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Modelling factors associated with the probability of seeking traditional care after dog bites in Sierra Leone
Mshelbwala, Philip P.; Suluku, Roland; Anyasodor, Anayochukwu E.; Fadiji, Oyinkansola; Adamu, Andrew M.; Audu, Solomon W.; Sabeta, Claude Taurai; Rupprecht, Charles E.; Wangdi, Kinley (Elsevier, 2026-04)
Evidence suggests a rising incidence of dog bites in Sierra Leone despite ongoing efforts to prevent rabies. However, little is known about the factors influencing the decision to seek medical care following a dog bite. To address this gap, we developed a probabilistic model to examine factors associated with the likelihood of seeking traditional care in Sierra Leone. Among the 2558 respondents who completed the survey, 31 % (782/2558) indicated that they would seek traditional care after a dog bite. The posterior distributions of our model estimates indicated that the probability of seeking traditional care was higher among respondents with lower levels of education, those residing in rural areas, individuals lacking knowledge about rabies virus transmission and its hosts, and those who owned vaccinated dogs. Conversely, respondents living in locations with a livestock officer or veterinary establishment had lower odds of seeking traditional remedies compared with those uncertain about access. We observed a negative relationship between the percentage of health facilities and the probability of seeking traditional care, with higher percentages associated with a decreased likelihood of seeking traditional remedies. We also found regional variation in the probability of seeking traditional care. Respondents in the Eastern and Western Area were less likely to seek traditional remedies than those in the Northern and Southern Provinces. These findings highlight the need for targeted educational campaigns to raise awareness about rabies and the importance of timely medical care after exposure. Improving healthcare access in rural areas and fostering collaboration with traditional healers are also essential for reducing reliance on traditional care and strengthening rabies prevention and control efforts.
Modeling bounded count environmental data using a contaminated beta-binomial regression model
Otto, Arnoldus F.; Punzo, Antonio; Ferreira, Johannes T.; Bekker, Andriette, 1958-; Tomarchio, Salvatore D.; Tortora, Cristina (Wiley, 2026-01)
Bounded count data are commonly encountered in environmental studies. This paper examines two environmental applications illustrating their relevance. The first investigates the effect of winter malnutrition on mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) fawn mortality. The second application analyzes public perceptions of environmental issues using data from the Eurobarometer 95.1 survey (March–April 2021), which includes a question rating the perceived severity of climate change on a scale from 1 to 10. Together, these studies demonstrate the need for flexible bounded count models in environmental research. In this context, the binomial and beta-binomial (BB) models are widely used for bounded count data, with the BB model offering the advantage of accounting for overdispersion. However, atypical observations in real-world applications may hinder the performance of the BB model and lead to biased or misleading inferences. To address this limitation, we propose the contaminated beta-binomial (cBB) distribution (cBB-D), which introduces an additional BB component to accommodate atypical observations while preserving the mean and variance structure of the BB model. The cBB-D thus captures both overdispersion and contamination effects in bounded count data. To incorporate explanatory variables, we further develop the contaminated BB regression model (cBB-RM), in which none, some, or all cBB parameters may depend on covariates. The proposed models are applied to two environmental datasets, complemented by a sensitivity analysis on simulated data to assess the influence of atypical observations on parameter estimation. The methodology is implemented in the open-source cBB package for R, available at https://github.com/arnootto/cBB.
