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Guinea
Kinds of Guinea Terms modified by Guinea Selected AbstractsECONOMIC TRENDS: GUINEA: Climbing Out of Donor Funding GapAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 7 2010Article first published online: 1 SEP 2010 No abstract is available for this article. [source] EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Reform PlanAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 6 2010Article first published online: 3 AUG 2010 No abstract is available for this article. [source] EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Shopping SpreeAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 11 2010Article first published online: 18 DEC 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Oil and Human RightsAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 7 2009Article first published online: 27 AUG 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Lofty AspirationsAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 3 2009Article first published online: 1 MAY 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] CAMEROON,EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Border SealedAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 2 2009Article first published online: 7 APR 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] GUINEA: Military Seize PowerAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 12 2009Article first published online: 6 FEB 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] GUINEA: New Date FixedAFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SERIES, Issue 8 2010Article first published online: 20 SEP 2010 No abstract is available for this article. [source] THINKING THROUGH IMAGES: KASTOM AND THE COMING OF THE BAHA'IS TO NORTHERN NEW IRELAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEATHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 4 2005Graeme Were We can learn a lot about religious ideas by studying not just the impact on them of missionization but also how religious beliefs and practices are translated into local religious forms. In this article I draw attention to the case of the Baha'i faith in the Nalik area of northern New Ireland (Papua New Guinea). In discussing how the faith became strongly associated with the ability to harness ancestral power, I argue that this relationship emerged through Nalik people's ability to think through images, in other words through transforming forms in order to create new understandings. This study not only underlines the importance of localized studies into the technology of image production but also fills a gap in anthropological studies that, up until now, have systematically ignored the Baha'i movement and its place in the contemporary Pacific. [source] Credibility of REDD and Experiences from Papua New GuineaCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010David Melick No abstract is available for this article. [source] Evaluating social performance in the context of an ,audit culture': a pilot social review of a gold mine in Papua New GuineaCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Martha Macintyre Abstract The growth of sustainable development frameworks that emphasize the social dimension has created a need for new approaches to evaluate social performance. The paper describes the design and pilot of a social review conducted at the Lihir Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea. The aim was to investigate more integrated measures , understood as combining qualitative and quantitative measures, and bridging international and local community standards , of social performance. The paper discusses the demands of time and resources placed on a range of stakeholders as part of a review. It then identifies impediments to developing integrated approaches, and analyses these with reference to Power's (1999, 2003) discussion of an emerging audit culture, which focuses on management systems rather than first-order questions of quality and performance. The authors conclude that, while an audit culture influenced this pilot study, an integrated approach on these two dimensions remains an achievable goal. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] ,Best Practice' Options for the Legal Recognition of Customary TenureDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2005Daniel Fitzpatrick Is there a ,best practice' model for the legal recognition of customary tenure? If not, is it possible to identify the circumstances in which a particular model would be most appropriate? This article considers these questions in the light of economic theories of property rights, particularly as illustrated by the World Bank's 2003 land policy report. While these theories have their flaws, the underlying concept of tenure security allows a typological framework for developing legal responses to customary tenure. In particular, this article suggests that the nature and degree of State legal intervention in a customary land system should be determined by reference to the nature and causes of any tenure insecurity. This hypothesis is discussed by reference to a wide variety of legal examples from Africa, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. The objective is not to suggest that law determines resource governance outcomes in pluralist normative environments, but to improve the quality of legal interventions in order to assist customary groups to negotiate better forms of tenure security and access to resources. [source] The spermatozoon of the Old Endemic