Antibiotic use in infants within the first year of life is associated with the appearance of antibiotic-resistant genes in their feces.

Background: Antibiotic resistance, an increasing challenge, is not only a national threat but also a global threat. Carriage of resistance genes is not limited to adults alone, various microbiota niches present in the body system of children have been found to harbor bacteria carrying resistant genes, especially, their gut microbiota. This study aims to identify selected antibiotic-resistant genes from the fecal samples of infants and the association of antibiotics use with the occurrence of resistant genes in the infant's gut. Methods: A total number of 172 metagenomic DNA samples previously extracted from stool samples of 28 Nigerian babies longitudinally within their first year of life were screened for the presence of ESBL genes (blaSHV, blaTEM, and blaCTX-M), PMQR genes (qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, qepA), ribosomal protection protein tetracycline resistance gene, (RPP) ß-lactamase (blaZ), macrolide (ermA, ermB, mefA/E), aminoglycoside modifying enzymes gentR (aac(6')/aph(2″)) and dfrA genes by PCR. Nineteen (19) of the 28 babies used antibiotics during the study. The association between antibiotic use by the babies within the first year of life and occurrence of resistant genes were analyzed by Spearman rank correlation. Results: One hundred and twenty-two (122) samples (71%) out of the 172 isolates had antibiotic-resistance genes. PMQR genes were absent in all the samples. Three isolates had blaTEM gene, nine isolates had blaSHV gene, six isolates had blaCTX-M gene and 19 isolates had dfrA gene, 31 samples had tet gene, 29 samples had mef gene, 27 samples had ermB gene, four samples had ermA gene, 13 samples had blaZ gene and 16 samples had aac gene. The babies whose samples had resistant genes used antibiotics in the same months the samples were collected. Interestingly, the 11 babies whose samples had the dfrA gene all used antibiotics in the same months their samples were collected but none of them used trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole antibiotic. The overall correlation matrix of the babies showed a strong association between antibiotic use (AU) and antibiotic use presence of resistance genes (AUPRG) with a coefficient of 0.89. Antibiotic-resistant genes are present in the gut of infants and their occurrence is strongly connected with antibiotic use by infants.

Classification of Obesity among South African Female Adolescents: Comparative Analysis of Logistic Regression and Random Forest Algorithms.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluates the performance of logistic regression (LR) and random forest (RF) algorithms to model obesity among female adolescents in South Africa. METHODS: Data was analysed on 375 females aged 15-17 from the South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011/2012. The primary outcome was obesity, defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2. A total of 31 explanatory variables were included, ranging from socio-economic, demographic, family history, dietary and health behaviour. RF and LR models were run using imbalanced data as well as after oversampling, undersampling, and hybrid sampling of the data. RESULTS: Using the imbalanced data, the RF model performed better with higher precision, recall, F1 score, and balanced accuracy. Balanced accuracy was highest with the hybrid data (0.618 for RF and 0.668 for LR). Using the hybrid balanced data, the RF model performed better (F1-score = 0.940 for RF vs. 0.798 for LR). CONCLUSION: The model with the highest overall performance metrics was the RF model both before balancing the data and after applying hybrid balancing. Future work would benefit from using larger datasets on adolescent female obesity to assess the robustness of the models.

Anaemia in Children and Adolescents: A Bibliometric Analysis of BRICS Countries (1990-2020).

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa have prioritized cooperation regarding health, including malnutrition. Anaemia in children, adolescents and women of reproductive age has been on the increase in these countries, placing a huge strain on healthcare systems. This study aimed to map the scientific perspective and research publications on anaemia in children and adolescents in the BRICS countries. METHODS: Bibliometric analyses were employed to map scientific publications related to anaemia in children and adolescents in BRICS countries using VOSviewer software. Research documents from 1990 to 2020 were imported from PubMed. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse trends in research publications, authorship and keywords over the 30-year period. FINDINGS: BRICS countries accounted for 15% of all publications on the subject within the last three decades. While India had the highest number of publications, China had the author with the highest number of research publications and co-authorship links. Of all article types, India had the highest number of letters, while China and South Africa published the highest number of RCT/clinical trial and review articles, respectively. CONCLUSION: The review of all scientific studies on anaemia in BRICS nations for the past 30 years revealed gaps in research collaborations on anaemia between authors in BRICS nations. However, collaborative research projects may contribute to building a shared base of evidence, innovations, data and methodologies for a more comprehensive understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities of child and adolescent anaemia. This will aid in the development and evaluation of interventions and policies to alleviate anaemia and nutrient deficiencies.