predominantly in 2-years old both boys and girls. However, no participants fall within the normal category for age and sex, as well as overweight and obesity categories. CONCLUSION: Undernutrition exists among infants from mothers tested positive to HIV residing in Dschang, as most of the infants are underweight, and malnourished

Great Lakes Runoff Intercomparison Project Phase 3: Lake Erie (GRIP-E)

Hydrologic model intercomparison studies help to evaluate the agility of models to simulate variables such as streamflow, evaporation, and soil moisture. This study is the third in a sequence of the Great Lakes Runoff Intercomparison Projects. The densely populated Lake Erie watershed studied here is an important international lake that has experienced recent flooding and shoreline erosion alongside excessive nutrient loads that have contributed to lake eutrophication. Understanding the sources and pathways of flows is critical to solve the complex issues facing this watershed. Seventeen hydrologic and land-surface models of different complexity are set up over this domain using the same meteorological forcings, and their simulated streamflows at 46 calibration and seven independent validation stations are compared. Results show that: (1) the good performance of Machine Learning models during calibration decreases significantly in validation due to the limited amount of training data; (2) models calibrated at individual stations perform equally well in validation; and (3) most distributed models calibrated over the entire domain have problems in simulating urban areas but outperform the other models in validation

Drinking water quality: stakes of control and sanitation in the town of Dschang - Cameroon

The present study aims to present a complete diagnosis of the state of water supply and sanitation in the Dschang city. After an inventory of the actor practices starting from existing documentations of the Dschangurban council, 87,000 inhabitants, we identified consumers through physical field identification of the water supplies and sanitation in November 2007. All wells were mapped, 300 households surveyed and water quality analysed. It appears that water is basically supplied through connection on the conventional “CAMWATER” network. Over 52.2% of households not connected to network used 728 alternative points for water assessment (705 wells and 23 springs), and drawn drinking water especially from springs. Bacteriological quality varies greatly from one water point to another. Water coming from depth soils and managed water points are relatively more improved in quality. For the 250 sanitation installations surveyed, 70% of households use pit latrines with open bottom; 116 latrines are located in a radius of 15 m around the wells and springs. For the wastewater drainage and treatment, no device is constructed. The difficulties of supplying safe drinking water and the precarious conditions of sanitation seemed to be the origin of many water borne-diseases in this city.Keywords: Water supply points, Individual toilet sanitation, Conventional network, Alternative suppliers, Water borne-diseases

Trace element differentiation in ferruginous accumulation soil patterns under tropical rainforest of southern Cameroon, the role of climatic change

Regions under tropical rainforest cover, such as central Africa and Brazil are characterised by degradation and dismantling of old ferricrete structures. In southern Cameroon, these processes are relayed by present-day ferruginous accumulation soil facies, situated on the middle and the lower part of hill slopes. These facies become progressively harder towards the surface, containing from bottom to top, mainly kaolinite, kaolinite-goethite and Al-rich goethite-hematite, and are discontinuous to the relictic hematite-dominated ferricrete that exist in the upper part of the hill slope. These features were investigated in terms of geochemical differentiation of trace elements. It appears that, in contrast to the old ferricrete facies, the current ferruginous accumulations are enriched in transitional trace elements (V, Cr, Co, Y, Sc) and Ph, while alkali-earth elements are less differentiated. This recent chemical accumulation is controlled both by intense weathering of the granodiorite bedrock and by mobilisation of elements previously accumulated in the old ferricrete. The observed processes are clearly linked to the present-day humid climate with rising groundwater tables. They slowly replace the old ferricretes formed during Cretaceous time under more seasonal climatic conditions, representing an instructive case of continuos global change. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved