Prenatal Hemoglobin Concentration and Long-Term Child Neurocognitive Development.

Anemia in pregnancy, defined by a hemoglobin level (Hb) of less than 110 g/L, contributes to infant mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. Maternal Hb changes physiologically and pathologically during pregnancy. However, the impact of these changes on long-term child neurocognitive function is unknown.

Comparison of two proxies for the preconception weight using data from a pre-pregnancy cohort in Benin: Weight measured in the first trimester of pregnancy vs estimated by Thomas' formula.

Accurate determination of pre-pregnancy weight is essential for optimal pregnancy monitoring and antenatal care. Determining pre-pregnancy weight in limited-resources settings is challenging for both clinical practice and public health research. From a 2014-2017 pre-pregnancy cohort in Benin, we evaluated the agreement between the measured pre-pregnancy weight (MPPW) and two proxies: (i) the first trimester pregnancy weight (FTPW) and (ii) the estimated pre-pregnancy weight (EPPW) using Thomas & al.

ICAM-1-binding Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 variants elicits opsonic-phagocytosis IgG responses in Beninese children.

Members of the highly polymorphic Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) family expressed on the surface of infected erythrocytes (IEs) are important virulence factors, which mediate vascular adhesion of IEs via endothelial host receptors and are targets of naturally acquired immunity. The PfEMP1 family can be divided into clinically relevant subgroups, of which some bind intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1). While the acquisition of IgG specific for ICAM-1-binding DBLβ domains is known to differ between PfEMP1 groups, its ability to induce antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) is unclear.

The Effects of Malaria in Pregnancy on Neurocognitive Development in Children at 1 and 6 Years of Age in Benin: A Prospective Mother-Child Cohort.

Background: Malaria in pregnancy (MiP) contributes significantly to infant mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa and has consequences on survivors, such as preterm birth and low birth weight. However, its impact on long-term neurocognitive development in children remains unknown.

Methods: Our prospective cohort included pregnant women and their live-born singletons from the Malaria in Pregnancy Preventive Alternative Drugs clinical trial.

Soil-transmitted helminth infection in pregnancy and long-term child neurocognitive and behavioral development: A prospective mother-child cohort in Benin.

Background: An estimated 30% of women in Sub-Saharan Africa suffer from soil-transmitted helminth infection during pregnancy (SHIP), which has been shown to increase risk of pre-term birth, low birth weight, and maternal anemia. A previous study in Benin found that SHIP was associated with impaired cognitive and gross motor development scores in 635 one-year-old children. The objective of the present study was to follow children prospectively to investigate whether the association between SHIP and child neurocognitive and behavioral development persisted at age six.

[Formula: see text]Neurodevelopmental assessment at one year of age predicts neuropsychological performance at six years in a cohort of West African Children.

Rural children from Benin, west Africa were evaluated with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) at one year of age and then at six years with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II), the visual computerized Tests of Variables of Attention (TOVA), and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test (BOT-2) of motor proficiency (N = 568). Although both the MSEL and KABC-II were available to the assessors in French, instructions to the mother/child were in local language of Fon. Mothers were evaluated with the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), Caldwell HOME Scale, educational level and literacy, and a Socio-Economic Scale - also in their local language (Fon).

Comparison of growth models to describe growth from birth to 6 years in a Beninese cohort of children with repeated measurements.

Objective: To select a growth model that best describes individual growth trajectories of children and to present some growth characteristics of this population.

Settings: Participants were selected from a prospective cohort conducted in three health centres (Allada, Sekou and Attogon) in a semirural region of Benin, sub-Saharan Africa.

Participants: Children aged 0 to 6 years were recruited in a cohort study with at least two valid height and weight measurements included (n=961).

SEPSIS project: a protocol for studying biomarkers of neonatal sepsis and immune responses of infants in a malaria-endemic region.

Introduction: Neonatal sepsis outreaches all causes of neonatal mortality worldwide and remains a major societal burden in low and middle income countries. In addition to limited resources, endemic morbidities, such as malaria and prematurity, predispose neonates and infants to invasive infection by altering neonatal immune response to pathogens. Nevertheless, thoughtful epidemiological, diagnostic and immunological evaluation of neonatal sepsis and the impact of gestational malaria have never been performed.

Changes in monocyte subsets are associated with clinical outcomes in severe malarial anaemia and cerebral malaria.

Monocytes are plastic heterogeneous immune cells involved in host-parasite interactions critical for malaria pathogenesis. Human monocytes have been subdivided into three populations based on surface expression of CD14 and CD16. We hypothesised that proportions and phenotypes of circulating monocyte subsets can be markers of severity or fatality in children with malaria.

From genomic to LC-MS/MS evidence: Analysis of PfEMP1 in Benin malaria cases.

Background: PfEMP1 is the major protein from parasitic origin involved in the pathophysiology of severe malaria, and PfEMP1 domain subtypes are associated with the infection outcome. In addition, PfEMP1 variability is endless and current publicly available protein repositories do not reflect the high diversity of the sequences of PfEMP1 proteins. The identification of PfEMP1 protein sequences expressed with samples remains challenging.

Parasites Causing Cerebral Falciparum Malaria Bind Multiple Endothelial Receptors and Express EPCR and ICAM-1-Binding PfEMP1.

Background: Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) mediates the binding and accumulation of infected erythrocytes (IE) to blood vessels and tissues. Specific interactions have been described between PfEMP1 and human endothelial proteins CD36, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR); however, cytoadhesion patterns typical for pediatric malaria syndromes and the associated PfEMP1 members are still undefined.

Methods: In a cohort of 94 hospitalized children with malaria, we characterized the binding properties of IE collected on admission, and var gene transcription using quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Proteomic analysis of Plasmodium falciparum parasites from patients with cerebral and uncomplicated malaria.

Plasmodium falciparum is responsible of severe malaria, including cerebral malaria (CM). During its intra-erythrocytic maturation, parasite-derived proteins are expressed, exported and presented at the infected erythrocyte membrane. To identify new CM-specific parasite membrane proteins, we conducted a mass spectrometry-based proteomic study and compared the protein expression profiles between 9 CM and 10 uncomplicated malaria (UM) samples.

[Delivery in free position perhaps a solution to change delivery in traditional position in delivery rooms in Africa: results of a prospective study in Cotonou in Bénin].

In most of Africa's birthing units, women are often forbidden to stand during labour and delivery. This study aimed to determine the effect of a freely vertical position (standing,sitting, crouching) compared with the traditional supine position on the course of delivery and on perinatal and maternal outcomes(including the satisfaction level of mothers).Methods: We compared a group of 490 women who chose to deliver in a freely vertical position with 490 women who delivered in a traditional position, at the Hopital de Ia mere et de l'enfant Lagune of Cotonou, from January 1, 2009, to December 31,2011.