Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes of “Transfer Out” TB Patients after Crosschecking Registers at Four Hospitals of Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia: 2011-2015

Globally, transferring TB patients to another health unit for treatment continuation is common trend while posing challenges for proper treatment outcomes monitoring. National guidelines indicated the importance of incorporating the treatment outcomes of those cases by the transferring unit when performing annual cohort analysis. However, in most instances, this is not taken into account. This study was conducted to determine the characteristics and treatment outcomes of ‘transfer out’ TB cases during the time period between 2011 and 2015 at four Hospitals of Tigray: Ethiopia. Initial data was extracted from TB treatment logbooks of transferring units using standardize checklist that were followed by a visit to each of the receiving units. The generated data were entered and analyzed using SPSS v. 22.0. Descriptive statistics were computed. P-value less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. A total of 143 TB patients were transferred out during the specified time period whereas 73.4% (105/143) patients were traced and classified as “arrivals”. From these, more than three-quarters, 87.6% (92/105), of patients had a successful treatment outcome (5.7% cured and 81.9% completed treatment) while 13/105 (12.3%) had an unsuccessful outcome (2.8% defaulted, 5.7% died, 1.9% failed, and 1.9% transferred out). However, none of the transferring unit received and traced status of the cases. Therefore, regular monitoring is needed to improve the existing communication gap.

Life histories, demographies and population dynamics of three sympatric chameleon species (Furcifer spp.) from western Madagascar

The life histories and population dynamics of chameleons remain poorly known, most likely due to practical challenges related to their cryptic nature. However, several studies have indicated that some of these reptiles have unusually brief life histories. Specifically, one Madagascan chameleon (Furcifer labordi) was found to have an annual life cycle characterized by population-wide survival of the austral winter in the egg stage; a unique life history among tetrapods. In this study, we compare the life history of F. labordi with two locally sympatric congeners (F. cf. nicosiai and F. oustaleti) in Kirindy forest, western Madagascar, to determine how these species adjust their life histories to a highly seasonal and unpredictable climate. We found differences in lifespan, timing of hatching, growth rates, survival, reproductive rates, adult body size, and roosting heights among all three species. Moreover, two species exhibited relatively short lifespans: 6-9 months in F. labordi and 16-18 months in F. cf. nicosiai. In contrast, F. oustaleti is perennial and large-sized juveniles and adults aestivate during the dry season, but survival rates of adults seemed relatively low. Strikingly, the annual cohort of F. labordi was already adult when hatchlings of F. oustaleti and subsequently F. cf. nicosiai emerged. Our study suggests the co-existence of three different life histories with seasonal adjustment that might be related to the partitioning of overall food availability and contributes valuable life history data on enigmatic chameleon species.

A state-space approach for detecting growth variation and application to North Pacific groundfish

Understanding demographic variation in recruitment and somatic growth is key to improving our understanding of population dynamics and forecasting ability. Although recruitment variability has been extensively studied, somatic growth variation has received less attention, in part because of difficulties in modeling growth from individual size-at-age estimates. Here we develop a Bayesian state-space approach to test for the prevalence of alternative forms of growth rate variability (e.g., annual, cohort-level, or in the first year recruited to the fishery) in size-at-age data. We apply this technique to 29 Pacific groundfish species across the California Current, Gulf of Alaska, and Bering Sea – Aleutian Islands marine ecosystems. About 40% of modeled stocks were estimated to exhibit temporal growth variation. In the majority of stocks, growth trends fluctuated annually across ages in a single year, suggesting that either there are shared environmental features that dictate growth across multiple ages or the presence of some systematic (within-year) observation errors. This method represents a novel way to use size-at-age data from fishery or other sources to test hypotheses about growth dynamics variability.

Continental-scale variation in otolith geochemistry of juvenile American shad (Alosa sapidissima)

We assembled a comprehensive atlas of geochemical signatures in juvenile American shad ( Alosa sapidissima ) to discriminate natal river origins on a large spatial scale and at a high spatial resolution. Otoliths and (or) water samples were collected from 20 major spawning rivers from Florida to Quebec and were analyzed for elemental (Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca, Sr:Ca, and Ba:Ca) and isotope (87Sr:86Sr and δ18O) ratios. We examined correlations between water chemistry and otolith composition for five rivers where both were sampled. While Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca, 87Sr:86Sr, and δ18O values in otoliths reflected those ratios in ambient waters, Mg:Ca and Mn:Ca ratios in otoliths varied independently of water chemistry. Geochemical signatures were highly distinct among rivers, with an average classification accuracy of 93% using only those variables where otolith values were accurately predicted from water chemistry data. The study represents the largest assembled database of otolith signatures from the entire native range of a species, encompassing approximately 2700 km of coastline and 19 degrees of latitude and including all major extant spawning populations. This database will allow reliable estimates of natal origins of migrating ocean-phase American shad from the 2004 annual cohort in the future.

Increasing incidence of multiple sclerosis among women in Lorraine, Eastern France

This study aims to describe the prevalence and incidence rates of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Lorraine, France, and its secular trend from 1990 to 2002. Cases were sourced from the regional network of MS healthcare workers in the Lorraine region and include all cases with definite or probable MS according to Poser's criteria. We identified 2718 patients with MS on 31 December 2004. The prevalence rate was 120/100 000 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 119—121). Between 1990 and 2002, the average age- and sex-adjusted annual incidence rate was 5.5/100 000 (95% CI: 4.4—6.6). During this same period, there was a significant increase in overall incidence in women but not in men. The mean age at MS onset, disability score five years after onset, number of relapses during the first five years, and proportion of first attack with sequelae or polysymptomatic symptoms were not significantly different between each annual cohort during the study period. The prevalence and incidence rates of MS we found in our study were higher than in previous studies in France. The increase in incidence of MS between 1990 and 2002, mostly in women, was not related to better ascertainment of patients with mild disability. Multiple Sclerosis 2007; 13: 962—967. http://msj.sagepub.com

Monthly leaf area index estimates from point-in-time measurements and needle phenology for Pinus taeda

Leaf area index (LAI) of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) trees of the southern United States varies almost twofold interannually; loblolly pine, essentially, carries two foliage cohorts at peak LAI (September) and one at minimum (March–April). Herein, we present an approach that may be site invariant to estimate monthly LAI for loblolly pine using point-in-time measurements from a LI-COR LAI-2000 plant canopy analyzer (PCA). Our analyses used needle accretion and abscission data from monthly needle counts and destructive harvest data from a replicated 2 × 2 factorial experiment of water and nutrition amendments. No significant treatment effects on relative needle accretion or abscission were observed. Cohort (interannual) differences in needle accretion were found but appeared trivial. Cohort year had variable effects on needle abscission. Abscission of current-year foliage began in July and continued through November of the third year; however, only 7%–9% remained 23 months following bud initiation. A treatment-invariable regression of PCA measurements on cohort foliage biomass (r2 [Formula: see text] 0.98) was used to estimate annual cohort LAI. We derived monthly estimates of LAI from cohort accretion and abscission and cohort LAI. Monthly estimates of LAI for loblolly pine, using point-in-time measurements from the PCA, appear possible, although further testing is required.