Australo-Papuan and Philippine rodents , its morphological diversity and evolutionACTA ZOOLOGICA, Issue 3 2010William G. Breed Abstract Breed, W.G. and Leigh, C.M. 2010. The spermatozoon of the Old Endemic Australo-Papuan and Philippine rodents , its morphological diversity and evolution.,Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 91: 279,294 The spermatozoon of most murine rodents contains a head in which there is a characteristic apical hook, whereas most old endemic Australian murines, which are part of a broader group of species that also occur in New Guinea and the Philippines, have a far more complex sperm form with two additional ventral processes. Here we ask the question: what is the sperm morphology of the New Guinea and Philippines species and what are the trends in evolutionary changes of sperm form within this group? The results show that, within New Guinea, most species have a highly complex sperm morphology like the Australian rodents, but within the Pogonomys Division some species have a simpler sperm morphology with no ventral processes. Amongst the Philippines species, many have a sperm head with a single apical hook, but in three Apomys species the sperm head contains two additional small ventral processes, with two others having cockle-shaped sperm heads. When these findings are plotted on a molecular phylogeny, the results suggest that independent and convergent evolution of highly complex sperm heads containing two ventral processes has evolved in several separate lineages. These accessory structures may support the sperm head apical hook during egg coat penetration. [source] Reproductive health services for refugees by refugees: an example from GuineaDISASTERS, Issue 1 2010Anna Von Roenne The need to involve refugees in their own reproductive health (RH) services has long been recognised, but there is a lack of published examples describing how this can be achieved collaboratively between refugee initiatives, UNHCR, bilateral development organisations and international relief agencies. This paper outlines the work, outputs and lessons learnt of the Reproductive Health Group (RHG), an organisation of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugee midwives and laywomen providing RH services to fellow refugees in Guinea's Forest Region between 1996 and 2000. Working as part of the Guinean health system, RHG midwives and community facilitators helped make the RH services in their region the most effective in Guinea at the time. Looking at RHG's achievements, the challenges it faced and partly overcame, it is argued that refugee organisations can plan and implement RH services for refugees where UNHCR and its international partners ensure that they receive funding and technical assistance. [source] Elevational gradients, area and tropical island diversity: an example from the palms of New GuineaECOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2004Steven Bachman The factors causing spatial variation in species richness remain poorly known. In this study, factors affecting species richness of palms (Palmae/Arecaceae) were studied along the elevational gradient of New Guinea. Interpolated elevational ranges were calculated from a database of all known collections for 145 species in 32 genera. The amount of land area at different elevations greatly affects the species richness gradient. If assessed in equal-elevation bands species richness appears to decline monotonically, but when assessed in equal-area bands species richness shows a pronounced mid-elevation peak, due to the large proportion of lowlands in New Guinea. By randomising species ranges within the total elevational gradient for palms and accounting for area, we found the mid-elevation peak to be consistent with a mid-domain effect caused by the upper and lower limits to palm distribution. Our study illustrates the importance of accounting for area in macroecological studies of richness gradients and introduces a novel yet simple method for doing this through the use of equal-area bands. Together, the effect of area and the mid-domain effect explain the majority of variation in species richness of New Guinea palms. We support calls for the multivariate assessment of the mid-domain effect on an equal footing with other potential explanations of species richness. [source] Host specificity of ambrosia and bark beetles (Col., Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae) in a New Guinea rainforestECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 6 2007JIRI HULCR Abstract 1.,Bark and ambrosia beetles are crucial for woody biomass decomposition in tropical forests worldwide. Despite that, quantitative data on their host specificity are scarce. 2.,Bark and ambrosia beetles (Scolytinae and Platypodinae) were reared from 13 species of tropical trees representing 11 families from all major lineages of dicotyledonous plants. Standardised samples of beetle-infested twigs, branches, trunks, and roots were taken from three individuals of each tree species growing in a lowland tropical rainforest in Papua New Guinea. 3.,A total of 81 742 beetles from 74 species were reared, 67 of them identified. Local species richness of bark and ambrosia beetles was estimated at 80,92 species. 4.,Ambrosia beetles were broad generalists as 95% of species did not show any preference for a particular host species or clade. Similarity of ambrosia beetle communities from different tree species was not correlated with phylogenetic distances between tree species. Similarity of ambrosia beetle communities from individual conspecific trees was not higher than that from heterospecific trees and different parts of the trees hosted similar ambrosia beetle communities, as only a few species preferred particular tree parts. 