Suchergebnisse

International audience ; Background: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in French Guiana but cases are usually sporadic. An outbreak signal was issued on May 15th 2020 with 15 suspected cases after a military training course in the rainforest. An outbreak investigation was carried out.Methodology/principal findings: Thirty cases were confirmed. Leishmania guyanensis was the most frequent species (90%). The most frequent presentation was ulcerative (90%). Lesions on the face and hands were frequent (40% each). Eight cases (26%) presented a poor outcome after treatment with pentamidine and required a second line with amphotericin B. Three of them required further treatments with meglumine antimoniate or miltefosine. Two spots within the training area were deemed as likely sites of contamination, due to illegal logging. The isolated Leishmania strains did not form a separate cluster. Participation in Week 13 of year 2020 was associated with infection (OR = 4.59 [1.10-19.83]; p = 0.016) while undergoing only the "Fighting" exercise was protective (OR = 0.1 [0-0.74]; p = 0.021). There was no association between infection and other risk factors at the individual level. The attack rate of Regiment B (14/105 = 13.3%) was significantly higher (OR = 4.22 [1.84-9.53], p = 0.0001) compared to Regiment A (16/507 = 3.2%). The attack rate during this training course (30/858 = 3.5%) was significantly higher (OR 2.29 [1.28-4.13]; p = 0.002) than for other missions in French Guiana during the same period (22/1427 = 1.5%).Conclusions: This outbreak could be explained by a combination of factors: climatic conditions around week 13, at-risk activities including night trainings, absence of impregnation, a lesser experience of rainforest duties in Regiment B and illegal logging attracting sandflies on military training grounds.

At-risk youth, those on the verge of dropping out of school (and eventually society), are of ongoing global concern. However, there is a paucity of critical discussion on media education for supporting at-risk youth. This text considers how schools and youth institutions can promote media skills and motivation for autonomous digital agency as 21st-century citizenships in technology-driven democracies and proposes media education that uses account-inclusive perspectives through participatory media. Media education here is understood as pedagogies on multiliteracies supporting youth agency in digitalized societies with their public nature calling for expressive media skills. An extensive, action-based qualitative study was conducted, consisting of eight sub-studies implemented in 2015–2017 with youth institutions around Finland. Each sub-study included a media workshop promoting youth media-making as self-expression for participation through public media cultures. The workshops were attended by nearly 100 young people, mostly ages 15–22. Several kinds of marginalities comprised "youth at risk," such as dropping out of school, displaying social and learning difficulties, or encountering challenges in language or life situations. As a result of the study, this chapter proposes a model of Inclusive Media Education for supporting at-risk youth for the enhancement of Democracy 2.0 in digitalized societies. The model contains five key features of media education as everyday practices: safe spaces, caring interaction, trust in competence, creative media-making and authentic agency. The goals are to advance: at-risk youths' motivation to participate, communicative media skills, autonomous agency, relatedness and experiences of inclusion in both educational settings and society. ; acceptedVersion ; Peer reviewed

The forest sector in the Philippines has the potential to be a major sink for carbon (C). The present study was conducted to evaluate potential forestry mitigation options in the Philippines using the Comprehensive Mitigation Assessment Process (COMAP) model. The baseline scenario assumes that current trends continue up to the year 2030 ('business-as-usual', BAU). Two mitigation scenarios were evaluated: high scenario (HS) and low scenario (LS). The former is patterned largely from the government's forest master plan while the latter assumes a 50% lower success rate of the master plan, The results of the analyses show that by 2030, the total C stock of the Philippine forest sector in the baseline scenario decreases to 814 × 106 Mg C, down by 37% compared to the 1990 level. The C stocks of the HS and LS mitigation scenarios were 22% and 18% higher than the BAU, respectively, of the mitigation options assessed, long rotation plantations and forest protection activities produce the greatest C gain (199 and 104 × 106 Mg, respectively under HS). The not present value (NPV) of benefits is highest in the bioenergy option with $24.48 per Mg C (excluding opportunity costs) at a real discount rate of 12%. However, the investment and life cycle costs are also highest using bioenergy. The study also estimated potential investments needed under the mitigation scenarios. The investment requirement for the LS amounts to $263 × 106 while for the HS it is $748 × 106. Finally, policy issues and decisions that may be useful for the Philippines to evaluate LULUCF mitigation options under the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, are identified and discussed.

