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The spread of Lassa fever infection is increasing in West Africa over the last decade. The impact of this can better be understood when considering the various possible transmission routes. We designed a mathematical model for the epidemiology of Lassa Fever using a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations to determine the effect of transmission pathways toward the infection progression in humans and rodents including those usually neglected such as the environmental surface and aerosol routes. We analyzed the model and carried out numerical simulations to determine the impact of each transmission routes. Our results showed that the burden of Lassa fever infection is increased when all the transmission routes are incorporated and most single transmission routes are less harmful, but when in combination with other transmission routes, they increase the Lassa fever burden. It is therefore important to consider multiple transmission routes to better estimate the Lassa fever burden optimally and in turn determine control strategies targeted at the transmission pathways.

An attempt has been made for the analysis on Circuit breakers (CBs) this paper. First, the types and arcing phenomenon of Oil and SF6 Circuit breakers were briefly discussed. However, various CBs were analyzed in terms of certain outage frequencies and reliability indices to ascertain the most reliable CB. This was possible using data collected from the 33kV Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) New Haven, Enugu. After the analysis, Emene Industrial CB had the highest value of availability of 0.9999 and the lowest tripping report while Ezillo had the highest failure rate of 0.1032.

Lassa fever is an animal-borne acute viral illness caused by the Lassa virus. This disease is endemic in parts of West Africa including Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. We formulate a mathematical model for Lassa fever disease transmission under the assumption of a homogeneously mixed population. We highlighted the basic factors influencing the transmission of Lassa fever and also determined and analyzed the important mathematical features of the model. We extended the model by introducing various control intervention measures, like external protection, isolation, treatment, and rodent control. The extended model was analyzed and compared with the basic model by appropriate qualitative analysis and numerical simulation approach. We invoked the optimal control theory so as to determine how to reduce the spread of the disease with minimum cost.

Dystrophic myocardial calcification occurs in the setting of myocardial injury and normal serum calcium. We present a case of a neonate with prominent dystrophic calcification and severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction in the setting of enterovirus myocarditis. These findings are superbly illustrated by multiple imaging modalities. The patient was treated with the novel antiviral, pocapavir, in addition to a standard heart failure regimen. The dystrophic calcification persisted but the left ventricle remodeled significantly. To our knowledge, this is the first reported use of pocapavir for this indication. The literature regarding enterovirus myocarditis and pocapavir is briefly reviewed.

Vascular mediated airway compromise is a fairly common clinical scenario. The diagnosis of innominate artery compression may be challenging due to lack of standardized imaging criteria for diagnosis or for surgical intervention., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this article., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

Left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) malformations exhibit higher heritability than other cardiac lesions and cardiac screening is encouraged for first-degree relatives. This study sought to determine the uptake of familial cardiac screening in families with an infant with an LVOTO and assess parental knowledge regarding genetics and heritability of LVOTO. A chart review of the period 2010-2015 identified 69 families who received genetic counseling regarding a diagnosis of LVOTO in an infant. Surveys assessing familial cardiac screening and parental knowledge were completed by a parent in 24 families (completion rate of 35%). Forty percent (36/89) of all at-risk first-degree family members completed cardiac screening. The presence of additional congenital malformations in the affected infant was the only significant factor reducing the uptake of familial cardiac screening (p = 0.003). The reported uptake of screening for subsequent at-risk pregnancies was 11/12 (92%) compared to 25/77 (32%) of living at-risk relatives. Survey respondents answered seven knowledge questions with an average score of 5.2 and all correctly identified that LVOTO can run in families. Uptake of familial cardiac screening is occurring in less than half of at-risk individuals, despite parents demonstrating basic knowledge and receiving genetic counseling. Follow-up counseling in the outpatient setting to review familial screening recommendations should be considered to increase uptake and optimize outcomes., (© 2019 National Society of Genetic Counselors.)

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Isolated aortic dilation (AD) is rare in children. We aimed to determine the prevalence and the risk factors for AD in children with ESRD., Methods and Study Design: We reviewed records of all ESRD patients followed mat our institution from January 2007 to October 2012. AD was defined as Z-score > 2 in the dimension of at least one of the following echocardiographic aortic parameters: annulus, root at the sinus, sino-tubular junction, or ascending aorta., Results: The records of 78 patients on dialysis and 19 kidney transplant recipients were available. 30 patients (30.9%) had AD. Multivariate analysis revealed independent associations of AD with body mass index (BMI) Z-score (OR = 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.35 - 0.78) and ESRD secondary to glomerular disease (OR = 4.58, 95% CI: 1.45 - 14.46). We developed a classification and regression tree (CART) model to identify patients at low vs. high AD risk. Our model classified 62 patients of the cohort (64%) to be high- or lowrisk, with a positive predictive value of 89% and a negative predictive value of 100%., Conclusion: Our data suggest that AD, as a possible marker of aortopathy and early aneurysm formation, is a novel and prevalent cardiovascular complication in ESRD children. Glomerular disease and low BMI Zscore appear to be potent predictors. CART modeling helps identify high-risk children, potentially guiding decisions regarding targeted echocardiographic evaluations.