Accidental human exposure to pesticide products is a major concern of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One condition of product reregistration is the submission of product-specific incident report summaries from the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS). Between 1986 and 1998, the AAPCC received a total of 22,921,827 incident reports from telephone calls and physician reports. The total number of incident reports per year more than doubled between 1986 and 1998, with 2,241,082 incidents in 1998. While the total number of incidents increased each year, the reporting per year rate remained constant at approximately 9 reports per 1,000 individuals. Rodenticide related incident reports increased from 8,705 in 1986 to 20,300 in 1998. However, the yearly reporting rate for rodenticide incidents remained constant at approximately 8 reports per 100,000 individuals. Since 1990, anticoagulants have consistently accounted for 82% to 89% of all rodenticide exposures and “long-acting” anticoagulants (i.e., 2nd generation compounds such as brodifacoum) have accounted for 83% to 91% of all anticoagulant incidents. Although there was variation between years, there were approximately 150 incident reports each year for both strychnine and zinc phosphide. “Unintentional” exposures accounted for approximately 85% of all incidents reported to the AAPCC. With the exception of strychnine, unintentional exposure to rodenticides was slightly higher, at 90%. In the case of zinc phosphide, nearly all exposures (>97%) were unintentional. The majority of exposures involved children less than 6 years old. However, adults were reported to be involved more than 50% of the strychnine incidents. Despite the high number of exposures, very few cases resulted in more than minor symptoms.

Abstract Background Plasmodium falciparum and HIV-1 infection cause substantial morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing evidence suggests these two pathogens interact negatively when infecting the same individual. Methods A cross-sectional study among HIV-1 infected and uninfected populations was recruited in Mocuba and Maputo, Mozambique to determine the prevalence of sub-clinical malarial parasitaemia using light microscopy and a nested PCR assay. Results The prevalence of sub-clinical P. falciparum parasitaemia was low in Maputo, whether determined by microscopy (0.4%) or PCR (1.9%), but substantially higher in Mocuba (7.6 and 14.7%, respectively). Nested PCR detected nearly 70% more cases of sub-clinical parasitaemia than microscopy, but differences occur by locality. HIV-1 infected persons were more likely to be sub-clinically parasitaemic than HIV-1 uninfected individuals recruited from the same geographic areas. Trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole use did not substantially reduce sub-clinical parasitaemia. Conclusions Dried blood spots are a convenient and sensitive technique for detecting sub-clinical infection with P. falciparum by nested PCR. Prevalence of P. falciparum is substantially lower in Maputo where malaria control programmes have been more active than in the rural town of Mocuba. In Mocuba, among those presenting for HIV-1 counseling and testing, the prevalence of P. falciparum is substantially higher in those who test positive for HIV-1 than those without HIV-1 infection. The clinical implications of sub-clinical P. falciparum infection among HIV-1 infected persons warrant additional study.

Cochlear implant (CI) surgery is one of the most utilized treatments for severe hearing loss. However, the effects of a successful scala tympani insertion on the mechanics of hearing are not yet fully understood. This paper presents a finite element (FE) model of the chinchilla inner ear for studying the interrelationship between the mechanical function and the insertion angle of a CI electrode. This FE model includes a three-chambered cochlea and full vestibular system, accomplished using µ-MRI and µ-CT scanning technologies. This models first application found minimal loss of residual hearing due to insertion angle after CI surgery, and this indicates that it is a reliable and helpful tool for future applications in CI design, surgical planning, and stimuli setup.

Smallpox eradication, coordinated by the WHO and certified 40 years ago, led to the cessation of routine smallpox vaccination in most countries. It is estimated that over 70% of the world's population is no longer protected against smallpox, and through cross-immunity, to closely related orthopox viruses such as monkeypox. Monkeypox is now a re-emerging disease. Monkeypox is endemic in as yet unconfirmed animal reservoirs in sub-Saharan Africa, while its human epidemiology appears to be changing. Monkeypox in small animals imported from Ghana as exotic pets was at the origin of an outbreak of human monkeypox in the USA in 2003. Travellers infected in Nigeria were at the origin of monkeypox cases in the UK in 2018 and 2019, Israel in 2018 and Singapore in2019. Together with sporadic reports of human infections with other orthopox viruses, these facts invite speculation that emergent or re-emergent human monkeypox might fill the epidemiological niche vacated by smallpox. An ad-hoc and unofficial group of interested experts met to consider these issues at Chatham House, London in June 2019, in order to review available data and identify monkeypox-related research gaps. Gaps identified by the experts included:The experts further agreed on the need for a better understanding of the genomic evolution and changing epidemiology of orthopox viruses, the usefulness of in-field genomic diagnostics, and the best disease control strategies, including the possibility of vaccination with new generation non-replicating smallpox vaccines and treatment with recently developed antivirals.