Ethnic and gender specific life expectancies of the Singapore population, 1965 to 2009 - Converging, or diverging?

10.1186/1471-2458-13-1012BMC Public Health131

Enhancing health benefits of milled rice: current status and future perspectives

Milled rice is an essential part of the regular diet for approximately half of the world’s population. Its remarkable commercial value and consumer acceptance are mostly due to its promising cooking qualities, appealing sensory properties, and longer shelf life. However, the significant loss of the nutrient-rich bran layer during milling makes it less nutritious than the whole grain. Thus, enhancing the nutritive value of milled rice is vital in improving the health and wellbeing of rice consumers, particularly for those residing in the low-economic zones where rice is the primary source of calories and nutrition. This article provides a critical review on multiple frontiers of recent interventions, such as (1) infusing the genetic diversity to enrich amylose and resistant starch to reduce glycaemic index, (2) enhancing the minerals and vitamins through complementary fortification and biofortification as short and long-term interventions, and (3) developing transgenic solutions to improve the nutrient levels of milled rice. Additionally, the review highlights the benefits of functional ingredients of milled rice to human health and the potential of enhancing them in rice to address the triple burden of malnutrition. The potential merit of milled rice concerning food safety is also reviewed in this article

Assessing equity in clinical practice guidelines.

Recognition of the need for systematically developed clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. CPGs have focused primarily on the effectiveness of interventions, explicitly or implicitly addressing the following question: Will adherence to a recommendation do more good than harm? At times they have also focused on the cost-effectiveness of interventions: Are the net benefits worth the costs? They rarely have focused on equity: Are the recommendations fair? The Knowledge Plus Project of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network attempts to improve the process of CPG development by formulating strategies to consider not just technical issues (effectiveness, and efficiency) but sociopolitical dimensions as well (equity and local appropriateness). This article discusses a proposed lens for users to evaluate how well CPGs address issues of equity

Cooperative-Collaborative Learning in Enhancing Creative Writing Performance

Writing is among the communication skills covered in both Filipino and English language teaching that every learner should develop at any level of education in the Philippines. However, teaching creative writing skills continues to be a very challenging task for teachers. It is a challenge, therefore, for teachers to motivate students to write. More so, it is a challenge for students to write creatively. Using the action research design, this study aimed to test and examine the effectiveness of cooperative-collaborative learning using the specific strategy, Team Pair Solo, in enhancing their creative writing skills. Triangulation is also used in this study to examine, verify, and cross-check the data at different angles such as observation, analysis of the pre and post writing composition, and from the interviews of the students. The finding shows positive effects of cooperative-collaborative learning in enhancing creative writing performance among the students. It is recommended that cooperative-collaborative learning strategy (Team Pair Solo) should be used in teaching to enhance the creative writing skills of students. It is further recommended that other cooperative-collaborative learning strategies be studied for the same purpose

Arsenic contamination of rainfed versus irrigated rice

Arsenic (As) contamination of rice remains a major human health issue in Asia. Most research has been on irrigated rice. However much of the projected increase in global rice demand over coming decades must be met by rainfed lowland systems, for which As relations are poorly understood. We present the most comprehensive survey to date of As in rice in farmers’ fields across Bangladesh, covering both irrigated and rainfed systems. We collected rice grain and soil at 943 sites in the three rice growing seasons: irrigated Boro, rainfed Aus, and longer-duration rainfed Aman. Grain As concentrations increased in the order Aman ≪ Boro < Aus with 2, 25 and 41 % of the sites exceeding permitted thresholds, respectively. The greater concentration in Aus than Boro challenges the accepted wisdom that contaminated irrigation water is the main source of As. The main growth and grain filling periods, when most As is taken up, coincide in Aus with the peak of the monsoon rains, suggesting a link between rainfall and high grain As. We suggest this is due to stronger soil reducing conditions and hence As solubility during peak rainfall. We discuss implications for rainfed lowland rice across Asia and mitigation options.This research was funded by a grant from the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council ‘Metal contamination of rice supplies in Asia’ (Grant Ref. BB/P02274X/1).Environmental Pollutio

Shifting Trend of Protein Consumption in Southeast Asia: Toward Health, Innovation, and Sustainability

Complementing discourse following a February 2023 event on dietary protein needs in Southeast Asia (SEA), this symposium report summarizes the region's protein intake, while simultaneously examining the impact of dietary shift toward complementary and alternative proteins and their health implications. It highlights the importance of protein quality in dietary evaluations, optimal intake, and sustainability, advocating for environmentally conscious protein production and innovation in future foods. Discussion points, expert opinions, national nutrition data, and relevant literature, addressing protein intake and quality, their impact on human health, and various technologies for future foods production, have been included. Despite increased protein supply in SEA, protein requirements, particularly during crucial life stages, are often unmet owing to insufficient focus on protein quality. Factoring in amino acids content and bioaccessibility are crucial for assessing nutritional requirement and sustainability evaluations, rather than solely relying on protein quantity alone. Different food sources of protein also have different key conutrients for health relevance such as vitamin B-12 and ω-3 fatty acids. Innovations in food structure, processing, and technology are key to developing nutritious, sustainable, and appealing future foods, including from complementary and alternative protein sources, while considering safety aspects, especially allergenicity. Addressing protein needs in SEA requires a dual focus on protein quantity and quality, underlining the role of public health policies and guidelines that consider key nutritional differences of animal-source and plant-based proteins. To address regional demands, future food innovations should aim at creating unique yet needful food categories or supplementing current existing sources, rather than mimicking current products

Compared to placebo, long-term antibiotics resolve otitis media with effusion (OME) and prevent acute otitis media with perforation (AOMwiP) in a high-risk population: A randomized controlled trial

© 2008 Leach et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background : For children at high risk of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM), strategies to prevent acute otitis media with perforation (AOMwiP) may reduce progression to CSOM. Methods : In a double blind study in northern Australia, 103 Aboriginal infants with first detection of OME were randomised to receive either amoxicillin (50 mg/kg/d BD) or placebo for 24 weeks, or until bilateral aerated middle ears were diagnosed at two successive monthly examinations (success). Standardised clinical assessments and international standards for microbiology were used. Results : Five of 52 infants in the amoxicillin group and none of 51 infants in the placebo group achieved success at the end of therapy (Risk Difference = 9.6% [95% confidence interval 1.6,17.6]). Amoxicillin significantly reduced the proportion of children with i) perforation at the end of therapy (27% to 12% RD = -16% [-31,-1]), ii) recurrent perforation during therapy (18% to 4% RD = -14% [-25,-2]), and iii) reduced the proportion of examinations with a diagnosis of perforation during therapy (20% to 8% adjusted risk ratio 0.36 [0.15,0.83] p = 0.017). During therapy, the proportion of examinations with penicillin non-susceptible (MIC > 0.1 microg/ml) pneumococci was not significantly different between the amoxicillin group (34%) and the placebo group (40%). Beta-lactamase positive non-capsular H. influenzae (NCHi) were uncommon during therapy but more frequent in the amoxicillin group (10%) than placebo (5%). Conclusion : Aboriginal infants receiving continuous amoxicillin had more normal ears, fewer perforations, and less pneumococcal carriage. There was no statistically significant increase in resistant pneumococci or NCHi in amoxicillin children compared to placebo children who received regular paediatric care and antibiotic treatment for symptomatic illnesses