Mini-review and situation report on the role and usefulness of nuclear medicine imaging for malaria
Duvenhage, Janie; Zeevaart, Jan Rijn; Sathekge, Mike Machaba; Ebenhan, Thomas (Springer, 2026-01)
Malaria remains one of the deadliest parasitic diseases globally. Delay or failure in treatment can lead to the development of severe malaria. Severe malaria, an understudied multisystem disease, affects the host’s organs and can lead to several syndromes and serious complications, some effecting life-long neurological and cognitive sequela. There is a lack in knowledge regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying severe malaria pathogenesis, and research has mostly relied on post-mortem studies and animal models, both of which lack translatability to human malaria. This review presents the clinical nuclear imaging techniques used in malaria. Although the presented radiopharmaceuticals have added value to understand some aspects of severe malaria, there has been in stagnation in development of more malaria-specific radiopharmaceuticals. This manuscript highlights the current limitations for implementing improved radiopharm
Millimeter-wave observations of Euclid Deep Field South using the South Pole Telescope : a data release of temperature maps and catalogs
Archipley, M.; Hryciuk, A.; Bleem, L.E.; Kornoelje, K.; Klein, M.; Anderson, A. J.;; Ansarinejad, B.; Aravena, M.; Balkenhol, L.; Barry, P.S.; Benabed, K.; Bender, A.N.; Benson, B.A.; Bianchini, F.; Bocquet, S.; Bouchet, F.R.; Camphuis, E.; Campitiello, M.G.; Carlstrom, J.E.; Cathey, J.; Chang, C.L.; Chapman, S.C.; Chaubal, P.; Chichura, P.M.; Chokshi, A.; Chou, T. -l.; Coerver, A.; Crawford, T.M.; Daley, C.; De Haan, T.; Deane, Roger; Dibert, K.R.; Dobbs, M.A.; Doohan, M.; Doussot, A.; Dutcher, D.; Everett, W.; Feng, C.; Ferguson, K.R.; Fichman, K.; Floyd, B.; Foster, A.; Galli, S.; Gambrel, A.E.; Gardner, R.W.; Ge, F.; Goeckner-Wald, N.; Gonzalez, A.; Grandis, S.; Greve, T.R.; Gualtieri, R.; Guidi, F.; Guns, S.; Halverson, N.W.; Hill, R.; Hivon, E.; Holder, G.P.; Holzapfel, W.L.; Hood, J.C.; Huang, N.; Keruzore, F.; Khalife, A.R.; Knox, L.; Korman, M.; Kuo, C.-l.; Levy, K.; Lowitz, A.E.; Lu, C.; Lynch, G.P.; Maniyar, A.; Martsen, E.S.; Menanteau, F.; Millea, M.; Montgomery, J.; Nakato, Y.; Natoli, T.; Noble, G.I.; Omori, Y.; Ouellette, A.; Pan, Z.; Phadke, K.A.; Pollak, A.W.; Prabhu, K.; Quan, W.; Raghunathan, S.; Rahimi, M.; Rahlin, A.; Reichardt, C.L.; Reuter, C.; Rouble, M.; Ruhl, J.E.; Schiappucci, E.; Simpson, A.; Sobrin, J.A.; Stalder, B.; Stark, A.A.; Sulzenauer, N.; Tandoi, C.; Thorne, B.; Trendafilova, C.; Umilta, C.; Vieira, J.D.; Vitrier, A.; Vizgan, D.; Wan, Y.; Weiss, A.; Whitehorn, N.; Wu, W.L.K.; Young, M.R.; Zebrowski, J.A.; Zhou, D. (EDP Sciences, 2026-02)
CONTEXT : The South Pole Telescope third-generation camera (SPT-3G) has observed over 10 000 square degrees of sky at 95, 150, and 220 GHz (3.3, 2.0, 1.4 mm, respectively) and will significantly overlap the ongoing 14 000 square-degree Euclid Wide Survey. The Euclid collaboration recently released Euclid Deep Field South (EDF-S) observations of 23 square degrees at wide field depths in the first quick data release (Q1). AIMS : With the goal of releasing complementary millimeter-wave data and encouraging legacy science, we performed dedicated observations of a 57-square-degree field overlapping the EDF-S. METHODS : The observing time totaled 20 days, and we reached noise depths of 4.3, 3.8, and 13.2 μK-arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively. RESULTS : In this work we present the temperature maps and two catalogs constructed from these data. The emissive source catalog contains 601 objects (334 inside EDF-S) with 54% synchrotron-dominated sources and 46% thermal dust emission-dominated sources. The 5σ detection thresholds are 1.7, 2.0, and 6.5 mJy in the three bands. The cluster catalog contains 217 cluster candidates (121 inside EDF-S) with median mass M500c = 2.12 × 1014 M⊙/h70 and median redshift z = 0.70, corresponding to an order-of-magnitude improvement in cluster density over previous tSZ-selected catalogs in this region (3.81 clusters per square degree). CONCLUSIONS : The overlap between SPT and Euclid data will enable a range of multiwavelength studies of the aforementioned source populations. This work serves as the first step toward joint projects between SPT and Euclid and provides a rich dataset containing information on galaxies, clusters, and their environments.
Migrant livelihoods and the power of social ties : evidence from Johannesburg's informal sector
Naicker, Dishan; Fourie, Alicia; Claassen, Carike (Routledge, 2026)
This study investigates the characteristics of informal immigrant entrepreneurship within the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It pays special attention to how social capital facilitates immigrant entrepreneurship success. Given the complex operational and economic environment, the study also sought to understand how immigrant entrepreneurs handle the challenges associated with access to resources, which they face daily. Drawing on twenty qualitative interviews, the findings show that social capital offers support mechanisms that compensate for structural exclusion from formal systems. In the context of growing tensions and competition in the informal economy, the research underscores the need for more inclusive network-building between immigrant and local entrepreneurs to foster social cohesion and shared economic benefit. The findings have implications for policy interventions targeting informal trade, migrant inclusion, and local development in South African urban economies