Elimination of human rabies in Goa, India through an integrated One Health approach

Dog-mediated rabies kills tens of thousands of people each year in India, representing one third of the estimated global rabies burden. Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have set a target for global dog-mediated human rabies elimination by 2030, examples of large-scale dog vaccination programs demonstrating elimination remain limited in Africa and Asia. We describe the development of a data-driven rabies elimination program from 2013 to 2019 in Goa State, India, culminating in human rabies elimination and a 92% reduction in monthly canine rabies cases. Smartphone technology enabled systematic spatial direction of remote teams to vaccinate over 95,000 dogs at 70% vaccination coverage, and rabies education teams to reach 150,000 children annually. An estimated 2249 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were averted over the program period at 526 USD per DALY, making the intervention ‘very cost-effective’ by WHO definitions. This One Health program demonstrates that human rabies elimination is achievable at the state level in India

Anxiety and depression in patients with gastrointestinal cancer: does knowledge of cancer diagnosis matter?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastrointestinal cancer is the first leading cause of cancer related deaths in men and the second among women in Iran. An investigation was carried out to examine anxiety and depression in this group of patients and to investigate whether the knowledge of cancer diagnosis affect their psychological distress.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a cross sectional study of anxiety and depression in patients with gastrointestinal cancer attending to the Tehran Cancer Institute. Anxiety and depression was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). This is a widely used valid questionnaire to measure psychological distress in cancer patients. Demographic and clinical data also were collected to examine anxiety and depression in sub-group of patients especially in those who knew their cancer diagnosis and those who did not.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In all 142 patients were studied. The mean age of patients was 54.1 (SD = 14.8), 56% were male, 52% did not know their cancer diagnosis, and their diagnosis was related to esophagus (29%), stomach (30%), small intestine (3%), colon (22%) and rectum (16%). The mean anxiety score was 7.6 (SD = 4.5) and for the depression this was 8.4 (SD = 3.8). Overall 47.2% and 57% of patients scored high on both anxiety and depression. There were no significant differences between gender, educational level, marital status, cancer site and anxiety and depression scores whereas those who knew their diagnosis showed a significant higher degree of psychological distress [mean (SD) anxiety score: knew diagnosis 9.1 (4.2) vs. 6.3 (4.4) did not know diagnosis, P < 0.001; mean (SD) depression score: knew diagnosis 9.1 (4.1) vs. 7.9 (3.6) did not know diagnosis, P = 0.05]. Performing logistic regression analysis while controlling for demographic and clinical variables studied the results indicated that those who knew their cancer diagnosis showed a significant higher risk of anxiety [OR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.1–6.8] and depression [OR: 2.8, 95% CI: 1.1–7.2].</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Psychological distress was higher in those who knew their cancer diagnosis. It seems that the cultural issues and the way we provide information for cancer patients play important role in their improved or decreased psychological well-being.</p

Leptospirosis in the Asia Pacific region

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonotic infection that has been recognized for decades, but the problem of the disease has not been fully addressed, particularly in resource-poor, developing countries, where the major burden of the disease occurs. This paper presents an overview of the current situation of leptospirosis in the region. It describes the current trends in the epidemiology of leptospirosis, the existing surveillance systems, and presents the existing prevention and control programs in the Asia Pacific region.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data on leptospirosis in each member country were sought from official national organizations, international public health organizations, online articles and the scientific literature. Papers were reviewed and relevant data were extracted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Leptospirosis is highly prevalent in the Asia Pacific region. Infections in developed countries arise mainly from occupational exposure, travel to endemic areas, recreational activities, or importation of domestic and wild animals, whereas outbreaks in developing countries are most frequently related to normal daily activities, over-crowding, poor sanitation and climatic conditions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the Asia Pacific region, predominantly in developing countries, leptospirosis is largely a water-borne disease. Unless interventions to minimize exposure are aggressively implemented, the current global climate change will further aggravate the extent of the disease problem. Although trends indicate successful control of leptospirosis in some areas, there is no clear evidence that the disease has decreased in the last decade. The efficiency of surveillance systems and data collection varies significantly among the countries and areas within the region, leading to incomplete information in some instances. Thus, an accurate reflection of the true burden of the disease remains unknown.</p

Leptospirosis, melioidosis, and rickettsioses in the vicious circle of neglect

The global priorities in the field of infectious diseases are constantly changing. While emerging viral infections have regularly dominated public health attention, which has only intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous bacterial diseases have previously caused, and continue to cause, significant morbidity and mortality—deserving equal attention. Three potentially life-threatening endemic bacterial diseases (leptospirosis, melioidosis, and rickettsioses) are a huge public health concern especially in low- and middle-income countries. Despite their continued threat, these diseases do not receive proportionate attention from global health organizations and are not even included on the WHO list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This, in turn, has led to a vicious circle of neglect with continued, yet conceivably preventable, hospitalizations and deaths each year especially in the vulnerable population. This is a call from a group of multi-institutional experts on the urgent need to directly address the circle of neglect and raise support in terms of funding, research, surveillance, diagnostics, and therapeutics to alleviate the burden of these 3 diseases

Apple fruit size estimation using a 3D machine vision system

Estimation of fruit size in tree fruit crops is essential for selective robotic harvesting and crop-load estimation. Machine vision systems for fruit detection and localization have been studied widely for robotic harvesting and crop-load estimation. However, only a few studies have been carried out to estimate fruit size in orchards using machine vision systems. This study was carried out to develop a machine vision system consisting of a color CCD camera and a time-of-flight (TOF) light-based 3D camera for estimating apple size in tree canopies. As a measure of fruit size, the major axis (longest axis) was estimated based on (i) the 3D coordinates of pixels on corresponding apple surfaces, and (ii) the 2D size of individual pixels within apple surfaces. In the 3D coordinates-based method, the distance between pairs of pixels within apple regions were calculated using 3D coordinates, and the maximum distance between all pixel pairs within an apple region was estimated to be the major axis. The accuracy of estimating the major axis using 3D coordinates was 69.1%. In the pixel-size-based method, the physical sizes of pixels were estimated using a calibration model developed based on pixel coordinates and the distance to pixels from the camera. The major axis length was then estimated by summing the size of individual pixels along the major axis of the fruit. The accuracy of size estimation increased to 84.8% when the pixel size-based method was used. The results showed the potential for estimating fruit size in outdoor environments using a 3D machine vision system. Keywords: Machine vision, Fruit identification, 3D registration, Size estimation, Major axi

Aberrant forebrain signaling during early development underlies the generation of holoprosencephaly and coloboma

AbstractIn this review, we highlight recent literature concerning the signaling mechanisms underlying the development of two neural birth defects, holoprosencephaly and coloboma. Holoprosencephaly, the most common forebrain defect, occurs when the cerebral hemispheres fail to separate and is typically associated with mispatterning of embryonic midline tissue. Coloboma results when the choroid fissure in the eye fails to close. It is clear that Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling regulates both forebrain and eye development, with defects in Shh, or components of the Shh signaling cascade leading to the generation of both birth defects. In addition, other intercellular signaling pathways are known factors in the incidence of holoprosencephaly and coloboma. This review will outline recent advances in our understanding of forebrain and eye embryonic pattern formation, with a focus on zebrafish studies of Shh and retinoic acid pathways. Given the clear overlap in the mechanisms that generate both diseases, we propose that holoprosencephaly and coloboma can represent mild and severe aspects of single phenotypic spectrum resulting from aberrant forebrain development. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Zebrafish Models of Neurological Diseases