Schistosoma haematobium infection and Buruli ulcer

No abstract available

Experimental Studies of Autonomous Sailing With a Radio Controlled Sailboat

Autonomous sailing has attracted many interests from both industry and academy due to its great potential in oceanography, research and education. Worldwide researchers have developed various kinds of unmanned sailboat platforms for their specific research purposes and applications. However, most of these autonomous sailing platforms are rather complex to build and to program. The aim of this study is to propose, to build, and to test a new compact sailboat platform using a unique combination of a 1-m class radio controlled model sailboat, a Raspberry Pi 4, a Navio2, and a Calypso ultrasonic solar-powered anemometer. The proposed new sailboat platform makes full use of the agility of the racing model boat with minimal mechanical adjustments as the system does not use electrical wires to connect with additional sensors and a mechanical anemometer. The software architecture of the proposed new sailboat platform is also simplified as it involves only Python programming for the Raspberry Pi 4. The experimental results have demonstrated the feasibility as well as the functionality of the proposed new sailboat platform to conduct autonomous sailing operations successfully and it could become one of the most accessible, generic and flexible autonomous sailing platforms for advanced research and education in robotics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence

Quasi-linear Masking to Protect Kyber against both SCA and FIA

The recent technological advances in Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) rise the questions of robust implementations of new asymmetric cryptographic primitives in today’s technology. This is the case for the lattice-based CRYSTALS-Kyber algorithm which has been selected as the first NIST standard for Public Key Encryption (PKE) and Key Encapsulation Mechanisms (KEM). We have notably to make sure the Kyber implementation is resilient against physical attacks like Side-Channel Analysis (SCA) and Fault Injection Attacks (FIA). To reach this goal, we propose to use the masking countermeasure, more precisely the generic Direct Sum Masking method (DSM). By taking inspiration of a previous paper on AES, we extend the method to finite fields of characteristic prime other than 2 and even-length codes. In particular, we investigated its application to Keccak, which is the hash-based function used in Kyber. We also provided the first masked implementation of Kyber providing both SCA and FIA resilience while not requiring any conversion between different masking methods

Developing policy-relevant biodiversity indicators : lessons learnt from case studies in Africa

There is an increasing need for monitoring schemes that help understand the evolution of the global biodiversity crisis and propose solutions for the future. Indicators, including temporal baselines, are crucial to measure the change in biodiversity over time, to evaluate progress towards its conservation and sustainable use and to set conservation priorities. They help design and monitor national and regional policies on biodiversity; they also feed into national reporting on international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals. We analyse the methodological approach of five small African projects resulting from a call to promote indicator development, improve monitoring capacity and strengthen the science-policy interface in the field of biodiversity. We compared their approach to existing guidance provided by the international community, specifically the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership. To this end, we assess whether internationally recommended steps are effectively applied to national/local biodiversity monitoring in selected developing countries. We also present lessons learnt from workshop interactions between partners involved in these projects. Through our pilot projects we identified data availability and data accessibility, together with the involvement of stakeholders, as critical steps in indicator development. Moreover, there is a need for a better awareness and a wider application of the indicator concept itself. Hence, training of key actors both in the policy and science spheres is needed to operationalize indicators and ensure their continuity and sustainability. We hope that these case studies and lessons learnt can stimulate and support countries in the Global South to formulate policy-relevant biodiversity indicators.Peer reviewe

Is Sensory Loss an Understudied Risk Factor for Frailty? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

[Abstract] Background. Age-related sensory loss and frailty are common conditions among older adults, but epidemiologic research on their possible links has been inconclusive. Clarifying this relationship is important because sensory loss may be a clinically relevant risk factor for frailty. Methods. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched 3 databases for observational studies investigating 4 sensory impairments—vision (VI), hearing (HI), smell (SI), and taste (TI)—and their relationships with frailty. We meta-analyzed the cross-sectional associations of VI/HI each with pre-frailty and frailty, investigated sources of heterogeneity using meta-regression and subgroup analyses, and assessed publication bias using Egger’s test. Results. We included 17 cross-sectional and 7 longitudinal studies in our review (N = 34,085) from 766 records. Our cross-sectional meta-analyses found that HI and VI were, respectively, associated with 1.5- to 2-fold greater odds of pre-frailty and 2.5- to 3-fold greater odds of frailty. Our results remained largely unchanged after subgroup analyses and meta-regression, though the association between HI and pre-frailty was no longer significant in 2 subgroups which lacked sufficient studies. We did not detect publication bias. Longitudinal studies largely found positive associations between VI/HI and frailty progression from baseline robustness, though they were inconclusive about frailty progression from baseline pre-frailty. Sparse literature and heterogenous methods precluded meta-analyses and conclusions on the SI/TI–frailty relationships. Conclusions. Our meta-analyses demonstrate significant cross-sectional associations between VI/HI with pre-frailty and frailty. Our review also highlights knowledge gaps on the directionality and modifiability of these relationships and the impact of SI/TI and multiple sensory impairments on frailty

