Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 406 in total

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  1. Zhao S, Ching CK, Huang D, Liu YB, Rodriguez-Guerrero DA, Hussin A, et al.
    BMC Med, 2024 Mar 22;22(1):130.
    PMID: 38519982 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-024-03310-5
    BACKGROUND: Comprehensive data on patients at high risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in emerging countries are lacking. The aim was to deepen our understanding of the SCD phenotype and identify risk factors for death among patients at high risk of SCD in emerging countries.

    METHODS: Patients who met the class I indication for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation according to guideline recommendations in 17 countries and regions underrepresented in previous trials were enrolled. Countries were stratified by the WHO regional classification. Patients were or were not implanted with an ICD at their discretion. The outcomes were all-cause mortality and SCD.

    RESULTS: We enrolled 4222 patients, and 3889 patients were included in the analysis. The mean follow-up period was 21.6 ± 10.2 months. There were 433 (11.1%) instances of all-cause mortality and 117 (3.0%) cases of SCD. All-cause mortality was highest in primary prevention (PP) patients from Southeast Asia and secondary prevention (SP) patients from the Middle East and Africa. The SCD rates among PP and SP patients were both highest in South Asia. Multivariate Cox regression modelling demonstrated that in addition to the independent predictors identified in previous studies, both geographic region and ICD use were associated with all-cause mortality in patients with high SCD risk. Primary prophylactic ICD implantation was associated with a 36% (HR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.531-0.802, p 

    Matched MeSH terms: Africa
  2. Kobayashi LC, O'Shea BQ, Wixom C, Jones RN, Langa KM, Weir D, et al.
    Alzheimers Dement, 2024 Mar;20(3):1933-1943.
    PMID: 38159252 DOI: 10.1002/alz.13665
    INTRODUCTION: We conducted a cross-national comparison of the association between main lifetime occupational skills and later-life cognitive function across four economically and socially distinct countries.

    METHODS: Data were from population-based studies of aging and their Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocols (HCAPs) in the US, South Africa, India, and Mexico (N = 10,037; Age range: 50 to 105 years; 2016 to 2020). Main lifetime occupational skill was classified according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations. Weighted, adjusted regression models estimated pooled and country-specific associations between main lifetime occupational skill and later-life general cognitive function in men and women.

    RESULTS: We observed positive gradients between occupational skill and later-life cognitive function for men and women in the US and Mexico, a positive gradient for women but not men in India, and no association for men or women in South Africa.

    DISCUSSION: Main lifetime occupations may be a source of later-life cognitive reserve, with cross-national heterogeneity in this association.

    HIGHLIGHTS: No studies have examined cross-national differences in the association of occupational skill with cognition. We used data from Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocols in the US, Mexico, India, and South Africa. The association of occupational skill with cognitive function varies by country and gender.

    Matched MeSH terms: South Africa/epidemiology
  3. Cooper DLM, Lewis SL, Sullivan MJP, Prado PI, Ter Steege H, Barbier N, et al.
    Nature, 2024 Jan;625(7996):728-734.
    PMID: 38200314 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06820-z
    Trees structure the Earth's most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1-6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth's 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world's most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa
  4. Wang L, Nwabuoku M, Zhang J, Osabohien R
    Afr J Reprod Health, 2023 Dec 31;27(12):27-35.
    PMID: 38158859 DOI: 10.29063/ajrh2023/v27i12.3
    This paper empirically analyses the impact of gender disparity in access to education and under 5 mortality on economic growth in selected sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from the period 2005 - 2020. The study engaged a panel data of 17 selected SSA countries sourced from the World Development Indicators (WDI) and the United Nations Institute for Statistics (UNIS) and applied the instrumental variable generalised method of moments analytical approach. The result shows that the interaction between gender parity in access to education and primary school enrolment has a significant impact on economic growth. The study concludes that policies to promote gender parity in access to education would be of paramount importance to increase economic growth towards the actualisation of sustainable development goal related to inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities (SDG4) in SSA countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa South of the Sahara
  5. Goldschmidt L, Mncina B, Langa M, Rebello S, Budaza T, Tshabalala J, et al.
    BMC Public Health, 2023 Sep 30;23(1):1890.
    PMID: 37775803 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16775-5
    BACKGROUND: Unhealthy alcohol use is a leading contributor to premature death and disability worldwide. The World Health Organization's Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health ranked South Africa as having one of the riskiest patterns of alcohol consumption, which calls for intervention. Recognising the need for effective primary care interventions, particularly in the absence of appropriate alcohol-related harm reduction policies at national and local levels, this paper highlights the opportunities and challenges associated with a two-pronged, community-centred approach to the identification of unhealthy alcohol use and interventions.