[EN] Today, critical deficiencies hinder the effective inclusion of social criteria in public-works procurement. The primary reasons for this are the lack of information and objective social assessment methods in the construction industry. Hence, this paper proposes a method to assist agencies in including indicators and objective assessments of social sustainability in public-works procurement. This method applies to civil engineering projects in the infrastructure life-cycle construction stage using design-bid-build delivery. Eight social categories and 22 factors are organized into two organizational levels (project and company). Quantitative and semi-quantitative indicators are proposed to assess the social commitment of construction companies in their organizations and projects. Additionally, two aggregation formulas are established as assessment criteria in public-works procurement. The results highlight that the indicators' importance in assessing social commitment in a project can be defined depending on the local context. Moreover, the method to assess corporate social responsibility can also measure and compare a company's performance, regardless of size. The proposed method can be used in procurement procedures, helping public-works procurers develop transparent decision processes. ; The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Valencian Regional Government (Project No. 05TUI/2020/126904) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, along with the European Regional Development Fund (Project No. BIA2017-85098-R). The authors are grateful to the expert panel for their participation in this research. ; Montalbán-Domingo, L.; Pellicer, E.; García-Segura, T.; Sanz-Benlloch, A. (2021). An integrated method for the assessment of social sustainability in public-works procurement. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 89:1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2021.106581 ; S ; 1 ; 15 ; 89

[EN] A field survey conducted on asymptomatic grapevine propagation material from nurseries and symptomatic young grapevines throughout different regions of Algeria yielded a collection of 70 Phaeoacremonium-like isolates and three Cadophora-like isolates. Based on morphology and DNA sequence data of I3-tubulin (tub2) and actin, five Phaeoacremonium species were identified including Phaeoacremonium minimum (22 isolates), Phaeoacremonium venezuelense (19 isolates), Phaeoacremonium parasiticum (17 isolates), Phaeoacremonium australiense (8 isolates), and Phaeoacremon bun ira nianu m (4 isolates). The latter two species (P. australiense and P. iranianum) were reported for the first time in Algeria. Multilocus phylogenetic analyses (internal transcribed spacer, tub2, and translation elongation factor 1-alpha) and morphological features, allowed the description of the three isolates belonging to the genus Cadophora (WAMC34, WAMC117, and WAMC118) as a novel species, named Cadophora sabaouae sp. nov. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on grapevine cuttings cultivar Cardinal. All the identified species were pathogenic on grapevine cuttings. ; This work was supported by the Ministerstvo Skolstvi, Mladeze a Telovychovy, Czech Republic under grant no. CZ-02-1-01/0-0/0-0/16-025/0007314, the Technologicka Agentura Ceske Republiky under grant no. TJ02000096, and the Spanish Government, Ramon y Cajal program under grant no. RYC-2017-23098 (to D. Gramaje). ; Aigoun-Mouhous, W.; Mahamedi, AE.; León Santana, M.; Chaouia, C.; Zitouni, A.; Barankova, K.; Eichmeier, A. (2021). Cadophora sabaouae sp. nov. and Phaeoacremonium Species Associated with Petri Disease on Grapevine Propagation Material and Young Grapevines in Algeria. Plant Disease. 105(11):3657-3668. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-20-2380-RE ; S ; 3657 ; 3668 ; 105 ; 11

International audience ; Official inspections to check the compliance of farms with European legislation to protect farm animals are often perceived negatively by farmers. In addition, the inspections have a limited effect on improving farm compliance. We looked at the perceptions of both farmers and their inspectors about animal welfare and the inspections in a case study of dairy production in France. The identification of gaps and commonalities between both parties should help us to propose improvements in the inspection method by which inspections could more likely encourage compliance with animal welfare legislation. To achieve this aim, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 dairy farmers and their 19 inspectors. Both farmers and inspectors described animal welfare in terms of the state of the animal and of the living conditions and care provided to them. The majority of farmers found that the official checklist used by the inspectors is inappropriate to assess the welfare of their animals; inspectors themselves reported that they often use their own criteria and indicators (often based on the observation of animals) in addition to the official checklist. Both groups disagreed with some requirements of the legislation. These findings suggest that the content and background of the legislation to protect animals should be made clearer to both farmers and inspectors and that these two groups of actors should be involved in the definition of key points to be checked on farms, with special attention to animal-based indicators. All this could improve farmers' engagement with the results of the inspections and, hopefully, could lead to better compliance with legislation and improvements in animal welfare on farms.