A tectonic model for the juxtaposition of granulite- and amphibolite-facies rocks in the Eburnean orogenic belt (Sassandra-Cavally domain, Côte d’Ivoire)

The Sassandra-Cavally (SASCA) domain (SW Côte d’Ivoire) marks the transition between the Archean Kenema-Man craton and the Paleoproterozoic (Rhyacian) Baoule-Mossi domain. It is characterized by the tectonic juxtaposition of granulite-facies and amphibolite-facies rocks. Migmatitic grey gneisses, garnet–cordierite–sillimanite migmatitic paragneisses and garnet–staurolite-bearing micaschists reached peak pressure conditions ranging from ∼ 6.6 kbar at 620 °C to ∼ 10 kbar at 820 °C. These conditions are associated with the first recorded deformation D1 and correspond to a Barrovian geothermal gradient of ∼ 25 °C/km. Subsequent exhumation, associated with a second deformation D2, was marked by decompression followed by cooling along apparent geothermal gradients of ∼ 40 °C/km. A D3 deformation phase is marked by folding and local transposition of the regional S1/S2 foliation into E-W trending shear zones. LA-ICP-MS U–Pb dating of monazite, which displays complex internal structures, reveals four age groups correlated to textural position of monazite grains and analytical points: (1) rare relictual zones yield dates at the Archean-Paleoproterozoic transition (ca. 2400–2600 Ma); (2) a cluster of dates centered at ca. 2037 Ma on grains aligned along the S2 foliation of the migmatitic grey gneiss, attributed to D2; (3) a cluster of dates centered at ca. 2000 Ma, and (4) dates spreading from ca. 1978 to 1913 Ma, documented for the first time in the West African Craton monazites. The ages of the latter two groups are similar to the ones identified in the Guiana Shield, and could be attributed to a disturbance by fluids, to a periodic opening of U–Pb system or to an episodic crystallization of monazite during slow cooling lasting several tens of Myrs. These data allow to propose a model for the tectonic evolution of the SASCA domain at the contact between the Rhyacian Baoule-Mossi domain and the Archean Kenema-Man nucleus whereby crustal thickening is achieved by crustal-scale folding and is followed by and concomitant with lateral flow of the thickened partially molten crust accommodated by regional transcurrent shear zones. This combination of crustal thickening controlled by tectonic forces and gravity-driven flow leads to the juxtaposition of granulite- and amphibolite-facies rocks

Quality Indicators for Colonoscopy Procedures: A Prospective Multicentre Method for Endoscopy Units

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Healthcare professionals are required to conduct quality control of endoscopy procedures, and yet there is no standardised method for assessing quality. The topic of the present study was to validate the applicability of the procedure in daily practice, giving physicians the ability to define areas for continuous quality improvement. METHODS: In ten endoscopy units in France, 200 patients per centre undergoing colonoscopy were enrolled in the study. An evaluation was carried out based on a prospectively developed checklist of 10 quality-control indicators including five dependent upon and five independent of the colonoscopy procedure. RESULTS: Of the 2000 procedures, 30% were done at general hospitals, 20% at university hospitals, and 50% in private practices. The colonoscopies were carried out for a valid indication for 95.9% (range 92.5-100). Colon preparation was insufficient in 3.7% (range 1-10.5). Colonoscopies were successful in 95.3% (range 81-99). Adenoma detection rate was 0.31 (range 0.17-0.45) in successful colonoscopies. CONCLUSION: This tool for evaluating the quality of colonoscopy procedures in healthcare units is based on standard endoscopy and patient criteria. It is an easy and feasible procedure giving the ability to detect suboptimal practice and differences between endoscopy-units. It will enable individual units to assess the quality of their colonoscopy techniques

Підручник зі слов’янського фольклору в Канаді

Рецензія на підручник: Kononenko N. Slavic Folklore: a Handbook. - Westport (Connecticut); London: Greenwood Press, 2007. - 209 pp