Comparative Analysis on Roof Covering Materials Sustainability as Constructed by Bamboo and Corrugated Galvanized Iron Sheet in Rural Areas Around Wolkite, Ethiopia

One of the most important components of any building is the roof, which protects the interior of the building from environmental influences. It is sustainable to switch roofing materials from expensive roofing materials to inexpensive and environmentally friendly materials. Today's roofing materials have negative effects on the environment due to the manufacturing process. Therefore, this research has mainly focused on the development of sustainable roofing materials through life cycle cost analysis. Approximately ten bamboo samples from homeowners in the Wolkite area and one Adama corrugated galvanized sheet were taken to analyze the life cycle costs. Data on the ecological and socio-economic aspects of the selected roofing materials were collected with the help of interviews and questionnaires. The cost of galvanized corrugated iron sheet of 1.8m2 was $38.19 while the cost of bamboo was$3.91; the researchers concluded that treated bamboo roofs have lower life cycle costs per 1.8 square meters (approximately 89.76% less than corrugated galvanized iron), more environmentally friendly. And also using bamboo as roofing material, create a good job opportunity for the society by cultivating and preparing bamboo to the construction input

Associations among food security, BMI, diet diversity and food consumption patterns of women in rural Kenya

Enhancing food security is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Improved agricultural production is an approach to addressing food insecurity. However, these efforts can result in significant changes that are associated with increased risk of non-communicable chronic diseases. Previous research with women in Central Kenya found that the number of years a woman-farmer was engaged in dairy development was associated with greater food security and energy (kJ) intake. No studies have examined food security and the nutrition transition among rural farm women involved in dairy development initiatives. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2009 and again in 2017. Chain referral sampling was used in 2009 to recruit 111 women in five groups based on how long they had been a dairy group member (non-members and members from one to more than 10 years). In 2017, 20 women were randomly selected from 85 of the dairy-group member households surveyed in 2009 and a comparison group of 20 women was randomly selected from a list that was generated by referral from the participants. In person one-on-one interviews were conducted with a translator. Demographic, household food security, and dietary intake were collected in both years. In 2009 women’s height and weight data were collected for BMI calculation. Associations among food security, BMI, dietary intake, and year of data collection were examined. Demographic characteristics were comparable between 2009 and 2017 and between food secure and food insecure  households. In both years, the majority of households were categorized as not food insecure (67% and 75%; 2009 and 2017, respectively). In 2009 almost half the women (49.4%) had BMIs in the overweight and obese category. Food secure women had a  significantly higher median BMI (26.5) compared with food insecure women (24.0). Diet diversity was low (<5) for all women and there was little evidence for a classic “western diet” of the nutrition transition. There was evidence of globalization in food availability and  greater purchasing capacity that was demonstrated by the high proportion of women that consumed sugar, refined fats and oils, refined maize and wheat flours, and bread. Household food security was associated with the consumption of sugar, cabbage, wheat  flour and bread. These findings support a unique rural nutrition transition, with food security, characterized by low dietary diversity, access to refined basic foods and high unhealthy BMI. Governments and non-governmental organizations need to support nutrition- sensitive agriculture and public health programs to curb the crisis of overweight, undernourishment and chronic diseases. Key words: agriculture, nutrition transition, rural, farm, Kenya, women, BMI, diet diversit

A randomized, multicentre trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of fast-acting insulin aspart in continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion in adults with type 1 diabetes (onset 5).

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of fast-acting insulin aspart (faster aspart) vs insulin aspart (IAsp) used in continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) in participants with type 1 diabetes (T1D). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a double-blind, treat-to-target, randomized, 16-week trial investigating CSII treatment with faster aspart (n = 236) or IAsp (n = 236). All available information, regardless of treatment discontinuation, was used for the evaluation of effect. RESULTS: Faster aspart was non-inferior to IAsp regarding the change from baseline in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c; primary endpoint). The mean HbA1c changed from 58.4 mmol/mol (7.5%) at baseline to 57.8 mmol/mol (7.4%) with faster aspart and to 56.8 mmol/mol (7.4%) with IAsp after 16 weeks' treatment, with an estimated treatment difference (ETD) of 1.0 mmol/mol (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14; 1.87) or 0.09% (95% CI 0.01; 0.17; P < 0.001) for non-inferiority (0.4% margin; P < 0.02 for statistical significance in favour of IAsp). Faster aspart was superior to IAsp in change from baseline in 1-hour postprandial glucose (PPG) increment after a meal test (ETD -0.91 mmol/L [95% CI -1.43; -0.39] or -16.4 mg/dL [95% CI -25.7; -7.0]; P = 0.001), with statistically significant reductions also at 30 minutes and 2 hours. The improvement in PPG was reflected in the change from baseline in 1-hour interstitial glucose increment after all meals (ETD -0.21 mmol/L [95% CI -0.31; -0.11] or -3.77 mg/dL [95% CI -5.53; -2.01]). There was no statistically significant difference in the overall rate of severe or blood glucose-confirmed hypoglycaemia (estimated rate ratio 1.00 [95% CI 0.85; 1.16]). A numerical imbalance in severe hypoglycaemic episodes between faster aspart and IAsp was seen in the treatment (21 vs 7) and 4-week run-in periods (4 vs 0). CONCLUSIONS: Faster aspart provides an effective and safe option for CSII treatment in T1D.NovoNordis

