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Reproduction and Feeding of Distichodus antonii Schilthuis 1891 (Distichopdontidae) in the Confluence Area of the Congo River and Rivers Lindi and Tshopo in Kisangani (R.D. Congo). The study of the reproduction and the feeding of D. antonii in the confluence area of the Congo river and rivers Lindi & Tshopo in Kisangani (R. D. Congo) was carried out across 105 fish. The species D. antonii has a phytophagous regime and does not seem to have a preference for a given species of semi-aquatic macrophyte. This diet shows the variation related to the seasonal periods and to the sex of the individuals. The species of plant ingested are: Bambusa vulgaris (Poaceae), Pseudospondias microcarpa (Anacardiaceae), Manihot esculenta (Euphorbiaceae), Commelina diffusa (Commelinaceae), Echinochloa pyramidalis (Poaceae), Vigna unguiculata (Fabaceae), Elaeis guineensis (Arecaceae), Musa paradisiaca (Musaceae) et Eicchornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae) but the organs consumed of these plants remain the leaves, stems, fruits, roots, and seeds. The evolution of the gonadosomatic ratio presents two peaks in april and september. The estimated absolute fertility varies from 94,000 to 344,500 oocytes for an average of 196,878±72,122 oocytes and the relative fertility varies from 11,750 to 73,600 oocytes kg-1 for an average of 38,224± 15,893 oocytes kg-1. The diameter of the oocytes varies from 0, 95 to 1, 42 mm with an average of 1, 16±1,13 mm. The absolute fertility is correlated to the total length according to F= 4,28 Lt5, 35.

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is a common premalignant state in the blood and confers an increased risk of blood cancers and all-cause mortality. Identification of therapeutic targets in CH has been hindered by the lack of an ex vivo platform amenable for studying primary hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Here, we utilize an ex vivo co-culture system of HSPCs with bone marrow endothelial cells to perform CRISPR/Cas9 screens in mutant HSPCs. Our data reveal that loss of the histone demethylase family members Kdm3b and Jmjd1c specifically reduces the fitness of Idh2- and Tet2-mutant HSPCs. Kdm3b loss in mutant cells leads to decreased expression of critical cytokine receptors including Mpl, rendering mutant HSPCs preferentially susceptible to inhibition of downstream JAK2 signaling. Our study nominates an epigenetic regulator and an epigenetically regulated receptor signaling pathway as genotype-specific therapeutic targets and provides a scalable platform to identify genetic dependencies in mutant HSPCs.

Introduction: Chronic venous disease is a global public health problem, with high morbidity and economic distress. There is scarcity of data on this disease in sub-Saharan Africa., Methods: We conducted the first population-based study over a period of 20 months from 1st February 2020 to 30th September 2021 in the 10 regions of Cameroon. A stratify sampling method was chose to select study site. Socio-demographic data, personal and family history, anthropometric parameters, clinical signs, illustrative images, CEAP (Clinical-Etiological-Anatomical-Pathophysiological) classification revised in 2004, VCSS (venous Clinical Severity Score) and risk factor assessment score were used to construct the survey form. Chi-squared test and Fischer exact test were used to compare the prevalence of chronic venous disease across different potential risk factors (sex, age category, previous history of deep vein thrombosis, hypertension, diabetes, smoking status, obesity). Simple and multiple logistic regression models were used to obtain crude and adjusted odds ratio for risk factors associated with chronic venous insufficiency. Statistical analyses were done with R version 4.2 for Linux and the threshold for statistical significance was 0.05., Results: A total of 6578 participants were included in the study, with a mean age of 41.09 ± 16.02 years with female predominance (54.3%). The prevalence of chronic venous disease was 21.8% (95% CI: 20.8-22.9) and the prevalence of chronic venous insufficiency (C3-C6) was 7.02% ( n = 462). Night cramps (43.2%), oedema (21.7%), lower limbs pain (20.4%) mostly worsens by walking and heavy legs (16.2%) were more common symptoms. The mean total venous clinical severity score was 0.69 ± 1.76 and this score had a significant positive correlation with C classification ( p < .001). In the multivariate analysis, the following factors were independently associated with CVD: Male gender (aOR: 1.27; 95%CI: 1.04-1.56; p = .021), retired people (aOR: 46.9; 95% CI: 12.6-174.5; p < .001), hypertension (aOR: 289.5; 95%CI: 169.69-493.1; p < .001), diabetes (aOR: 2.19; 95% CI: 1.21-3.96; p = .009), obesity (aOR: 10.22; 95%CI: 7.67-13.62; p < .001). Smoking appears as a protective factor (aOR: 0.18; 95%CI: 0.10-0.30; p < .001)., Conclusion: Chronic venous disease is frequent in Cameroon and main traditional cardiovascular risk factors are associated to this condition. Systematic screening of the CVD in these specific groups could reduce the burden of the disease and its economic impact., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Nrf2 is an antioxidant transcriptional activator in many types of cells, and its dysfunction plays key roles in a variety of human disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD). PD is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in PD-affected brain regions. Dopamine treatment of neuronal cells stimulates the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increases ROS-dependent neuronal apoptosis. In this study, we found that the ubiquitin-specific protease 10 (USP10) protein reduces dopamine-induced ROS production of neuronal cells and ROS-dependent apoptosis by stimulating the antioxidant activity of Nrf2. USP10 interacted with the Nrf2 activator p62, increased the phosphorylation of p62, increased the interaction of p62 with the Nrf2 inhibitor Keap1, and stimulated Nrf2 antioxidant transcriptional activity. In addition, USP10 augmented dopamine-induced Nrf2 translation. Taken together, these results indicate that USP10 is a key regulator of Nrf2 antioxidant activity in neuronal cells and suggest that USP10 activators are promising therapeutic agents for oxidative stress-related diseases, including PD., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest in association with the present study., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative motor neuron disease characterized by the formation of cytoplasmic ubiquitinated TDP-43 protein aggregates in motor neurons. Stress granules (SGs) are stress-induced cytoplasmic protein aggregates containing various neuropathogenic proteins, including TDP-43. Several studies have suggested that SGs are the initial site of the formation of pathogenic ubiquitinated TDP-43 aggregates in ALS neurons. Mutations in the optineurin ( OPTN ) and TIA1 genes are causative factors of familial ALS with TDP-43 aggregation pathology. We found that both OPTN depletion and ALS-associated OPTN mutations upregulated the TIA1 level in cells recovered from heat shock, and this upregulated TIA1 increased the amount of ubiquitinated TDP-43. Ubiquitinated TDP-43 induced by OPTN depletion was localized in SGs. Our study suggests that ALS-associated loss-of-function mutants of OPTN increase the amount of ubiquitinated TDP-43 in neurons by increasing the expression of TIA1, thereby promoting the aggregation of ubiquitinated TDP-43., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest in association with the present study., (© 2021.)

