Loading...
2 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- COVID-19: nothing is normal in this pandemicPublication . Gonçalves, Luzia; Turkman; Brás-Geraldes, Carlos; Marques, Tiago A.; SOUSA, LISETEThis manuscript brings attention to inaccurate epidemiological concepts that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. In social media and scientific journals, some wrong references were given to a "normal epidemic curve" and also to a "log-normal curve/distribution". For many years, textbooks and courses of reputable institutions and scientific journals have disseminated misleading concepts. For example, calling histogram to plots of epidemic curves or using epidemic data to introduce the concept of a Gaussian distribution, ignoring its temporal indexing. Although an epidemic curve may look like a Gaussian curve and be eventually modelled by a Gauss function, it is not a normal distribution or a log-normal, as some authors claim. A pandemic produces highly-complex data and to tackle it effectively statistical and mathematical modelling need to go beyond the "onesize-fits-all solution". Classical textbooks need to be updated since pandemics happen and epidemiology needs to provide reliable information to policy recommendations and actions.
- Impact of annual albendazole versus four-monthly test-and-treat approach of intestinal parasites on children growth: a longitudinal four-arm randomized parallel trial during two years of a community follow-up in Bengo, AngolaPublication . Gasparinho, Carolina; Kanjungo, Aguinaldo; Zage, Félix; Clemente, Isabel; Santos-Reis, Ana; Brito, Miguel; Sousa-Figueiredo, José Carlos; Fortes, Filomeno; Gonçalves, LuziaMalnutrition and intestinal parasites continue to have serious impacts on the growth and cognitive development of children in Angola. A longitudinal four-arm randomized parallel trial was conducted to investigate if deworming with a single annual dose of albendazole (annual-ALB) or a four-monthly test-and-treat (4TT) intestinal parasites approach at an individual or household levels improve nutritional outcomes of pre-school children in Bengo province. Children with intestinal parasites (n = 121) were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to arm A1: annual-ALB*individual level; A2: annual-ALB*household level; A3: 4TT*individual; and A4: 4TT*household level. At baseline, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 months of follow-up, growth was assessed by height, weight, height-for-age, weight-for-height, weight-for-age, and mid-upper arm circumference. Intention-to-treat analysis was done using a non-parametric approach, mixed effect models, and generalized estimating equations (GEE). Initially, 57% and 26% of the children were infected by Giardia lamblia and Ascaris lumbricoides, respectively. This study did not show that a 4TT intestinal parasites approach results in better growth outcomes of children (height, weight, HAZ, WAZ, WHZ, and MUACZ) when compared with annual ALB, with exception of height and WHZ using the GEE model at 5% level. Positive temporal effects on most nutrition outcomes were observed. Implementing a longitudinal study in a poor setting is challenging and larger sample sizes and ‘pure and clean’ data are difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, learned lessons from this intensive study may contribute to future scientific research and tailor multidisciplinary approaches to minimize malnutrition and infections in resource-poor countries.