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Background Diarrhoeal disease remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among the under-fives in many low- and middle-income countries. Changes to food safety practices and feeding methods around the weaning period, alongside improved nutrition, may significantly reduce the risk of disease and improve development for infants. We describe a protocol for a cluster randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-faceted community-based educational intervention that aims to improve food safety and hygiene behaviours and enhance child nutrition. Methods We describe a mixed-methods, parallel group, two-arm, superiority cluster randomised controlled trial with baseline measures. One hundred twenty clusters comprising small urban and rural communities will be recruited in equal numbers and randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to either treatment or control arms. The community intervention will be focussed around an ideal mother concept involving all community members during campaign days with dramatic arts and pledging, and follow-up home visits. Participants will be mother–child dyads (27 per cluster period) with children aged 6 to 36 months. Data collection will comprise a day of observation and interviews with each participating mother–child pair and will take place at baseline and 4 and 15 months post-intervention. The primary analysis will estimate the effectiveness of the intervention on changes to complementary-food safety and preparation behaviours, food and water contamination, and diarrhoea. Secondary outcomes include maternal autonomy, enteric infection, nutrition, child anthropometry, and development scores. A additional structural equation analysis will be conducted to examine the causal relationships between the different outcomes. Qualitative and health economic analyses including process evaluation will be done. Conclusions The trial will provide evidence on the effectiveness of community-based behavioural change interventions designed to reduce the burden of diarrhoeal disease in the under-fives and how effectiveness varies across different contexts. Trial registration ISRCTN14390796. Registration date December 13, 2021

The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) is increasingly being recognized as a critical node linking stress detection to the emergence of adaptive behavioral responses to stress. However, despite growing evidence implicating the PVT in stress processing, the neural mechanisms by which stress impacts PVT neurocircuitry and promotes stressed states remain unknown. Here we show that stress exposure drives a rapid and persistent reduction of inhibitory transmission onto projection neurons of the posterior PVT (pPVT). This stress-induced disinhibition of the pPVT was associated with a locus coeruleus-mediated rise in the extracellular concentration of dopamine in the midline thalamus, required the function of dopamine D2 receptors on PVT neurons, and increased sensitivity to stress. Our findings define the locus coeruleus as an important modulator of PVT function: by controlling the inhibitory tone of the pPVT, it modulates the excitability of pPVT projection neurons and controls stress responsivity.

This paper reports an experimental investigation on the effects of explosion depth and tube width on the water jet induced by an underwater electrical discharge in a narrow rectangular tube. The water jet formation and bubble structure were evaluated from the images recorded by a high-speed video camera. Two typical patterns of jet formation and four general patterns of bubble implosion were observed, depending on the explosion depth and tube width. The velocity of the water jet was calculated from the recorded images. The jet velocity was observed to depend on not only the explosion depth and energy, but also on the tube width. We proposed an empirical formula defining the water jet velocity in the tube as a function of the tube width and explosion depth and energy.

Four bacterial strains, designated M89, M92, M97(T), and M106, were isolated in a previous study from surface-sterilized leaves of rice (Oryza sativa) or murainagrass (Ischaemum rugosum) at three sites in Mali, Africa. Here they were examined by a polyphasic taxonomic approach and analysis of a whole-genome sequence. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA sequence and multilocus sequence analysis of seven genes showed that these four strains formed a distinct lineage representing a novel species within the genus Xanthomonas. This was supported by whole-genome average nucleotide identity values calculated from comparisons of strain M97(T) with established Xanthomonas species. The strains can be differentiated from the known Xanthomonas species on the basis of their fatty acid and carbohydrate utilization profiles. Population growth studies on rice confirmed that these bacteria multiply in rice leaves without causing symptoms. Identification of this novel species can be accomplished by using diagnostic primer sets or by gyrB gene sequence analysis. We propose to classify these rice- and grass-associated bacteria as Xanthomonas maliensis sp. nov. with strain M97(T) = CFBP7942(T) = LMG27592(T) as the type strain.

In granitic rocks, various models of weathering profile have been proposed, but never for the hard rocks of West Africa. Besides, in the literature there is no description of the weathering profile in volcanosedimentrary rocks. Therefore, we propose three models describing the weathering profiles in granites, metasediments, and volcanic rocks for hard rock formations located in West Africa. For each of these models proposed for granitic and volcanosedimentary rocks of the Dimbokro catchment, vertical layered weathering profiles are described, according to the various weathering and erosion cycles (specific to West Africa) that the geological formations of the Dimbokro catchment experienced from the Eocene to the recent Quaternary period. The characterization of weathering profiles is based on: i) bedrocks and weathering profile observations at outcrop, and ii) interpretation and synthesis of geophysical data and lithologs from different boreholes. For each of the geological formations (granites, metasediments, and volcanic rocks), their related weathering profile model depicted from top to bottom comprises four separate layers: alloterite, isalterite, fissured layer, and fractured fresh basement. These weathering profiles are systematically covered by a soil layer. Though granites, metasediments and volcanic rocks of the Dimbokro catchment experience the same weathering and erosion cycles during the palaeoclimatic fluctuations from Eocene to recent Quaternary period, they exhibit differences in thickness. In granites, the weathering profile is relatively thin due to the absence of iron crust which protects weathering products against dismantling. In metasediments and volcanic rocks iron crusts develop better than in granites; in these rocks the alterite are more resistant to dismantling.