    METHODS: This approach included the use of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) as a means of screening to identify individuals at moderate (score of 5-7) to high risk (score of 8 +) alcohol use, raising awareness, and investigating the potential utility of brief advice and referrals as a means of reducing risk.

    RESULTS: Of the 54,187 participants, 43.0% reported engaging in moderate-risk alcohol consumption, with 22.1% reporting high-risk alcohol consumption. Resistance to brief advice was observed to increase with higher AUDIT-C scores. Similarly, participants engaging in high-risk alcohol consumption were resistant to accepting treatment referrals, with fewer than 10% open to receiving a referral.

    CONCLUSIONS: While men were most likely to report patterns of high-risk alcohol consumption, they were more resistant to accepting referrals. Additionally, participants who were willing to receive brief advice were often resistant to taking active steps to alter their alcohol use. This study highlights the need to consider how to prevent harmful patterns of alcohol use effectively and holistically, especially in low socioeconomic settings through primary health care and community services.

    Matched MeSH terms: South Africa/epidemiology
  6. Bekun FV, Adekunle AO, Gbadebo AD, Alhassan A, Akande JO, Yusoff NYM
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Sep;30(42):96301-96311.
    PMID: 37572252 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-28856-4
    The current study examines sustainable electricity consumption for economic growth in a small open and tourist economy. The energy-tourism nexus is evaluated for the relationship between sustainable electricity consumption and the international tourist arrival for the South African economy. The present study leverages on annual frequency data for South Africa from 1995 to 2019 for empirical analysis using the ARDL technique. Accordingly, empirical findings indicate a significant direct connection between the sustainable electricity consumption and the international tourism arrival; the study affirms that tourism-induced energy hypothesis is valid in South Africa. However, from a policy standpoint, alternative energy efficiency mechanisms such as renewable energy systems and emancipation of current energy management capabilities are recommended in South Africa. This is necessary for sustainable eco-friendly tourism that engenders clean energy consumption for the study area. More insights into policy caveats are presented in the concluding section.
    Matched MeSH terms: South Africa
  7. Sánchez-Barreiro F, De Cahsan B, Westbury MV, Sun X, Margaryan A, Fontsere C, et al.
    Mol Biol Evol, 2023 Sep 01;40(9).
    PMID: 37561011 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad180
    The black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis L.) is a critically endangered species historically distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. Hunting and habitat disturbance have diminished both its numbers and distribution since the 19th century, but a poaching crisis in the late 20th century drove them to the brink of extinction. Genetic and genomic assessments can greatly increase our knowledge of the species and inform management strategies. However, when a species has been severely reduced, with the extirpation and artificial admixture of several populations, it is extremely challenging to obtain an accurate understanding of historic population structure and evolutionary history from extant samples. Therefore, we generated and analyzed whole genomes from 63 black rhinoceros museum specimens collected between 1775 and 1981. Results showed that the black rhinoceros could be genetically structured into six major historic populations (Central Africa, East Africa, Northwestern Africa, Northeastern Africa, Ruvuma, and Southern Africa) within which were nested four further subpopulations (Maasailand, southwestern, eastern rift, and northern rift), largely mirroring geography, with a punctuated north-south cline. However, we detected varying degrees of admixture among groups and found that several geographical barriers, most prominently the Zambezi River, drove population discontinuities. Genomic diversity was high in the middle of the range and decayed toward the periphery. This comprehensive historic portrait also allowed us to ascertain the ancestry of 20 resequenced genomes from extant populations. Lastly, using insights gained from this unique temporal data set, we suggest management strategies, some of which require urgent implementation, for the conservation of the remaining black rhinoceros diversity.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa, Eastern; Africa South of the Sahara
  8. Awuah WA, Ng JC, Mehta A, Nansubuga EP, Abdul-Rahman T, Kundu M, et al.
    Postgrad Med J, 2023 Aug 22;99(1175):941-945.
    PMID: 37280156 DOI: 10.1093/postmj/qgad043
