BACKGROUND Malaria transmission intensity is heterogeneous, complicating the implementation of malaria control interventions. We provide a description of the spatial micro-epidemiology of symptomatic malaria and asymptomatic parasitaemia in multiple sites. METHODS We assembled data from 19 studies conducted between 1996 and 2015 in seven countries of sub-Saharan Africa with homestead-level ge...

BACKGROUND In order to select priority hotspots for environment and health research in Flanders (Belgium), an open procedure was organized. Environment and health hotspots are strong polluting point sources with possible health effects for residents living in the vicinity of the hot spot. The selection procedure was part of the work of the Flemish Centre of Expertise for Environment and Health,...

The bio-based industrial sector has been recognized by the European Union as a priority area toward sustainability, however, the environmental profile of bio-based products needs to be further addressed. This study investigated, through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, the environmental performance of bio-based 1,4-butanediol (BDO) produced via direct fermentation of sugars from wheat ...

The Mediterranean islands are exceptionally rich in endemism, most of which is narrowly distributed. Conservation measures, such as protected areas, have been prioritised, mainly on the basis species richness and but phylogenetic information should also be taken into account. In this study, we calculated several taxonomic metrics at a high resolution for endemic flora Balearic Islands (154 taxa...

Areas exhibiting high levels of predations on livestock generate conflicts between humans and large carnivores. Managers generally seek to identify these hotspots, in order diagnose the causes that lead hotspot formations provide financial or technical support involved owners. When locating depredation previous studies have not adjusted for availability, making it difficult managers discriminat...

Knowledge about the environmental impacts of geothermal energy is important for understanding role this technology could play in transition towards sustainable production systems. In study 30 life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on plants were reviewed, focusing major hotspots and cause-effect relationships between geo-technical parameters these impacts. The variability reported explained, a mor...

Despite intense malaria interventions and associated decline of malaria transmission in Rwanda; potential for malaria transmission remain in highly endemic areas. As response, an integrated malaria control was introduced based on local ecology, malaria epidemiology and socio-economic factors. This strategy intends to sustain the achievements in malaria reduction by effective interventions in th...

Background: The study of regions with high prevalence of centenarians is motivated by a desire to find determinants of healthy ageing. While existing research has focused on selected candidate geographical regions, we explore the existence of hotspots in the whole the Denmark, which is a small and homogeneous country. Methods: We performed a Kulldorff spatial scan across the whole of Denmark, s...

It has previously been demonstrated that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations within the ND2 gene of histologically normal parotid salivary gland tissue of smokers may be molecular biomarkers for smoking-induced mtDNA damage. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is strongly related to cigarette smoking; therefore, we used PCR and direct sequencing to establish whether mtDNA mutations were also pre...