Neuro-Behçet – Clinical and radiological findings in a Patient of Sub-saharan African origin

Understanding the phylogeographic processes affecting endangered species is crucial both to interpreting their evolutionary history and to the establishment of conservation strategies. Lions provide a key opportunity to explore such processes; however, a lack of genetic diversity and shortage of suitable samples has until now hindered such investigation. We used mitochondrial control region DNA (mtDNA) sequences to investigate the phylogeographic history of modern lions, using samples from across their entire range. We find the sub-Saharan African lions are basal among modern lions, supporting a single African origin model of modern lion evolution, equivalent to the ‘recent African origin’ model of modern human evolution. We also find the greatest variety of mtDNA haplotypes in the centre of Africa, which may be due to the distribution of physical barriers and continental-scale habitat changes caused by Pleistocene glacial oscillations. Our results suggest that the modern lion may currently consist of three geographic populations on the basis of their recent evolutionary history: North African–Asian, southern African and middle African. Future conservation strategies should take these evolutionary subdivisions into consideration.

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Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa

History in Africa ◽

10.1353/hia.2005.0003 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 32 ◽

pp. 41-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Stanley B. Alpern

Keyword(s):

Present State ◽

Present Knowledge ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Iron Production ◽

African History ◽

African Origin ◽

The North ◽

Iron Smelting ◽

Iron Technology ◽

Sub Saharan

Judging from a number of recent publications, the long-running debate over the origins of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa has been resolved… in favor of those advocating independent invention. For Gérard Quéchon, the French archeologist to whom we owe very early dates for iron metallurgy from the Termit Massif in Niger, “indisputably, in the present state of knowledge, the hypothesis of an autochthonous invention is convincing.” According to Eric Huysecom, a Belgian-born archeologist, “[o]ur present knowledge allows us … to envisage one or several independent centres of metal innovation in sub-Saharan Africa.”Hamady Bocoum, a Senegalese archeologist, asserts that “more and more numerous datings are pushing back the beginning of iron production in Africa to at least the middle of the second millennium BC, which would make it one of the world's oldest metallurgies.” He thinks that “in the present state of knowledge, the debate [over diffusion vs. independent invention] is closed for want of conclusive proof accrediting any of the proposed transmission channels [from the north].” The American archeologist Peter R. Schmidt tells us “the hypothesis for independent invention is currently the most viable among the multitude of diffusionist hypotheses.”Africanists other than archeologists are in agreement. For Basil Davidson, the foremost popularizer of African history, “African metallurgical skills [were] locally invented and locally developed.” The American linguist Christopher Ehret saysAfrica south of the Sahara, it now seems, was home to a separate and independent invention of iron metallurgy … To sum up the available evidence, iron technology across much of sub-Saharan Africa has an African origin dating to before 1000 BCE.

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Patterns of species richness in two African-centered, aridity-adapted flightless weevil lineages (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea)

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4323.4.12 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4323 (4) ◽

pp. 593 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

TAYLOR HICKMAN ◽

ŞERBAN PROCHEŞ ◽

SYD RAMDHANI

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Diversity ◽

Cape Floristic Region ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Eastern Africa ◽

African Origin ◽

Succulent Karoo ◽

Multiple Factors ◽

The Family ◽

Sub Saharan

Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) represent a remarkable proportion of global biodiversity, yet studies addressing their biogeography remain scarce. The arid parts of sub-Saharan Africa harbour several interesting weevil lineages, the most spectacular being the larger flightless weevils such as the Microcerinae and Brachycerus. Here we map the species richness of these two groups to identify hotspots in their diversity, and make inferences regarding the factors that may have contributed to the observed patterns. Exceptional richness values in both groups are found in southern Africa, and more specifically in the Nama Karoo, which is unremarkable in terms of plant diversity. By comparisons, plant diversity hotspots such as the Succulent Karoo and the Cape Floristic Region appear to have high, but not exceptional, weevil richness. Species richness levels were also high in the grassland and savanna areas of south-eastern Africa, which are not arid. The representation of genera considered here and their closest relatives, suggest an African origin for both lineages. This, combined with recent insights into weevil evolution, raise the possibility that advanced weevils as a whole (the family Curculionidae) originated in Africa and that some of its earliest offshoots survived and subsequently diversified here thanks to multiple factors, relating to climate and plant diversity alike.

