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To navigate through a social world, animals may form temporary or long-term associations with others, recognize kin and discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics, protect themselves and their resources, fight and compete for the best mates, and produce offspring that require various forms of care.  The purpose of the current paper was to summarize the publication trends of research investigating animal social interactions over the last 20 years. We selected 8 journals for their diverse representation of animal taxa and examined the number of published articles representing research on affiliative, agonistic, and sexual social interactions.  Out of 18,993 published articles, social interactions (N = 4,273) were studied 5.5% to 30.8% of the published articles per journal between 1993-2013.  Agonistic social interactions (43%) were the most frequently published topic with affiliative social interactions representing less than a third (30%) of the articles and sexual social interactions accounting for the remaining articles (27%).  Mammalian social interactions were investigated the most (38.5%) with invertebrate (22%) and avian (21%) social interactions following closely behind.  Observational research and experimental research designs were divided almost equally across different social interactions except for affiliative interactions.  Social interactions were studied most often in laboratory settings (45%), then semi-natural field settings (32.5%), and less often in natural habitats (19%).  Interestingly, the rates of the different types of social interactions, certain taxa, type of research study, and research setting remained relatively consistent across the 20 year period.  Some fluctuations occurred in the frequency of specific topics and taxa within various years; however, research on mate choice, parental care, environmental influences, and group composition was consistently conducted across the years.  While many aspects of social interactions in a broad range of taxa have been studied, there are many areas that are still sparse and in need of additional research.

Objective: To describe cases of Kaposi's sarcoma‐associated herpesvirus (KSHV)‐associated multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD) and primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) in patients with HIV from a large, safety‐net hospital system in Dallas, Texas, USA. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patients with HIV‐associated PEL and/or MCD. Results: Twelve patients with PEL and 10 patients with MCD were identified. All patients were male and 17 of 20 were men who have sex with men; 66.7% of PEL patients and 50% of MCD patients had concurrent KS at the time of diagnosis; 42% of patients with PEL and 20% of patients with MCD died during the follow‐up period. We noted improved survival in our cohort compared to previous studies, particularly in our PEL patients with a median survival of 11.4 months compared to 3–6‐month median survival historically. Median follow‐up time for MCD patients was 17.5 months. This improved survival is despite suboptimal antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence at diagnosis, with only 50% of patients on ART at the time of MCD/PEL diagnosis. Conclusion: These data highlight the importance of early recognition of PEL and MCD, and the larger‐scale efforts needed to better understand the pathogenetic drivers of clinical outcomes in patients affected by KSHV‐related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malaria is the leading cause of death among children in Mozambique. Prevalence and factors associated with malaria are not well studied among children in rural Zambézia Province. Whether prevalence of malaria varies across diverse districts within the province is unknown. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of female heads of household was conducted during April and May 2014, a period of peak malaria transmission. Data were collected on up to two randomly selected children aged 6-59 months per household. The outcome of interest was self-report of symptomatic malaria confirmed by diagnostic test in the past 30 days. Analyses accounted for the two-stage cluster sample design. Prevalence of symptomatic malaria was calculated for the province and three over-sampled focus districts--Alto Molócuè, Morrumbala, and Namacurra. Multivariable logistic regression of symptomatic malaria diagnosis included: district, age, sex, education, bed net use, urban setting, distance to health facility, income, roofing material, and pig farming. Results: Data were collected on 2540 children. Fifty percent were female, and the median age was 24 months. Sixty percent of children slept under bed nets the night prior to the survey, but utilization varied between districts (range 49-89%; p < 0.001). Forty-three percent of children reported fever in the past 30 days, 91% of those sought care at a health facility, 67% of those had either a malaria rapid diagnostic test or blood smear, and 67% of those had a positive test result and therefore met our case definition of self-reported symptomatic malaria. There were significant differences in prevalence of fever (p < 0.001), health-seeking (p < 0.001), and diagnostic testing (p = 0.003) between focus districts. Province-wide prevalence of symptomatic malaria was 13% and among focus districts ranged from 14% in Morrumbala to 17% in Namacurra (p < 0.001). Higher female caregiver education (OR 1.88; 95% CI 1.31-2.70), having