Closed dysraphism is a rare but complex neurological disorder that can manifest as neurological deterioration secondary to an inherently tethered spinal cord. Spina bifida occulta is a spectrum of abnormalities ranging from lack of fusion of the vertebral arch without other associated abnormalities sometimes. An uro-neurological assessment is essential as this malformation may present urinary symptoms as the only urinary symptoms without other obvious neurological abnormalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the World Health Organization's recommendations, the uptake of Intermittent Preventive Treatment in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) in Senegal remains suboptimal, with disparities observed between urban and rural areas. More remains to be known about how malaria service readiness would affect the utilization of IPTp-SP.
Methods: Data were obtained from seven annual rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Service Provision Assessments (SPA) in Senegal from 2012 to 2019.
We propose a new variance reduction technique called last vertex splitting (LVS) designed to reduce computation time in Monte Carlo (MC) simulations for particles traversing high-attenuating media, such as the collimator and other beam-limiting devices in a LINAC head. Combined with a hybrid version of the track length estimator (hTLE), the LVS method accelerates out-of-field (OOF) dose calculations by optimizing photon tracking and interaction modeling. Our analysis indicates that the residual bias introduced by the method remains below one percent, with an estimated efficiency speed-up of ×4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) remain the frontline tool for malaria diagnosis, but their performance in detecting low-density infections is variable and poorly characterized at the population level.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of HRP2-based RDTs by integrating high-throughput bead-based HRP2 quantification into school-based malaria surveys.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three Senegalese districts (Diourbel, Tambacounda, and Kédougou), enrolling 3,748 school-aged children.
Background: The World Health Organization conditionally recommends reactive drug administration to reduce malaria transmission in settings approaching elimination. However, few studies have evaluated the impact of reactive focal drug administration (rFDA) in sub-Saharan Africa, and none have evaluated it under programmatic conditions. In 2016, Senegal's national malaria control programme introduced rFDA, the presumptive treatment of compound members of a person with confirmed malaria, and reactive mass focal drug administration (rMFDA), an expanded effort including neighbouring compounds during an outbreak, in 10 low transmission districts in the north of the country.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In Africa, the scale-up of malaria-control interventions has reduced malaria burden, but progress towards elimination has stalled. Mass drug administration (MDA) is promising as a transmission-reducing strategy, but evidence from low-to-moderate transmission settings is needed. We aimed to assess the safety, coverage, and effect of three cycles of MDA with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus single, low-dose primaquine on Plasmodium falciparum incidence and prevalence in southeast Senegal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To contrast breast radiation exposure from chest radiation therapy (RT) between 2006 and 2021 with those given between 1965 and 1997, and to compare breast cancer (BC) risk 25 years after treatment predicted using 2 models.
Methods And Materials: Radiation dose distributions to the breast from 101 chest RTs given from 2006 until 2021 for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) or other lymphoma in 1 German and 2 Dutch hospitals were compared with doses received by 505 Dutch patients with HL treated from 1965 until 1997 and sampled into a nested case-control study, weighted to represent a cohort of patients with HL. Dose-volume histograms, mean dose, and doses to 10 breast segments were evaluated.
Background: SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with a higher proportion of asymptomatic infections and lower mortality in sub-Saharan Africa than high-income countries. However, there is currently a lack of data on cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in people living in Africa compared with people in high-income regions of the world. We aimed to assess geographical variation in peripheral and mucosal immune responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cardiac disease (CD) is a primary long-term diagnosed pathology among childhood cancer survivors. Dosiomics (radiomics extracted from the dose distribution) have received attention in the past few years to assess better the induced risk of radiotherapy (RT) than standard dosimetric features such as dose-volume indicators. Hence, using the spatial information contained in the dosiomics features with machine learning methods may improve the prediction of CD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although female survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) have an increased risk of breast cancer (BC), no BC risk prediction model is available. We developed such models incorporating mean radiation dose to the breast or breast quadrant-specific radiation doses.
Methods: Relative risks and age-specific incidence for BC and competing events (mortality or other subsequent cancer) were estimated from 1194 Dutch 5-year HL survivors, treated at ages 11-40 during 1965-2000.
BMC Infect Dis
September 2024
Background: Mother-to-child transmission of HIV during breastfeeding remains a challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). A prevention package was initiated during the highly attended 2nd visit of the Expanded Program of Immunisation (EPI-2) to identify the undiagnosed infants living with HIV and reduce the postnatal transmission of infant exposed to HIV.
Methods: PREVENIR-PEV is a non-randomized phase II clinical trial conducted at two health centres in Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso).
Purpose: Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) have an increased risk of developing late chronic diseases, which can be influenced by the cancer type and its treatment. These chronic diseases can be severe and disabling, typically emerging years to decades after treatment. These deficits negatively impact quality of life, intelligence quotient, and memory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum is a major threat to malaria control efforts. Pathogen genomic surveillance could be invaluable for monitoring current and emerging parasite drug resistance.
Methods: Data from two decades (2000-2020) of continuous molecular surveillance of P.
. Severe radiation-induced lymphopenia occurs in 40% of patients treated for primary brain tumors and is an independent risk factor of poor survival outcomes. We developed anframework that estimates the radiation doses received by lymphocytes during volumetric modulated arc therapy brain irradiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Childhood cancer survivors, in particular those treated with radiation therapy, are at high risk of long-term iatrogenic events. The prediction of risk of such events is mainly based on the knowledge of the radiation dose received to healthy organs and tissues during treatment of childhood cancer diagnosed decades ago. We aimed to set up a standardized organ dose table to help former patients and clinicians in charge of long-term follow-up clinics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys
September 2024
Pulmonary hypertension is a condition characterised by elevated pulmonary arterial pressures secondary to various aetiologies; the most common ones are left heart diseases. Similarly, an association between thyroid diseases and pulmonary hypertension has been reported in some cases, but the pathophysiological relationship has not been fully elucidated. Etiological investigation is an important step in the management of pulmonary hypertension and determines the appropriate treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Paediatr Open
February 2024
Introduction: Child stunting has a complex aetiology, especially in the first 1000 days of life. Nutrition interventions alone have not produced expected impacts in reducing/preventing child stunting, indicating the importance of understanding the complex interplay between environmental, physiological and psychological factors influencing child nutritional status. This study will investigate maternal and child nutrition, health and well-being status and associated factors through the assessment of: (1) anthropometry, (2) biomarkers of nutrition and health status, (3) dietary intakes, (4) fetal growth and development, (5) infant morbidity, (6) infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and (7) perinatal maternal stress, depression and social support.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Health Serv Res
February 2024
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected access to essential healthcare services. This study aimed to explore healthcare providers' perceptions and experiences of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in three referral maternal and neonatal hospitals in Guinea.
Methods: We conducted a longitudinal qualitative study between June and December 2020 in two maternities and one neonatology referral ward in Conakry and Mamou.
JACC CardioOncol
December 2023
Background: Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are at an elevated risk of developing both a second malignant neoplasm (SMN) and cardiac disease.
Objectives: This study sought to assess the excess of occurrence of cardiac disease after a SMN among CCS.
Methods: Analyses included 7,670 CCS from the French Childhood Cancer Survivors Study cohort diagnosed between 1945 and 2000.
Soil degradation in Middle Guinea is increasing over the years. While it's good to have precautions to deal with it, it's even more important to go back to the source of the scourge in order to lessen its effects over time, or even eradicate it. At the center of the factors that are often mentioned is the destruction of the vegetation cover, and the aim of this study is to clear it (in all its forms: trees, grass, savannah, etc.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF