10 research outputs found
Effect of Maternal HIV and Malaria Infection on Pregnancy and Perinatal Outcome in Zimbabwe
No full textTo investigate the effect of isolated or concomitant infection with malaria and HIV on pregnancy and neonatal outcome
Long-term annual climate trends around the Breton Plots area, Alberta: is there any evidence of local climate change?
No full textThe objective of this research was to investigate the long-term trends in historical climate variables using the data collected near the classical Breton Plots (Alberta, Canada) and to determine if the data show any evidence of local climate change. The climate data used for the study were obtained from the Alberta Climate Information Service (ACIS) for the years 1901 to 2020. Various parametric statistical analyses were conducted to determine if monotonic trends occurred in the climate variables over time, and the analyses were conducted on the annual data as well as the 30-year climate normals. Large fluctuations in annual climate variables occurred, but a positive linear trend was observed in the average annual and growing season minimum air temperatures over time. Between 1901 and 2020 the annual minimum air temperature average increased at a rate of 0.3The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Review of Gender, race and parenthood impact academic productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic: from survey to action
No full textThis Zenodo record is a permanently preserved version of a PREreview. You can view the complete PREreview at https://prereview.org/reviews/4057034.
The following PREreview results from a live-streamed discussion which took place on September 22, 2020 between Jonny Coates, Karen Eddleman, Monica Granados, Emily Lescak, Phrasia Mapfumo, Mafalda Pimentel, and Daniela Saderi.
General preprint assessment
This study reports the results of a survey of 3345 academics in Brazil conducted during months in which Brazil was under a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the survey was to measure if productivity, quantified by counting manuscript submissions as planned and meeting deadlines, was affected differently across groups of academics during said lockdown. They compared several groups and intersections of identities, including gender, race, and parental status including the age of the child. The work is timely as it provides further data around the disparities in academic work and manuscript submission—particularly in the context of the pandemic, as also highlighted elsewhere1. The results are discussed in support of policy changes that can mitigate both the short-term impact of child-rearing responsibilities on productivity as well as potential long-term effects on one's academic career. In general, we recommend this manuscript for peer review, but we would advise the authors to consider addressing some of the following points before submission.
Major points
We think that the title is too general and makes claims that are unsupported by the data. The title of this article implies that the authors will dive into recommendation for policy changes in response to the findings. While they do suggest changes are needed in the discussion, they do not provide any suggestion on what should be implemented to mitigate the disparities found in the results and/or any analysis of current policy that exacerbate these disparities. We recommend de-emphasizing the "action" portion by removing it from the title. A better alternative would be to actually spend more time in the discussion providing further information around current policy, as well as suggestions of new policy that can lead to mitigation of the inequity revealed by the survey. Furthermore, the influence of race on productivity was not as straightforward as the title may suggest. The results state that "White academic mothers and Black female academics, regardless of motherhood, are the groups taking the strongest hit". This may suggest that women need more support regardless of race, particularly when they have children. Is there any speculation and or possible explanation on why the productivity as measured in this survey of Black women with children is comparatively less affected than that of white women?
The survey collected more granular information than was presented in the results. We think that the authors should present and discuss all the results, particularly those displayed in the figures and tables. For example, one confounding factor for the results is that women may be less (or more) likely than men to submit manuscripts in the first place, or have fewer deadlines planned. Possible limitations of the study for instance include the fact that the survey respondents may not represent the demographics of academic groups in Brazil—e.g., 68.4% of the respondents were women—and how the statistics applied may mitigate these limitations should be discussed. Other limitations the authors may consider discussing include potential differences and confounding effects due to career levels and discipline of study—which were surveyed but not reported, the fact that academic productivity may be quantified by other metrics other than paper submission and meeting deadlines and that may change the results, as well as how translatable these results may be to other countries.
We also wondered if the questionnaire had been validated before use? If it was, information on the validation process should be included under the Methods section, if an earlier validated questionnaire was used as a basis this should also be reported. If the questionnaire was not validated prior to use this should be reported and discussed as a limitation. Additionally, it would be important to report how the survey was disseminated and if there were incentives, both intentional and unintentional, to complete the survey, which may have biased the sample in one direction rather than another.
As the results are based on a self-reported survey, they can only establish associations, we recommend toning down the language in the manuscript to refer to associations and not causal links ('impact').
Minor points
The authors state that this work is "the first to provide conclusive data on the forces driving imbalance in science" but then in the following sentence they reference other papers doing just that.
