Seasonality of Human Leptospirosis in Reunion Island (Indian Ocean) and Its Association with Meteorological Data

Background: Leptospirosis is a disease which occurs worldwide but particularly affects tropical areas. Transmission of the disease is dependent on its excretion by reservoir animals and the presence of moist environment which allows the survival of the bacteria. Methods and Findings: A retrospective study was undertaken to describe seasonal patterns of human leptospirosis cases reported by the Centre National de Re´fe´rences des Leptospiroses (CNRL, Pasteur Institute, Paris) between 1998 and 2008, to determine if there was an association between the occurrence of diagnosed cases and rainfall, temperature and global solar radiation (GSR). Meteorological data were recorded in the town of Saint-Beno?¿t (Me´te´o France ''Beaufonds-Miria'' station), located on the windward (East) coast. Time-series analysis was used to identify the variables that best described and predicted the occurrence of cases of leptospirosis on the island. Six hundred and thirteen cases were reported during the 11-year study period, and 359 cases (58.56%) were diagnosed between February and May. A significant correlation was identified between the number of cases in a given month and the associated cumulated rainfall as well as the mean monthly temperature recorded 2 months prior to diagnosis (r = 0.28 and r = 0.23 respectively). The predictive model includes the number of cases of leptospirosis recorded 1 month prior to diagnosis (b = 0.193), the cumulated monthly rainfall recorded 2 months prior to diagnosis (b = 0.145), the average monthly temperature recorded 0 month prior to diagnosis (b = 3.836), and the average monthly GSR recorded 0 month prior to diagnosis (b =21.293). Conclusions: Leptospirosis has a seasonal distribution in Reunion Island. Meteorological data can be used to predict the occurrence of the disease and our statistical model can help to implement seasonal prevention measures. (Résumé d'auteur

Contribution of discourse and morphosyntax skills to reading comprehension in Chinese dyslexic and typically developing children

This study aimed at identifying important skills for reading comprehension in Chinese dyslexic children and their typically developing counterparts matched on age (CA controls) or reading level (RL controls). The children were assessed on Chinese reading comprehension, cognitive, and reading-related skills. Results showed that the dyslexic children performed significantly less well than the CA controls but similarly to RL controls in most measures. Results of multiple regression analyses showed that word-level reading-related skills like oral vocabulary and word semantics were found to be strong predictors of reading comprehension among typically developing junior graders and dyslexic readers of senior grades, whereas morphosyntax, a text-level skill, was most predictive for typically developing senior graders. It was concluded that discourse and morphosyntax skills are particularly important for reading comprehension in the non-inflectional and topic-prominent Chinese system

A UK survey of nutritional care pathways for patients with Covid‐19 prior to and post hospital stay

Background: During the global Covid-19 pandemic, UK dietitians have delivered the best care to help patients recover from the infection. This study examined the development and evaluation of care pathways to manage nutritional care of patients following Covid-19 infection prior to and after discharge. Methods: Registered UK dietitians completed an online questionnaire comprising 26 questions about the development of a pathway, its use, evaluation and training needs. Results: Of 57 responses, 37 (65%) were involved in management of nutritional care for Covid-19. Only 19 responses had a new or adapted Covid-19 pathway. Of these, 74% reported involvement of dietetic services, 47% reported >1 eligibility criteria for pathway inclusion and 53% accepted all positive or suspected cases. All respondents used nutritional screening, first line dietary advice (food first) and referral for further advice and monitoring. Weight and food intake were the most used outcome measure. All pathways addressed symptoms related to nutrition, the most common being weight loss with poor appetite, not being hungry and skipping meals in 84% of pathways. Over half of respondents (54%) planned to evaluate their pathway and 83% reported they were ‘very or reasonably confident’ in their team’s nutritional management of Covid-19. Less than half (42%) reported on training needs. Conclusions: Despite the challenges encountered, pathways were developed and implemented. Dietitians had adapted to new ways of working to manage nutritional care in patients prior to and after discharge from hospital following Covid-19 infection. Further work is needed to develop strategies for evaluation of their impact