In 2018, Malaria accounted for 38% of the overall morbidity and 36% of the overall mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This study aimed to identify malaria socioeconomic predictors ...among children aged 6-59 months in DRC and to describe a socioeconomic profile of the most-at-risk children aged 6-59 months for malaria infection.
This study used data from the 2013 DRC Demographic and Health Survey. The sample included 8,547 children aged 6-59 months who were tested for malaria by microscopy. Malaria infection status, the dependent variable, is a dummy variable characterized as a positive or negative test. The independent variables were child's sex, age, and living arrangement; mother's education; household's socioeconomic variables; province of residence; and type of place of residence. Statistical analyses used the chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) model and logistic regression.
Of the 8,547 children included in the sample, 25% had malaria infection. Four variables-child's age, mother's education, province, and wealth index-were statistically associated with the prevalence of malaria infection in bivariate analysis and multivariate analysis (CHAID and logistic regression). The prevalence of malaria infection increases with child's age and decreases significantly with mother's education and the household wealth index. These findings suggest that the prevalence of malaria infection is driven by interactions among environmental factors, socioeconomic characteristics, and probably differences in the implementation of malaria programs across the country. The effect of mother's education on malaria infection was only significant among under-five children living in Ituri, Kasaï-Central, Haut-Uele, Lomami, Nord-Ubangi, and Maniema provinces, and the effect of wealth index was significant in Mai-Ndombe, Tshopo, and Haut-Katanga provinces.
Findings from this study could be used for targeting malaria interventions in DRC. Although malaria infection is common across the country, the prevalence of children at high risk for malaria infection varies by province and other background characteristics, including age, mother's education, wealth index, and place of residence. In light of these findings, designing provincial and multisectoral interventions could be an effective strategy to achieve zero malaria infection in DRC.
It has been hypothesized that the composition of particulate matter (PM) may be a better predictor of health effects than PM mass alone. The regional differences in PM composition and the ...heterogeneity in PM risk estimates in large multi-city epidemiologic studies are consistent with this hypothesis. Since 2005, efforts have been made to relate apportioned components and sources of PM with human health outcomes in epidemiology, controlled human exposure and toxicology studies. We reviewed published studies that: 1) focused on short-term exposure to PM; 2) included at least five components of PM; 3) grouped them into factors or sources; and 4) used quantitative methods to examine the relationship between the factors or sources and health effects. We then examined whether specific groups of PM components or sources of PM are consistently linked to specific health effects across studies. Collectively, these studies suggest that cardiovascular effects may be associated with PM2.5 from crustal or combustion sources, including traffic, but at this time, no consistent relationships have emerged. Fewer studies evaluated respiratory health effects, and the evidence for associations was limited. Apportionment methods have linked a variety of health effects to multiple groups of PM components and sources of PM, but the collective evidence has not yet isolated factors or sources that would be closely and unequivocally related to specific health outcomes.
► PM chemical composition may better predict health effects than PM mass or size. ► We reviewed 29 studies that attempted this by using apportionment methods. ► Were specific sources or factors consistently linked to specific health effects? ► Apportionment methods have identified links, but we found little if any consistency.
Fossil species that can be conclusively identified as stem-relatives of stick- and leaf-insects (Phasmatodea) are extremely rare, especially for the Mesozoic era. This dearth in the paleontological ...record makes assessments on the origin and age of the group problematic and impedes investigations of evolutionary key aspects, such as wing development, sexual size dimorphism and plant mimicry.
A new fossil insect species, Cretophasmomima melanogramma Wang, Béthoux and Ren sp. nov., is described on the basis of one female and two male specimens recovered from the Yixian Formation (Early Cretaceous, ca. 126±4 mya; Inner Mongolia, NE China; known as 'Jehol biota'). The occurrence of a female abdominal operculum and of a characteristic 'shoulder pad' in the forewing allows for the interpretation of a true stem-Phasmatodea. In contrast to the situation in extant forms, sexual size dimorphism is only weakly female-biased in this species. The peculiar wing coloration, viz. dark longitudinal veins, suggests that the leaf-shaped plant organ from the contemporaneous 'gymnosperm' Membranifolia admirabilis was used as model for crypsis.
