Ousmane Ndiaye

Biochemical composition and nutritional value of Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Del fruit pulps from Northern Ferlo in Senegal

Balanites aegyptiaca , a forest species of socio-economic interest for rural people, was chosen to be planted in the frame-work of the Great Green Wall project in Senegal. Although in vastly demand during food scarcity period before crops harvest, the species’ fruit is poorly valued despite its important production. In this study, the fruit pulps were harvested at maturity and the biochemical characteristics were accessed in order to better understand the fruit’s nutritional value. The moisture, sugars, proteins, amino acids, ash, fat, minerals and some vitamins were determined by standard methods of analysis. The results indicated that the fruits are a good alimentary source of sugar, minerals (mainly potassium) and ascorbic acid. The pulp proteins were qualitatively balanced, but were present only in weak quantities. Its caloric value is high due to the high concentration of sugars. Low humidity should allow a fairly good postharvest fruit conservation. The dietary intake of this fruit for local people is very valuable especially in terms of nutrition. Keywords: Balanites aegyptiaca , pulp, biochemical, nutritional value African Journal of Biotechnology , Vol. 13(2), pp. 336-342, 8 January, 2014

Femme enceinte vivant en zone de fluorose endémique au Sénégal et faible poids du nouveau-né à la naissance: étude cas-témoins

BACKGROUND In developing countries, maternal and neonatal mortality is high. Among the causes of death during the neonatal period, low birth weight is crucial. A dose of fluoride beyond 2mg/L causes enamel damage, possibly affecting the fetus. The aim of this study was to search for an association between dental fluorosis in the mother and low birthweight of the newborn. METHODOLOGY This was a case-control study performed in an endemic area in Senegal (Diourbel). It included 108 mothers who gave birth to newborns weighing less than 2500 g (cases) and 216 mothers with newborns weighing greater or equal to 2500 g (controls). Data on socio-demographic, lifestyle, history and pregnancy variables were collected. Those related to water consumption during pregnancy and dental fluorosis (Deans index) were measured. The data were analyzed by R software. Logistic regression was used to identify associations and the statistical significance level was set to 0.05. RESULTS The proportions of mothers consuming well water were 62% among cases versus 43.5% among controls. The score 4 of Deans Index was reported for 25.9% of cases versus 6.9% of controls. The water consumed and the modal score of Deans Index were significantly associated with the occurrence of low birthweight adjusted for gender, consanguinity, anemia and hypertension. CONCLUSION Low birthweight was associated with pregnant women living in endemic areas. Defluoridation programs and access for pregnant women and children to high quality water are necessary in areas of endemic fluorosis.

Prévalence et déterminants de l’anémie chez le jeune enfant en Afrique francophone – Implication de la carence en fer

Anemia and iron deficiency are major public health issues worldwide and particularly in Africa. Reliable information about their prevalence and associated factors is required to allow for effective actions. In this study, we used data from recent (2006-2012) large population health surveys, carried out in 11 French-speaking African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal). Hemoglobin (Hb) was assessed and demographic and health-related parameters were obtained from nation-representative samples of children aged 6-59 months. Anemia (Hb<11g/dL) was found in 72.4% of the children (60.2-87.8%), with no gender difference but a slightly lower incidence in older children (62% at age 4-5 years versus 85% at age 9 months), especially for the more severe forms (2.1% versus 8.7%, respectively). Anemia was only slightly but significantly affected by location (75.5% in rural areas versus 67.3% in towns), income (79.8% in lower quintile of income versus 62.3% in higher quintile), or maternal education (74.1% in children from non-educated mothers versus 62.4% in children whose mothers had secondary education). Nearly 50% of women of child-bearing age had anemia. In the countries that report this information, less than 50% (17-65%) of children consumed iron-rich foods regularly and only 12% (7.4-20.5%) received iron supplementation. Infection and parasitism are known to affect some markers of iron status, because of the inflammatory reaction, thereby making the diagnosis of iron deficiency difficult. In the study countries, acute respiratory diseases and diarrhea affected 6.2 and 15.6% of children aged between 6 and 59 months, respectively; their distribution according to age and location is very different from the one of anemia, which is also the case for the distribution of malaria. It is thus likely that a large part of the anemia observed in young children is due to iron deficiency, although further research is needed to confirm this. This fully justifies the nationwide programs of iron fortification of flour, currently undergoing in most countries of French-speaking Africa. Their formal evaluation is still pending but the initial data suggest some efficacy, although far from optimal. It is thus likely that a more holistic approach, including iron fortification, actions against undernutrition and parasitism in children, and actions in favor of improving young womens iron and nutritional status, together with appropriate communication and education objectives, would be more effective.