    With increasing prevalence and an expected rise in disease burden, cancer is a cause of concern for African healthcare. The cancer burden in Africa is expected to rise to 2.1 million new cases per year and 1.4 million deaths annually by the year 2040. Even though efforts are being made to improve the standard of oncology service delivery in Africa, the current state of cancer care is not yet on par with the rise in the cancer burden. Cutting-edge technologies and innovations are being developed across the globe to augment the battle against cancer; however, many of them are beyond the reach of African countries. Modern oncology innovations targeted to ward Africa would be promising to address the high cancer mortality rates. The innovations should be cost-effective and widely accessible to tackle the rapidly rising mortality rate on the African continent. Though it may seem promising, a multidisciplinary approach is required to overcome the challenges associated with the development and implementation of modern oncology innovations in Africa.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa/epidemiology
  9. Awuah WA, Tenkorang PO, Ng JC, Abdul-Rahman T
    Neurosurgery, 2023 Jul 01;93(1):e16.
    PMID: 37097024 DOI: 10.1227/neu.0000000000002515
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa/epidemiology
  10. Haouas I, Haseeb M, Azam M, Rehman ZU
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Jul;30(31):77077-77095.
    PMID: 37249784 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-27835-z
    Every country intends to enhance national production by achieving sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there exists any long-run association among environmental deterioration measured by territorial emissions in CO2, demographic factors (total population, population density, and urban population) and some other variables, namely, energy use, per capita income, energy intensity, and industrial value added for the 16 countries from the Middle East and North African (MENA) over 1990-2018. We implemented the generalized method of moments (GMM), fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), robust least square estimators, and panel Granger causality techniques for estimation. The empirical estimates reveal that there exists a long run cointegration among the series. Results also exhibit that energy use, per capita income, energy intensity, industrial value added, population density, total population, and urban population have positive effects on CO2 emissions. Furthermore, in each panel, there is bi-directional causality between population density and CO2 emissions, total population and CO2 emissions, and urban population and CO2 emissions. These findings suggest that the policymakers need not exclusively to focus on the transformation of rural labor from an agricultural-based model to urban regions with powerful, dominant industry and services sectors but also related to the changing of rural establishments into urban spaces is required. These changes in demographics involve changes in the demand for additional transportation services, food, shelter, clothing, and other necessities.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa, Northern/epidemiology
  11. Rosenthal VD, Yin R, Lu Y, Rodrigues C, Myatra SN, Kharbanda M, et al.
    Am J Infect Control, 2023 Jun;51(6):675-682.
    PMID: 36075294 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2022.08.024
    BACKGROUND: The International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium has found a high ICU mortality rate. Our aim was to identify all-cause mortality risk factors in ICU-patients.

    METHODS: Multinational, multicenter, prospective cohort study at 786 ICUs of 312 hospitals in 147 cities in 37 Latin American, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and European countries.

    RESULTS: Between 07/01/1998 and 02/12/2022, 300,827 patients, followed during 2,167,397 patient-days, acquired 21,371 HAIs. Following mortality risk factors were identified in multiple logistic regression: Central line-associated bloodstream infection (aOR:1.84; P

    Matched MeSH terms: Africa, Eastern
  12. Wireko AA, Tenkorang PO, Ng JC, David L, Yarlagadda R, Abdul-Rahman T, et al.
    Int J Surg, 2023 Jun 01;109(6):1808-1809.
    PMID: 36927817 DOI: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000000048
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa/epidemiology
  13. Mngoma NF, Ayonrinde OA
    Int J Soc Psychiatry, 2023 May;69(3):532-542.
    PMID: 35903872 DOI: 10.1177/00207640221114252
    BACKGROUND: South Africa (SA) has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment and youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), even higher among Black South Africans. SA's NEET rates are 3 times those of UK; 5.4 times of Germany; 1.3 times of Brazil; and 2.5 times of Malaysia. Given that youths between 15 and 24 years of age make up 24% of the total population, these are significant challenges for the economy and further fuel the cyclical, pervasive and enduring nature of poverty. We hypothesised that rural youth who are NEET would have a greater prevalence of mental disorders and higher rates of substance use compared to their non-NEET counterparts. The objective of the study is to determine the differences in rates of psychological distress and substance use between NEET and non-NEET rural African 14- to 24-year-old young men.