One of the major points made by the authors is that the differences in productivity across groups were observed during the lockdown period due to the pandemic. It would be interesting to compare similar data pre-pandemic and also repeat this study after the lockdown is over to really quantify if differences in academic productivity have in fact been exacerbated by the pandemic.
The presentation and visualization of the standardized residuals are useful, but we think the authors should discuss more their interpretation. The distribution of the standardized is very wide, with some going beyond the +/- 4 point which means that the effect is extreme and that we are looking at outliers.
All relevant statistics should be reported in each figure caption. Also the chi-square statistics needs to be reported with the degrees of freedom and the N in the results as well as in the figure caption.
Authors should consider accessibility in the choice of the figure colors. This blog post (https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/) has some useful information and links to tools to assess color accessibility. Another easy way would be to ensure there are other ways besides color to assess differences such as texture and/or differences in brightness of the colors.
A data accessibility section would also be useful
We found several typos in the manuscript. We would recommend more iterations of proofreading before submitting the article for publication.
Some questions that arose during discussion that were interesting are presented here but do not need to be addressed for publication include:
What career stage were participants at?
What was the effect of academic discipline?
What kind of workload did people have in the first place—was there a gender/race difference?
Were there any differences between single parents vs family units?
Was there any help with childcare?
Was there an effect of the number of children, not just the age of the youngest child?
Was the parental workload evenly distributed between parents?
Income/socioeconomic status differences and the impact of it?
What was the size of the laboratory?
What was the average publication rate in previous years?
1. The decline of women's research production during the coronavirus pandemic. https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/decline-women-scientist-research-publishing-production-coronavirus-pandemic
Historic climate change trends and impacts on crop yields in key agricultural areas of the prairie provinces in Canada: a literature review
No full textThe objective of this literature review was to compile research findings on climate change and its impacts on crop production in Prairie Provinces of Canada. Our search strategy included finding primary literature articles from various databases. Seven articles reported increases in average and minimum air temperature over time in the Prairie Provinces of Canada. Increases in maximum air temperature were smaller than that for minimum air temperature. Growing degree days (GDD) and corn heat units (CHU) also increased over time, which has allowed for potential expansion of corn growth northwards. While overall increases in average annual precipitation and growing season precipitation have occurred in Canada between1900 and 2021, western Canada showed increases in some regions but decreases in others. Off-season precipitation and snow cover duration in Canada have decreased since 1950. The number of frost-free days has increased across Canada, on the Prairies and southern Saskatchewan since 1900. Annual snowfall has decreased since 1950 and across Canada the annual maximum snow depth has also decreased. Overall, studies focusing on the Prairie Provinces in Canada have shown accelerated changes in several climate parameters over time, affecting cropping areas and crop yields.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Management impacts on organic carbon under continuous perennial grass, perennial grass-legume mixture, and annual cereals on a thick Black Chernozemic soil
No full textImpacts of annual and perennial pasture management on soil organic carbon (SOC) and equivalent SOC stocks (equal soil mass basis) were investigated in two trials [(CAESA (1994 to 1997) and BMP (2008 to 2012) trials] conducted on the same experimental paddocks at Lacombe, Alberta. The original site was broken from perennial grass in 1992 and the CAESA trial established in 1993. Between 1994 and 1997, half of the paddocks included winter triticale and a mixture of triticale and spring barley; half included smooth and meadow bromegrass; and each paddock was light, medium, or heavily grazed. The BMP trial (2008 to 2012) on the same paddocks included fertilized, direct seeded barley as silage; grazing and haying of unfertilized meadow bromegrass, fertilized meadow bromegrass, and meadow bromegrass and alfalfa mixture; and unfertilized oldgrass that was continuous since 1994. Between trials (1998 to 2007) all paddocks received no fertilizer. In the 0-15 cm depth SOC under oldgrass was constant between 1994 and 2012 and averaged 88 Mg C haThe presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
An impact assessment of the SADC FTA on bilateral trade relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe
No full textThe Journal paper uses the Gravity Model of International Trade to investigate the impact of the Southern African Development Comuunity (SADC) Free Trade Area (FTA) on trade between South Africa and Zimbabwe. The study found out that South Africa gained more in trade by 88.4% if the country used the SADC FTA than the 1964 Bilateral Trade Agreement which was between South Africa and Zimbabwe. In addition, there was trade diversion of 176% for Zimbabwe when trading in SADC FTA. Furthermore the paper showed that South Africa will in future trade more with countries such as the Seychelles and Angola whilst Zimbabwe will gain more in trade if it trades with South Africa. The paper recommends that there is need for Zimbabwe and South Africa to expand trade with SADC Countries in order to promote intra-regional trade.TFij - This is the dependent variable which shows annual trade of exports plus imports of SADC member states. Other studies which have used the gravity model as their methodology such as Sunge & Mapfumo (2014) and Simwaka (2011) have used the log of exports as the dependent variable arguing that imports in Africa are understated in order to minimize their import bills. However this may not be holistic view in all countries and will not reflect the true picture of trading activities in Africa.
