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Background Endemic areas for soil-transmitted helminthiases often lack the tools and trained personnel necessary for point-of-care diagnosis. This study pilots the use of smartphone microscopy and an artificial neural network-based (ANN) object detection application named Kankanet to address those two needs. Methodology/Principal findings A smartphone was equipped with a USB Video Class (UVC) microscope attachment and Kankanet, which was trained to recognize eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm using a dataset of 2,078 images. It was evaluated for interpretive accuracy based on 185 new images. Fecal samples were processed using Kato-Katz (KK), spontaneous sedimentation technique in tube (SSTT), and Merthiolate-Iodine-Formaldehyde (MIF) techniques. UVC imaging and ANN interpretation of these slides was compared to parasitologist interpretation of standard microscopy.Relative to a gold standard defined as any positive result from parasitologist reading of KK, SSTT, and MIF preparations through standard microscopy, parasitologists reading UVC imaging of SSTT achieved a comparable sensitivity (82.9%) and specificity (97.1%) in A. lumbricoides to standard KK interpretation (97.0% sensitivity, 96.0% specificity). The UVC could not accurately image T. trichiura or hookworm. Though Kankanet interpretation was not quite as sensitive as parasitologist interpretation, it still achieved high sensitivity for A. lumbricoides and hookworm (69.6% and 71.4%, respectively). Kankanet showed high sensitivity for T. trichiura in microscope images (100.0%), but low in UVC images (50.0%). Conclusions/Significance The UVC achieved comparable sensitivity to standard microscopy with only A. lumbricoides. With further improvement of image resolution and magnification, UVC shows promise as a point-of-care imaging tool. In addition to smartphone microscopy, ANN-based object detection can be developed as a diagnostic aid. Though trained with a limited dataset, Kankanet

Two billion people are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, leading to 10 million new cases of active tuberculosis and 1.5 million deaths annually. Universal access to drug susceptibility testing (DST) has become a World Health Organization priority. We previously developed a software tool, Mykrobe predictor, which provided offline species identification and drug resistance predictions for M. tuberculosis from whole genome sequencing (WGS) data. Performance was insufficient to support the use of WGS as an alternative to conventional phenotype-based DST, due to mutation catalogue limitations. Here we present a new tool, Mykrobe, which provides the same functionality based on a new software implementation. Improvements include i) an updated mutation catalogue giving greater sensitivity to detect pyrazinamide resistance, ii) support for user-defined resistance catalogues, iii) improved identification of non-tuberculous mycobacterial species, and iv) an updated statistical model for Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing data. Mykrobe is released under MIT license at https://github.com/mykrobe-tools/mykrobe. We incorporate mutation catalogues from the CRyPTIC consortium et al. (2018) and from Walker et al. (2015), and make improvements based on performance on an initial set of 3206 and an independent set of 5845 M. tuberculosis Illumina sequences. To give estimates of error rates, we use a prospectively collected dataset of 4362 M. tuberculosis isolates. Using culture based DST as the reference, we estimate Mykrobe to be 100%, 95%, 82%, 99% sensitive and 99%, 100%, 99%, 99% specific for rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide and ethambutol resistance prediction respectively. We benchmark against four other tools on 10207 (=5845+4362) samples, and also show that Mykrobe gives concordant results with nanopore data. We measure the ability of Mykrobe-based DST to guide personalized therapeutic regimen design in the context of complex drug susceptibility profiles, showing

Cette recherche-action participative s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet d’actions et de recherches contre les violences structurelles (PARVIS), mené avec sept jeunes femmes de la rue de la ville de Québec. L’intérêt du groupe concernant les situations de fugues dans les centres jeunesse l’a conduit à expérimenter une action sociale visant à sensibiliser les décideures et décideurs aux conséquences du contrôle dans ces institutions et du manque de soutien dans la transition vers l’âge adulte. Cet article s’attarde surtout à la façon dont PARVIS a mobilisé l’intersectionnalité des points de vue méthodologique et politique, en tentant d’imbriquer les savoirs universitaires et les savoirs expérientiels des participantes. This participatory action research is part of the project of action and research against structural violence (PARVIS) conducted with seven street-involved young women in the area of Quebec City. The topic of runaways in youth centres led the group to discuss their own experience in the child protective services and to develop an awareness project around this topic. The PARVIS project has created a safe space of solidarity and opportunities to be seen and heard. This paper aims to discuss how the PARVIS project was conducted as a methodological and political tool for a praxis of intersectionality.

Dans quels contextes se manifestent les violences dans la vie des enfants et des adolescents ? Comment ces jeunes définissent-ils eux-mêmes leur expérience de ces violences ? Le développement des recherches et des interventions témoigne-t-il d’une reconnaissance de ces jeunes comme des acteurs sociaux importants ? Nos façons de définir et de mesurer les violences sont-elles adéquates ? Y a-t-il lieu de revoir les fondements théoriques et méthodologiques de notre étude de ce phénomène ? Les politiques sociales et les programmes d’intervention sont-ils adaptés aux besoins des jeunes victimes de violences ? De tels questionnements, qui émanent de la multiplication des écrits sur les violences dans la vie des enfants et des adolescents des dernières décennies, sont cruciaux et constituent l’essence du présent ouvrage. L’analyse qui en est faite se veut entière ; elle cherche à inclure plusieurs formes de violences vécues dans différentes sphères de vie des jeunes et elle désire interpeller les divers acteurs en sciences humaines et sociales qui s’intéressent à la question. Ce livre – qui offre un espace de réflexion critique par l’analyse de certains enjeux théoriques, méthodologiques ou sociaux eu égard aux connaissances et aux pratiques actuelles dans le domaine – s’adresse donc autant aux chercheurs et aux étudiants qu’aux praticiens, aux gestionnaires ou aux politiciens.