BACKGROUND Data on cancer mortality in North African migrants to France (the largest foreign-born community in the country) are presented, providing useful insights both into cancer patterns in North Africa and their changes following migration. METHODS The cancer mortality in migrants from North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt) resident in France relative to that of the local-bor...

Artificial residential waterways are now widespread in the world’s estuaries. We used the global mapping tool, Google Earth, to determine that there are nearly 4000 linear km of artificial waterways globally, covering an area of 270 km2. Residential waterways constructed as open, flow-through canal estates are at their greatest extent in North America (77% of global linear extent), where system...

BACKGROUND Q fever is a common cause of febrile illness and community-acquired pneumonia in resource-limited settings. Coxiella burnetii, the causative pathogen, is transmitted among varied host species, but the epidemiology of the organism in Africa is poorly understood. We conducted a systematic review of C. burnetii epidemiology in Africa from a "One Health" perspective to synthesize the pub...

Strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small colony (SC) type, the agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), were analysed with respect to the polymorphism of distribution of a newly discovered insertion element, IS1296, on the chromosome. Analysis of 64 strains isolated from Europe, Africa and Australia, including four vaccine strains and the type strain PG1, revealed ten diff...

Results A 37 year old male patient presented with class III dyspnoea on exertion. He was hypertensive with dialysis dependent end stage renal disease and dialysed using an AV Fistula on the left upper limb. Echocardiography showed severe AR and LV dysfunction. CT Coronary angiography showed aortic root to be 5 cm and saccular aneurysms in the circumflex and the right coronary artery with comple...

Placing landmarks on number lines, such as marking each tenth on a 0-1 line with a hatch mark and the corresponding decimal, has been recommended as a useful tool for improving children's number sense. Four experiments indicated that some landmarks do have beneficial effects, others have harmful effects, and yet others have no effects on representations of common fractions (N/M). The effects of...

Adequate nutrition is essential in early childhood to ensure healthy growth, proper organ formation and function, a strong immune system, and neurological and cognitive development. Child malnutrition – as measured by poor child growth – is an important indicator for monitoring population nutritional status and health. In 2013, about 17%, or 98 million children under five years of age in develo...

The mtDNA haplogroup L3e, which is identified by the restriction site +2349 MboI within the Afro-Eurasian superhaplogroup L3 (-3592 HpaI), is omnipresent in Africa but virtually absent in Eurasia (except for neighbouring areas with limited genetic exchange). L3e was hitherto poorly characterised in terms of HVS-I motifs, as the ancestral HVS-I type of L3e cannot be distinguished from the putati...

this study investigates the atmospheric circulation associated with extreme rainfall events over the coastal west africa. the rainfall data of this study were obtained from the global precipitation climatology centre (gpcc), spanning from 1981 to 2010. the atmospheric datasets were also obtained from the era-interim reanalysis. the study employed the z-index to categorize dry and wet years into...

Background. There is a perception among general surgeons that there are deficiencies in surgical training in South Africa (SA). Dependence on under-resourced state training institutions possibly plays a role. The opinions of qualified surgeons may make an invaluable contribution in this regard.Objectives. To canvass the perceptions of SA general surgeons regarding certain aspects of their train...