Physical activity attenuates the influence of FTO variants on obesity risk: a meta-analysis of 218,166 adults and 19,268 children (Publications)
regardless of ethnicity or age of the participants. PA was standardized by categorizing it into a dichotomous variable (physically inactive versus active) in each study. Overall, 25% of adults and 13% of children [...] (A-) allele of rs9939609 increased the odds of obesity by 1.23-fold/allele (95% CI 1.20-1.26), but PA attenuated this effect (p(interaction) = 0.001). More specifically, the minor allele of rs9939609 increased [...] adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: The association of the FTO risk allele...
The influence of gender and household headship on voluntary health insurance: the case of North-West Cameroon (Publications)
gendered determinants of voluntary enrolment into a church-run micro health insurance scheme. A cross-sectional survey of 550 households was carried out in Bui and Donga-Mantung Divisions of North-West Cameroon [...] income levels (OR = 5.842 [CI 1.589-21.484]), as well as by the presence of children (OR = 3.734 [CI 1.228-11.348]). The influence of wealth on health insurance enrolment highlights the need for policymakers [...] reflects many local sociocultural realities, approximately a quarter ...
The influence of HIV on the evolution of <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em> (Publications)
encoding regions were enriched for sites displaying weak evidence of directional selection influenced by HIV-1. Although the low degree of genetic diversity observed in our M. tuberculosis dataset means [...] these results should be interpreted carefully, the effects of HIV-1 on epitope evolution in M. tuberculosis may have implications for the design of M. tuberculosis vaccines that are intended for use in p [...] significantly affects the immunological environment during tuberculosis...
The influence of meteorological factors and atmospheric pollutants on the risk of preterm birth (Publications)
and meteorological conditions are suspected to be causes of preterm birth. We aimed to characterize their possible association with the risk of preterm birth (defined as birth occurring before 37 completed [...] evidence of an increase in preterm birth risk with first-trimester average temperature in the -5 degrees C to 15 degrees C range, with a plateau afterwards (spline coding, P = 0.08). No evidence of adverse [...] 13 birth cohorts in 11 European countries (71,493 births from the period...
Influence of testing modality on bioefficacy for the evaluation of Interceptor® G2 mosquito nets to combat malaria mosquitoes in Tanzania (Publications)
impact of bioassay modality, mosquito exposures of the alphacypermethrin ITN Interceptor((R)) and dual adulticide Interceptor((R)) G2 were investigated. METHODS: This study evaluated the performance of In [...] )) G2 compared to Interceptor((R)) against local strains of mosquitoes in Tanzania. Unwashed and 20x times washed nets were tested. Efficacy of ITNs was measured by four bioassay types: (1) World Health [...] resistant strains, superiority of Interceptor((R)) G2 over Interceptor((R)) was...
Diagnosis of soil-transmitted helminths using the Kato-Katz technique: what is the influence of stirring, storage time and storage temperature on... (Publications)
egg counts of A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura remained stable over time regardless of storage temperature of whole stool samples. Finally, we found a significant reduction of the variation of hookworm and [...] study aimed to study the effect of storage time, storage temperature and stirring of stool samples on fecal egg counts (FECs). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the framework of a clinical trial on Pemba Island [...] dropped close to zero, irrespective of the storage condition. Whole...
The influence of roads on the fine-scale population genetic structure of the dengue vector <em>Aedes aegypti</em> (Linnaeus) (Publications)
roads that can act as a barrier. Roads can influence the population genetic structure of Ae. aegypti. We investigated the genetic structure and gene flow of Ae. aegypti as influenced by a primary road [...] barrier effect of the road. A total of 359 adults and 17 larvae Ae. aegypti were collected from June to September 2017 in 13 sites across EB. North (N1-N8) and South (S1-S5) comprised of 211 and 165 individuals