Background The use of artemisinin as a monotherapy resulted in the emergence of artemisinin resistance in 2005 in Southeast Asia. Monitoring of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) is critical in order to detect and prevent the spread of resistance in endemic areas. Ex vivo studies and genotyping of molecular markers of resistance can be used as part of this routine monitoring strategy. One gene that has been associated in some ACT partner drug resistance is the Plasmodium falciparum multidrug resistance protein 1 (pfmdr1) gene. The purpose of this study was to assess the drug susceptibility of P. falciparum populations from Thiès, Senegal by ex vivo assay and typing molecular markers of resistance to drug components of ACT currently used for treatment. Methods The ex vivo susceptibility of 170 P. falciparum isolates to chloroquine, amodiaquine, lumefantrine, artesunate, and artemether was determined using the DAPI ex vivo assay. The high resolution melting technique was used to genotype the pfmdr1 gene at codons 86, 184 and 1246. Results A significant decrease in IC50 values was observed between 2012 and 2013: from 13.84 to 6.484 for amodiaquine, 173.4 to 113.2 for lumefantrine, and 39.72 to 18.29 for chloroquine, respectively. Increase of the wild haplotype NYD and the decrease of the mutant haplotype NFD (79 and 62.26 %) was also observed. A correlation was observed between the wild type allele Y184 in pfmdr1 and higher IC50 for all drugs, except amodiaquine. Conclusion This study has shown an increase in sensitivity over the span of two transmission seasons, marked by an increase in the WT alleles at pfmdr1. Continuous the monitoring of the ACT used for treatment of uncomplicated malaria will be helpful.

Eleven populations of witchweed, Striga hermonthica, were collected in four regions of Mali and investigated with 12 microsatellite markers. Extensive genetic diversity was observed, with most plants heterozygous for most markers. Allelic diversity was broadly distributed across populations with little genetic differentiation and large amounts of gene flow. Nearby fields of pearl millet and sorghum were found to have indistinguishable witchweed populations. Some population structure was apparent, but did not correlate with the local environment or host genotype, suggesting that seed transportation or other human-driven variables act to differentiate central Malian S. hermonthica populations from southern Malian populations.

There has been increasing interest in the exploitation of advances in information technology, for example, mobile computing and wireless communications in ITS (intelligent transport systems). Classes of applications that can benefit from such an infrastructure include traffic information, roadside businesses, weather reports, entertainment, and so on. There are several wireless communication methods currently available that can be utilized for vehicular applications, such as cellular phone networks, DSRC (dedicated short-range communication), and digital broadcasting. While a cellular phone network is relatively slow and a DSRC has a very small communication area, one-segment digital terrestrial broadcasting service was launched in Japan in 2006, high-performance digital broadcasting for mobile hosts has been available recently. However, broadcast delivery methods have the drawback that clients need to wait for the required data items to appear on the broadcast channel. In this paper, we propose a new cache system to effectively prefetch and replace broadcast data using “scope†(an available area of location-dependent data) and “mobility specification†(a schedule according to the direction in which a mobile host moves). We numerically evaluate the cache system on the model close to the traffic road environment, and implement the emulation system to evaluate this location-aware data delivery method for a concrete vehicular application that delivers geographic road map data to a car navigation system.

Methods Analysis was performed in 2003 on 10,803 HIV-1 sequences, and again in 2009, on an expanded set of 43,822 sequences. These were searched for conserved 910-mer segments with the EpiMatrix suite of immunoinformatic algorithms. From the most highly conserved (>5% isolates) or top 1,000 scoring 9-mers, HLA Class I binding sequences and Class II immunogenic consensus sequences (ICS) were identified for vaccine design. Validation was performed in Thailand, the USA, and Mali via in vitro binding and IFN-g ELISpot assays, using HIV-infected donor peripheral blood. HLA transgenic mice were immunized in DNA-prime/peptide-boost vaccine studies including these epitopes.

In co-cultivation on a membrane of connective tissue matrix (CTM) obtained from human dura mater, human adenocarcinoma cells (RCM-1) degraded CTM. Morphologically, the destruction of CTM was associated with the shedding of membrane vesicles from the cells. Transmission electron microscopy, using ruthenium red (RR), showed that the shed vesicles were composed of various-sized membrane bound vesicles (MV). A large majority were small glycocalyceal bodies (G-bodies) measuring 20-120 nm in diameter, composed of an amorphous matrix of moderate electron-density surrounded by an RR-positive, trilaminar membrane. G-bodies were separated from medium-sized and large MVs by ultracentrifugation. Ultrastructural observation of the isolated collagen fibrils from CTM co-cultured with RCM-1 cells, showed G-bodies attached to degraded collagen fibrils with characteristic transverse notches along their axes. The lesions occurred as microerosions in the apolar region between the e and d bands of collagen fibrils. Collagenolytic activity in serum-free RCM-1 conditioned medium was localized in the G-body and MV fractions (80% and 20% of the total activity, respectively, when tested against 3H-labeled type I collagen). No activity was detected in the supernatant. The activity in G-bodies was also confirmed by ultrastructural analysis using reconstituted native type I collagen fibrils. The results suggest that RCM-1 cells release interstitial collagenase as a component of G-bodies which facilitates local breakdown of connective tissue during the process of invasion.