Impact of rotavirus vaccine on acute gastroenteritis in children under 5 years in Senegal: Experience of sentinel site of the Albert Royer Children's Hospital in Dakar

BACKGROUND Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children <5 years of age in developing countries, with rotavirus being the most common infectious etiology. In November 2014, monovalent rotavirus vaccine was introduced in Senegal. We determined the impact of rotavirus vaccine on hospitalizations for all-cause and rotavirus related AGE in children <60 months of age. METHODS We examined two data sources from the national referral hospital. Using sentinel surveillance data from March 2011 to February 2017, we examined the proportion of AGE hospitalizations among children <60 months of age attributable to rotavirus, stratified by age groups (0-11, 12-23 and 24-59 months). Using pediatric logbook data from March 2010 to February 2017, we examined the proportion of all childhood hospitalizations attributable to AGE, among the same age groups. RESULTS In sentinel surveillance, 673 patients <60 months were hospitalized for AGE, with 30% (203/673) due to rotavirus. In pre-vaccine years, the median proportion of rotavirus-positive hospitalizations was 42%; this proportion declined by 76% to 10% rotavirus positive in 2015-2016 (p < .001) and by 59% to 17% in 2016-2017 (p < .001). From the logbook data, among all children <60 months, a median of 11% of all hospitalizations in the pre-vaccine period were due to AGE, with 2015-2016 seeing a 16% decline (p < .001), to 9% of all hospitalizations, and 2016-2017 seeing a 39% decline (p < .001), to 7% of all hospitalizations. Declines in both rotavirus-associated and all-cause AGE hospitalizations were most marked among infants, with a suggestion of herd effect among older children seen in the surveillance data. CONCLUSION Rotavirus vaccine demonstrated a significant impact on rotavirus-associated hospitalizations and all-cause AGE hospitalizations in the first two seasons after vaccine introduction in Senegal. Our data support the continued use of this vaccine in national immunization program.

Efficient Implementation of Hybrid Encryption from Coding Theory

In this work we present an efficient implementation of the Hybrid Encryption scheme based on the Niederreiter PCKS proposed by E. Persichetti.

First Description of the Extended Spectrum-Beta-Lactamase Gene blaCTX-M-109 in Salmonella Grumpensis Strains Isolated from Neonatal Nosocomial Infections in Dakar, Senegal

Nosocomial infections are very common in African hospitals, particularly in neonatal units. These infections are most often caused by bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp and Staphylococcus spp. Salmonella strains are rarely involved in nosocomial infections. Here, we report the first description of S. Grumpensis in neonatal infections in Senegal. Seventeen Salmonella strains were isolated from hospitalized infants’ stool samples. The following resistance phenotype was described in strains: AMXRTICRCFR FOXRCFXRCTXRCAZRIMPSATMRNARNORRCIPRTMRGMRTERSXTR. All isolates were susceptible to imipenem, 15 out of 17 produced an extended spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL). blaOXA-1, blaSHV-1, blaTEM-1, blaCTX-M1 genes were detected in strains 8, 13, 5 and 8, respectively. blaCTX-M1 sequencing revealed the presence of blaCTX-M-109. Thirteen of the 17 Salmonella Grumpensis strains were analyzed by PFGE. These 13 isolates belonged to a single pulsotype and were genotypically identical. This is the first report of neonatal S. Grumpensis infections in Senegal, and the first report of blaCTX-M-109 in the genus Salmonella.

