Exploring the effects of different types of PM2.5 is necessary to reduce associated deaths, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Hence we determined types of ambient PM2.5 before exploring their effects on under-five and maternal mortality in Africa. The spectral derivate of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products from 2...

The pollen-beetle Jelinekigethes dichromus n. sp. from northern South Africa is described. The new species is closely related to the other known species of this genus, J. danielssoni (Audisio 1995) from southwestern South Africa. The taxonomic position of Jelinekigethes is discussed in the context of presumably related African and Oriental meligethine genera. Larval host plants of both species ...

The complete genome sequences of 5 foot-and-mouth disease viruses of serotype A are reported here. These viruses originate from outbreaks in northern Nigeria in 2013 to 2015 and belong to the A/AFRICA/G-IV lineage.

BACKGROUND Avian influenza viruses (AIV) have been detected in wild birds in West Africa during the northern winter, but no information is available on a potential year-round circulation of AIV in West Africa. Such year-round circulation would allow reassortment opportunities between strains circulating in Afro-tropical birds and strains imported by migratory birds wintering in West Africa. O...

A high percentage (up to 90%) of dromedary camels in the Middle East as well as eastern and central Africa have antibodies to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Here we report comparably high positivity of MERS-CoV antibodies in dromedary camels from northern Mali. This extends the range of MERS-CoV further west in Africa than reported to date and cautions that MERS-CoV sh...

School of Physics, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials and Materials Physics Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa Department of Physics, Tamkang University, Tamsui 251, Taiwan Physics Department, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Research Instiute, S...

Two text-to-speech synthesis systems were developed for one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, viz. Northern Sotho. A diphone synthesis system, based on extraction of diphones from nonsense words, was constructed. A cluster unit selection synthesis system, based on recordings of sentences containing a selection of most common words in Northern Sotho, was also built. The Festival ...

NIDDM is one of the commonest metabolic disorders encountered in clinical practice, affecting an estimated 3% of the population of the Western World [1]. Prevalence data from Africa have recently been reviewed [2] and it appears that NIDDM has a prevalence in South Africa comparable to that found in developed countries, with a similar rate in rural and urban populations. In the northern part of...

The purse-web spider genus Calommata Lucas, 1837 is revised in the Afrotropical Region. Following examination of the female type material, Calommata transvaalica Hewitt, 1916 is removed from synonymy with Calommata simoni Pocock, 1903 and revalidated. The females of both species are redescribed and their males described for the first time. While Calommata simoni is very widespread across tropic...

Editorial Nowadays, endometrial cancer (EC) is the 2nd most common tumor of the female reproductive system and the 5th most common cancer among female patients [1,2]. It is more frequent in wealthy and more developed countries (Northern and Western Europe, Northern America), while the mortality rate is considerably greater in less developed ones (Northern Africa, Melanesia)[1,2]. Despite the fa...