fewer young children in the household (OR 1.25; 95% CI 1.01-1.56), and higher income (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.11-2.22) were independently associated with having a child with symptomatic malaria. Conclusions: Self-reported symptomatic malaria is highly prevalent among children in Zambézia Province, Mozambique and varies significantly between diverse districts. Factors facilitating access to health services are associated with symptomatic malaria diagnosis. These findings should inform resource allocation in the fight against malaria in Mozambique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malaria remains a major threat to some 3.2 billion persons globally. Malaria contributes heavily to the overall disease burden in Mozambique and is considered endemic. A cornerstone of Mozambique's vector control strategy has been to strive for universal coverage of insecticide-treated nets (ITN). Methods: The study is a population-based cross-sectional survey of female heads-of-household in Zambézia Province, Mozambique conducted during August–September, 2010 and April–May, 2014. Analyses accounted for a stratified two-stage cluster sample design. Outcomes of interest included sleeping under a mosquito net during the previous night. Descriptive statistics were calculated for three oversampled districts and for the entire province. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to estimate factors associated with both changes over time and increased mosquito bed net usage. Results: Of the 3916 households interviewed in 2010 and 3906 households in 2014, 64.3 % were in possession of at least one mosquito bed net. A higher proportion of households in Namacurra (90 %) reported possession of a mosquito net, compared to Alto Molócuè (77 %) and Morrumbala (34 %), respectively in 2014. Of pregnant respondents, 58.6 % reported sleeping under a mosquito net the previous night in 2010 compared to 68.4 % in 2014. Fifty percent of children 0–59 months slept under a mosquito net the previous night in 2010 compared to 60 % in 2014. Factors associated with use of a mosquito net for female head-of-household respondents were higher education, understanding Portuguese, larger household size, having electricity in the household, and larger household monthly income. As travel time to a health facility increased (per 1 h), respondents had 13 % lower odds of sleeping under a mosquito net (OR 0.87; 95 % CI 0.74–1.01, p = 0.07). Pregnant women in 2014 had a 2.4 times higher odds of sleeping under a bed net if they lived in Namacurra compared to Alto Molócuè (95 % CI 0.91–6.32, p = 0.002 for district). Higher maternal education, living in Namacurra, and acquisition of mosquito bed nets were associated with a child 0–59 months reporting sleeping under the net in the previous night in 2014. Conclusions: Intensified focus on the poorest, least educated, and most distant from health services is needed to improve equity of ITN availability and usage. Additionally, while some districts have already surpassed goals in terms of coverage and utilization of ITN, renewed emphasis should be placed on bringing all geographic regions of the province closer to meeting these targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While many countries are transitioning from epidemics of undernutrition to overnutrition, Mozambique's very high 44% prevalence of stunting in children under age 5 years is cause for serious concern., Methods: We conducted two population-based cross-sectional surveys of ~4000 female heads of households each in Zambézia Province, Mozambique from August-September 2010 (Baseline) and April-May 2014 (Endline) as part of the USAID funded Strengthening Communities through Integrated Programs (SCIP) grant. Anthropometric measurements were collected on 560 children aged 6-59 months at Baseline and 912 children at Endline and classified as: "stunted," a height-for-age z-score less than -2; "wasted," weight-for-height z-score less than -2; and "underweight," weight-for-age z-score less than -2. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression using Stata 13.1 were used to examine factors associated with undernutrition., Results: Of children under age five years, 43% were undernourished in 2010 and 55% in 2014. The most common form of undernutrition was stunting (39% in 2010, 51% in 2014), followed by underweight (13% in both 2010 and 2014), and wasting (7% in 2010, 5% in 2014). Child's age was found to have a non-linear association with stunting. Vitamin A supplementation was associated with a 31% (p=0.04) decreased odds of stunting. Children who were exclusively breastfed for at least six months had an 80% (p=0.02) lower odds of wasting in 2014 and 57% (p=0.05) decreased odds of being underweight in 2014. Introducing other foods after age six months was associated with a five-fold increased odds of wasting in 2014 (p=0.02); household food insecurity was associated with wasting (OR=2.08; p=0.03) and underweight in 2010 (OR=2.31; p=0.05). Children whose mother washed her hands with a cleaning agent had a 40% (p=0.05) decreased odds of being underweight. Surprisingly, per point increase in household dietary diversity score, children had 12% greater odds of being stunted in 2010 (p=0.01) but 9% decreased odds of being underweight in 2014 (p=0.02)., Conclusions: A combination of household and individual level factors was associated with undernutrition. As such, employment of multidimensional interventions should be considered to decrease undernutrition in children under five years old.