This study quantifies comprehensively both within and between breed differences in resistance to natural infection with gastrointestinal parasites. This research programme was developed from an ...earlier study in coastal Kenya involving Dorper and Red Maasai X Dorper sheep. It is now part of an ILCA Pan-African study on genetic resistance to endoparasites in small ruminants. Results are Reported here for the lamb born born in 1991 and 1992. In both years the F1 ewes had a higher reproductive performance than Dorper ewes, due almost entirely to a higher lambing rate. The lambing rate includes both pregnancy rate and ewe disposal rate from mating to lambing. The number of ewes disposed of in 1991 were only 14 and 3 in 1992. Over the two years combined the F1 ewes had a higher pregnancy rate than Dorper ewes which was then reflected in the number of lambs weaned per ewe mated. The twinning rate was low with 5 sets of twins born in 1991 and 7 sets in 1992, with no difference between ewe breeds in twinning frequency.
Abstract
Background
Three-quarters of pregnancy terminations in Africa are carried out in unsafe conditions. Unsafe abortion is the leading cause of maternal mortality among 15–24 year-old women in ...Sub-Saharan Africa. Greater understanding of the wider determinants of pregnancy termination in 15–24 year-olds could inform the design and development of interventions to mitigate the harm. Previous research has described the trends in and factors associated with termination of pregnancy for women of reproductive age in Nigeria. However, the wider determinants of pregnancy termination have not been ascertained, and data for all women have been aggregated which may obscure differences by age groups. Therefore, we examined the trends in and individual and contextual-level predictors of pregnancy termination among 15–24 year-old women in Nigeria.
Methods
We analysed data from the 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018 Nigerian Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) comprising 45,793 women aged 15–24 years. Trends in pregnancy termination across the four survey datasets were examined using bivariate analysis. Individual and contextual predictors of pregnancy termination were analysed using a three-level binary logistic regression analysis and are reported as adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results
Trends in pregnancy termination declined from 5.8% in 2003 to 4.2% in 2013 then reversed to 4.9% in 2018. The declining trend was greater for 15–24 year-old women with higher socioeconomic status. Around 17% of the total variation in pregnancy termination was attributable to community factors, and 7% to state-level factors. Of all contextual variables considered, only contraceptive prevalence (proxy for reproductive health service access by young women) at community level was significant. Living in communities with higher contraceptive prevalence increased odds of termination compared with communities with lower contraceptive prevalence (aOR = 4.2; 95% CI 2.7–6.6). At the individual-level, sexual activity before age 15 increased odds of termination (aOR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.9–2.8) compared with women who initiated sexual activity at age 18 years or older, and married women had increased odds compared with never married women (aOR = 3.0; 95% CI 2.5–3.7).
Conclusion
Our findings highlight the importance of disaggregating data for women across the reproductive lifecourse, and indicates where tailored interventions could be targeted to address factors associated with pregnancy termination among young women in Nigeria.
Presents the Orma Boran field observations carried out under tsetse fly challenge on Galana ranch in Kenya since 1980. Their response to trypanosomiasis has been compared to that of the ranch bred ...Kenya (Galana) Boran. The mean monthly prevalence of trypanosomiasis observed in Orma steers over five years was 17 percent compared with 31 percent in the Galana Borans. Mean annual mortality over five years was 35 percent in untreated Orma steers compared with 71 percent in untreated Galana steers. The primary difference appeared to be in their response to Trypanosoma vivax challenge. Their ability to acquire resistance has also been investigated under field conditions and both acquired and innate resistance appear to play a role. Steers monitored weekly over two years and treated with diminazene aceturate immediately on detection of infection showed some evidence of improved control of anaemia. In contrast, steers treated only when the PCV fell to 15 percent showed little evidence of improved anaemia control over two years. There was strong evidence for an innate component and the repeatabilities of PCV and infection rate were significant between the two years. Orma calves born on Galana ranch and herded together with their Galana counterparts were detected parasitaemic less often and the pre-weaning mortality was 7 percent compared with 17 percent for the Galana calves. The trypanosome prevalence in both groups of calves was lower than that observed over the same period in their dams and the vivax ratio was higher. Orma calves, however, had significantly lower birth & weaning weights than their Galana counterparts.
