Development and Validation of the Body Size Scale for Assessing Body Weight Perception in African Populations

Background

The social valorisation of overweight in African populations could promote high-risk eating behaviours and therefore become a risk factor of obesity. However, existing scales to assess body image are usually not accurate enough to allow comparative studies of body weight perception in different African populations. This study aimed to develop and validate the Body Size Scale (BSS) to estimate African body weight perception.

Methods

Anthropometric measures of 80 Cameroonians and 81 Senegalese were used to evaluate three criteria of adiposity: body mass index (BMI), overall percentage of fat, and endomorphy (fat component of the somatotype). To develop the BSS, the participants were photographed in full face and profile positions. Models were selected for their representativeness of the wide variability in adiposity with a progressive increase along the scale. Then, for the validation protocol, participants self-administered the BSS to assess self-perceived current body size (CBS), desired body size (DBS) and provide a “body self-satisfaction index.” This protocol included construct validity, test-retest reliability and convergent validity and was carried out with three independent samples of respectively 201, 103 and 1115 Cameroonians.

Results

The BSS comprises two sex-specific scales of photos of 9 models each, and ordered by increasing adiposity. Most participants were able to correctly order the BSS by increasing adiposity, using three different words to define body size. Test-retest reliability was consistent in estimating CBS, DBS and the “body self-satisfaction index.” The CBS was highly correlated to the objective BMI, and two different indexes assessed with the BSS were consistent with declarations obtained in interviews.

Conclusion

The BSS is the first scale with photos of real African models taken in both full face and profile and representing a wide and representative variability in adiposity. The validation protocol proved its reliability for estimating body weight perception in Africans.     

Influence of phosphorus application and arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation on growth,foliar nitrogen mobilization,and phosphorus partitioning in cowpea plants

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of phosphorus (P) application and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (Funneliformis mosseae) on growth, foliar nitrogen mobilization, and phosphorus partitioning in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata cv. Vita-5) plants. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in pots containing a mixture of vermiculite and sterilized quartz sand. Mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal cowpea plants were supplied with three levels of soluble P (0.1 (low P), 0.5 (medium P), or 1.0 mM (high P)). Cowpea plants supplied with low P fertilization showed significantly (p?<?0.05) higher root colonization than those with medium and high P fertilization at both the vegetative and pod-filling stages. P uptake and growth parameters of cowpea plants were positively influenced by mycorrhizal inoculation only in the medium P fertilization treatment at the vegetative stage. Lack of these effects in the other treatments may be linked to either a very low P supply (in the low P treatment at the vegetative stage) or the availability of optimal levels of freely diffusible P in the substrate towards the pod-filling stage due to accumulation with time. The N concentration in leaves of all cowpea plants were lower at the pod-filling stage than at the vegetative stage, presumably as a result of N mobilization from vegetative organs to the developing pods. This was however not influenced by AM fungal inoculation and may be a consequence of the lack of an improved plant P acquisition by the fungus at the pod-filling stage.     

Les complications urinaires des traumatismes du bassin: aspects anatomocliniques et thérapeutiques au CHU de Conakry, Guinée

Objective

To stick out the anatomoclinic aspects and to evaluate the therapeutic results of a series of some pelvic trauma complications is followed at the Urology-Andrology ward in the teaching hospital of Conakry.

Material and method

It’s about a retrospective examined joining together 52 cases of some pelvic trauma complications in a period of five years.

Results

The pelvic trauma complications were representing 3% of whole the hospitalisations during the period of study. The mean age of our patients was 33 years with extremes of 10 and 63 years. The traumas were due to accidents on the public road in 54.9% of cases. In terms of clinics, the symptomatology was essentially constituted by the acute retention of urines with 80.7% of cases and the hemorrhage (hematury and uretrorragy). The main trauma was a back urethral lesion with 82.7% of cases. All the patients profited a surgical treatment. The therapeutics has been judged after an average relapse of 52 months in terms of urinary and sexual complications. Thus, in terms of urinary complications results have been judged good in 59.6% of cases, less in 17.3% and bad in 23.7% of cases. In terms of sexual, we remarked 53.8% of good result, 25% of medium results and 21.2% (N = 11) of bad results.

Conclusion

Management of urinary complication after pelvic trauma is controversy. Thus, we insist on more necessary collaboration between urologist and orthopedist because the stabilisation of the pelvic trauma is very interesting to the management.     