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Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome in children

South African Journal of Radiology ◽

10.4102/sajr.v21i2.1257 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Nasreen Mahomed ◽

Gary Reubenson

Keyword(s):

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽

Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome ◽

Immune Reconstitution ◽

Opportunistic Infections ◽

Review Article ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Radiological Findings ◽

Laboratory Findings ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Inflammatory Syndrome

Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS) refers to a collection of inflammatorydisorders, predominantly related to infectious processes that manifest after the initiation ofantiretroviral therapy (ART) and can be classified as unmasking or paradoxical. The prevalenceof IRIS in children in sub-Saharan Africa is low. Approximately half of all cases are associatedwith Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It may be difficult to distinguish IRIS from tuberculosis andother opportunistic infections radiologically; therefore, radiological findings must be interpretedwith clinical and laboratory findings. In this review article, we describe the clinical andradiological manifestations of IRIS in children and provide illustrative radiological examples.

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Within-population genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate antigens reveals geographic distance from a Central sub-Saharan African origin

Vaccine ◽

10.1016/j.vaccine.2012.12.039 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 31 (9) ◽

pp. 1334-1339 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Kazuyuki Tanabe ◽

Toshihiro Mita ◽

Nirianne M.Q. Palacpac ◽

Nobuko Arisue ◽

Takahiro Tougan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Plasmodium Falciparum ◽

Population Genetic ◽

Vaccine Candidate ◽

Geographic Distance ◽

African Origin ◽

Population Genetic Diversity ◽

Sub Saharan

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Plasmodium falciparum mitochondrial genetic diversity exhibits isolation-by-distance patterns supporting a sub-Saharan African origin

Mitochondrion ◽

10.1016/j.mito.2013.08.008 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 630-636 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Kazuyuki Tanabe ◽

Thibaut Jombart ◽

Shun Horibe ◽

Nirianne M.Q. Palacpac ◽

Hajime Honma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Plasmodium Falciparum ◽

Isolation By Distance ◽

African Origin ◽

Sub Saharan

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‘If not TB, what could it be?’ Chest X-ray findings from the 2016 Kenya Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey

Thorax ◽

10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-216123 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. thoraxjnl-2020-216123

Author(s):

Brenda Nyambura Mungai ◽

Elizabeth Joekes ◽

Enos Masini ◽

Angela Obasi ◽

Veronica Manduku ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Population Based ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Radiological Findings ◽

Prevalence Survey ◽

X Ray ◽

Chest X Ray ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Significant Disease ◽

Tuberculosis Prevalence ◽

Missed Opportunity

BackgroundThe prevalence of diseases other than TB detected during chest X-ray (CXR) screening is unknown in sub-Saharan Africa. This represents a missed opportunity for identification and treatment of potentially significant disease. Our aim was to describe and quantify non-TB abnormalities identified by TB-focused CXR screening during the 2016 Kenya National TB Prevalence Survey.MethodsWe reviewed a random sample of 1140 adult (≥15 years) CXRs classified as ‘abnormal, suggestive of TB’ or ‘abnormal other’ during field interpretation from the TB prevalence survey. Each image was read (blinded to field classification and study radiologist read) by two expert radiologists, with images classified into one of four major anatomical categories and primary radiological findings. A third reader resolved discrepancies. Prevalence and 95% CIs of abnormalities diagnosis were estimated.FindingsCardiomegaly was the most common non-TB abnormality at 259 out of 1123 (23.1%, 95% CI 20.6% to 25.6%), while cardiomegaly with features of cardiac failure occurred in 17 out of 1123 (1.5%, 95% CI 0.9% to 2.4%). We also identified chronic pulmonary pathology including suspected COPD in 3.2% (95% CI 2.3% to 4.4%) and non-specific patterns in 4.6% (95% CI 3.5% to 6.0%). Prevalence of active-TB and severe post-TB lung changes was 3.6% (95% CI 2.6% to 4.8%) and 1.4% (95% CI 0.8% to 2.3%), respectively.InterpretationBased on radiological findings, we identified a wide variety of non-TB abnormalities during population-based TB screening. TB prevalence surveys and active case finding activities using mass CXR offer an opportunity to integrate disease screening efforts.FundingNational Institute for Health Research (IMPALA-grant reference 16/136/35).

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