A benthic invertebrates-based biotic index to assess the ecological status of West African Sahel Rivers, Burkina Faso.

Conserving aquatic resources in the West African Sahel requires water management tools to assess the ecological status of surface water bodies threatened by mounting pressures from agricultural intensification and urbanization. Macroinvertebrate communities of Sahelian rivers were examined to test if a multi-metric index approach could be developed to assess the ecological quality of rivers. A total of 40 sample sites falling within a continuum ranging from "unimpaired reference sites" to "impaired sites" were assessed during this study. Macroinvertebrates were sampled with a hand net following a multi-habitat sampling approach. Key environmental parameters, both physico-chemical and hydro-morphologic, were recorded. More than 20 candidate metrics were evaluated in four categories: composition, functional feeding, diversity, and tolerance. We used detailed analysis procedures to exclude unsuitable metrics from the data set. After excluding redundant metrics, six-core metrics were selected to compose the Sahel River Multimetric Index (SRMI): Total-taxa, Shannon & Weiner index, EPT-taxa, ASPT-NEPBIOS and ASPT-SASS and Collector-filterers. The final index derived from these metrics was divided into five ecological quality classes (high, good, moderate, poor, and bad). The results showed that the SRMI responded to a set of environmental parameters associated with a gradient of human pressures affecting the ecological integrity of water bodies (R2≥|0.50|; p < 0.05; p < 0.001). This work produced a data base and analysis that confirms the usefulness of an unprecedented and promising tool for biological monitoring and decision-making in Sahelian regions' water management.

Developing reference criteria for the ecological status of West African rivers.

Awareness of sustainable management of water and its biological resources is rising in West Africa, but application of effective tools for biomonitoring and detecting habitats at risk in aquatic ecosystems is limited. In this study, we provide key environmental descriptors to characterize reference sites by applying the following "a priori criteria" (physical and chemical, hydro-morphological, and land use parameters) by exploring their potential to determine suitable reference sites. Using data collected from 44 sites, we identified 37 criteria that reliably identify reference conditions in semi-arid rivers by reflecting the impacts of multiple pressures ranging from low to very high intensity of human uses and impairments. We integrated all these impacts in an overall pressures index, which showed that protected areas can reasonably be considered as credible reference sites as far as they show low overall impact levels from cumulative pressures. We recommend that development of bio-indicator standards should be based on the collection and integration of all the available information, especially quantitative, spatially-explicit data, from benthic macroinvertebrates and fish. Rigorous standardization of bio-indicator protocols will make them more easily applicable for management and conservation of aquatic ecosystem resources in semi-arid zones of Africa.

Storage of male Glossina palpalis gambiensis pupae at low temperature: effect on emergence, mating and survival.

BACKGROUND: Procurement of sterile tsetse flies (Glossina palpalis gambiensis) from Burkina Faso for an eradication programme in Senegal that incorporates the sterile insect technique (SIT) required the development of transport and handling protocols that would allow retaining the female flies in the rearing facility and transport of the male flies as irradiated pupae. The proposed handling scheme included the chilling of the male pupae after the female emergence and transport to Senegal under low temperatures. The effect of exposing male pupae of G. p. gambiensis to low temperature immediately prior to emergence was investigated. METHODS: The parameters of interest were emergence rate, insemination potential, survival of adult male, male ability to participate in mating activities and productivity of females mated with these males. Production was assessed in laboratory rearing cages and mating behaviour in field cages. Male flies that emerged after the female emergence flush from pupae stored at 10°C or 12.5°C for 5 or 7 days were used in the investigations with flies that emerged under standard colony conditions as control. Males that were 3, 6 or 9 days old competed for mating opportunities with 3 day old females. RESULTS: The emergence of males after storage of pupae at low temperature (10°C and 12.5°C) for 3, 5, or 7 days was similar to those kept under standard colony conditions while emergence of flies stored at 15°C started before the storage period was over. Survival of males that emerged from pupae stored at low temperature for varying periods was more than 60% at 30 days post emergence (control more than 75%). The fecundity of females inseminated by males that emerged from pupae stored at low temperature for varying periods ranged from 0.33±0.16 to 0.73±0.04 pupae per female per 10 days (control 0.60±0.16). The older males, irrespective of treatment, out-competed the younger males and 3 day-old males transferred lower amounts of seminal contents to the females. CONCLUSIONS: Storage of male pupae at low temperature for periods up to 7 days at the end of the male pupal period could not be directly associated with impairment of mating activity.

Estimating abortion incidence in Burkina Faso using two methodologies.

Abortion is illegal in Burkina Faso except in cases of incest, rape, fetal defect, or when the woman's life or physical health is endangered. As a result, abortion procedures are often conducted illegally and unsafely and measuring incidence proves difficult. We estimate incidence of abortion and associated morbidity using two methodologies. The first is the Abortion Incidence Complications Method (AICM), which uses information on women hospitalized for abortion-related complications as well as health professionals' assessments of the proportion of women who seek treatment for complications from unsafe abortions. The second is the Anonymous Third Party Reporting (ATPR) method, which entails surveying women about their confidantes' abortions. We conclude that the AICM yields a more accurate result. We estimate that 87,200 abortion procedures were carried out in 2008, representing 25 for every 1,000 women aged 15-49. More than one in four procedures resulted in complications treated at a health facility. The abortion rate estimated using the ATPR approach was 72 percent of that estimated with the AICM. The ATPR method yields information on the characteristics of the women who have abortions as well as the providers and methods they use.

Dose-dependent resorption of quinine after intrarectal administration to children with moderate Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

The pharmacokinetics of increasing doses of an intrarectal Cinchona alkaloid combination containing 96.1% quinine, 2.5% quinidine, 0.68% cinchonine, and 0.67% cinchonidine (Quinimax) was compared to that of parenteral regimens in 60 children with moderate malaria. Quinine exhibited a nonlinear pharmacokinetics, suggesting a saturation of rectal resorption. When early rejections appeared, blood quinine concentrations decreased by 30 to 50% and were restored by an immediate half-dose administration of the drug. Rectal administration of doses of 16 or 20 mg/kg of body weight led to concentration-time profiles in blood similar to those of parenteral regimens and could be an early treatment of childhood malaria.