5.,In contrast, phloeophagous bark beetles showed strict specificity to host plant genus or family. However, this guild was poor in species (12 species) and restricted to only three plant families (Moraceae, Myristicaceae, Sapindaceae). 6.,Local diversity of both bark and ambrosia beetles is not driven by the local diversity of trees in tropical forests, since ambrosia beetles display no host specificity and bark beetles are species poor and restricted to a few plant families. [source] Moving Beyond Postdevelopment: Facilitating Indigenous Alternatives for "Development"ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2003George N. Curry Using the example of smallholder oil-palm production in Papua New Guinea, this article illustrates how elements of a market economy and modernity become enmeshed and partly transformed by local place-based nonmarket practices. The persistence, even efflorescence, of indigenous gift exchange, in tandem with greater participation in the market economy, challenges conventional notions about the structures and meanings of development. The introduced market economy can be inflected to serve indigenous sociocultural and economic goals by place-based processes that transform market relations and practices into nonmarket social relationships. These kinds of inflections of the market economy are common and widespread and therefore worthy of consideration for their theoretical insights into processes of social and economic change and the meanings of development. The article concludes by outlining some preliminary thoughts on how development practice could be modified to provide more scope for this process of inflection, so that development strategies accord better with indigenous sociocultural meanings of development. [source] Rural hospital generalist and emergency medicine training in Papua New GuineaEMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 2 2007David Symmons Abstract The present paper describes the role of the hospital generalist in rural Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the contribution of emergency medicine training to that practice. Generalist practice in Tinsley District Hospital in Western Highlands Province is described, with emphasis on emergency surgery and anaesthesia. The potential of the PNG emergency medicine training programme for preparing generalists is discussed. Tinsley Hospital served a population of 40 000 people, with 4000 admissions and 300,400 operations performed annually. Two doctors and 50 nurses and community health workers provided care with minimal resources. The doctors provided supervision and teaching for nurses, community health workers, hospital administrators and primary health carers, including on long range medical patrols. Over 16 months, doctors performed 243 emergency surgical procedures including orthopaedics, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology. The generalist in rural hospitals is required to perform a wide variety of medical tasks in isolated settings yet there is no active postgraduate training programme. The Master of Medicine, Emergency Medicine programme includes rotations through the major disciplines of surgery, anaesthesia, internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology. It has the potential to train doctors in PNG for a generalist role as graduates will learn the foundations of the required skills. [source] HIV antibody seroprevalence in the emergency department at Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New GuineaEMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 4 2005Chris Curry Abstract Objective:, To determine the prevalence of HIV antibody in patients presenting to the ED at Port Moresby General Hospital in Papua New Guinea. Method:, Three hundred patients in whom blood samples were taken for investigation of illness or injury between April and July 2003 were surveyed for HIV antibodies. Sex, age and presenting illness were recorded. Results:, Fifty-four tests (18%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 14,23%) were positive. Forty-seven per cent were men and 53% were women. The most common presenting illnesses were respiratory tract infections (37%) and gastrointestinal tract infections (26%). Because of resource constraints results were not linked to patients and there was no follow up. Conclusion:, These limited data support the prediction that the developing HIV/AIDS epidemic in Papua New Guinea will be serious. [source] Sponge disease: a global threat?ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2007Nicole S. Webster Summary Sponges are the most simple and primitive metazoans, yet they have various biological and ecological properties that make them an influential component of coral-reef ecosystems. Marine sponges provide refuge for many small invertebrates and are critical to benthic-pelagic coupling across a wide range of habitats. Reports of sponge disease have increased dramatically in recent years with sponge populations decimated throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Reports also suggest an increased prevalence of sponge disease in Papua New Guinea, the Great Barrier Reef and in the reefs of Cozumel, Mexico. These epidemics can have severe impacts on the survival of sponge populations, the ecology of the reef and the fate of associated marine invertebrates. Despite