Impact of Zinc Supplementation on Subsequent Morbidity and Growth in Bangladeshi Children With Persistent Diarrhoea

This study was conducted to explore whether supplementation of zinc to children during persistent diarrhoea has any subsequent effect on morbidity and growth. A prospective follow-up study was conducted among children, aged 3–24 months, with persistent diarrhoea, who participated earlier in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. During persistent diarrhoea, children were randomly allocated to receive either zinc in multivitamin syrup or only multivitamin syrup for two weeks. After recovering from diarrhoea, 76 children in the multi-vitamin syrup and 78 children in the zinc plus multivitamin syrup group were followed up for subsequent morbidity and growth. Weekly morbidity and two-weekly anthropometric data were collected for the subsequent 12 weeks. Data showed that episodes and duration of diarrhoea were reduced by 38% and 44% respectively with supplementation of zinc. There was no significant difference in the incidence or duration of respiratory tract infection between the zinc-supplemented and the non-supplemented group. Improved linear growth was observed in underweight children (weight-for-age <70% of the National Center for Health Statistics standard) who received zinc compared to those who did not receive

Impact of Zinc Supplementation on Subsequent Morbidity and Growth in Bangladeshi Children With Persistent Diarrhoea

This study was conducted to explore whether supplementation of zinc to children during persistent diarrhoea has any subsequent effect on morbidity and growth. A prospective follow-up study was conducted among children, aged 3-24 months, with persistent diarrhoea, who participated earlier in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. During persistent diarrhoea, children were randomly allocated to receive either zinc in multivitamin syrup or only multivitamin syrup for two weeks. After recovering from diarrhoea, 76 children in the multi-vitamin syrup and 78 children in the zinc plus multivitamin syrup group were followed up for subsequent morbidity and growth. Weekly morbidity and two-weekly anthropometric data were collected for the subsequent 12 weeks. Data showed that episodes and duration of diarrhoea were reduced by 38% and 44% respectively with supplementation of zinc. There was no significant difference in the incidence or duration of respiratory tract infection between the zincsupplemented and the non-supplemented group. Improved linear growth was observed in underweight children (weight-for-age &lt;70% of the National Center for Health Statistics standard) who received zinc compared to those who did not receive

Same data, different conclusions: Radical dispersion in empirical results when independent analysts operationalize and test the same hypothesis

In this crowdsourced initiative, independent analysts used the same dataset to test two hypotheses regarding the effects of scientists’ gender and professional status on verbosity during group meetings. Not only the analytic approach but also the operationalizations of key variables were left unconstrained and up to individual analysts. For instance, analysts could choose to operationalize status as job title, institutional ranking, citation counts, or some combination. To maximize transparency regarding the process by which analytic choices are made, the analysts used a platform we developed called DataExplained to justify both preferred and rejected analytic paths in real time. Analyses lacking sufficient detail, reproducible code, or with statistical errors were excluded, resulting in 29 analyses in the final sample. Researchers reported radically different analyses and dispersed empirical outcomes, in a number of cases obtaining significant effects in opposite directions for the same research question. A Boba multiverse analysis demonstrates that decisions about how to operationalize variables explain variability in outcomes above and beyond statistical choices (e.g., covariates). Subjective researcher decisions play a critical role in driving the reported empirical results, underscoring the need for open data, systematic robustness checks, and transparency regarding both analytic paths taken and not taken. Implications for organizations and leaders, whose decision making relies in part on scientific findings, consulting reports, and internal analyses by data scientists, are discussed

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

HIV/AIDS and Food and Nutrition Security: Interactions and Response

Today, there is an urgent need for a broader understanding of the integral role that food and nutrition security can and should play in better matching the scale, breadth, and interconnectedness of HIV/AIDS' causes and impacts. According to several studies, inequalities of several sorts including gender, mobility, orphanhood, malnutrition and maternal nutritional status are central to the HIV risk that people face. Different actors need tools and processes to turn their growing knowledge into appropriate responses. One such tool is the HIV/AIDS lens developed by Loevinsohn and Gillespie in the context of the emerging, Regional Network on HIV/AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security (RENEWAL) initiative. The lens is designed to support evidence-based reflection on how a particular situation or particular policy may increase or reduce the risks people face either of contracting HIV or of suffering severe consequences from AIDS-linked illness and death. Thus, the lens helps clarify options for response

Obituaries and the legacy of derrida

10.1177/0263276405051669Theory, Culture and Society222131-13