Efficient Software Implementations of Code-Based Hash Functions and Stream-Ciphers

In this work, we present a survey on software implementations of two families of cryptographic primitives based on the syndrome decoding problem: hash functions and stream ciphers. We have studied different algorithms, namely, FSB, SFSB, RFSB, SYND, 2SC and XSYND, and tried to improve their performances as software implementations which are done in C language by Using XMM registers from Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE). We provide a fair comparison of the implementations of those primitives in the same platform and also give links to the codes we have developed. Although we did not reach the speed given in the paper in some cases, we managed to beat the results of the reference implementations when they are available.

Prematurity: Epidemiology and Etiological Factors in a Maternity Ward in Dakar (Senegal)

Background: Prematurity is the leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in the world. Several etiological factors contribute to its occurrence requiring identification for effective prevention. The objective of this work was to study the epidemiological and etiological factors of prematurity in the maternity ward of the Grand YOFF General Hospital (GYGH) in Dakar. Methods: This was a prospective study including all live and viable newborns conducted during January 1st to August 31st. They were divided into 2 groups: premature infants (22 WA-36 WA+6 days) and term infants (over 37 WA). Statistical comparisons were based on percentages for the chi-square test or Fishers exact small sample test. Results: During the study, 501 newborns were collected including 360 term neonates (71.9%) and 141 premature babies (28.1%). The sex ratio was 1.07. Of the premature babies, 48.2% were hypotrophic. There were 13 cases of premature death (9.22%). The occurrence of prematurity was significantly related to educational level, geographic origin and body mass index (BMI). The number of prenatal consultations (PNC) less than 3 was related to a risk of prematurity (p=0.001). Genitourinary infections (p=0.059), high blood pressure (p=0.047), pre-eclampsia (p=0.009), isolated anaemia (p=0.0001) and isolated bleeding (p=0.015) were found as significant etiological factors. Conclusion: In our study, several etiological factors associated with prematurity were identified. Combating these factors is an effective way to prevent prematurity in our low-income countries.

Insuffisance cardiaque sur cœur normal révélant une malformation artériole-veineuse complexe du membre inferieur chez un enfant: à propos d'une observation et revue de la littérature

Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are congenital high-flow vascular defects. They are very rare in children. Diagnosis and treatment are often delayed due to their atypical place of occurrence and to their variable clinical manifestations. We report the case of a child treated at the National Centre Hospitalier Albert Royer Children, Dakar. A boy aged 9 years was referred from a health facility in rural areas for the treatment of heart failure. Admission clinical examination showed impaired general condition, global heart failure syndrome and voluminous right warm inguinocrural mass extended to the right abdominal wall (iliac fossa and right flank), with poorly defined limits. Auscultation of this mass showed a thrill and diffuse murmur. Cardiac ultrasound showed severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with extensive impairement of the heart cavities, without cardiac structural involvement. The diagnosis of AVM was confirmed by doppler ultrasound of the mass complemented by angiography scan. They showed multiple arteriovenous fistulas within the mass. The diagnosis of complex stage IV AVM (according to Schöbinger classification) of the root of the right thigh was retained. Clinical treatment of heart failure was based on furosemide, spironolactone and captopril to obtain hemodynamic stabilization before possible surgical procedure. Arteriovenous malformations of the limbs, in particular of the proximal end of the lower limb in children are still largely unknown, hence frequent diagnostic errors and delays. Their evolution is unpredictable requiring early diagnosis and careful monitoring involving multidisciplinary interaction between pediatrics, surgeons and radiologists.

HDSS Profile: Mlomp Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Mlomp HDSS), Senegal

HDSS Profile: Mlomp Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Mlomp HDSS), Senegal Gilles Pison,* Baptiste Beck, Ousmane Ndiaye, Papa N Diouf, Paul Senghor, Géraldine Duthé, Laurence Fleury, Cheikh Sokhna and Valérie Delaunay Département Hommes et Environnement, French Museum of Natural History, UMR 7206 CNRS, Paris Diderot University, Paris, France, French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), Paris, France, Université Laval, Québec, QB, Canada, VITROME, International Campus IRD-UCAD of Hann, BP 1386, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal and LPED, UMR151 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, BP 1386, Dakar, Senegal