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Abstract Faecal microbiota plays a critical role in human health, but its relationship with nutritional status among schoolchildren remains under-explored. Here, in a double-blinded cluster-randomized controlled trial on 380 Cambodian schoolchildren, we characterize the impact of six months consumption of two types of rice fortified with different levels of vitamins and minerals on pre-specified outcomes. We investigate the association between the faecal microbiota (16SrRNA sequencing) and age, sex, nutritional status (underweight, stunting), micronutrient status (iron, zinc and vitamin A deficiencies, anaemia, iron deficient anaemia, hemoglobinopathy), inflammation (systemic, gut), and parasitic infection. We show that the faecal microbiota is characterised by a surprisingly high proportion of Lactobacillaceae. We discover that deficiencies in specific micronutrients, such as iron and vitamin A, correlate with particular microbiota profiles, whereas zinc deficiency shows no such association. The nutritional intervention with the two rice treatments impacts both the composition and functions predicted from compositional analysis in different ways. (ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT01706419))

Abstract Worldwide, over 250 million children under 5 years do not reach their developmental potential due to several causes, including malnutrition. In Cambodia, the prevalence of stunting and wasting among children remains high. This prospective cohort study aimed to assess acquisition of motor and cognitive developmental milestones in early childhood and their associations with stunting and wasting. Children aged from 0 to 24 months were recruited from three provinces in Cambodia and followed up to seven times from March 2016 to June 2019, until their 5 years. Data collection included anthropometry and developmental milestones. Seven motor and seven cognitive milestones were evaluated using the Cambodian Development Milestone Assessment Tool. Associations were assessed with parametric survival models. Hazard ratios (HR) below 1 stood for lower probabilities for achieving developmental milestones. Data were available for 7394 children. At 12 months, the prevalence of stunting and wasting were 23.7% and 9.6% respectively. Both were consistently associated with delays in most motor and cognitive milestones. Stunting was strongly associated with delays in gross motor milestones (HR

BackgroundIn 2014, the government of Togo implemented a pilot unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program in rural villages that aimed at improving children's nutrition, health, and protection. It combined monthly UCTs (approximately US$8.40 /month) with a package of community activities (including behavior change communication [BCC] sessions, home visits, and integrated community case management of childhood illnesses and acute malnutrition [ICCM-Nut]) delivered to mother-child pairs during the first "1,000 days" of life. We primarily investigated program impact at population level on children's height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) and secondarily on stunting (HAZ < -2) and intermediary outcomes including household's food insecurity, mother-child pairs' diet and health, delivery in a health facility and low birth weight (LBW), women's knowledge, and physical intimate partner violence (IPV).Methods and findingsWe implemented a parallel-cluster-randomized controlled trial, in which 162 villages were randomized into either an intervention arm (UCTs + package of community activities, n = 82) or a control arm (package of community activities only, n = 80). Two different representative samples of children aged 6-29 months and their mothers were surveyed in each arm, one before the intervention in 2014 (control: n = 1,301, intervention: n = 1,357), the other 2 years afterwards in 2016 (control: n = 996, intervention: n = 1,035). Difference-in-differences (DD) estimates of impact were calculated, adjusting for clustering. Children's average age was 17.4 (± 0.24 SE) months in the control arm and 17.6 (± 0.19 SE) months in the intervention arm at baseline. UCTs had a protective effect on HAZ (DD = +0.25 z-scores, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.01-0.50, p = 0.039), which deteriorated in the control arm while remaining stable in the intervention arm, but had no impact on stunting (DD = -6.2 percentage points [pp], relative odds ratio [ROR]: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.51-1.06, p = 0.097). UCTs positively impacted both mothers' and children's (18-23 months) consumption of animal source foods (ASFs) (respectively, DD = +4.5 pp, ROR: 2.24, 95% CI: 1.09-4.61, p = 0.029 and DD = +9.1 pp, ROR: 2.65, 95% CI: 1.01-6.98, p = 0.048) and household food insecurity (DD = -10.7 pp, ROR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43-0.91, p = 0.016). UCTs did not impact on reported child morbidity 2 week's prior to report (DD = -3.5 pp, ROR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.56-1.14, p = 0.214) but reduced the financial barrier to seeking healthcare for sick children (DD = -26.4 pp, ROR: 0.23, 95% CI: 0.08-0.66, p = 0.006). Women who received cash had higher odds of delivering in a health facility (DD = +10.6 pp, ROR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.10-2.13, p = 0.012) and lower odds of giving birth to babies with birth weights (BWs) ConclusionsUCTs targeting the first "1,000 days" had a protective effect on child's linear growth in rural areas of Togo. Their simultaneous positive effects on various immediate, underlying, and basic causes of malnutrition certainly contributed to this ultimate impact. The positive impacts observed on pregnancy- and birth-related outcomes call for further attention to the conception period in nutrition-sensitive programs.Trial registrationISRCTN Registry ISRCTN83330970.

