Record of New Termite (Blattodea, Termitidae) Species in Togo West Africa.

In Africa, despite their economic and ecological importance, termites are still relatively unknown. Their systematic remains uncertain, the approximate number of species for many biogeographic areas is underestimated, and there is still confusion in the identification of the species for many genera. This study combined morphological traits with morphometric measurements to determine several species collected in Togo and provided head illustrations of soldiers. Termites were sampled within the frame of transects laid in several landscapes inside three different parks including: Fosse aux Lions, Galangashie, and Fazao Malfakassa. Samples were grouped by morphospecies and measurements of part of the body (length and/or width of head, mandible, pronotum, gula, and hind tibia) were conducted. Twelve termite species including Foraminitermescorniferus, Lepidotermes sp., Noditermes cristifrons, Noditermes sp. 1 and Noditermes sp. 2, Promirotermes holmgren infera, Promirotermes sp., Unguitermes sp., Amitermes evuncifer, A. guineensis, A. truncatus, and A. spinifer were separated and pictured. Ten new species were added to the check list of the country, including five unidentified ones. Further studies such as biomolecular analysis should be carried out in order to clarify the status of these unknown species.

Termites (Blattodea Latreille 1810, Termitoidae Latreille 1802) of Abuko Nature Reserve, Nyambai Forest Park and Tanji Bird Reserve (The Gambia).

From 28 October to 5 November 2013, a termite study was undertaken in 3 protected sites in The Gambia (West Africa). The aim of the study is to investigate the diversity of termites in three protected areas in the western region of the country. Termite sampling is carried out in 100 m × 2 m transects that are replicated three (3) times in each site. A total of thirty-one (31) termite species, that belong to fungus growing (11), harvester (1), humuvorous (12) and xylophagous (7), were recorded. The following nineteen (19) species are new to The Gambia: Coptotermes intermedius, Astalotermes near quietus, Ancistrotermes cavithorax, Macrotermes bellicosus, Microtermes grassei, M. lepidus, M. subhyalinus, Odontotermes erraticus, O. pauperans, O. sudanensis, Basidentitermes sp., Euchilotermes tensus arcuata, Noditermes cristifrons, Amitermes evuncifer, Amitermes spinifer, Microcerotermes fuscotibialis, Microcerotermes near parvulus, Microcerotermes near solidus and Promirotermes holmgreni. Additional description and/or ecological information on Odontotermes erraticus, Cubitermes severus, Cubitermes n. proximatus, Euchilotermes tensus arcuata, Basidentitermes sp., and Noditermes cristifrons are given.

Morphology of the lateral fossa of the brain (sylvian valley): anatomo-radiological aspects and surgical application.

INTRODUCTION: The knowledge acquired on the lateral fossa of the brain (LFB) is heterogeneous and incomplete. Our goal was to provide a morphological description of the LFB and analyze the impact of these descriptions on the surgical approach of the region. METHODS: The morphology of LFB was studied on 40 cerebral hemispheres of 20 right-handed subjects aged 18-55 years with an MRI of 1.5 T. The anatomo-radiological identification of the two section levels preceded the description of the shapes of the LFB. From these landmarks, the forms presented by the LFB were identified and described on each of the transverse, sagittal and frontal planes. The comparison of the proportion of shapes made it possible to identify the typical shapes at each section level and on each section plane. RESULTS: The average age of the subjects was 33 years with extremes of 19 and 54 years including 7 women and 13 right-handed men. According to the plane and the level of section, 6 typical morphologies of the LFB have been described, 2 of which were identical. The forms did not vary according to the cerebral hemisphere or the sex of the subject. The set of typical morphologies made it possible to determine a reference subject called NSK which presented the greatest number of typical morphological characteristics. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of LFB anatomical imaging is of paramount importance in the pre-surgical evaluation of pathologies in this region. The reference subject will be used for our future biometric and three-dimensional manual reconstruction work in this region.

Termite Taxonomy, Challenges and Prospects: West Africa, A Case Example.

