Effect of mass campaigns with full and fractional doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Pneumosil) on the reduction of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage in Niger: a three-arm, open-label, cluster-randomised trial.

Background: In settings with low pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) coverage, multi-age cohort mass campaigns could increase population immunity, and fractional dosing could increase affordability. We aimed to evaluate the effect of mass campaigns on nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage of Pneumosil (PCV10) in children aged 1-9 years in Niger.

Methods: In this three-arm, open-label, cluster-randomised trial, 63 clusters of one to four villages in Niger were randomly assigned (3:3:1) using block randomisation to receive campaigns consisting of a single full dose of a 10-valent PCV (Pneumosil), a single one-fifth dose of Pneumosil, or no campaign.

Evaluation of multiple micronutrient supplementation and medium-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplementation in pregnancy on child development in rural Niger: A secondary analysis of a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: It is estimated that over 250 million children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not reach their full developmental potential. Poor maternal diet, anemia, and micronutrient deficiencies during pregnancy are associated with suboptimal neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. However, the effect of prenatal macronutrient and micronutrient supplementation on child development in LMIC settings remains unclear due to limited evidence from randomized trials.

Modeling the catarrhal stage of Bordetella pertussis upper respiratory tract infections in mice.

Pertussis (whooping cough) is a highly transmissible human respiratory disease caused by Bordetella pertussis, a human-restricted pathogen. Animal models generally involve pneumonic infections induced by depositing large numbers of bacteria in the lungs of mice. These models have informed us about the molecular pathogenesis of pertussis and guided development of vaccines that successfully protect against severe disease.

Prenatal supplementation with multiple micronutrient supplements or medium-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements has limited effects on child growth up to 24 months in rural Niger: a secondary analysis of a cluster randomized trial.

Background: Prenatal multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS) and lipid-based nutrient supplementation (LNS) can improve birth outcomes relative to iron-folic acid supplementation (IFA); however, effects on child postnatal growth remain unclear.

Objectives: The aim was to compare the effect of prenatal MMS, medium-quantity LNS (MQ-LNS), and IFA on child growth up to 2 y of age.

Methods: We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial of prenatal nutritional supplementation in Madarounfa, Niger.

Farmers' perceptions of fodder performances of pearl millet ( (L.) R. Br) accessions in Niger.

Little is known about folk perception of pearl millet livestock fodder status across the Niger republic. Thus, this work assesses farmers' perceptions of the main pearl millet accessions fodder performance features in Niger. To that end, we: (i) Identify farmers' criteria for choosing pearl millet accessions fodder-profile, (ii) Analyze the farmer preferences for pearl millet accessions adapted to local cropping systems, and (iii) Analyze current cropping systems.

Modeling Immune Evasion and Vaccine Limitations by Targeted Nasopharyngeal Bordetella pertussis Inoculation in Mice.

Conventional pertussis animal models deliver hundreds of thousands of Bordetella pertussis bacteria deep into the lungs, rapidly inducing severe pneumonic pathology and a robust immune response. However, human infections usually begin with colonization and growth in the upper respiratory tract. We inoculated only the nasopharynx of mice to explore the course of infection in a more natural exposure model.

Rotavirus vaccine efficacy up to 2 years of age and against diverse circulating rotavirus strains in Niger: Extended follow-up of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Rotavirus vaccination is recommended in all countries to reduce the burden of diarrhea-related morbidity and mortality in children. In resource-limited settings, rotavirus vaccination in the national immunization program has important cost implications, and evidence for protection beyond the first year of life and against the evolving variety of rotavirus strains is important. We assessed the extended and strain-specific vaccine efficacy of a heat-stable, affordable oral rotavirus vaccine (Rotasiil, Serum Institute of India, Pune, India) against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis (SRVGE) among healthy infants in Niger.

Dynamic relationship of traditional soil restoration practices and climate change adaptation in semi-arid Niger.

Climate change increases the vulnerability of agrosystems to soil degradation and reduces the effectiveness of traditional soil restoration options. The implementation of some practices need to be readjusted due to steadily increasing temperature and lowering precipitation. For farmers, the best practice found, should have the potential to achieve maximum sustainable levels of soil productivity in the context of climate change.

Enhancement of immune response against Bordetella spp. by disrupting immunomodulation.

Well-adapted pathogens must evade clearance by the host immune system and the study of how they do this has revealed myriad complex strategies and mechanisms. Classical bordetellae are very closely related subspecies that are known to modulate adaptive immunity in a variety of ways, permitting them to either persist for life or repeatedly infect the same host. Exploring the hypothesis that exposure to immune cells would cause bordetellae to induce expression of important immunomodulatory mechanisms, we identified a putative regulator of an immunomodulatory pathway.

[Total small bowel volvulus complicating common incomplete mesentery, an exceptional complication in adults: about a case].

Total small bowel volvulus complicating common incomplete mesentery is an arrest of rotation of the primary intestinal loop at 180°. The root of the mesentery is very short and the whole small intestine is located on the superior mesenteric artery axis. Patients are at very high risk of small bowel volvulus and enteromesenteric infarction.

Correction to: Inter and intra cultural variations of millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br) uses in Niger (West Africa).

