scholarly journals Mutation Landscape of SARS COV2 in Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus A. Nassir ◽  
Clarisse Musanabaganwa ◽  
Ivan Mwikarago
Keyword(s):  
Disease Burden ◽  
Severe Disease ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Sub Saharan

ABSTRACTCOVID-19 disease has had a relatively less severe impact in Africa. To understand the role of SARS CoV2 mutations on COVID-19 disease in Africa, we analysed 282 complete nucleotide sequences from African isolates deposited in the NCBI Virus Database. Sequences were aligned against the prototype Wuhan sequence (GenBank accession: NC_045512.2) in BWA v. 0.7.17. SAM and BAM files were created, sorted and indexed in SAMtools v. 1.10 and marked for duplicates using Picard v. 2.23.4. Variants were called with mpileup in BCFtools v. 1.11. Phylograms were created using Mr. Bayes v 3.2.6. A total of 2,349 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiles across 294 sites were identified. Clades associated with severe disease in the United States, France, Italy, and Brazil had low frequencies in Africa (L84S=2.5%, L3606F=1.4%, L3606F/V378I/=0.35, G251V=2%). Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) accounted for only 3% of P323L and 4% of Q57H mutations in Africa. Comparatively low infections in SSA were attributed to the low frequency of the D614G clade in earlier samples (25% vs 67% global). Higher disease burden occurred in countries with higher D614G frequencies (Egypt=98%, Morocco=90%, Tunisia=52%, South Africa) with D614G as the first confirmed case. V367F, D364Y, V483A and G476S mutations associated with efficient ACE2 receptor binding and severe disease were not observed in Africa. 95% of all RdRp mutations were deaminations leading to CpG depletion and possible attenuation of virulence. More genomic and experimental studies are needed to increase our understanding of the temporal evolution of the virus in Africa, clarify our findings, and reveal hot spots that may undermine successful therapeutic and vaccine interventions.

The Reverse Transfer of Technology from Sub-Saharan Africa to the United States

1987 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 597-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard I. Logan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Relative Volume ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Reverse Transfer ◽  
Transfer Of Technology ◽  
The World ◽  
Trained Personnel ◽  
Sub Saharan

This study documents and evaluates the so-called ‘brain drain’ from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States during the period 1974–85. The objective is to use the available data to provide some insights into the rôle of this region in the international labour market for trained personnel. This is done by comparing the relative volume, pattern, and trend of migration to the United States from a sample of 17 countries against that for Africa as a whole, and against that for the world. The rationale for this kind of analysis rests on the need to determine the significance for all concerned of the growing transfer of technology, and to identify the factors which control the process.

scholarly journals Disease burden and the role of pharmacogenomics in African populations

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Mpye ◽  
A. Matimba ◽  
K. Dzobo ◽  
S. Chirikure ◽  
A. Wonkam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Burden ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Drug Side Effects ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
Therapeutic Drugs ◽  
African Populations ◽  
The Status ◽  
Sub Saharan

Background.The burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa poses a challenge in achieving quality healthcare. Although therapeutic drugs have generally improved health, their efficacy differs from individual to individual. Variability in treatment response is mainly because of genetic variants that affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs.Method.The intersection of disease burden and therapeutic intervention is reviewed, and the status of pharmacogenomics knowledge in African populations is explored.Results.The most commonly studied variants with pharmacogenomics relevance are discussed, especially in genes coding for enzymes that affect the response to drugs used for HIV, malaria, sickle cell disease and cardiovascular diseases.Conclusions.The genetically diverse African population is likely to benefit from a pharmacogenomics-based healthcare approach, especially with respect to reduction of drug side effects, and separation of responders and non-responders leading to optimized drug choices and doses for each patient.

The Basic Structure as Object: Institutions and Humanitarian Concern

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 253-278
Author(s):  
Leif Wenar
Keyword(s):  
Disease Burden ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bronchial Tree ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Health Organization

One third of the human species is infested with worms. The World Health Organization estimates that worms account for 40 per cent of the global disease burden from tropical diseases excluding malaria. Worms cause a lot of misery.In this article I will focus on one particular type of infestation, which is hookworm. Approximately 740 million people suffer from hookworm infection in areas of rural poverty: more than one human in ten, a total greater than twenty-three times the population of Canada or twice the population of the United States. The greatest numbers of cases occur in China, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa- that is, mostly in the places in the world where poverty is most severe.Hookworm larvae pierce the skin, enter the bloodstream, work their way into the heart and then into the lungs, where they climb the bronchial tree into the throat and are swallowed.

scholarly journals Moral Majority redivivus

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tengatenga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Just World ◽  
Moral Majority ◽  
Conservative Christianity ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Christian Nationalism