Causal inference methods have been developed for longitudinal observational study designs where confounding is thought to occur over time. In particular, one may estimate and contrast the population mean counterfactual outcome under specific exposure patterns. In such contexts, confounders of the longitudinal treatment-outcome association are generally identified using domain-specific knowledge. However, this may leave an analyst with a large set of potential confounders that may hinder estimation. Previous approaches to data-adaptive model selection for this type of causal parameter were limited to the single time-point setting. We develop a longitudinal extension of a collaborative targeted minimum loss-based estimation (C-TMLE) algorithm that can be applied to perform variable selection in the models for the probability of treatment with the goal of improving the estimation of the population mean counterfactual outcome under a fixed exposure pattern. We investigate the properties of this method through a simulation study, comparing it to G-Computation and inverse probability of treatment weighting. We then apply the method in a real-data example to evaluate the safety of trimester-specific exposure to inhaled corticosteroids during pregnancy in women with mild asthma. The data for this study were obtained from the linkage of electronic health databases in the province of Quebec, Canada. The C-TMLE covariate selection approach allowed for a reduction of the set of potential confounders, which included baseline and longitudinal variables., (© 2019 The International Biometric Society.)

Background: Cardiac surgery is a growing activity in Sub-Saharan Africa, however, data related to long-term mortality are scarce. We aimed to analyze outcome data of cardiac interventions in two hospitals in Cameroon over 10 years' period., Methods: we conducted a retrospective analytical and descriptive study at the Douala General Hospital and Yaoundé General Hospital. All patients operated between January 2007 and December 2017, or their families were contacted by phone between January and April 2018 for a free of charges medical examination., Results: Of a total of 98 patients operated during the study period, 8 (8.2%) were lost to follow-up. Finally, 90 patients [49 (54.4%) women and 41 (45.6%)] men were included. The mean age was 49±22 years (range, 13-89 years). The surgical indications were valvular heart diseases in 37 (41.1%) cases, congenital heart diseases in 11 (12.2%) cases, chronic constrictive pericarditis in 4 (4.4%) cases, and intra cardiac tumor in 1 (1.1%) case. Valve replacement was the most common type of surgery carried out in 37 (41.1%) cases-mostly with mechanical prosthesis. Pacemaker-mostly dual-chambers were implanted in 36 (40.0%) patients. The median follow-up was 26 months. The overall late mortality was 5.7%, and the overall survival rates at 5 and 10 years were 95.5% and 94.4% respectively. The overall survival rates at 5 and 10 years for mechanical valve prosthesis were 93.3% and 90% respectively. The survival at 10 years was 100% for patients with bioprosthesis. The survival rates at 10 years were 94.1% and 100% respectively for dual and single chamber pacemaker., Conclusions: Long-term outcome of cardiac surgery in hospitals in Cameroon are acceptable with low mortality rate. However, outcome metrics beyond mortality should be implemented for a prospective data collection., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.