A neglected disease of humans: a new focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Bakool, Somalia.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was observed in children in Bakool region, Somalia, an area where VL has not been reported before. We describe the extent of the problem in this war- and famine-stricken area. A retrospective analysis was done of all cases admitted to a VL treatment centre between July 2000 and August 2001. Patients with longstanding fever, splenomegaly and a positive direct agglutination test (DAT; titre > 1:3200) were treated as suspected VL cases. A rapid epidemiological and entomological assessment was performed in the area. Species identification was attempted from blood samples by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of cysteine proteinase B genes. In 1 year, 230 serologically-positive cases were diagnosed as VL, and response to therapy was good in 91.6% of the 225 treated with sodium stibogluconate. Parasitological confirmation was attempted and obtained in 2 cases. Parasites were found to be most similar to Sudanese and Ethiopian reference strains of the Leishmania donovani complex. In a serological survey of 161 healthy displaced persons, 15% were positive by the leishmanin skin test and 3 (2%) were positive by the DAT. The sandfly captures showed Phlebotomus martini and P. vansomerenae. VL seems to be a longstanding and serious health problem in Bakool region. Food insecurity might have contributed to the emergence and detection of VL in this area

FRONT AND PIPE SPIKES IN FEMALE ELITE VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PIPE SPIKE TECHNIQUES

The pipe spike was recently incorporated in offensive combinations increasing the complexity of volleyball tactics and making games more sophisticated. Such combinations are now seen in female games as a strategy of feinting to overcome the block more effectively. Although some investigations analysed front spike techniques, no study has been done on the pipe spike motion for female elite players in official games. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the kinematics of front and pipe spikes of female elite volleyball players, and obtain insights into the techniques for pipe spike motion

Water quality index in the high-andean micro-basin of the Chumbao river, Andahuaylas, Apurímac, Perú

The water quality index (WQI) of a water body, indicates the degree of contamination for a given use, and it is related to the anthropic activities that they provoke around. The objective was to determine the WQI, in the high-Andean micro-basin of the Chumbao River, Andahuaylas, Peru. The section of study was included between the head of the basin (13°46'42.5" S, 73°13'50.0" W and 4 295 m of altitude), and last sampling point (13°35'26.4" S, 73°27'0.8" W and 2 529 m of altitude), with an average slope of 4%. The WQI Dinius was evaluated considering parameters such as oxygen level (DO and BOD5), eutrophication level (NO3 - and PO4 3-), physical characteristics (temperature, turbidity, color and TDS), dissolved substances (alkalinity, hardness, pH, conductivity and chlorides), and microbiological parameters (E. coli and total coliforms); it was sampled during the avenues season (02 lentic points and 08 lotics). The data were collected in triplicate, and analyzed through an ANOVA, Tukey test and Pearson's correlation at 5% significance. It was found that the predominant use of river water is for agriculture, pasture and urbanization; the WQI is divided into three categories Excellent (M1, M2, M3, M4 and M5) close to the head of the micro-basin and the lentic points (Pampahuasi and Paccoccocha lagoons), Acceptable (M6), and excessively contaminated points M7 and M8 outside the urban area downstream (p-value < 0.05); presenting a good negative correlation with the study parameters. In conclusion, the water in areas of low population density is good

Application of Thermography for Assessment of Crack Propagation in Composites

This paper presents the preliminary work on the application of Telops Fast m3K infrared camera for strain energy release rate measurement in fibre failure of carbon fibre composites. The technique is shown for quasistatic loading of compact tension specimen and identifying the crack propagation and instantaneous crack lengths using local changes in temperature near the crack tip

COMBINED DIC-INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY FOR HIGH STRAIN RATE TESTING OF COMPOSITES

In this paper, simultaneous high-speed white-light and infrared imaging were conducted to obtain quantitative description of thermomechanical response of the material and to study the formation and propagation of shear localizations from the temperature history

Molecular identification of Sporothrix species in a hyperendemicarea in Peru

To date, there have been no molecular typing studies to identify the Sporothrix species circulating inAbancay, a hyperendemic area of sporotrichosis in Peru. To identify six clinical isolates of the Sporothrixschenckii complex from Abancay, Peru, we used PCR-sequencing of the calmodulin gene, and a phylo-genetic analysis was conducted with these and additional sequences from GenBank. All clinical isolateswere identified as S. schenckii (sensu stricto). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the six clinical isolatesfrom Abancay, Peru clustered in a clade along with sequences from Costa Rica, Iran, South Africa, and fourother sequences from Peru. These findings reveal the presence of S. schenckii (sensu stricto) in Abancay,Peru.Campus Lima Centr