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This proposed scientific statement is focused on providing new insights regarding challenges and opportunities for cardiovascular health (CVH) promotion in Africa. The statement includes an overview of the current state of CVH in Africa, with a particular interest in the cardiometabolic risk factors and their evaluation through metrics. The statement also explains the main principles of primordial prevention, its relevance in reducing noncommunicable disease and the different strategies that have been effective worldwide. Also, the statement addresses challenges for implementing primordial prevention strategies in Africa, such as socioeconomic, cultural, lifestyle, and environmental factors, and highlights the importance of adapting strategies to the context. Finally, the statement recommends fundamental approaches for promoting CVH with the help of various partnerships and the involvement of communities., Competing Interests: The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Competing Interests: Disclosure of interest: The authors completed the ICMJE Disclosure of Interest Form (available upon request from the corresponding author) and disclose no relevant interests.

Background: In endemic areas, vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major source of the global reservoir of infected people. Eliminating mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HBV is at the heart of World Health Organization's goal of reducing the incidence of HBV in children to less than 0.1% by 2030. Universal screening for hepatitis B during pregnancy and neonatal vaccination are the main preventive measures., Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of HBV vaccination combined with one dose of immunoglobulin in children born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers in Djibouti city., Methods: We conducted a study in a prospective cohort of HBsAg-positive pregnant women and their infants. The study ran from January 2021 to May 2022, and infants were followed up to 7 mo of age. HBV serological markers and viral load in pregnant women were measured using aVidas microparticle enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Biomérieux, Paris, France) and the automated Amplix platform (Biosynex, Strasbourg, France). All infants received hepatitis B immunoglobulin and were vaccinated against HBV at birth. These infants were closely monitored to assess their seroprotective response and for failure of immunoprophylaxis. Simple logistic regression was also used to identify risk factors associated with immunoprophylaxis failure and poor vaccine response. All statistical analyses were performed with version 4.0.1 of the R software., Results: Of the 50 pregnant women recruited, the median age was 31 years, ranging from 18 years to 41 years. The MTCT rate in this cohort was 4% (2/50) in HBsAg-positive women and 67% (2/3) in hepatitis B e antigen-positive women with a viral load > 200000 IU/mL. Of the 48 infants who did not fail immunoprophylaxis, 8 (16%) became poor responders (anti-HB < 100 mIU/mL) after HBV vaccination and hepatitis B immunoglobulin, while 40 (84%) infants achieved a good level of seroprotection (anti-HB > 100 mIU/mL). Factors associated with this failure of immunoprophylaxis were maternal HBV DNA levels (> 200000 IU/mL) and hepatitis B e antigen-positive status (odds ratio = 158, 95% confidence interval: 5.05-4958, P < 0.01). Birth weight < 2500 g was associated with a poor immune response to vaccination (odds ratio = 34, 95% confidence interval: 3.01-383.86, P < 0.01)., Conclusion: Despite a failure rate of immunoprophylaxis higher than the World Health Organization target, this study showed that the combination of immunoglobulin and HBV vaccine was effective in preventing MTCT of HBV. Therefore, further studies are needed to better understand the challenges associated with immunoprophylaxis failure in infants in Djibouti city., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

The title compound, (C 2 H 10 N 2 ) 2 [(C 10 H 12 N 2 O 8 )(MoO 3 ) 2 ]·4H 2 O, which crystallizes in the monoclinic C 2/ c space group, was obtained by mixing molybdenum oxide, ethyl-enedi-amine and ethyl-enedi-amine-tetra-acetic acid (H 4 edta) in a 2:4:1 ratio. The complex anion contains two MoO 3 units bridged by an edta 4- anion. The midpoint of the central C-C bond of the edta 4- anion is located on a crystallographic inversion centre. The independent Mo atom is tridentately coordin-ated by a nitro-gen atom and two carboxyl-ate groups of the edta 4- ligand, together with the three oxo ligands, producing a distorted octa-hedral coordination environment. In the three-dimensional supra-molecular crystal structure, the dinuclear anions, the organo-ammonium counter-ions and the solvent water mol-ecules are linked by N-H⋯O w , N-H⋯O edta and O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds., (© Yaffa et al. 2024.)