Yj and Yi - These are explanatory quantitative variables which show the economic sizes of the exporting and importing countries. Ogunkola (1998) explains that the higher the GDP for exporting and importing countries, the higher is the respective countries' potential for foreign product demand
Distij- This is a quantitative explanatory variable which is a proxy to transportation costs in bilateral trade. Simwaka (2001) uses the quality of infrastructure as a proxy for transport costs as the author highlights that distance may be biased if the poor and not well connected. However distance is a traditional variable which is calculated in kilometers from the capital city of one SADC member state to the other capital city of a SADC member state
contig- This is a dummy explanatory variable which represents the common borders between SADC member states. The variable will show one if there is a common border between an importing country and the exporting country and zero if there is no common border between the two. Countries with common borders will trade more than countries without common borders.
lang- This is a qualitative variable which takes the value of one if the importing country has a common language with the exporting country and zero otherwise.
TC- The variables show trade creation in the SADC region. The dummy variables takes the value of one if both the importing and exporting countries are in the SADC Free Trade Area and zero otherwise
TD- The variable shows trade diversion in SADC trade. The dummy variable represents one if one of the member states is in the SADC FTA and zero otherwise.
llc- This is a dummy variable which represents one if the exporting country is landlocked and zero otherwise
excij - Bergstand (1985) explains that the exchange rate variable is important to show trade variation between member states. The quantitative variable will determine annual exchange rate by the importing country's currency unit per one unit of the exporting country's currency. Following Binh et al (2013) the variable is calculated as the annual average of the importing country's currency unit per US dollar divided by the annual average of the exporting country's national currency unit per US dollar per year.
PIi & PEj- These two quantitative variables estimate the market size of member states. A member state with a larger market size than the other is more likely to trade more in the region.
This is a panel data set consisting of 16 SADC countries. and data was obtained from World Bank's World Development Indicators, CEPII and own computations in terms of dummy variables .Data was collected from various websites such as the World Bank World Development Indicators , CEPII and own computations of dummy variables. The data was colllected and arranged in excel documents and stata files
Soil macrofauna functional groups and their effects on soil structure, as related to agricultural management practices across agroecological zones of Sub-Saharan Africa
No full textThis study aimed at understanding the effects of crop management practices on soil macrofauna and the links with soil aggregation and soil organic matter dynamics, which is key to the improvement of infertile or degrading soils in Sub-Sahara Africa. Soil macrofauna, especially earthworms and termites, are important components of the soil ecosystem and, as ecosystem engineers, they influence the formation and maintenance of soil structure and regulate soil processes, such as organic matter decomposition and nutrient dynamics. In comparison with natural systems, earthworm and termite diversity and abundance were low in fallow, high soil-carbon (C) and low soil-C arable treatments in 12 long-term trial fields across the sub-humid to semi-arid tropical zones in Eastern and Western Africa. Continuous crop production had significant negative effects on earthworm diversity, but little effect on termite diversity, as compared to long-term fallow. Agricultural management resulting in high soil C increased earthworm and termite diversity as compared to low-C soil.Long-term application of manure in combination with fertilizer resulted in higher earthworm diversity and biomass, associated with improved soil aggregation and enhanced C and N stabilization within this more stable soil structure. These practices therefore result in the dual benefits of improving soil physical and chemical properties. A micromorphological study of undisturbed soil thin sections showed that fallowing, conservation tillage plus residue application (in East Africa) and hand-hoeing plus manure (in West Africa) enhanced biogenic soil structure formation, resulting in a well developed soil structure and a continuous pore system characterized by many faunal channels. In contrast,intensive tillage and absence of organic inputs resulted in soil with less biogenic soil structural features. Farmers in Nyabeda, West-Kenya, were aware of the activities and nesting habits of termites, but 90% percent of the farmers perceived termites as pests.This study has shown that the soil macrofauna, especially earthworms, and, to a lesser extent termites, are important drivers of stable soil aggregation in Sub-Saharan agroecosystems, with beneficial effects on soil physical and chemical properties. However, their beneficial impact on soil aggregation is reduced with increasing management intensity and associated soil disturbance due to cultivation. This knowledge is important in designing agricultural management systems aimed at increasing long-term soil fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa
Independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene, and improved complementary feeding, on child stunting and anaemia in rural Zimbabwe: a cluster-randomised trial.