As early as in the Early Cretaceous, some stem-Phasmatodea achieved effective leaf mimicry, although additional refinements characteristic of recent forms, such as curved fore femora, were still lacking. The diversification of small-sized arboreal insectivore birds and mammals might have triggered the acquisition of such primary defenses.
AIM: Early in their evolution, angiosperms evolved a diversity of leaf form far greater than that of any other group of land plants. Some of this diversity evolved in response to varying climate. Our ...aim is to test the global relationship between leaf form in woody dicot angiosperms and the climate in which they live. LOCATION: We have compiled a data set describing leaf form (using 31 standardized categorical characters) from 378 natural or naturalized vegetation sites from around the world. Our data include sites from all continents except Antarctica and encompass biomes from tropical to taiga, over a range of elevations from 0.5 m to over 3000 m. METHODS: We chose the Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program sampling, scoring and analytical protocols to test the relationships between climate and leaf form, which is based on canonical correspondence analysis. Cluster analysis evaluates the role of historical factors in shaping the patterns, and pairwise Pearson correlations examine the relationships among leaf characters. RESULTS: Woody dicot leaf characters form a physiognomic spectrum that reflects local climate conditions. On a global scale, correlations between leaf form and climate are consistent, irrespective of climate regime, vegetation type or biogeographic history. Relationships with temperature variables are maintained even when leaf margin characters, regarded as being particularly well correlated with mean annual temperature, are removed. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: In natural woody dicot vegetation an integrated spectrum of leaf form has developed across multiple leaf character states and species. This spectrum appears more strongly influenced by prevailing climate than biogeographic history. The covariation of leaf traits across species suggests strong integration of leaf form. New methods of exploring structure in multidimensional physiognomic space enable better application of leaf form to palaeoclimate reconstruction.
The terpenoid compositions of the Late Cretaceous Xixia amber from Central China and the middle Miocene Zhangpu amber from Southeast China were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry ...(GC-MS) to elucidate their botanical origins. The Xixia amber is characterized by sesquiterpenoids, abietane and phyllocladane type diterpenoids, but lacks phenolic abietanes and labdane derivatives. The molecular compositions indicate that the Xixia amber is most likely contributed by the conifer family Araucariaceae, which is today distributed primarily in the Southern Hemisphere, but widely occurred in the Northern Hemisphere during the Mesozoic according to paleobotanical evidence. The middle Miocene Zhangpu amber is characterized by amyrin and amyrone-based triterpenoids and cadalene-based sesquiterpenoids. It is considered derived from the tropical angiosperm family Dipterocarpaceae based on these compounds and the co-occurring fossil winged fruits of the family in Zhangpu. This provides new evidence for the occurrence of a dipterocarp forest in the middle Miocene of Southeast China. It is the first detailed biomarker study for amber from East Asia.
In this article, the author questions some assertions on issues of international and Congolese criminal law made in the context of an article published in a Special Issue of the Journal on 'Justice ...and Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict: Progress and Challenges in National Efforts to Address Impunity'. While he credits the article with helping to bring to the attention of a wider audience the atrocities experienced by the victims of the 'Kavumu' case - and thus contributing to the overall justice-effort on their behalf - he notes a few areas of legal concern, including: (i) the impact of Article 27(2) ICC Statute on parliamentary immunities in prosecuting crimes under the Rome Statute before national courts; (ii) the determination of liability of the accused when military judges have failed to identify direct perpetrators of crimes or the group to which they belong; and (iii) the relationship between the forms of criminal responsibility of individuals that make up the leadership of an organization and the policy element of crimes against humanity attributed to that organization. In sum, the article seeks to investigate to what extent the judicial reasoning in this case may have contributed to clarifying the provisions of the ICC Statute as applied by military judges in Congolese courts.
Abstract
In this article, the author questions some assertions on issues of international and Congolese criminal law made in the context of an article published in a Special Issue of the Journal on ...‘Justice and Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict: Progress and Challenges in National Efforts to Address Impunity’. While he credits the article with helping to bring to the attention of a wider audience the atrocities experienced by the victims of the Kavumu case — and thus contributing to the overall justice-effort on their behalf — he notes a few areas of legal concern, including: (i) the impact of Article 27(2) ICC Statute on parliamentary immunities in prosecuting crimes under the Rome Statute before national courts; (ii) the determination of liability of the accused when military judges have failed to identify direct perpetrators of crimes or the group to which they belong; and (iii) the relationship between the forms of criminal responsibility of individuals that make up the leadership of an organization and the policy element of crimes against humanity attributed to that organization. In sum, the article seeks to investigate to what extent the judicial reasoning in this case may have contributed to clarifying the provisions of the ICC Statute as applied by military judges in Congolese courts.