Dengue fever is an infectious disease caused by the dengue virus (DENV), an RNA Flavivirus transmitted by the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus widespread in tropical, subtropical and also temperate regions. Symptoms range from a simple cold to a severe, life-threatening haemorrhagic fever. According to the WHO, it affects around 390 million people per year. No antiviral treatment for DENV is available, and the Dengvaxia vaccine is only intended for people over 9 years of age who have contracted dengue one time in the past, and shows serotype-specific effectiveness. There is therefore a crying need to discover new molecules with antiviral power against flaviviruses. The present study was carried out to evaluate the anti-DENV activities and cytotoxicity of triazenes obtained by diazocopulation. Some triazenes were highly cytotoxic (16, and 25) to hepatocarcinoma Huh7 cells, whereas others displayed strong anti-DENV potential. The antiviral activity ranged from EC 50  = 7.82 µM to 48.12 µM in cellulo, with a selectivity index (CC 50 /EC 50 ) greater than 9 for two of the compounds (10, and 20). In conclusion, these new triazenes could serve as a lead to develop and optimize drugs against DENV., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The impact of COVID-19 sanitary measures on the time trends in infectious and chronic disease consultations in Sub-Saharan Africa remains unknown., Methods: We conducted a cohort study on all emergency medical consultations from January 2016 to July 2020, from SOS Medecins in Dakar, Senegal. The consultation records provided basic demographic information such as age, ethnicity (Senegalese or Caucasian), and sex as well as the principal diagnosis using an ICD-10 classification ("infectious", "chronic", and "other"). We first investigated how the pattern in emergency consultation differed from March to July 2020 compared to previous years. Then, we examined any potential racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 consultation., Results: We obtained data on emergency medical consultations from 53 583 patients of all ethnic origins. The mean age of patients was 37.0 (standard deviation (SD) = 25.2) and 30.3 (SD = 21.7) in 2016-2019 and 45.5 (SD = 24.7) and 39.5 (SD = 23.3) in 2020 for Senegalese and Caucasian patients, respectively. The type of consultations between January and July were similar from 2016 to 2019; however, in 2020, there was a drop in the number of infectious disease consultations, particularly from April to May 2020, when sanitary measures for COVID-19 were applied (average of 366.5 and 358.2 in 2016-1019 and 133.0 and 125.0 in 2020). The prevalence of chronic conditions remained steady during the same period (average of 381.0 and 394.7 in 2016-2019 and 373.0 and 367.0 in 2020). In a multivariate analysis adjusted for age and sex, infectious disease consultations were significantly more likely to occur in 2016-2019 compared to 2020 (2016 odds ratio (OR) = 2.39, 2017 OR = 2.74, 2018 OR = 2.39, 2019 OR = 2.01). Furthermore, the trend in the number of infectious and chronic consultations was similar among Senegalese and Caucasian groups, indicating no disparities among those seeking treatment., Conclusions: During the implementation of COVID-19 sanitary measures, infectious disease rates dropped as chronic disease rates remained stagnant in Dakar. We observed no racial/ethnic disparities among the infectious and chronic consultations., Competing Interests: Disclosure of interest: The authors completed the ICMJE Disclosure of Interest Form (available upon request from the corresponding author) and disclose no relevant interests., (Copyright © 2023 by the Journal of Global Health. All rights reserved.)