No full textBACKGROUND: Child stunting reduces survival and impairs neurodevelopment. We tested the independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) on stunting and anaemia in in Zimbabwe. METHODS: We did a cluster-randomised, community-based, 2 × 2 factorial trial in two rural districts in Zimbabwe. Clusters were defined as the catchment area of between one and four village health workers employed by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care. Women were eligible for inclusion if they permanently lived in clusters and were confirmed pregnant. Clusters were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to standard of care (52 clusters), IYCF (20 g of a small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement per day from age 6 to 18 months plus complementary feeding counselling; 53 clusters), WASH (construction of a ventilated improved pit latrine, provision of two handwashing stations, liquid soap, chlorine, and play space plus hygiene counselling; 53 clusters), or IYCF plus WASH (53 clusters). A constrained randomisation technique was used to achieve balance across the groups for 14 variables related to geography, demography, water access, and community-level sanitation coverage. Masking of participants and fieldworkers was not possible. The primary outcomes were infant length-for-age Z score and haemoglobin concentrations at 18 months of age among children born to mothers who were HIV negative during pregnancy. These outcomes were analysed in the intention-to-treat population. We estimated the effects of the interventions by comparing the two IYCF groups with the two non-IYCF groups and the two WASH groups with the two non-WASH groups, except for outcomes that had an important statistical interaction between the interventions. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01824940. FINDINGS: Between Nov 22, 2012, and March 27, 2015, 5280 pregnant women were enrolled from 211 clusters. 3686 children born to HIV-negative mothers were assessed at age 18 months (884 in the standard of care group from 52 clusters, 893 in the IYCF group from 53 clusters, 918 in the WASH group from 53 clusters, and 991 in the IYCF plus WASH group from 51 clusters). In the IYCF intervention groups, the mean length-for-age Z score was 0·16 (95% CI 0·08-0·23) higher and the mean haemoglobin concentration was 2·03 g/L (1·28-2·79) higher than those in the non-IYCF intervention groups. The IYCF intervention reduced the number of stunted children from 620 (35%) of 1792 to 514 (27%) of 1879, and the number of children with anaemia from 245 (13·9%) of 1759 to 193 (10·5%) of 1845. The WASH intervention had no effect on either primary outcome. Neither intervention reduced the prevalence of diarrhoea at 12 or 18 months. No trial-related serious adverse events, and only three trial-related adverse events, were reported. INTERPRETATION: Household-level elementary WASH interventions implemented in rural areas in low-income countries are unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia and might not reduce diarrhoea. Implementation of these WASH interventions in combination with IYCF interventions is unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia more than implementation of IYCF alone. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, Wellcome Trust, Swiss Development Cooperation, UNICEF, and US National Institutes of Health.The SHINE trial is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1021542 and OPP113707); UK Department for International Development; Wellcome Trust, UK (093768/Z/10/Z, 108065/Z/15/Z and 203905/Z/16/Z); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; US National Institutes of Health (2R01HD060338-06); and UNICEF (PCA-2017-0002)
Neuropsychiatric manifestations and sleep disturbances with dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy versus standard of care in children and adolescents: a secondary analysis of the ODYSSEY trial
No full textBACKGROUND: Cohort studies in adults with HIV showed that dolutegravir was associated with neuropsychiatric adverse events and sleep problems, yet data are scarce in children and adolescents. We aimed to evaluate neuropsychiatric manifestations in children and adolescents treated with dolutegravir-based treatment versus alternative antiretroviral therapy. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of ODYSSEY, an open-label, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority trial, in which adolescents and children initiating first-line or second-line antiretroviral therapy were randomly assigned 1:1 to dolutegravir-based treatment or standard-of-care treatment. We assessed neuropsychiatric adverse events (reported by clinicians) and responses to the mood and sleep questionnaires (reported by the participant or their carer) in both groups. We compared the proportions of patients with neuropsychiatric adverse events (neurological, psychiatric, and total), time to first neuropsychiatric adverse event, and participant-reported responses to questionnaires capturing issues with mood, suicidal thoughts, and sleep problems. FINDINGS: Between Sept 20, 2016, and June 22, 2018, 707 participants were enrolled, of whom 345 (49%) were female and 362 (51%) were male, and 623 (88%) were Black-African. Of 707 participants, 350 (50%) were randomly assigned to dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy and 357 (50%) to non-dolutegravir-based standard-of-care. 311 (44%) of 707 participants started first-line antiretroviral therapy (ODYSSEY-A; 145 [92%] of 157 participants had efavirenz-based therapy in the standard-of-care group), and 396 (56%) of 707 started second-line therapy (ODYSSEY-B; 195 [98%] of 200 had protease inhibitor-based therapy in the standard-of-care group). During follow-up (median 142 weeks, IQR 124–159), 23 participants had 31 neuropsychiatric adverse events (15 in the dolutegravir group and eight in the standard-of-care group; difference in proportion of participants with ≥1 event p=0·13). 