The Diamniadio Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance, and Training (Iressef): One Man's Vision and a Bet on the Future.

To reduce congestion in its capital, Dakar, Senegal decided in 2012 to construct a new city in Diamniadio, in the suburbs. This new urban center, an integral part of the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE), is a major first step towards the organization of land use planning. The Institute for Health Research, Epidemiologic Surveillance and Training (Iressef) is one of the very first new operational buildings in this new city. Conceived and directed by Professor Souleymane Mboup, Iressef was made possible by the support of the government of Senegal and the GILEAD Foundation. The vision of its sponsors is to make it a hub of excellence for research in the domain of tropical infectious diseases, with expertise and technical equipment and facilities comparable to those in research institutes in developed countries. The existing platforms include, among others, several state-of-the-art laboratories, a health and demographic surveillance system covering a population of 30 000 inhabitants, a clinical trial center, a dynamic community participation program, and a training center. To achieve this vision in the short- and long-terms, Iressef has developed a strategic 5-year plan focusing on two principal objectives, that is: (i) to conduct research programs according to the strictest ethical standards, and (ii) to train an elite group of Senegalese and African scientists, competitive and capable of developing health research in Africa. To attain these objectives, international partners will play an essential role.

Intérêt du dosage de l'hémoglobine pré-don au Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine de Bamako

Le but de cette étude était d'évaluer la qualité de la sélection médicale des donneurs de sang par le dosage de l'hémoglobine pré-don.Nous avons mené de novembre 2012 à février 2013 une enquête transversale auprès de 2097 donneurs de sang du Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine de Bamako. L'hémoglobinomètre HemoCue® a été utilisé pour le dosage de l'hémoglobine pré-don et les infections par le VIH, le VHC, le VHB, le tréponème et le plasmodium ont été dépistées.Nos résultats ont montré que 10,3% des donneurs de sang avaient un taux d'hémoglobine inférieur à la normale et le don de sang de ces personnes a été ajourné.Au total, 543 donneurs ont été exclus dont 217 par le dosage pré-don de l'hémoglobine soit 39.97% des exclusions aux dons. L'anémie était plus présente chez les donneurs volontaires (12,5%) que les donneurs familiaux (9,2%), d'où la nécessité et l'importance d'effectuer le dosage de l'hémoglobine pré-don pour la sécurité des donneurs, en particulier pour les donneurs volontaires.Notre étude a montré clairement que la sélection des donneurs peut être mieux améliorée en faisant le dosage de l'hémoglobine pré-don qui permet d'assurer une bonne qualité des produits sanguins capables de corriger une anémie et garantir la sécurité transfusionnelle

Restriction of transpiration rate under high vapour pressure deficit and non-limiting water conditions is important for terminal drought tolerance in cowpea.

Drought stress is a major constraint on cowpea productivity, since the crop is grown under warm conditions on sandy soils having low water-holding capacity. For enhanced performance of crops facing terminal drought stress, like cowpea, water-saving strategies are crucial. In this work, the growth and transpiration rate (TR) of 40 cowpea genotypes with contrasting response to terminal drought were measured under well-watered conditions across different vapour pressure deficits (VPD) to investigate whether tolerant and sensitive genotypes differ in their control of leaf water loss. A method is presented to indirectly assess TR through canopy temperature (CT) and the index of canopy conductance (Ig). Overall, plants developed larger leaf area under low than under high VPD, and there was a consistent trend of lower plant biomass in tolerant genotypes. Substantial differences were recorded among genotypes in TR response to VPD, with tolerant genotypes having significantly lower TR than sensitive ones, especially at times with the highest VPD. Genotypes differed in TR response to increasing VPD, with some tolerant genotypes exhibiting a clear VPD breakpoint at about 2.25 kPa, above which there was very little increase in TR. In contrast, sensitive genotypes presented a linear increase in TR as VPD increased, and the same pattern was found in some tolerant lines, but with a smaller slope. CT, estimated with thermal imagery, correlated well with TR and Ig and could therefore be used as proxy for TR. These results indicate that control of water loss discriminated between tolerant and sensitive genotypes and may, therefore, be a reliable indicator of terminal drought stress tolerance. The water-saving characteristics of some genotypes are hypothesised to leave more soil water for pod filling, which is crucial for terminal drought adaptation.

Genetic relationship of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) varieties from Senegal based on SSR markers.

Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among 22 local cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) varieties and inbred lines collected throughout Senegal were evaluated using simple sequence repeat molecular markers. A set of 49 primer combinations were developed from cowpea genomic/expressed sequence tags and evaluated for their ability to detect polymorphisms among the various cowpea genotypes. Forty-four primer combinations detected polymorphisms, with the remaining five primer sets failing to yield PCR amplification products. From one to 16 alleles were found among the informative primer combinations; their frequencies ranged from 0.60 to 0.95 (mean = 0.79). The genetic diversity of the sample varied from 0.08 to 0.42 (mean = 0.28). The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.08 to 0.33 (mean = 0.23). The local varieties clustered in the same group, except 53-3, 58-53, and 58-57; while Ndoute yellow pods, Ndoute violet pods and Baye Ngagne were in the second group. The photosensitive varieties (Ndoute yellow pods and Ndoute violet pods) were closely clustered in the second group and so were inbred line Mouride and local cultivar 58-57, which is also one of the parents for inbred line Mouride. These molecular markers could be used for selection and identification of elite varieties for cowpea improvement and germplasm management in Senegal.

Le protocole CMA dans le traitement du lymphome de Burkitt africain

Une etude prospective sur la place du protocole cyclophosphamide-methotrexate-Aracytine (CMA) a ete entreprise d'octobre 1994 a fevrier 1999; sur 50 patients. Les resultats enregistres peuvent etre resumes en : remission complete; 76d'une duree moyenne de 24 mois; 5 cas de guerison a 5 ans; des survies allaient de 6 mois a 5 ans. Le pourcentage de deces a ete de 35. Les criteres de bonnes reponses therapeutiques ou protocole CMA; ont aussi ete determine.s