Please note that following publication of the original article [1], Figs. 4, 5 and 6 in the article have been updated to remove oblique lines that were erroneously rendered in the figures.

[Multiple gastrointestinal stromal masses in the small bowel detected in a patient with peritonitis].

We here report a case of multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) in the small bowel detected in a patient with peritonitis. The peculiarity of this case study is the intraoperative detection of multifocal small bowel tumor masses, suggesting gastrointestinal stromal tumors on postoperative CT scan. Tumor couldn't be suspected clinically on the basis of peritonitis.

Inter and intra cultural variations of millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br) uses in Niger (West Africa).

Background: An ethnobotanical study was conducted in the eight regions of Niger to identify local knowledge variation of millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br) uses.

Blood or Serum Exposure Induce Global Transcriptional Changes, Altered Antigenic Profile, and Increased Cytotoxicity by Classical Bordetellae.

The classical bordetellae sense and respond to a variety of environments outside and within their mammalian hosts. By causing inflammation and tissue damage, we reasoned that bordetellae are likely to encounter components of blood and/or serum during the course of a respiratory infection, and that detecting and responding to these would be advantageous. Therefore, we hypothesized that classical bordetellae have the ability to sense and respond to blood or serum.

Safety of a heat-stable rotavirus vaccine among children in Niger: Data from a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Rotavirus remains a major cause of diarrhea among children under 5 years of age. The efficacy of RotaSIIL, a pentavalent rotavirus vaccine, was shown in an event-driven trial in Niger. We describe the two-year safety follow-up of this trial.

The bacterial flora of tsetse fly midgut and its effect on trypanosome transmission.

The tsetse fly, Glossina palpalis is a vector of the trypanosome that causes sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle along with associated human health problems and massive economic losses. The insect is also known to carry a number of symbionts such as Sodalis, Wigglesworthia, Wolbachia whose effects on the physiology of the insect have been studied in depth. However, effects of other bacterial flora on the physiology of the host and vector competence have received little attention.

[Sheehan's syndrome in sudano-sahelian Africa. 40 observations].

Postpartum hypopituitarism or Sheehan's syndrome is frequent in Sahelian Africa. From February 1983 to July 1988, the authors observed 40 cases at National hospital of Niamey (Republic of Niger). These patients were Black African women living in rural areas, without medical assistance during the last delivery.

Absence of humoral autoimmunity in peripartum cardiomyopathy. A comparative study in Niger.

The authors report a humoral immunity study in 39 black Nigerian women with peripartum cardiomyopathy. Serum immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) assay, evaluation of serum immune complexes (immunonephelemetric method) and of heart muscle autoantibodies (indirect immunofluorescent double layer technique in heart muscle of the rat) were made. Forty breastfeeding black Nigerian women without cardiac disease were the controls.

[Postpartum cardiomyopathy in the Sudanese-Sahelian area. Clinical and epidemiologic studies of 66 cases].

The authors report 66 cases of peri- and postpartum cardiomyopathy. The patients' age ranged from 16 to 42 years (mean +/- SD 30 +/- 7 years). All were black women native of the western part of the Republic of Niger, Sahelian in the north, Sudanese in the south.

[Postpartum myocardiopathy. Clinical and echographic evaluations of the response to treatment. 30 cases observed in the Sudan-sahelian area].

Thirty cases of postpartum cardiomyopathy observed in a savannah-sahelian region of Africa (Niamey, Republic of Niger) are reported. The dilated cardiomyopathy was diagnosed by comparing clinical signs with electrocardiographic, radioscopic and echocardiographic findings. A simplified therapeutic regimen was used in all cases: rest during 2 months, sodium restriction, diuretic and digoxin therapy (1 tablet of each drug every other day).

[Sheehan syndrome in the Republic of Niger. 19 cases].

From February 1983 to December 1985, the authors investigated 19 african women with Sheehan's syndrome in Niamey (Republic of Niger). A 15 points diagnostic score was systematically used. Two signs were indispensable for the diagnosis: post-partum agalactia (or severe hypogalactia) and amenorrhea.

Delta superinfection in patients with chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in a Sahelian area. Study of 112 cases versus 46 controls.

From October 1982 to June 1985 158 hospitalized patients in the National Hospital of Niamey, Republic of Niger, were selected whenever one of the following signs was found: hepatomegaly, jaundice, ascites, oesophageal varices, abdominal venous pattern, or splenomegaly. Investigations included hepatic echography (158/158), needle liver biopsy (68/158), radioimmunoassays for serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg; 158/158), anti-HBs (152/158), anti-HBc (129/158) and anti-delta antibody (anti-HD; 158/158). 112 patients with liver diseases comprised 28 with chronic hepatitis, 55 with non-alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis, and 29 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

[HB virus infection and delta surinfection in Sahelian Africa].

78 hospitalized patients were selected when presenting with at least one of these signs: hepatomegaly, jaundice, ascites, oesophageal varices, abdominal venous pattern, splenomegaly. All had radioimmunoassays for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antidelta antibody (78/78). Acute or chronic hepatic disease was diagnosed in 56 patients: 7 acute viral hepatitis, 13 chronic hepatitis, 23 non alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis, and 13 hepatocellular carcinoma.