the ecological and commercial importance of sponges, the understanding of sponge disease is limited. There has generally been a failure to isolate and identify the causative agents of sponge disease, with only one case confirming Koch's postulates and identifying a novel Alphaproteobacteria strain as the primary pathogen. Other potential disease agents include fungi, viruses, cyanobacteria and bacterial strains within the Bacillus and Pseudomonas genera. There is some evidence for correlations between sponge disease and environmental factors such as climate change and urban/agricultural runoff. This review summarizes the occurrence of sponge disease, describes the syndromes identified thus far, explores potential linkages with environmental change and proposes a strategy for future research towards better management of sponge disease outbreaks. [source] Contiguous multi-proxy analyses (X-radiography, diatom, pollen, and microcharcoal) of Holocene archaeological features at Kuk Swamp, Upper Wahgi Valley, Papua New GuineaGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 6 2009Tim Denham Contiguous multi-proxy analyses (X-radiography, diatom, pollen, and microcharcoal) have been conducted on the fills of early, mid-, and mid-late Holocene features at Kuk Swamp, Upper Wahgi Valley, Papua New Guinea. The features are associated with key periods of archaeological interest: plant exploitation (ca. 10,000 cal yr B.P.), earliest cultivation (6950,6440 cal yr B.P.), and earliest ditches (ca. 4000 cal yr B.P.). The analyses are designed to clarify uncertainties regarding the reliability and association of different samples within feature fills for the interpretation of human activities on the wetland in the past. Methodologically, these investigations have clarified site formation processes, including pedogenesis within feature fills, which enable a better determination of archaeological associations for different samples within those fills. Substantively, the results provide higher resolution interpretations of paleoenvironments and past human activities on the wetland margin. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The geochemical characterization and correlation of Late Holocene tephra layers at Ambra Crater and Kuk Swamp, Papua New GuineaGEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 5 2009Sarah E. Coulter Abstract Major element geochemical analyses of volcanic glass shards from visible, macroscopic tephra layers in Papua New Guinea were used to test field-based correlations between local Late Holocene sequences. Previously, synchronization of sediment records at archaeological and palaeoecological sites across the Papua New Guinea highlands had been based largely on the physical properties and stratigraphic relationships of visible volcanic layers. The geochemical analysis of tephra-derived glass demonstrates miscorrelations and enables more robust tephrostratigraphic links to be made between a globally significant archaeological site, Kuk Swamp, and a nearby volcanic cone, Ambra Crater. The results indicate that field-based correlations of tephras can be problematic, especially given variable post-depositional changes in colour and texture of relatively thin tephra layers in different depositional environments. Additionally, the findings call into question some previous tephrochronological associations at archaeological and palaeoecological sites in the Papua New Guinea highlands, and demonstrate the necessity of grain-discrete geochemical analysis of glass shards as a basis for future tephrochronological studies in this region. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Ritter Island Volcano,lateral collapse and the tsunami of 1888GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2003Steven N. Ward SUMMARY In the early morning of 1888 March 13, roughly 5 km3 of Ritter Island Volcano fell violently into the sea northeast of New Guinea. This event, the largest lateral collapse of an island volcano to be recorded in historical time, flung devastating tsunami tens of metres high on to adjacent shores. Several hundred kilometres away, observers on New Guinea chronicled 3 min period waves up to 8 m high, that lasted for as long as 3 h. These accounts represent the best available first-hand information on tsunami generated by a major volcano lateral collapse. In this article, we simulate the Ritter Island landslide as constrained by a 1985 sonar survey of its debris field and compare predicted tsunami with historical observations. The best agreement occurs for landslides travelling at 40 m s,1, but velocities up to 80 m s,1 cannot be excluded. The Ritter Island debris dropped little more than 800 m vertically and moved slowly compared with landslides that descend into deeper water. Basal friction block models predict that slides with shorter falls should attain lower peak velocities and that 40+ m s,1 is perfectly compatible with the geometry and runout extent of the Ritter Island landslide. The consensus between theory and observation for the Ritter Island waves increases our confidence in the existence of mega-tsunami produced by oceanic volcano collapses two to three orders of magnitude larger in scale. [source] A reflector at 200 km depth beneath the northwest PacificGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2001S. Rost SUMMARY We present an analysis of precursors to PP produced by underside reflections from discontinuities in the upper mantle beneath the NW Pacific. The events used for this study occur in the western Pacific Rim (New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Solomon, New Guinea, Philippine Islands) and are recorded at the short-period Yellowknife Array (YKA) in northern Canada. The source,receiver combination results in PP reflection points which allow us to study the upper mantle structure in a corridor from the Hawaiian Islands to the Kuril subduction zone. To detect the weak precursors in the time window between the P arrival and the PP onset and to identify them as PP underside reflections, special array techniques are used. Our analysis indicates a reflector at a depth of ,200 km beneath the northwestern Pacific. This reflector shows strong topography of some tens of kilometres on length scales of several hundred kilometres, complicating the detection of this reflector in global or regional stacks of seismograms. Different models for the impedance jump across the reflector, the thickness and the possible fine structure of the reflector are modelled using synthetic seismograms and are compared with the data. The thickness of the reflector has to be less than 7 km and the P wave impedance contrast has to be larger than 5.0,6.5 per cent to be detected by this study. This corresponds to a P -velocity jump of ,4 per cent assuming the PREM density model. [source] Three-dimensional seismic structure beneath the Australasian region from refracted wave observationsGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2000Y. Kaiho The earthquakes in the seismicity belt extending through Indonesia, New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji to the Tonga,Kermadec subduction zone recorded at the 65 portable broad-band stations deployed during the Skippy experiment from 1993,1996 provide good coverage of the lithosphere and mantle under the Australian continent, Coral Sea and Tasman Sea. The variation in structure in the upper part of the mantle is characterized by deter-mining a suite of 1-D structures from stacked record sections utilizing clear P and S arrivals, prepared for all propagation paths lying within a 10° azimuth band. The azimuth of these bands is rotated by 20° steps with four parallel corridors for each azimuth. This gives 26 separate azimuthal corridors for which 15 independent 1-D seismic velocity structures have been derived, which show significant variation in P and S structure. The set of 1-D structures is combined to produce a 3-D representation by projecting the velocity values along the ray path using a turning point approximation and stacking into 3-D cells (5° by 50 km in depth). Even though this procedure will tend to underestimate wave-speed perturbations, S -velocity deviations from the ak135 reference model exceed 6 per cent in the lithosphere. In the uppermost mantle the results display complex features and very high S -wave speeds beneath the Precambrian shields with a significant low-velocity zone beneath. High velocities are also found towards the base of the transition zone, with highS -wave speeds beneath the continent and high P -wave speeds beneath the ocean. The wave-speed patterns agree well with independent surface wave studies and delay time tomography studies in the zones of common coverage. [source] Climate,growth relationships of tropical tree species in West Africa and their potential for climate reconstructionGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 7 2006JOCHEN SCHÖNGART Abstract Most tropical regions are facing historical difficulties of generating biologically reconstructed long-term climate records. Dendrochronology (tree-ring studies) is a powerful tool to develop high-resolution and exactly dated proxies for climate reconstruction. Owing to the seasonal variation in rainfall we expected the formation of annual tree rings in the wood of tropical West African tree species. In the central-western part of Benin (upper Ouémé catchment, UOC) and in northeastern Ivory Coast (Comoé National Park, CNP) we investigated the relationship between climate (precipitation, sea surface temperature (SST)) and tree rings and show their potential for climate reconstruction. Wood samples of almost 200 trees belonging to six species in the UOC and CNP served to develop climate-sensitive ring-width chronologies using standard dendrochronological techniques. The relationship between local precipitation, monthly SST anomalies in the Gulf of Guinea, El Niño- Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and ring-width indices was performed by simple regression analyses, two sample tests and cross-spectral analysis. A low-pass filter was used to highlight the decadal variability in rainfall of the UOC site. All tree species showed significant relationships with annual precipitation proving the existence of annual tree rings. ENSO signals could not be detected in the ring-width patterns. For legume tree species at the UOC site significant relationships could be found between SST anomalies in the Gulf of Guinea indicating correlations at periods of 5.1,4.1 and 2.3 years. Our findings accurately show the relationship between tree growth, local precipitation and SST anomalies in the Gulf of Guinea possibly associated with worldwide SST patterns. A master chronology enabled the reconstruction of the annual precipitation in the UOC to the year 1840. Time series analysis suggest increasing arid conditions during the last 160 years which may have large impacts on the hydrological cycles and consequently on the ecosystem dynamics and the development of socio-economic cultures and sectors in the Guinea-Congolian/Sudanian region. [source] The migration route and