    METHODS: The study took place in a remote and rural district municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We divided the district's five sub-municipalities into two clusters (large and small) and randomly selected one from each cluster for inclusion in the study. We further randomly selected wards from each sub-municipality and then rural settlements from each ward, for inclusion in the study. We recruited young men as part of a larger study to explore sociocultural factors important in gender-based violence in rural SA. We compared 15- to 19-year old and 20- to 24-year old youth NEET and non-NEET on rates of psychological distress symptoms (depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness and worthlessness) and substance misuse (including alcohol, cannabis, other recreational drugs) using a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) statistics at p 

    Matched MeSH terms: South Africa/epidemiology
  14. Awuah WA, Ng JC, Nazir A, Tenkorang PO, Yarlagadda R, Kalmanovich J, et al.
    Int J Surg, 2023 May 01;109(5):1080-1082.
    PMID: 36927691 DOI: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000000125
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa/epidemiology
  15. Khan MNA, Yunus RM
    Nutrition, 2023 Apr;108:111947.
    PMID: 36641887 DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2022.111947
    BACKGROUND: The proper intake of nutrients is essential to the growth and maturation of youngsters. In sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 7 children dies before age 5 y, and more than a third of these deaths are attributed to malnutrition. The main purpose of this study was to develop a majority voting-based hybrid ensemble (MVBHE) learning model to accelerate the prediction accuracy of malnutrition data of under-five children in sub-Saharan Africa.

    METHODS: This study used available under-five nutritional secondary data from the Demographic and Health Surveys performed in sub-Saharan African countries. The research used bagging, boosting, and voting algorithms, such as random forest, decision tree, eXtreme Gradient Boosting, and k-nearest neighbors machine learning methods, to generate the MVBHE model.

    RESULTS: We evaluated the model performances in contrast to each other using different measures, including accuracy, precision, recall, and the F1 score. The results of the experiment showed that the MVBHE model (96%) was better at predicting malnutrition than the random forest (81%), decision tree (60%), eXtreme Gradient Boosting (79%), and k-nearest neighbors (74%).

    CONCLUSIONS: The random forest algorithm demonstrated the highest prediction accuracy (81%) compared with the decision tree, eXtreme Gradient Boosting, and k-nearest neighbors algorithms. The accuracy was then enhanced to 96% using the MVBHE model. The MVBHE model is recommended by the present study as the best way to predict malnutrition in under-five children.

