Effect of Supplementation with Zinc and Other Micronutrients on Malaria in Tanzanian Children: A Randomised Trial

Hans Verhoef and colleagues report findings from a randomized trial conducted among Tanzanian children at high risk for malaria. Children in the trial received either daily oral supplementation with either zinc alone, multi-nutrients without zinc, multi-nutrients with zinc, or placebo. The investigators did not find evidence from this study that zinc or multi-nutrients protected against malaria episodes

INTER-ACT: prevention of pregnancy complications through an e-health driven interpregnancy lifestyle intervention – study protocol of a multicentre randomised controlled trial

Abstract Background Excessive maternal pre-pregnancy and gestational weight gain are related to pregnancy- and birth outcomes. The interpregnancy time window offers a unique opportunity to intervene in order to acquire a healthy lifestyle before the start of a new pregnancy. Methods INTER-ACT is an e-health driven multicentre randomised controlled intervention trial targeting women at high risk of pregnancy- and birth related complications. Eligible women are recruited for the study at day 2 or 3 postpartum. At week 6 postpartum, participants are randomised into the intervention or control arm of the study. The intervention focuses on weight, diet, physical activity and mental well-being, and comprises face-to-face coaching, in which behavioural change techniques are central, and use of a mobile application, which is Bluetooth-connected to a weighing scale and activity tracker. The intervention is rolled out postpartum (4 coaching sessions between week 6 and month 6) and in a new pregnancy (3 coaching sessions, one in each trimester of pregnancy); the mobile app is used throughout the two intervention phases. Data collection includes data from the medical record of the participants (pregnancy outcomes and medical history), anthropometric data (height, weight, waist- and hip circumferences, skinfold thickness and body composition by bio-electrical impedance analysis), data from the mobile app (physical activity and weight; intervention group only) and questionnaires (socio-demographics, breastfeeding, food intake, physical activity, lifestyle, psychosocial factors and process evaluation). Medical record data are collected at inclusion and at delivery of the subsequent pregnancy. All other data are collected at week 6 and month 6 postpartum and every subsequent 6 months until a new pregnancy, and in every trimester in the new pregnancy. Primary outcome is the composite endpoint score of pregnancy-induced hypertension, gestational diabetes mellitus, caesarean section, and large-for-gestational-age infant in the subsequent pregnancy. Discussion INTER-ACT is a unique randomised controlled lifestyle intervention trial in its implementation between pregnancies and during the subsequent pregnancy, with an e-health driven approach. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02989142 . Registered August 2016

The longitudinal static stability of an aerodynamically alleviated marine vehicle, a mathematical model

An assessment of the relative speeds and payload capacities of airborne and waterborne vehicles highlights a gap that can be usefully filled by a new vehicle concept, utilizing both hydrodynamic and aerodynamic forces. A high- speed marine vehicle equipped with aerodynamic surfaces is one such concept. In 1904, Bryan & Williams (Bryan & Williams 1904 Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 73, 100-116 (doi: 10.1098/rspl.1904.0017)) published an article on the longitudinal dynamics of aerial gliders, and this approach remains the foundation of all the mathematical models studying the dynamics of airborne vehicles. In 1932, Perring & Glauert (Perring & Glauert 1932 Reports and Memoranda no. 1493) presented a mathematical approach to study the dynamics of seaplanes experiencing the planing effect. From this work, planing theory has developed. The authors propose a unified mathematical model to study the longitudinal stability of a high-speed planing marine vehicle with aerodynamic surfaces. A kinematics framework is developed. Then, taking into account the aerodynamic, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces, the full equations of motion, using a small perturbation assumption, are derived and solved specifically for this concept. This technique reveals a new static stability criterion that can be used to characterize the longitudinal stability of high-speed planing vehicles with aerodynamic surfaces

Erosion rate study at the Allchar deposit (Macedonia) based on radioactive and stable cosmogenic nuclides (26Al, 36Cl, 3He, and 21Ne)

This paper focuses on constraining the erosion rate in the area of the Allchar Sb-As-Tl-Au deposit (Macedonia). It contains the largest known reserves of lorandite (TlAsS2), which is essential for the LORanditeEXperiment (LOREX), aimed at determining the long-term solar neutrino flux. Because the erosion history of the Allchar area is crucial for the success of LOREX, we applied terrestrial in situ cosmogenic nuclides including both radioactive (26Al and 36Cl) and stable (3He and 21Ne) nuclides in quartz, dolomite/calcite, sanidine, and diopside. The obtained results suggest that there is accordance in the values obtained by applying 26Al, 36Cl, and 21Ne for around 85% of the entire sample collection, with resulting erosion rates varying from several tens of m/Ma to ∼165 m/Ma. The samples from four locations (L-8 CD, L1b/R, L1c/R, and L-4/ADR) give erosion rates between 300 and 400 m/Ma. Although these localities reveal remarkably higher values, which may be explained by burial events that occurred in part of Allchar, the erosion rate estimates mostly in the range between 50 and 100 m/Ma. This range further enables us to estimate the vertical erosion rate values for the two main ore bodies Crven Dol and Centralni Deo. We also estimate that the lower and upper limits of average paleo-depths for the ore body Centralni Deo from 4.3 Ma to the present are 250–290 and 750–790 m, respectively, whereas the upper limit of paleo-depth for the ore body Crven Dol over the same geological age is 860 m. The estimated paleo-depth values allow estimating the relative contributions of 205Pb derived from pp-neutrino and fast cosmic-ray muons, respectively, which is an important prerequisite for the LOREX experiment