BACKGROUND Like many developing countries, Mali has few sources of mortality data. High quality mortality estimates are available from household surveys, such as the demographic and health surveys (DHS), approximately every five years, making it difficult to track progress in reducing mortality. The Rapid Mortality Monitoring (RMM) project in Mali aimed to address this issue by testing a commun...

Valsa mali (V. mali) is the causative agent of apple tree Valsa canker, which heavily damages the production of apples in China. However, the biological roles of the RNA interfering (RNAi) pathway in the pathogenicity of V. mali remain unknown. Dicer-like proteins (DCLs) are important components that control the initiation of the RNAi pathway. In this study, VmDCL1 and VmDCL2 were isolated and ...

Devolution, as other types of decentralization (e.g. deconcentration, delegation, privatization), profoundly changes governance relations in the health system. Devolution is meant to affect performance of the health system by transferring responsibilities and authority to locally elected governments. The key question of this article is: what does devolution mean for human resources for health i...

In low-income countries, malnutrition is often most severe among infants of six to twenty-four months. They need higher-density foods than the family diet, but density is a credence attribute. We hypothesize that the premium now paid for heavily advertised brands reflects demand for quality assurance, which could be provided at lower cost to competing firms through third-party certification. We...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the perceived influence of telehealth on recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals in remote areas in Mali. METHODS After 15 months of diagnosis imaging training and telehealth activities at four project sites in remote Mali, between May 2011 and August 2012, a 75-item questionnaire was administered to healthcare professionals to as...

Countryside automatic cartography is a real and decisive challenge in the current societal context (e.g., the famine risk analysis, the deforestation consequence analysis). In this paper, we propose a preliminary approach allowing the landscape characterization. More precisely, an itemset-based-technique is developed to extract crop types features. One of the main strengths of the proposed meth...

Apple proliferation (AP) and pear decline (PD) are the most severe diseases in pome fruit growing areas. AP-infected trees show typical symptoms such as witches’ broom, enlarged stipules, tasteless, and dwarf fruits. PD-infected pears show a progressive weakening, reduced terminal growth, smaller fruits, and die within weeks (quick decline) or years (slow decline). The diseases are caused by th...

A terrible itchiness is the first symptom of guinea-worm disease or dracunculiasis. Next, explains Adama Guindo, a village chief in eastern Mali, an agonizing blister appears on an ankle or foot. “You don’t see the worm to begin with,” he says. When the creature’s head emerges several days later, the pain is unbearable. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and dizziness follow. “You can’t work or sleep,...

The Méma is a semi-arid region in central Mali with a rich archaeological heritage indicating the former existence of large urban settlements. The archaeological data suggest millennia of occupation history of the Méma preceding relatively sudden abandonment by the 14th or 15th century AD. Population numbers have remained low since then and today’s human presence in the area is sparse and large...

The Brazilian Pampa presents a high diversity of fauna and flora within mosaic environments. aim this study was to evaluate the assemblages predatory mites (Phytoseiidae Stigmaeidae) in three different environments: Grassland shrub vegetation, Grazing Exclusions fenced for six years Riparian Forest with tree vegetation. Phytoseiidae Stigmaeidae were evaluated total 324 plant sampled from nine s...