Hypoxia Impairs Muscle Function and Reduces Myotube Size in Tissue Engineered Skeletal Muscle

Contemporary tissue engineered skeletal muscle models display a high degree of physiological accuracy compared with native tissue, and therefore may be excellent platforms to understand how various pathologies affect skeletal muscle. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease which causes tissue hypoxia and is characterized by muscle fiber atrophy and impaired muscle function. In the present study we exposed engineered skeletal muscle to varying levels of oxygen (O2; 21–1%) for 24 h in order to see if a COPD like muscle phenotype could be recreated in vitro, and if so, at what degree of hypoxia this occurred. Maximal contractile force was attenuated in hypoxia compared to 21% O2; with culture at 5% and 1% O2 causing the most pronounced effects with 62% and 56% decrements in force, respectively. Furthermore at these levels of O2, myotubes within the engineered muscles displayed significant atrophy which was not seen at higher O2 levels. At the molecular level we observed increases in mRNA expression of MuRF-1 only at 1% O2 whereas MAFbx expression was elevated at 10%, 5%, and 1% O2. In addition, p70S6 kinase phosphorylation (a downstream effector of mTORC1) was reduced when engineered muscle was cultured at 1% O2, with no significant changes seen above this O2 level. Overall, these data suggest that engineered muscle exposed to O2 levels of ≤5% adapts in a manner similar to that seen in COPD patients, and thus may provide a novel model for further understanding muscle wasting associated with tissue hypoxia

Towards the entanglement negativity of two disjoint intervals for a one dimensional free fermion

We study the moments of the partial transpose of the reduced density matrix of two intervals for the free massless Dirac fermion. By means of a direct calculation based on a coherent state path integral, we find an analytic form for these moments in terms of the Riemann theta function. We show that moments of arbitrary order are equal to the same quantities for the compactified boson at the self-dual point. These equalities also imply the nontrivial result that the negativity of the free fermion and the self-dual boson are equal

Analysis of protein carbonylation - pitfalls and promise in commonly used methods

Abstract Oxidation of proteins has received a lot of attention in the last decades due to the fact that they have been shown to accumulate and to be implicated in the progression and the patho-physiology of several diseases such as Alzheimer, coronary heart diseases, etc. This has also resulted in the fact that research scientist became more eager to be able to measure accurately the level of oxidized protein in biological materials, and to determine the precise site of the oxidative attack on the protein, in order to get insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of diseases. Several methods for measuring protein carbonylation have been implemented in different laboratories around the world. However, to date no methods prevail as the most accurate, reliable and robust. The present paper aims at giving an overview of the common methods used to determine protein carbonylation in biological material as well as to highlight the limitations and the potential. The ultimate goal is to give quick tips for a rapid decision making when a method has to be selected and taking into consideration the advantage and drawback of the methods

Uncovering Students' Knowledge in Local History: The Camando to Leon Case

This descriptive-quantitative research study determined the knowledge in the local history of the Grade 12 students in Leon, Iloilo, when respondents were classified according to a type of school, family income, place of residence, and exposure and participation in Municipal activities. Through stratified random sampling technique, 233 Grade 12 students of the six secondary schools in the Municipality of Leon Batch 2019-2020 were the selected participants. The data were gathered utilizing a duly-validated researcher-made questionnaire that was delivered via an online Google form to the selected Grade 12 students of the six secondary schools. Using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), the data was tallied, computer-processed, analyzed, and interpreted and set at a .05 level of significance. Students have average awareness of local history and exposure to and participation in various municipal events when classified by type of school, family income, and place of residence. When pupils were categorized according to the type of school, there was a significant difference in their knowledge of local history but no significant differences in their family income or place of residence. Students' knowledge of local history has no significant relationship to their level of exposure and participation in various municipal activities. Students are more knowledgeable about sociocultural history than they do about political history