International audience ; National authorized pesticides used in agriculture are one hot spot issue to human health especially for those working in the field. The aim of this study is to evaluate the health problems of authorized pesticides. Risk assessment was evaluated by 1) Toxicological classification of the WHO, and 2) Bio-Pesticides Database (BPDB) and Pesticide Properties Data Base (PPDB). The 2015 Algerian index of phytosanitary products used in agriculture includes 173 active ingredients (IAs) belonging to 83 chemical groups represented by 757 commercial formulations (CF) categorized into: 36% fungicides, 29% insecticides and 22% herbicides. One-third of the AIs are not approved according to EC 91/414 directive. Otherwise, only 3% and 6% of AIs are classified as extremely and highly hazardous respectively. About 47%, 37% and 30% of IAs can cause eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation respectively while approximately 32%, 13%, 10% and 8% of AIs can have/be reproductive and/or developmental effects, neurotoxic effects, cholinesterase inhibitors and endocrine disruptors respectively when only 5% and almost 3% of AIs are carcinogenic and mutagenic, respectively. It is essential to periodically update the list of authorized pesticides at national level in accordance with international legislation and bans. On the other hand, farmers must be aware of the health risks due to each AI to which they are exposed. Also, farmers must wear personal protective equipment (PPE). On the other hand, continuous epidemiological studies aimed primarily at farmers and their families must be carried out and the results of these studies must be accessible to researchers.

A systematic comparison of the use of trioxane and depolymerized paraformaldehyde as formaldehyde precursors for the acetalization of methanol to dimethoxymethane was performed, using the acidic ion exchange resin, Amberlyst 15, as catalyst. Experiments were carried out under isothermal conditions in batch and continuous fixed-bed reactors. The influence of the main operating parameters, temperature (80–120 °C), space time (2.7–6.2 kg h m), and feed concentration (12–22 wt% of trioxane/formaldehyde, 2.5 wt% of water on methanol) on reaction rate and product selectivity were evaluated. When using trioxane as reactant, dimethoxymethane is the main reaction product, with more than 90% selectivity. The catalyst was found to be stable during all the experiments (more than 30 h on stream). However, water caused a reversible inhibitory effect on reaction rate, which can be accounted for by using a competitive adsorption model. A mechanistic kinetic model was proposed and validated using the experimental results. When trioxane is used as reactant, its decomposition to formaldehyde was found to be the rate-limiting step of the reaction mechanism (activation energy 73.1 kJ mol). This was confirmed with additional experiments, in which trioxane was replaced by depolymerized formaldehyde. In this case, reaction rate considerably increased. © 2021 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ; This work has been financed by Research Projects of the Regional Government of Asturias (project reference GRUPIN-IDI/2018/000116) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTQ2017-89443-C3-2-R). Raquel Peláez acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the PhD grant that supports her research.

International inorganic fertilizer prices and shipping costs substantially increased in 2021 compared to a year earlier. This will lead to significantly higher border prices for fertilizer in Myanmar, an important development as Myanmar imports almost all of its fertilizer from abroad. The impacts of the current political crisis on the local transport sector and the depreciation of the Myanmar currency, the kyat, will further increase domestic fertilizer prices. Based on a survey of agro-retailers in March 2021, fertilizer prices were estimated to be 22 percent higher for urea and 10 percent higher for compound fertilizer compared to the same period a year earlier. In addition to these supply-side challenges, effective demand for inorganic fertilizer is expected to be lower in 2021 due to significantly reduced farmer incomes, lower credit availability, and more uncertain agricultural profitability. Given these international and local developments, fertilizer use in Myanmar in 2021 will be substantially less than normal. Ex-ante simulations, which assume a ratio of additional crop output per unit of fertilizer applied between three and five, indicate that a reduction of fertilizer use–all else equal–in the country to half the level of a normal year would reduce agricultural output in 2021 by between 9 and 15 percent. Particularly, monsoon rice production will be affected. The Delta region produces half of Myanmar's monsoon rice and uses about half of the inorganic fertilizer imported annually. Thus, the expected shocks to fertilizer markets in 2021 may have outsized effects on rice production levels in particular. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; MyanmarSSP; CRP2; MAPSA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