Vitamin D is an important regulator of immune function and largely acts to dampen chronic inflammatory events in a variety of tissues. There is also accumulating evidence that vitamin D acts to ...enhance initial inflammation, beneficial during both infection and wound healing, and then promotes resolution and prevention of chronic, damaging inflammation. The current study examines the effect of topical vitamin D in a mouse of model of corneal epithelial wound healing, where acute inflammation is necessary for efficient wound closure. At 12 and 18 hours post-wounding, vitamin D treatment significantly delayed wound closure by ~17% and increased infiltration of neutrophils into the central cornea. Basal epithelial cell division, corneal nerve density, and levels of VEGF, TGFβ, IL-1β, and TNFα were unchanged. However, vitamin D increased the production of the anti-microbial peptide CRAMP 12 hours after wounding. These data suggest a possible role for vitamin D in modulating corneal wound healing and have important implications for therapeutic use of vitamin D at the ocular surface.
The metazoan Hsp70 disaggregase protects neurons from proteotoxicity that arises from the accumulation of misfolded protein aggregates. Hsp70 and its co-chaperones disassemble and extract ...polypeptides from protein aggregates for refolding or degradation. The effectiveness of the chaperone system decreases with age and leads to accumulation rather than removal of neurotoxic protein aggregates. Therapeutic enhancement of the Hsp70 protein disassembly machinery is proposed to counter late-onset protein misfolding neurodegenerative disease that may arise. In the context of prion disease, it is not known whether stimulation of protein aggregate disassembly paradoxically leads to enhanced formation of seeding competent species of disease-specific proteins and acceleration of neurodegenerative disease. Here we have tested the hypothesis that modulation of Hsp70 disaggregase activity perturbs mammalian prion-induced neurotoxicity and prion seeding activity. To do so we used PrP transgenic Drosophila that authentically replicate mammalian prions. RNASeq identified that Hsp70, DnaJ-1 and Hsp110 gene expression was down-regulated in prion-exposed PrP Drosophila. We demonstrated that RNAi knockdown of Hsp110 or DnaJ-1 gene expression in variant CJD prion-exposed human PrP Drosophila enhanced neurotoxicity, whereas over-expression mitigated toxicity. Strikingly, prion seeding activity in variant CJD prion-exposed human PrP Drosophila was ablated or reduced by Hsp110 or DnaJ-1 over-expression, respectively. Similar effects were seen in scrapie prion-exposed ovine PrP Drosophila with modified Hsp110 or DnaJ-1 gene expression. These unique observations show that the metazoan Hsp70 disaggregase facilitates the clearance of mammalian prions and that its enhanced activity is a potential therapeutic strategy for human prion disease.
This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be ...found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal.
This paper applies multilevel logistic regression models to Demographic and Health Survey data collected during 2003–2008 from 20 countries of sub-Saharan Africa to examine the determinants and ...cross-national variations in the risk of HIV seropositivity in the region. The models include individual-level and contextual region/country-level risk factors. Simultaneous confidence intervals of country-level residuals are used to compare the risk of being HIV seropositive across countries. The study reveals interesting general patterns in the risk of HIV seropositivity in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, the findings highlight the gender disparity in socio-economic risk factors, partly explained by sexual behaviour factors.
► Interesting general patterns in the risk of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. ► Gender disparity in socio-economic risk factors, partly explained by sexual behaviour. ► Background socio-economic risk factors are stronger predictors among women than men. ► Variations in the risk of HIV across countries, and to a lesser extent across regions.