Termites are important ecosystem engineers. Yet they are often difficult to identify due to the lack of reliable species-specific morphological traits for many species, which hampers ecological research. Recently, termitologists working with West African termites (West African Termite Taxonomy Initiative) convened for a workshop with the aim of beginning to address this problem. Repeated determination of the same termite samples by the most renowned taxonomists for West African termites identified the huge scale of the problem, as less than 10% of all species could be unambiguously determined to the species level. Intensive discussions and comparisons increased the identification success to around 25% at the end of the workshop. Yet many groups remained problematic and molecular markers and barcoding techniques combined with species delimitation approaches will be needed to help resolve these existing taxonomic problems. Based on the outcome of this workshop, we propose concerted initiatives to address termite taxonomy on a global scale. We are convinced that dedicated workshops on regional taxonomy that follow a similar structured approach, with repeated determination of the same sample, will help overcome the difficulties that termite taxonomy faces. This initiative can also serve as a blueprint for other taxonomical groups that are difficult to identify.

[Anatomical bases of external pudendal artery injuries during surgical treatment of pelvic limb varices]. / Bases anatomiques des lésions de l'artère pudendale externe lors de la chirurgie des varices du membre pelvien.

INTRODUCTION: External pudendal artery is a collateral branch of the common femoral artery which is the primary blood supply to the penis or the clitoris. Its relationship with the venous arch of the great saphenous vein and its afferents in femoral triangle, are very narrow. This often entails injuries during crossectomy and great saphenous vein stripping. These lesions can cause sexual dysfunction. METHODS: This study reports the case of a dissection of 22 inguinal regions in 13 men and 9 women who underwent surgical treatment of the femoral triangle. The distribution and the relationship between the external pudendal artery and the venous arch of the great saphenous vein are studied. RESULTS: Single external pudendal artery is the most common. All external pudendal arteries originate from the common femoral artery. The most common type of relationship is between the sub-crossing of the venous arch of the great saphenous vein and a single external pudendal artery. Moreover, we recorded a pre-crossing, an alternate crossing and some relationship with the common femoral vein and the afferences of the venous arch of the great saphenous vein. Some surgical techniques expose more or less to external pudendal artery injury. CONCLUSION: This study confirms previous data but shows some peculiarities about the relationship between the venous arch of the great saphenous vein and external pudendal artery.

HIV infection, viral hepatitis and liver fibrosis among prison inmates in West Africa.

BACKGROUND: Prisoners represent a vulnerable population for blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections which can potentially lead to liver fibrosis and ultimately cirrhosis. However, little is known about the prevalence of liver fibrosis and associated risk factors among inmates in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: Screening of liver fibrosis was undertaken in a randomly selected sample of male inmates incarcerated in Lome, Togo and in Dakar, Senegal using transient elastography. A liver stiffness measurement ≥9.5 KPa was retained to define the presence of a severe liver fibrosis. All included inmates were also screened for HIV, Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection. Substances abuse including alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use were assessed during face-to-face interviews. Odds Ratio (OR) estimates were computed with their 95 % Confidence Interval (CI) to identify factors associated with severe liver fibrosis. RESULTS: Overall, 680 inmates were included with a median age of 30 years [interquartile range: 24-35]. The prevalence of severe fibrosis was 3.1 % (4.9 % in Lome and 1.2 % in Dakar). Infections with HIV, HBV and HCV were identified in 2.6 %, 12.5 % and 0.5 % of inmates, respectively. Factors associated with a severe liver fibrosis were HIV infection (OR = 7.6; CI 1.8-32.1), HBV infection (OR = 4.8; CI 1.8-12.8), HCV infection (OR = 52.6; CI 4.1-673.8), use of traditional medicines (OR = 3.7; CI 1.4-10.1) and being incarcerated in Lome (OR = 3.3; CI 1.1-9.8) compared to Dakar. CONCLUSIONS: HIV infection and viral hepatitis infections were identified as important and independent determinants of severe liver fibrosis. While access to active antiviral therapies against HIV and viral hepatitis expands in Africa, adapted strategies for the monitoring of liver disease need to be explored, especially in vulnerable populations such as inmates.