behaviour of Eastern Curlews Numenius madagascariensisIBIS, Issue 3 2002Peter V. Driscoll Eastern Curlews Numenius madagascariensis were satellite-tracked onto breeding grounds in north-eastern Russia from south-eastern Queensland over a distance of 12 000 km. They made initial non-stop, long distance flights across the Western Pacific Ocean towards the coastlines of China and Korea followed by shorter flights, over a period of more than a month. The return journey involved a major flight-leg as well, south from the Yellow Sea region. Many birds attempted to migrate but returned to the non-breeding grounds over periods of up to several months. Islands of the Western Pacific region, the southern coastline of New Guinea and north-eastern coastline of Australia are important, particularly for birds that stop migrating. Eastern Curlews that stopped migrating generally survived, which suggests that the species has adapted to deal with adverse conditions en route and/or a physical inability to complete the migration. Such a capacity is perhaps characteristic of a large wader with low annual mortality. [source] An unusual distribution of the kdr gene among populations of Anopheles gambiae on the island of Bioko, Equatorial GuineaINSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2005L. J. Reimer Abstract In West Africa, Anopheles gambiae exists in discrete subpopulations known as the M and S molecular forms. Although these forms occur in sympatry, pyrethroid knock-down resistance (kdr) is strongly associated with the S molecular form. On the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea we found high frequencies of the kdr mutation in M form individuals (55.8%) and a complete absence of kdr in the S form. We also report the absence of the kdr allele in M and S specimens from the harbour town of Tiko in Cameroon, representing the nearest continental population to Bioko. The kdr allele had previously been reported as absent in populations of An. gambiae on Bioko. Contrary to earlier reports, sequencing of intron-1 of this sodium channel gene revealed no fixed differences between M form resistant and susceptible individuals. The mutation may have recently arisen independently in the M form on Bioko due to recent and intensive pyrethroid application. [source] Ribosomal DNA spacer genotypes of the Anopheles bancroftii group (Diptera: Culicidae) from Australia and Papua New GuineaINSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2001N. W. Beebe Abstract Mosquitoes of the Anopheles bancroftii group collected from Northern Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) were investigated for sequence variation within the ribosomal DNA ITS2. Wing fringe morphology originally used to identify members of this group was compared to genotypes identified by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (RFLP) and heteroduplex analysis (HDA) of the rDNA ITS2. Members of this group separated into four RFLP genotypes (A, B, C and D) with some genotypes displaying wing fringe polymorphisms. Heteroduplex analysis of the ITS2 within and between populations identified genotype A as containing two geographically separate ITS2 sequences: A1 from the Northern Territory of Australia and A2 from Queensland and the Western Province of PNG. Genotypes B and C and genotypes C and D were found sympatric and appeared to be evolving independently suggesting the possibility of cryptic species. Genotype C contained two ITS2 sequence types within the genome. [source] Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV infection in Pacific countriesINTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2007P. Rupali Abstract Introduction: A generalized epidemic of HIV infection has been evolving in Papua New Guinea over the last decade, whereas in other Pacific Island countries and territories (PICT) HIV transmission has generally been less widespread. Programmes to detect HIV infection in pregnant women and to prevent mother to child transmission (MTCT) during either delivery or breast-feeding can decrease the incidence of infection in infants. The limited health infrastructure present in some PICT may delay the implementation of effective programmes to decrease MTCT of HIV. Methods: We used a standardized questionnaire to survey health-care providers in 22 PICT for information on the epidemiology of HIV infection and strategies used during 2004 to prevent MTCT of HIV infection in their country. We supplemented these survey responses with data obtained from regional organizations supporting national responses to HIV. Results: We obtained responses from 21 PICT. The reported prevalence of known HIV infection was >150 per 100 000 persons in Papua New Guinea, approximately 100 per 100 000 persons in French Polynesia, Guam, New Caledonia and Tuvalu and <50 per 100 000 persons in the remaining 14 PICT. Other than in Papua New Guinea, where an estimated 500 pregnant women had HIV infection diagnosed in 2004, reported HIV infection among pregnant women was rare. Ten PICT reported that an HIV antibody test was offered as a routine component of antenatal care and 11 reported that antiretroviral medications were available for the prevention of MTCT of HIV infection. Conclusion: The prevalence of HIV infection differs greatly between PICT with a varying risk of MTCT of HIV infection. Successful prevention of MTCT of HIV infection throughout the PICT will require improved uptake of antenatal HIV antibody testing and better access to antiretroviral medications. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||