International audience ; Background: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in French Guiana but cases are usually sporadic. An outbreak signal was issued on May 15th 2020 with 15 suspected cases after a military training course in the rainforest. An outbreak investigation was carried out.Methodology/principal findings: Thirty cases were confirmed. Leishmania guyanensis was the most frequent species (90%). The most frequent presentation was ulcerative (90%). Lesions on the face and hands were frequent (40% each). Eight cases (26%) presented a poor outcome after treatment with pentamidine and required a second line with amphotericin B. Three of them required further treatments with meglumine antimoniate or miltefosine. Two spots within the training area were deemed as likely sites of contamination, due to illegal logging. The isolated Leishmania strains did not form a separate cluster. Participation in Week 13 of year 2020 was associated with infection (OR = 4.59 [1.10-19.83]; p = 0.016) while undergoing only the "Fighting" exercise was protective (OR = 0.1 [0-0.74]; p = 0.021). There was no association between infection and other risk factors at the individual level. The attack rate of Regiment B (14/105 = 13.3%) was significantly higher (OR = 4.22 [1.84-9.53], p = 0.0001) compared to Regiment A (16/507 = 3.2%). The attack rate during this training course (30/858 = 3.5%) was significantly higher (OR 2.29 [1.28-4.13]; p = 0.002) than for other missions in French Guiana during the same period (22/1427 = 1.5%).Conclusions: This outbreak could be explained by a combination of factors: climatic conditions around week 13, at-risk activities including night trainings, absence of impregnation, a lesser experience of rainforest duties in Regiment B and illegal logging attracting sandflies on military training grounds.

Background: Integrated healthcare center park is a government effort in optimizing Integrated healthcare center activities so that they do not only carry out monitoring functions but are also promotive efforts to stimulate child growth and development better, but in fact there are still many children who have not participated in Taman Integrated healthcare center either due to limited facilities and there are still many parents who doubt the benefits. Method: The design of this study was observational with a cross sectional approach. The population of this study were all toddlers in Ngadirenggo Village, Pogalan District-Trenggalek totaling 399 toddlers, with a proportioned random sampling technique obtained a sample of 40 respondents. The independent variable is the participation of Taman Integrated healthcare center with the dependent variable being child development. Data analysis using Spearman rank test at=0.05. Results: The results showed that all respondents who participated in Taman Integrated healthcare center had the appropriate category development, namely 8 respondents (100.0%) and most of the respondents who did not participate in Taman Integrated healthcare center had development in the appropriate category, namely 22 respondents (55.0%). The results of the analysis showed that there was a relationship between participation in Early Childhood Education Programs activities at the Integrated healthcare center Park with the development of children under five in Ngadirenggo Village, Pogalan District, Trenggalek Regency (p = 0.005 < = 0.05). Conclusion: Children who participate in the integrated healthcare center park will get better monitoring of growth and development, besides that they will also get developmental stimulation through group activities. Existing play and learning activities are useful in honing children's development so that children who participate in Integrated healthcare center parks tend to have more appropriate developments

Purpose Bilateral adrenalectomy (BA) still plays an important role in the management of Cushings disease (CD). Nelsons syndrome (NS) is a severe complication of BA, but conflicting data on its prevalence and predicting factors have been reported. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of NS, and identify factors associated with its development. Data sources Systematic literature search in four databases. Study Selection Observational studies reporting the prevalence of NS after BA in adult patients with CD. Data extraction Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed by three independent investigators. Data synthesis Thirty-six studies, with a total of 1316 CD patients treated with BA, were included for the primary outcome. Pooled prevalence of NS was 26% (95% CI 22-31%), with moderate to high heterogeneity (I-2 67%, P < 0.01). The time from BA to NS varied from 2 months to 39 years. The prevalence of NS in the most recently published studies, where magnet resonance imaging was used, was 38% (95% CI 27-50%). The prevalence of treatment for NS was 21% (95% CI 18-26%). Relative risk for NS was not significantly affected by prior pituitary radiotherapy [0.9 (95% CI 0.5-1.6)] or pituitary surgery [0.6 (95% CI 0.4-1.0)]. Conclusions Every fourth patient with CD treated with BA develops NS, and every fifth patient requires pituitary-specific treatment. The risk of NS may persist for up to four decades after BA. Life-long follow-up is essential for early detection and adequate treatment of NS. ; Funding Agencies|University of Gothenburg; Swedish government; county councils; ALF [ALFGBG-593301]; Gothenburg Society of Medicine