John de Gruchy’s 1995 work Christianity and Democracy: Theology for a Just World Order was published at a heady time, not only in society but in the ecumenical churches, who were prominent as “midwives of democracy.” While the changes in Eastern Europe and South Africa were in the foreground, the book also covered emerging movements for democracy in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa. Sadly, De Gruchy’s optimism was not borne out in the decades that followed. Partly, this was due to internal problems within the movements themselves; partly, it was a transformation in the identity of Christianity away from the role of an enabling midwife to that theocratic master. A new kind of Christian politics asserted itself, modelled on and enabled by conservative Christianity in the United States. Moreover, it asserted itself in rivalry to a new “other”: fundamentalist Islam, which succeeded communism as America’s global enemy. This article traces the emergence of this new assertive religious politics, criticizing both its theologically problematic “Christian nationalism” and its lack of concern for sustaining the human rights gains of the early 1990s.

Calculation-and-experimental estimation of the role of the frequency ratio in changing the endurance at two-frequency deformation modes

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (1(I)) ◽  
pp. 64-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Gadenin
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Reduction Factor ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Cyclic Loads ◽  
Small Ratio ◽  
Harmonic Components ◽  
Deformation Modes

The cycle configuration at two-frequency loading regimes depends on the number of parameters including the absolute values of the frequencies and amplitudes of the low-frequency and high-frequency loads added during this mode, the ratio of their frequencies and amplitudes, as well as the phase shift between these harmonic components, the latter having a significant effect only with a small ratio of frequencies. Presence of such two-frequency regimes or service loading conditions for parts of machines and structures schematized by them can significantly reduce their endurance. Using the results of experimental studies of changes in the endurance of a two-frequency loading of specimens of cyclically stable, cyclically softened and cyclically hardened steels under rigid conditions we have shown that decrease in the endurance under the aforementioned conditions depends on the ratio of frequencies and amplitudes of operation low-frequency low-cycle and high-frequency vibration stresses, and, moreover, the higher the level of the ratios of amplitudes and frequencies of those stacked harmonic processes of loading the greater the effect. It is shown that estimation of such a decrease in the endurance compared to a single frequency loading equal in the total stress (strains) amplitudes can be carried out using an exponential expression coupling those endurances through a parameter (reduction factor) containing the ratio of frequencies and amplitudes of operation cyclic loads and characteristic of the material. The reduction is illustrated by a set of calculation-experimental curves on the corresponding diagrams for each of the considered types of materials and compared with the experimental data.

Financing Energy Access in Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kayode Oniemola ◽  
Jane Ezirigwe
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sustainable Technologies ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Diesel Motors

To achieve universal energy access will attract huge capital investments. If sub-Saharan Africa is to realize anything close to the ambitious goals set for its energy access, then new actors, innovative funding mechanisms and sustainable technologies will have to be attracted. Finance is needed for activities such as rural electrification, clean cooking facilities, diesel motors and generators, other renewable energy technologies, oil and gas infrastructures, etc. Finance is also needed in research and development of suitable technologies and funding options as well as investment in the capacity to formulate and implement sound energy policies. This chapter examines the varied financing options for energy access in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that with appropriate laws in place and effective mechanism for implementation, African countries can significantly engage private sector financing, international financial institutions and foreign donors. The role of the law here will be in creating an enabling environment for financing.

Human Development Paradigm for South Asia

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
The People ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Development Paradigm

In the chapter, Haq gives a snapshot of the human progress of South Asia, comparing it with other regions. He was worried about the region beginning to lag behind all other regions, including Sub-Saharan Africa. He highlights the role of the two largest economies in the region, India and Pakistan, in financing the major investment in education, health and nutrition for the people. Haq advocates some fiscal and monetary reforms are suggested to invest in human development.

Family Influences on Youth Offending

2018 ◽  
pp. 377-403
Author(s):  
Abigail A. Fagan ◽  
Kristen M. Benedini
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Parental Violence ◽  
Youth Delinquency ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Children’S Exposure

This chapter reviews the degree to which empirical evidence demonstrates that families influence youth delinquency. Because they are most likely to be emphasized in life-course theories, this chapter focuses on parenting practices such as parental warmth and involvement, supervision and discipline of children, and child maltreatment. It also summarizes literature examining the role of children's exposure to parental violence, family criminality, and young (teenage) parents in affecting delinquency. Because life-course theories are ideally tested using longitudinal data, which allow examination of, in this case, the impact of parenting practices on children's subsequent behaviors, this chapter focuses on evidence generated from prospective studies conducted in the United States and other countries. It also discusses findings from experimental studies designed to reduce youth substance use and delinquency by improving the family environment.

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