Two new heterocyclic 1,2,3-triazenes were synthesized by diazo-tation of 3-amino-pyridine following respectively by coupling with morpholine or 1,2,3,4-tetra-hydro-quinoline. 4-[(Pyridin-3-yl)diazen-yl]morpholine ( I ), C 9 H 12 N 4 O, has monoclinic P 2 1 / c symmetry at 100 K, while 1-[(pyridin-3-yl)diazen-yl]-1,2,3,4-tetra-hydro-quinoline ( II ), C 14 H 14 N 4 , has monoclinic P 2 1 / n symmetry at 100 K. These 1,2,3-triazene derivatives were synthesized by the organic medium method by coupling reactions of 3-amino-pyridine with morpholine and 1,2,3,4-tetra-hydro-quinoline, respectively, and characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, IR, mass spectrometry, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The mol-ecule of compound I consists of pyridine and morpholine rings connected by an azo moiety (-N=N-). In the mol-ecule of II , the pyridine ring and the 1,2,3,4-tetra-hydro-quinoline unit are also connected by an azo moiety. The double- and single-bond distances in the triazene chain are comparable for the two compounds. In both crystal structures, the mol-ecules are connected by C-H⋯N inter-actions, forming infinite chains for I and layers parallel to the bc plane for II ., (© Sokhna et al. 2023.)

Background: Several predisposing factors for diabetes mellitus have been identified, including cluster determinant 36 (CD36) receptor expression. We aimed to determine the effects of CD36 gene polymorphisms and hypermethylation on the plasma CD36 protein levels in type 2 diabetes., Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 100 females (lean healthy control subjects and subjects with type 2 diabetes). This study was conducted at the Human Physiology Laboratory at the Dakar Faculty of Medicine in Senegal. Circulating sCD36 levels and DNA methyltransferase 3a levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The other biological parameters were evaluated in a biochemical laboratory. CD36 gene polymorphisms and methylation were explored by real-time polymerase chain reaction and methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction, respectively., Results: sCD36 was negatively correlated with HDL-cholesterol levels (r =  - 0.52 p = 0.0001) and triglyceride levels (r =  - 0.36 p = 0.01) in control subjects. However, in the type 2 diabetes group, sCD36 levels were positively correlated with total cholesterol levels (r = 0.28 p = 0.04). For rs3211867, control subjects harboring the CC genotypes had significantly higher sCD36 levels than control subjects harboring the AA/AC genotype (p = 0.02); in the type 2 diabetes group, the sCD36 level was not significantly lower in subjects harboring the AA/AC genotype than in subjects harboring the CC genotype (p = 0.27). CD36 gene methylation reduced the sCD36 level in the control subjects compared to control subjects without CD36 gene methylation (p = 0.03). This difference was not significant in the type 2 diabetes group comparing subjects with diabetes with CD36 gene methylation to subjects with diabetes without CD36 gene methylation (p = 0.09). We noted a nonsignificant increase in sCD36 levels in subjects with diabetes with CD36 gene methylation compared to control subjects with CD36 gene methylation (p = 0.27). A combination of the CD36 polymorphism effect and the CD36 methylation effect did not significantly reduce sCD36 levels in subjects with type 2 diabetes., Conclusion: CD36 gene polymorphisms and CD36 gene methylation separately reduce sCD36 levels. Their impacts are compensated for in subjects with type 2 diabetes by an increase in sCD36 levels, the mechanism of which needs to be elucidated., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The synthesis and characterization of zinc(II) meso -pyridin-2-ylthio-porphyrins are presented in this manuscript. The (electro)chemical oxidation of [5-(pyridin-2-ylthio)-10,20-bis( p -tolyl)-15-phenylporphyrinato] zinc(II) or [5,15-bis(pyridin-2-ylthio)-10,20-bis( p -tolyl)porphyrinato] zinc(II) leads to the formation of one or two C-N bond(s) by intramolecular nucleophilic attack of the peripheral thiopyridinyl fragment(s) on the neighboring β-pyrrolic position(s) (C-N fusion reaction). In addition, the chemical oxidation of [5-(pyridin-2-ylthio)-10,20-bis( p -tolyl)porphyrinato] zinc(II), i.e. , bearing one free meso position, mainly affords the meso , meso -dimer. Further stepwise electrochemical oxidation selectively produces the mono and bis C-N fused meso , meso -dimer. The resulting pyridinium derivatives exhibit important changes in their physicochemical properties (NMR, UV-vis, CV) as compared to their initial unfused precursors. Also, the X-ray crystallographic structures of three unfused monomers, one unfused meso , meso -dimer, and two C-N fused monomers are presented.