The strategic aim of universal health coverage (UHC) is to ensure that everyone can use health services they need without risk of financial impoverishment. Linda mama (Taking care of the mother) ...initiative focuses on most vulnerable women, newborns and infants in offering free health services and Financial risk protection that provides overall social protection in the event of pregnancy, childbirth, neonatal and perinatal care for mothersPurpose of study was to find out the extent of awareness, and involvement among managers, service providers and consumers of ‘Linda mama’ supported services and benefits of the initiative from the perspectives of consumers, providers and managersMethodsWe carried out cross sectional study in four sub counties in western KenyaFindingsFrom the perspectives of managers, service providers and consumers of the scheme emerge concepts, principles and pathways of successful health interventions. Managers and service providers were well aware of the initiative and were involved in it.Participation seemed to be more prominent among managers and service providers. Routine household visits by community health volunteers to sensitize mothers and community engagement was core to the initiative. The managers and providers of services displayed profound awareness of how requiring identification cards and telephone numbers had the potential to undermine equity by excluding those in greater need of care such as under-age pregnant adolescents. Maternity and mother child health services improved as a result of the funds received by health facilities. ‘Linda Mama’ reimbursements helped to purchase drug and reduced workload in the facility by hiring extra hands.ConclusionThe initiative seems to have influenced attitudes on health facility delivery through: Partnership among key stakeholders and highlighting the need for enhanced partnership with the communities. It enhanced the capacity of health facilities to deliver high quality comprehensive, essential care package and easing economic burden.
Using a systematic literature review approach, this paper focused on the role of polygyny in the spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. The widespread practice of polygyny is one ...feature of many SSA contexts that may be relevant to understanding patterns of HIV prevalence. Building on the conflicting studies on the importance of polygyny, this study investigated whether or not polygyny is a conduit for elevating HIV transmission in SSA countries. Findings showed that polygyny as an institution is perhaps less of a concern; rather the implication that men and women who are in polygamous relationships are also more likely to engage in extra-marital sex - raises secondary questions about their patterns of sexual networking and concurrent sexual partnerships. The findings however show that polygyny amplifies risky sexual behaviours such as sexual networking and concurrent sexual partnerships, all of which were found to be significantly associated with the risk of HIV transmission. This demonstrates that targeting risky sexual behaviours in a broader marital context may be more important for HIV risk reduction than targeting polygyny as an institution.
En utilisant une approche de revue systématique de la littérature, cet article s'est concentré sur le rôle de la polygamie dans la propagation du VIH / sida dans les pays d'Afrique subsaharienne (ASS). La pratique répandue de la polygamie est une caractéristique de nombreux contextes de l'ASS qui peut être utile pour comprendre les modèles de prévalence du VIH. S'appuyant sur les études contradictoires sur l'importance de la polygamie, cette étude a cherché à savoir si la polygamie est ou non un moyen d'augmenter la transmission du VIH dans les pays d'Afrique subsaharienne. Les résultats ont montré que la polygamie en tant qu'institution est peut-être moins préoccupante; au contraire, l'implication que les hommes et les femmes qui sont dans des relations polygames sont également plus susceptibles de s'engager dans des relations sexuelles hors mariage - soulève des questions secondaires sur leurs modèles de réseautage sexuel et de partenariats sexuels concomitants. Les résultats montrent cependant que la polygamie amplifie les comportements sexuels à risque tels que le réseautage sexuel et les partenariats sexuels concomitants, qui se sont tous révélés significativement associés au risque de transmission du VIH. Cela démontre que le ciblage des comportements sexuels à risque dans un contexte matrimonial plus large peut être plus important pour la réduction du risque de VIH que le ciblage de la polygamie en tant qu'institution.
Several signaling pathways control blood cell (hemocyte) development in the Drosophila lymph gland. Mechanisms that modulate and integrate these signals are poorly understood. Here we report that ...mutation in a conserved endocytic protein Asrij affects signal transmission and causes aberrant lymph gland hematopoiesis. Mammalian Asrij (Ociad1) is expressed in stem cells of the blood vascular system and is implicated in several cancers. We found that Drosophila Asrij is a pan-hemocyte marker and localizes to a subset of endocytic vesicles. Loss of asrij causes hyperproliferation of lymph gland lobes coupled with increased hemocyte differentiation, thereby depleting the pool of quiescent hemocyte precursors. This co-relates with fewer Col+ cells in the hematopoietic stem cell niche of asrij mutants. Asrij null mutants also show excess specification of crystal cells that express the RUNX factor Lozenge (Lz), a target of Notch signaling. Asrij mutant lymph glands show increased N in sorting endosomes suggesting aberrant trafficking. In vitro assays also show impaired traffic of fluorescent probes in asrij null hemocytes. Taken together our data suggest a role for Asrij in causing increased Notch signaling thereby affecting hemocyte differentiation. Thus, conserved endocytic functions may control blood cell progenitor quiescence and differentiation.
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