BACKGROUND: Urban areas in West Africa are not immune to undernutrition with recent urbanization and high food prices being important factors. School children often have a poor nutritional status, potentially affecting their health and schooling performance. Yet, generally school children do not benefit from nutrition programs. The objective of the study was to assess the anthropometric and micronutrient status of children from state schools in the Dakar area. METHODS: School children (n = 604) aged from 5 to 17 y (52.5% girls, 47.5% ≥ 10 y) were selected through a two-stage random cluster sample of children attending urban primary state schools in the Dakar area (30 schools × 20 children). The prevalence of stunting (height-for-age2 z-scores. Prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia was 14.4%, 39.1% and 10.6% respectively. 3.0% had vitamin A deficiency, 35.9% a marginal vitamin A status, and 25.9% zinc deficiency. Urinary iodine was

INTRODUCTION: In many developing countries including Vietnam, data are lacking on vitamin D and calcium deficiencies whereas those deficiencies can play an important role in the development of bone health and possibly non-communicable diseases. The purpose of this study was to determine the overall prevalence of vitamin D and calcium deficiencies in women and young children and their nutritional related risk factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study conducted among 595 women of reproductive age and 532 children

BACKGROUND: The 2000 Vietnamese National Nutrition Survey showed that the population's dietary intake had improved since 1987. However, inequalities were found in food consumption between socioeconomic groups. As no national data exist on the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies, a survey was conducted in 2010 to assess the micronutrient status of randomly selected 1526 women of reproductive age and 586 children aged 6-75 mo. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In women, according to international thresholds, prevalence of zinc deficiency (ZnD, 67.2 ± 2.6%) and vitamin B12 deficiency (11.7 ± 1.7%) represented public health problems, whereas prevalence of anemia (11.6 ± 1.0%) and iron deficiency (ID, 13.7 ± 1.1%) were considered low, and folate (

Abstract Background Pythiosis is a potentially fatal but non-contagious disease affecting humans and animals living in tropical and subtropical climates, but is also reasonably widespread in temperate climates, throughout the world. The most commonly reported affected animal species with pythiosis are equine and canine, with fewer cases in bovine and feline. Extracutaneous infections caused by Pythium insidiosum have been rarely described in the cat. Case presentation Sublingual pythiosis was diagnosed in a 2-year-old, male, Domestic Shorthair cat. The cat had a multilobulated, sublingual mass present for 3 months. Histopathological examination revealed severe multifocal coalescing eosinophilic granulomatous inflammation. Centers of the inflammation contained hyphae that were 3–7 μm-wide, non-parallel, uncommonly septate and rarely branching. The fungal-like organism was identified as P. insidiosum by polymerase chain reaction and subsequent amplicon sequencing. Conclusions Only a few feline pythiosis cases have been reported and, when encountered, it usually causes granulomatous diseases of the skin or gastrointestinal tract. This case presents an unusual manifestation of feline pythiosis, representing the first involving the oral cavity in cats or dogs.