Miscanthus × giganteus leaf senescence,decomposition and C and N inputs to soil

Energy crops are currently promoted as potential sources of alternative energy that can help mitigate the climate change caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs). The perennial crop Miscanthus × giganteus is considered promising due to its high potential for biomass production under conditions of low input. However, to assess its potential for GHG mitigation, a better quantification of the crop's contribution to soil organic matter recycling under various management systems is needed. The aim of this work was to study the effect of abscised leaves on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) recycling in a Miscanthus plantation. The dynamics of senescent leaf fall, the rate of leaf decomposition (using a litter bag approach) and the leaf accumulation at the soil surface were tracked over two 1‐year periods under field conditions in Northern France. The fallen leaves represented an average yearly input of 1.40 Mg C ha^?1 and 16 kg N ha^?1. The abscised leaves lost approximately 54% of their initial mass in 1 year due to decomposition; the remaining mass, accumulated as a mulch layer at the soil surface, was equivalent to 7 Mg dry matter (DM) ha^?1 5 years after planting. Based on the estimated annual leaf‐C recycling rate and a stabilization rate of 35% of the added C, the annual contribution of the senescent leaves to the soil C was estimated to be approximately 0.50 Mg C ha^?1yr^?1 or 10 Mg C ha^?1 total over the 20‐year lifespan of a Miscanthus crop. This finding suggested that for Miscanthus, the abscised leaves contribute more to the soil C accumulation than do the rhizomes or roots. In contrast, the recycling of the leaf N to the soil was less than for the other N fluxes, particularly for those involving the transfer of N from the tops of the plant to the rhizome.     

Detection of hepatitis E virus antibodies among Cercopithecidae and Hominidae monkeys in Cameroon

We screened hepatitis E from 15 species of non‐human primates. Anti‐HEV IgG was detected in 11.1% (1/9) Mandrillus sphinx, 14.3% (2/14) Gorilla gorilla, 5.9% (4/67) pan troglodytes and 8.7% (2/23) Mandrillus leucophaeus, whereas anti‐HEV IgM was detected in 1.5% (1/18) papio Anubis, 28.6% (2/7) Cercocebus agilis and 1.5% (1/67) pan troglodyte.     

Exploring the effectiveness of integrated conservation and development interventions in a Central African forest landscape

Integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) have had limited success in addressing the often conflicting objectives of conservation and development. We developed a model with local participants to explore the trade-offs between conservation and development in southeastern Cameroon, where illegal hunting is regarded as the greatest challenge to conservation. We simulated the effects of different ICDP strategies by varying the degree of focus on antipoaching activities, anticorruption measures and direct development investments, and by varying the overall budget for such activities. Our outcome variables were numbers of selected wildlife species and household incomes. The model outcomes from the different scenarios were used to stimulate debate among stakeholders. Contributing to poverty alleviation while maintaining current animal population sizes will be extremely difficult and will require long-term external financial support. Devoting greater attention to improving local environmental governance emerged as the highest priority for this investment. We used the model outputs to inform some of the major policy makers in the region. Participatory modeling is a valuable means of capturing the complexities of achieving conservation at landscape scales and of stimulating innovative solutions to entrenched problems.     

Quality and decomposition in soil of rhizome, root and senescent leaf from Miscanthus x giganteus, as affected by harvest date and N fertilization

To predict the environmental benefits of energy crop production and use, the nature and fate of biomass residues in the soil need to be quantified. Our objective was to quantify Miscanthus x giganteus biomass recycling to soil and to assess how harvesting time and N fertilization affect their characteristics and subsequent biodegradability. The quantification of aerial and belowground biomass and their sampling were performed on 2- and 3-year-old Miscanthus stands, either fertilized with 120 kg N ha^?1 year^?1 or not fertilized, in autumn (maximal biomass production) and winter (maturity). Plant biomass was chemically characterized (total sugars, Klason lignin, C/N) and incubated in optimum decomposition conditions (15°C, ?80 kPa) for 263 days, for C and N mineralization. Accumulation of carbon in rhizomes and roots was 7.5 to 10 t C ha^?1 and represented about 50% of total plant biomass C. Senescent leaves represented about 1.5 t C ha^?1 year^?1. All residues, especially the roots, had high lignin contents, while the rhizomes also had a high soluble content due to their nutrient storage function. The C mineralization rates were closely related to the chemical characteristics of the residue, higher sugar and lower lignin contents leading to faster decomposition, as observed for rhizomes.