To the Editor: In 2004, the Cayenne General Hospital and public health centers recorded 348 new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in French Guiana (1). A case of CL was considered confirmed if cutaneous lesions were present for >2 weeks; the patient had a compatible epidemio-logic history; and microscopic examination of dermal scrapings, parasite cultivation, or both showed positive results...

Through a comparison of two communities, this paper addresses village formation in frontier Campeche, Mexico. Mexico's village political unit, the ejido, allows farmers flexibility in deciding who may take up residence in their communities. The paper analyzes how established farmers employ ideas of ethnicity, family, and expectations of social strife to assess the longterm compatibility of newc...

In Lao PDR, the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) evaluates bednet coverage, often at the village level, using a coverage target of one net per 2.5 (or fewer) persons in a given population. However, in villages that meet the target, not all households necessarily meet the target or utilize all available bednets. This study explored households that fell short of the target and household ut...

Background: Oculocutaneous albinism is a disease with an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern in most cases. People with Oculocutaneous albinism face many health, psychological and financial issues. In this study, we report a unique village of Bhatti tribe in Jacobabad District, Pakistan, in which 40 children and adults with albinism live. The aim of this study was to observe the patte...

This paper examines the impact of a poverty alleviation program called the District Poverty Initiatives Project (DPIP), which is being implemented in the second largest state in India. DPIP is a World Bank project based on the community-driven development approach, wherein control of development decisions, resources and projects are given to the community groups. Funds are allocated to the vill...

In animal studies, exposure to persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs) in utero and through mother's milk has been suggested to affect the onset of puberty. However, human studies are scarce and ambiguous. In the present study, information on age at menarche was collected from 545 women who had been brought up in a fishing village/family on the Swedish east coast, off the Baltic Sea, and th...

The spatial variability of soil nutrient is very important to the application of fertilizer, the sampling density of precision agriculture, and the sub-area of residence management of precision agriculture etc. With the examples of the agricultural soils of No.13 Village of Gongpeng Town and Xiguan Village of Enyu Town in Yushu City which are the typical black soil regions of Northeast China, a...

The comparative prevalences of urinary tract lesions in 2 villages where urinary schistosomiasis was endemic and in a control village free from infection were assessed by ultrasonography. Of the 822 residents greater than 4 years of age in the first village (Sébéri) where the prevalence of infection was 57%, 279 were examined by ultrasonography. The prevalence of bladder lesions was 71% in thos...

Previous research has shown that testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) are released in response to a wide variety of social stimuli including dyadic (one on one) competitive events, but humans also compete as groups. Here we report results from a pilot study of hormonal responses to competition between male coalitions. Salivary T and C levels were assessed in adult males from a rural Caribbean vill...

Extensively raised village chickens are considered a valuable source of biodiversity, with genetic variability developed over thousands of years that ought to be characterized and utilized. Surveys that can reveal a population's genetic structure and provide an insight into its demographic history will give valuable information that can be used to manage and conserve important indigenous animal...