In the developed world, information on vital events is routinely collected nationally to inform population and health policies. However, in many low-and middle-income countries, especially those in ...sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there is a lack of effective and comprehensive national civil registration and vital statistics system. In the past decades, the number of Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSSs) has increased throughout SSA. An HDSS monitors births, deaths, causes of death, migration, and other health and socio-economic indicators within a defined population over time. Currently, the International Network for the Continuous Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health (INDEPTH) brings together 38 member research centers which run 44 HDSS sites from 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Oceana. Thirty two of these HDSS sites are in SSA.
This paper argues that, in the absence of an adequate national CRVS, HDSSs should be more effectively utilised to generate relevant public health data, and also to create local capacity for longitudinal data collection and management systems in SSA. If HDSSs get strategically located to cover different geographical regions in a country, data from these sites could be used to provide a more complete national picture of the health of the population. They provide useful data that can be extrapolated for national estimates if their regional coverage is well planned. HDSSs are however resource-intensive. Efforts are being put towards getting them linked to local or national policy contexts and to reduce their dependence on external funding. Increasing their number in SSA to cover a critical proportion of the population, especially urban populations, must be carefully planned. Strategic planning is needed at national levels to geographically locate HDSS sites and to support these through national funding mechanisms.
The paper does not suggest that HDSSs should be seen as a replacement for civil registration systems. Rather, they should serve as a short- to medium-term measure to provide data for health and population planning at regional levels with possible extrapolation to national levels. HDSSs can also provide useful lessons for countries that intend to set up nationally representative sample vital registration systems in the long term.
Although there are inequalities in child health and survival in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the influence of distal determinants such as geographic location on children's nutritional ...status is still unclear. We investigate the impact of geographic location on child nutritional status by mapping the residual net effect of malnutrition while accounting for important risk factors.
We examine spatial variation in under-five malnutrition with flexible geo-additive semi-parametric mixed model while simultaneously controlling for spatial dependence and possibly nonlinear effects of covariates within a simultaneous, coherent regression framework based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques. Individual data records were constructed for children. Each record represents a child and consists of nutritional status information and a list of covariates. For the 8,992 children born within the last five years before the survey, 3,663 children have information on anthropometric measures.Our novel empirical approach is able to flexibly determine to what extent the substantial spatial pattern of malnutrition is driven by detectable factors such as socioeconomic factors and can be attributable to unmeasured factors such as conflicts, political, environmental and cultural factors.
Although childhood malnutrition was more pronounced in all provinces of the DRC, after accounting for the location's effects, geographic differences were significant: malnutrition was significantly higher in rural areas compared to urban centres and this difference persisted after multiple adjustments. The findings suggest that models of nutritional intervention must be carefully specified with regard to residential location.
Childhood malnutrition is spatially structured and rates remain very high in the provinces that rely on the mining industry and comparable to the level seen in Eastern provinces under conflicts. Even in provinces such as Bas-Congo that produce foods, childhood malnutrition is higher probably because of the economic decision to sell more than the population consumes. Improving maternal and child nutritional status is a prerequisite for achieving MDG 4, to reduce child mortality rate in the DRC.
Four decades after the passage of the US Clean Air Act, air-quality standards are set to protect ecosystems from damage caused by gas-phase nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) compounds, but not from the ...deposition of these air pollutants to land and water. Here, we synthesize recent scientific literature on the ecological effects of N and S air pollution in the US. Deposition of N and S is the main driver of ecosystem acidification and contributes to nutrient enrichment in many natural systems. Although surface-water acidification has decreased in the US since 1990, it remains a problem in many regions. Perturbations to ecosystems caused by the nutrient effects of N deposition continue to emerge, although gas-phase concentrations are generally not high enough to cause phytotoxicity. In all, there is overwhelming evidence of a broad range of damaging effects to ecosystems in the US under current air-quality conditions.
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