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Background: The current mainstay for control/elimination of onchocerciasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) relies on ivermectin- and mebendazole/albendazole-based preventive chemotherapies. However, children under five years of age have been excluded in both research activities and control programs, because they were believed to have insignificant infection rates. There is therefore a need for up-to-date knowledge on the prevalence and intensity of STH and onchocerciasis infections in this age group. This study aimed at assessing the rates and intensities of onchocerciasis and STH infections in children under five years of age who are excluded from ivermectin- or mebendazole/albendazole-based preventive chemotherapies. Methods: A series of cross-sectional surveys was conducted in four Health Districts in the Centre and Littoral Regions of Cameroon between 2018 and 2019. All subjects aged 2 to 4 years, were screened for prevalence (or infection rate) and intensity [number of eggs per gram of stool (epg) or number of microfilariae per skin snip (mf/ss)] of STH and onchocerciasis infections respectively using the Kato-Katz and skin snip methodologies. Chi-square and the non-parametric tests (Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis) were used to compare infection rates and intensities of infections between Health Districts and genders, respectively. Results: A total of 421 children were enrolled in this study. The overall prevalence of onchocerciasis was 6.6% [95% confidence interval (CI): 4.3‒9.9], ranging from 3.6% (in the Ntui Health District) to 12.2% (in the Bafia Health District). The intensity of infection ranged from 0.5 to 46 microfilariae per skin snip [median: 5; interquartile range (IQR): 2.25‒8.5]. The overall prevalence of STH was 9.6% (95% CI: 6.5‒13.9), with a high infection rate (29.6%) in the Akonolinga Health District. Two STH species (Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura) were found among infected individuals. The median intensities of STH infections were 1,992 epg (IQR: 210‒28,704) and 96 epg (IQR: 48‒168) for A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura, respectively. Conclusions: This study reveals that children < 5 years of age are highly infected with STH and onchocerciasis, and could contribute to the spread of these diseases, perpetuating a vicious circle of transmission and hampering elimination efforts. These findings reveal the urgent need to provide (or scale) treatments (likely pediatric formulations) to these preschool-aged children, especially in areas of high transmission, to accelerate efforts to reach WHO 2030 target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micronutrients are known to play an important role in the metabolism and physiological activities of the human body. Unfortunately, over three billion people in the world are malnourished. The development of crops with enhanced mineral concentration is one of the most sustainable and cost effective approaches for alleviating micronutrient malnutrition. Bio fortification is considered as a suitable strategy of increasing the bio available concentrations of an element in edible portions of crop plants through traditional breeding practices or modern biotechnology to overcome the problem of micronutrient deficiencies. Quality refers to the suitability or fitness of an economic plant product in relation to its end use. Definition of quality varies according to our needs from the viewpoint of seeds, crop growth, crop product, post-harvest technology, consumer preferences, cooking quality, keeping quality, transportability etc. Quality trait is defined as a trait that defines the aspects of the produce quality. Grain quality evaluation is done manually but it is relative, time consuming, may be varying results and costly. To overcome these limitations and shortcoming image processing techniques is the alternative solution can be used for grain quality analysis. Rice quality is nothing but the combination of physical and chemical characteristics. Grain size and shape, chalkiness, whiteness, milling degree, bulk density and moisture content are some physical characteristics while amylose content, gelatinization temperature and gel consistency are chemical characteristics of rice. A solution of grading and evaluation of rice grains on the basis of grain size and shape using image processing techniques. Specifically edge detection algorithm is used to find out the region of boundaries of each grain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks into the relation between severity of left ventricular systolic dysfunction with the repolarization abnormalities on the surface electrocardiogram. Significantly, high prevalence of QT prolongation has been reported in heart failure. Both echocardiogram and electrocardiogram (ECG) were used in the study. The researchers have examined the relation between the ECG variables and the degree of left ventricular systolic function and the influence of drug treatment in QT variables. Finally, the study confirms that QT prolongation is related to the presence and severity of left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Broad Complex Tachycardia and Atrial Septal Defect" published in a previous issue.

A personal narrative which explores the author's experience studying a 71-year-old man with angina pectoris is presented.

An abstract of the study "Prevalence and Prognosis of HF in Post MI Patients," by A. Torabi et al. is presented.

Describes the case of the 64-year-old woman with an unusual presentation of delayed cardiac perforation caused by atrial screw-in lead. Patient's pain treated as musculoskeletal; Tamponade relieved by percutaneous aspiration.