Arteriography of three models of gastric oesophagoplasty: the whole stomach, a wide gastric tube and a narrow gastric tube.

The esogastric anastomotic fistula,occurring after the replacement of esophagus by the stomach, is a post-operative complication always feared and awaited. Apart from other causes, there exist the anatomical dispositions notably the vascular and technical factors that stress this potential risk despite certain advantages of esophagogastroplasty. The goal of our study was to study the arterial distribution of the gastric transplants in order to identify the better modalities of their making. We used 39 stomachs taken from fresh cadavers of autochtone subjects. After a modeling treatment using three different techniques, they were subjected to a radiographic opacification of the right gastro-epiploic artery with sulphate of barium follow by an x-rays in incidence full-face (25 kv, 10 mAS). It was a matter of 15 entire stomachs (E.E.) with denudation of the small curvature, of 12 wide gastric tubes (W.T.) prepared according to the Akiyama technique modified and of 12 narrow tubes (N.T.) tubulized according to the Marmuse method. We studied the anastomotic type of the gastro-epiploic arterial circle according to the classification of Koskas, the collateral branches of the arterial circles of the gastric curvatures, the antral and corporeal anastomosis of these circles and the distribution anastomotic at the level of the summit of the anastomotic. Only 28 pieces (15 E.E., 8 W.T. and 5 N.T.) were able to be the object of a complete angiographic exploitation. The anastomosis of the arterial circle was type I in 64.1% of the cases, type II in 15.4% of the cases, type III in 15.4% of the cases and type IV in 5.1% of the cases. The average number of collateral branches originating from gastro-epiploic arterial circle was respectively 24, 17 and 22 for the E.E., the W.T. and the N.T. Only the two first ones presented collateral branches being borne of the small curvature circle. Fifty per cent of the N.T. did not possess any antral or corporeal anastomosis between the two arterial circles; some of them were even for a quarter of the W.T. In the case of gastric tubulization there existed an irrigation defect of the summit of the plasty for a third of the N.T. and a quarter of the W.T., despite a constant intramural bridge anastomosis between the two gastro-epiploic arteries. The usage of the entire stomach must be recommended for gastric oesophagoplasty; but when the operative indications require a resection of the small curvature it is preferable to use a wide gastric tube whose diameter respects the two left third of the initial width of the organ.

A pathogen-inducible patatin-like lipid acyl hydrolase facilitates fungal and bacterial host colonization in Arabidopsis.

Genes and proteins related to patatin, the major storage protein of potato tubers, have been identified in many plant species and shown to be induced by a variety of environmental stresses. The Arabidopsis patatin-like gene family (PLPs) comprises nine members, two of which (PLP2 and PLP7) are strongly induced in leaves challenged with fungal and bacterial pathogens. Here we show that accumulation of PLP2 protein in response to Botrytis cinerea or Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (avrRpt2) is dependent on jasmonic acid and ethylene signaling, but is not dependent on salicylic acid. Expression of a PLP2-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein and analysis of recombinant PLP2 indicates that PLP2 encodes a cytoplasmic lipid acyl hydrolase with wide substrate specificity. Transgenic plants with altered levels of PLP2 protein were generated and assayed for pathogen resistance. Plants silenced for PLP2 expression displayed enhanced resistance to B. cinerea, whereas plants overexpressing PLP2 were much more sensitive to this necrotrophic fungus. We also established a positive correlation between the level of PLP2 expression in transgenic plants and cell death or damage in response to paraquat treatment or infection by avirulent P. syringae. Interestingly, repression of PLP2 expression increased resistance to avirulent bacteria, while PLP2-overexpressing plants multiplied avirulent bacteria close to the titers reached by virulent bacteria. Collectively, the data indicate that PLP2-encoded lipolytic activity can be exploited by pathogens with different lifestyles to facilitate host colonization. In particular PLP2 potentiates plant cell death inflicted by Botrytis and reduces the efficiency of the hypersensitive response in restricting the multiplication of avirulent bacteria. Both effects are possibly mediated by providing fatty acid precursors of bioactive oxylipins.