BACKGROUND Mass treatment to trachoma endemic communities is a critical part of the World Health Organization SAFE strategy. However, non-participation may not be at random, affecting coverage surveys and effectiveness if infection is differential. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS As part of the Partnership for Rapid Elimination of Trachoma (PRET), 32 communities in Tanzania, and 48 in The Gamb...

We examined the species-area relationship for three historically distinct subsets of Lesser Antillean birds identified by molecular phylogenetic analysis of island and continental populations. The groups comprised recent colonists from continental or Greater Antillean source populations, old taxa having recently expanded distributions within the Lesser Antilles, and old endemic taxa lacking evi...

In 2006 the United States experienced the largest nationwide mumps epidemic in 20 years, primarily affecting college dormitory residents. Unexpected elements of the outbreak included very abrupt time course (75% of cases occurred within 90 days), geographic focality (85% of cases occurred in eight rural Midwestern states), rapid upward and downward shift in peak age-specific attack rate (5-9-ye...

This paper reports on the time between the onset of the first lesion and diagnosis, defined as delay, and is based on results obtained by interviewers from a survey carried out amongst 450 leprosy patients in a leprosy endemic area in the Metropolitan Region of Vitória (MRV), state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. The mean age at diagnosis in all cases was 41.47 years and the median was 42.5 years. T...

Motor performance of children born to mothers living in an iodine-deficient region was assessed. The mothers were participants in a controlled trial of intramuscular iodised oil in the prevention of endemic cretinism carried out in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Mothers received either iodised oil or placebo saline. Children born to mothers given iodine were significantly faster and...

Two hundred and thirty three Penan households from the Silat area, Ulu Baram and the Tutoh of the Fourth Division, Sarawak, were studied with regards to the prevalence of endemic goitre and the consumption of iodised salt. Of the 343 Penan women aged 15 years and above who were examined, 60.6% had goitres. The serious nature of this, in the case of the Penans, is indicated by the fact that 39.3...

Using the point count method, linear mixed models, Shannon's diversity index, and Bray-Curtis cluster analysis, we conducted a study of the effect of urban fabric layout on bird diversity and distribution in northern Rwanda. The results showed a significant effect of city landscapes on bird richness and relative abundance; residential neighborhoods, institutional grounds, and informal settlemen...