Lyra, M. D. S., Curado, A., Damásio, B., Bação, F., & Pinheiro, F. L. (2021). Characterization of the Firm-Firm Public Procurement Co-Bidding Network from the State of Ceará (Brazil) Municipalities. Applied Network Science, 6, 1-10. [77]. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-021-00418-y --- Funding Information: MSL was financially supported by Tribunal de Contas do Estado do Ceará through a Phd scholarship. BD, FLP, and FB acknowledge the financial support provided by FCT Portugal under the project UIDB/04152/2020 - Centro de Investigação em Gestão de Informação (MagIC). FB and FLP acknowledge the financial support provided by FCT Portugal under the project DSAIPA/DS/0116/2019. ; Fraud in public funding can have deleterious consequences for societies' economic, social, and political well-being. Fraudulent activity associated with public procurement contracts accounts for losses of billions of euros every year. Thus, it is of utmost relevance to explore analytical frameworks that can help public authorities identify agents that are more susceptible to irregular activities. Here, we use standard network science methods to study the co-bidding relationships between firms that participate in public tenders issued by the 184 municipalities of the State of Ceará (Brazil) between 2015 and 2019. We identify 22 groups/communities of firms with similar patterns of procurement activity, defined by their geographic and activity scopes. The profiling of the communities allows us to highlight organizations that are more susceptible to market manipulation and irregular activities. Our work reinforces the potential application of network analysis in policy to unfold the complex nature of relationships between market agents in a scenario of scarce data. ; publishersversion ; published

This exploratory study investigates the impact of a military mission on Portuguese families, specifically on children. Although most research seeks the negative consequences of this lived experience, through the "Deployment Risk and Resilience Model" the present study intends to explore if this period can also be an opportunity for military's children to grow and become more resilient. Aiming to express freely their lived and felt stories about the phenomenon under study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 children of the service members of the Portuguese Army, aged between 8 and 21 years old. The results of the thematic analysis indicated that the most critical moments of the mission were the notification period, the last days before the departure of the service member, and the deployment. The preparation of activities for the service members absence in the pre-deployment and the increase of tasks to be carried out, during the deployment, were the most referenced changes. In the post-deployment, children perceived a rapid readjustment of the family system. Despite the military's children's difficulties in readjusting during the mission, they reported that the feelings of closeness to the nuclear family, increased responsibility, and personal growth were positive results experienced. It would be interesting to extend similar studies within family systems, as in other branches of the armed forces. As practical implications, the findings of our pioneering study may significantly contribute to the construction of programs and/or actions that promote a possible growth in the personal resilience of the children of Portuguese service members, and not only the recovery of the state prior to the mission. ; reviewed ; acceptedVersion

BACKGROUND: Lebanon has an increasing cancer burden. Sufficient knowledge of cancer risk factors and early cancer symptoms can help lower cancer burden by facilitating primary prevention and early diagnosis. This study (i) assessed Lebanese adults' knowledge and beliefs of cancer risk factors and early cancer symptoms, (ii) analyzed whether knowledge was correlated with personal behavior, and (iii) assessed the presence of barriers that keep knowledge from turning into healthcare seeking behavior. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional survey in the Lebanese adult population, consisting of a questionnaire administered during face-to-face interviews on a community-based non-probability sample (n = 726) that was frequency matched to national government estimates on age, level of education and gender. RESULTS: Recognition was high for carcinogens and protective factors (75%), but low for neutral factors (22%) which were often seen as carcinogenic. A quarter of participants (27.8%) could not name any early warning signs. For some risk factors, high knowledge scores were correlated with low-risk behavior, but this was not the case for cigarette smoking. The most frequent barriers for not seeking timely care were financial (57.0%) fear of finding illness (53.7%), and having other things to worry about (42.4%). CONCLUSION: This study revealed important knowledge gaps which are likely to hamper primary prevention and early diagnosis. However, we also showed that high knowledge of risk was not always correlated with low-risk behavior. This, together with the barriers we found that kept people from seeking timely health care, emphasizes that efforts to lower cancer burden should not only focus on increasing knowledge.