11 participants had one or more neurological events (six and five; p=0·74) and 14 participants had one or more psychiatric events (ten and four; p=0·097). Among 14 participants with psychiatric events, eight participants in the dolutegravir group and four in standard-of-care group had suicidal ideation or behaviour. More participants in the dolutegravir group than the standard-of-care group reported symptoms of self-harm (eight vs one; p=0·025), life not worth living (17 vs five; p=0·0091), or suicidal thoughts (13 vs none; p=0·0006) at one or more follow-up visits. Most reports were transient. There were no differences by treatment group in low mood or feeling sad, problems concentrating, feeling worried or feeling angry or aggressive, sleep problems, or sleep quality. INTERPRETATION: The numbers of neuropsychiatric adverse events and reported neuropsychiatric symptoms were low. However, numerically more participants had psychiatric events and reported suicidality ideation in the dolutegravir group than the standard-of-care group. These differences should be interpreted with caution in an open-label trial. Clinicians and policy makers should consider including suicidality screening of children or adolescents receiving dolutegravir
Dolutegravir twice-daily dosing in children with HIV-associated tuberculosis: a pharmacokinetic and safety study within the open-label, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority ODYSSEY trial
No full textBackground:
Children with HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB) have few antiretroviral therapy (ART) options. We aimed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of dolutegravir twice-daily dosing in children receiving rifampicin for HIV-associated TB.
Methods:
We nested a two-period, fixed-order pharmacokinetic substudy within the open-label, multicentre, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority ODYSSEY trial at research centres in South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Children (aged 4 weeks to <18 years) with HIV-associated TB who were receiving rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir were eligible for inclusion. We did a 12-h pharmacokinetic profile on rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir and a 24-h profile on once-daily dolutegravir. Geometric mean ratios for trough plasma concentration (Ctrough), area under the plasma concentration time curve from 0 h to 24 h after dosing (AUC0–24 h), and maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) were used to compare dolutegravir concentrations between substudy days. We assessed rifampicin Cmax on the first substudy day. All children within ODYSSEY with HIV-associated TB who received rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir were included in the safety analysis. We described adverse events reported from starting twice-daily dolutegravir to 30 days after returning to once-daily dolutegravir. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02259127), EudraCT (2014–002632-14), and the ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN91737921).
Findings:
Between Sept 20, 2016, and June 28, 2021, 37 children with HIV-associated TB (median age 11·9 years [range 0·4–17·6], 19 [51%] were female and 18 [49%] were male, 36 [97%] in Africa and one [3%] in Thailand) received rifampicin with twice-daily dolutegravir and were included in the safety analysis. 20 (54%) of 37 children enrolled in the pharmacokinetic substudy, 14 of whom contributed at least one evaluable pharmacokinetic curve for dolutegravir, including 12 who had within-participant comparisons. Geometric mean ratios for rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir versus once-daily dolutegravir were 1·51 (90% CI 1·08–2·11) for Ctrough, 1·23 (0·99–1·53) for AUC0–24 h, and 0·94 (0·76–1·16) for Cmax. Individual dolutegravir Ctrough concentrations were higher than the 90% effective concentration (ie, 0·32 mg/L) in all children receiving rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir. Of 18 children with evaluable rifampicin concentrations, 15 (83%) had a Cmax of less than the optimal target concentration of 8 mg/L. Rifampicin geometric mean Cmax was 5·1 mg/L (coefficient of variation 71%). During a median follow-up of 31 weeks (IQR 30–40), 15 grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred among 11 (30%) of 37 children, ten serious adverse events occurred among eight (22%) children, including two deaths (one tuberculosis-related death, one death due to traumatic injury); no adverse events, including deaths, were considered related to dolutegravir.
Interpretation:
Twice-daily dolutegravir was shown to be safe and sufficient to overcome the rifampicin enzyme-inducing effect in children, and could provide a practical ART option for children with HIV-associated TB