    Matched MeSH terms: Africa South of the Sahara
  16. Bala AA, Mohammed M, Umar S, Ungogo MA, Al-Kassim Hassan M, Abdussalam US, et al.
    Toxicon, 2023 Mar 01;224:107035.
    PMID: 36706926 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2023.107035
    The World Health Organization has listed Snakebite Envenoming (SBE) as a priority neglected tropical disease, with a worldwide annual snakebite affecting 5.4 million people and injuring 2.7 million lives. In many parts of rural areas of Africa and Asia, medicinal plants have been used as alternatives to conventional antisnake venom (ASV) due in part to inaccessibility to hospitals. Systemic reviews (SR) of laboratory-based preclinical studies play an essential role in drug discovery. We conducted an SR to evaluate the relationship between interventional medicinal plants and their observed effects on venom-induced experiments. This SR was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The Modified collaborative approach to meta-analysis and review of animal data from experimental studies (CAMARADES) and SYRCLE's risk of bias tools were used to appraise the included studies. Data were searched online in Medline via PubMed, Embase via OVID, and Scopus. Studies reporting in vivo and in vitro pharmacological activities of African medicinal plants/extracts/constituents against venom-induced pathologies were identified and included for screening. Data from the included studies were extracted and synthesized. Ten studies reported statistically significant percentage protection (40-100%) of animals against venom-induced lethality compared with control groups that received no medicinal plant intervention. Sixteen studies reported significant effects (p ≤ 0.05) against venom-induced pathologies compared with the control group; these include hemolytic, histopathologic, necrotic, and anti-enzymatic effects. The plant family Fabaceae has the highest number of studies reporting its efficacy, followed by Annonaceae, Malvaceae, Combretaceae, Sterculiaceae, and Olacaceae. Some African medicinal plants are preclinically effective against venom-induced lethality, hematotoxicity, and cytotoxicity. The evidence was extracted from three in vitro studies, nine in vivo studies, and five studies that combined both in vivo and in vitro models. The effective plants belong to the Fabaceae family, followed by Malvaceae, and Annonaceae.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa
  17. Wang W, Hafeez M, Jiang H, Ashraf MU, Asif M, Akram MW
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Mar;30(12):32751-32761.
    PMID: 36469267 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-24218-8
    The presented work analyzes the energy prices, climate shock, and health deprivation nexus in the BRICS economies for the period 1995-2020. Panel ARDL-PMG technique is used to reveal the underexplored linkages. The long-run estimates of energy prices are observed to be negatively significant to the health expenditure and life expectancy model, whereas, positively significant to the climate change model. These findings suggest that energy prices significantly reduce health expenditures and life expectancy and, thus, increase the death rate in the BRICS economies. The long-run country-wise estimate of energy prices is found negatively significant in case of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa. Alongside, the group-wise significance of CO2 emissions is discovered to be negatively, positively, and insignificant in the cases of life expectancy, death rate, and health expenditure models, respectively. Besides, country-wise long-run estimate of CO2 emissions witnesses negative significance for Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
    Matched MeSH terms: South Africa
  18. Bello MO, Gil-Alana LA, Ch'ng KS
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Mar;30(12):35384-35397.
    PMID: 36534250 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-24678-y
    This paper deals with the analysis of mean reversion and convergence of the ecological footprint (EF) in the MENA region. Using a long memory model based on fractional integration, we find that the results are very heterogeneous across countries depending on the assumptions made on the error term and the use of original versus logged data. Nevertheless, some conclusions can be obtained. Thus, mean reversion is decisively found in the case of Tunisia, and other countries showing some degree of reversion to the mean include Israel, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. Dealing with the issue of convergence within the MENA countries, similar conclusions hold and only Tunisia reports statistical evidence of convergence for the two types of errors. Additional evidence is found in the case of Syria, Yemen, and Jordan with uncorrelated errors and for Iran with autocorrelation. It is recommended that environmental policies targeted at stabilizing the trends in EF in the MENA region should not be indiscriminately applied in consideration of the heterogeneous nature of the series in the region.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa, Northern
  19. Iqbal F, Wilson R, Ayub Q, Song BK, Krzeminska-Ahmedzai U, Talei A, et al.
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Mar;30(13):35715-35726.
    PMID: 36536201 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-24712-z
    Urban-dwelling birds can be useful biomonitors to assess the impact of the urbanisation on both public and wildlife health. Widely distributed urban bird species, the House crow, was studied for heavy metal accumulation levels from nine cities of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa that border the Indian Ocean. Feathers were spectroscopically investigated for the deposition of ten heavy metals, i.e. As, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ni, iron Fe, Mn, Cr, Cu and Li. Fe and Zn were found to be the most prevalent metals in all sites. Measured concentrations of Pb (4.38-14.77 mg kg-1) overall, and Fe (935.66 mg kg-1) and Cu (67.17 mg kg-1) at some studied sites were above the toxicity levels reported lethal in avian toxicological studies. Multivariate analysis and linear models supported geographical location as a significant predictor for the level of most of the metals. Zn and Cu, generally and Pb, Cd, Mn, Cr at some sites exhibited potential bioaccumulation from surrounding environments. Inter-species comparisons strengthen the inference that the House crow is a reliable bioindicator species for the qualitative assessment of local urban environmental pollution and could be a useful tool for inter-regional monitoring programs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa
  20. Tenkorang PO, Awuah WA, Ng JC, Kalmanovich J, Nazir A, Yarlagadda R, et al.
    Neurosurgery, 2023 Mar 01;92(3):e72-e73.
    PMID: 36700753 DOI: 10.1227/neu.0000000000002330
    Matched MeSH terms: Africa
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