Why a universal Child Grant makes sense in Nepal: a four-step analysis

Whether cash transfers should be poverty targeted or universal within certain social categories remains a hotly debated topic. Recent plans to expand Nepal’s Child Grant programme brought this question sharply into focus. Using available secondary data, this article presents a four-step analysis that examines the costs and benefits of different approaches. Given the country’s poverty profile, the theoretical results of different targeting models, government capacity and overall costs, a universal (age-cohort targeted) approach achieves the best outcomes for childre

A common polymorphism in NR1H2 (LXRbeta) is associated with preeclampsia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Preeclampsia is a frequent complication of pregnancy and a leading cause of perinatal mortality. Both genetic and environmental risk factors have been identified. Lipid metabolism, particularly cholesterol metabolism, is associated with this disease. Liver X receptors alpha (NR1H3, also known as LXRalpha) and beta (NR1H2, also known as LXRbeta) play a key role in lipid metabolism. They belong to the nuclear receptor superfamily and are activated by cholesterol derivatives. They have been implicated in preeclampsia because they modulate trophoblast invasion and regulate the expression of the endoglin (CD105) gene, a marker of preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between the <it>NR1H3 </it>and <it>NR1H2 </it>genes and preeclampsia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We assessed associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms of <it>NR1H3 </it>(rs2279238 and rs7120118) and <it>NR1H2 </it>(rs35463555 and rs2695121) and the disease in 155 individuals with preeclampsia and 305 controls. Genotypes were determined by high-resolution melting analysis. We then used a logistic regression model to analyze the different alleles and genotypes for those polymorphisms as a function of case/control status.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found no association between <it>NR1H3 </it>SNPs and the disease, but the <it>NR1H2 </it>polymorphism rs2695121 was found to be strongly associated with preeclampsia (genotype C/C: adjusted odds ratio, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.04-4.05; <it>p </it>= 0.039 and genotype T/C: adjusted odds ratio, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.01-3.42; <it>p </it>= 0.049).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides the first evidence of an association between the <it>NR1H2 </it>gene and preeclampsia, adding to our understanding of the links between cholesterol metabolism and this disease.</p

Development of Mission-Design Integrated Framework for Space Launch Vehicles

This study describes multidisciplinary designframework development based on systemengineering concept for various space launchvehicles to assist aeronautical engineers tosuccessfully design mission and system analysisprocess. Design framework is composed of fivemain stages: Requirements, Mission Analysisand Design, System Synthesis and Simulation,Integrated Mission Design, and Reliability andCost Evaluation. Two databases are established:one is used in the process of data-mining forrequirements and another is in the GraphicalUser Interface (GUI) development of framework.K-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) and Regressionmethods are utilized to make the designoptimization performed with fast and successfulconvergence by processing and estimating thedata necessary for design optimization.Framework is mainly developed in VB.Netintegrating with all discipline modulesseparately optimized in Matlab. It isdemonstrated that much better design can beobtained by using this framework and considering the important design factors fromvarious disciplines

Accumulation of Phenylpropanoids and Correlated Gene Expression during the Development of Tartary Buckwheat Sprouts

Buckwheat sprouts are considered an excellent dietary source of phenolic compounds. The time duration and amount of light for sprouting strongly affect the nutritional quality of sprouts. In this study, these two factors were investigated in two cultivars of tartary buckwheat sprouts: Hokkai T8 and T10. The transcriptional levels of flavonoid biosynthetic genes were investigated in light/dark- and dark-treated sprouts. Among the main flavonoid biosynthesis structural genes, <i>FtPAL</i>, <i>Ft4CL</i>, <i>FtF3H</i>, <i>FtDFR</i>, and <i>FtANS</i> exhibited higher transcriptional levels than others as compared to that of a housekeeping gene (histone H3) during sprouting; <i>FtF3′H1</i>, <i>FtF3′H2</i>, <i>FtFLS2</i>, and <i>FtANS</i> were substantially upregulated at 2, 4, and 6 days in light/dark-treated T10 sprouts than in dark-treated ones. However, <i>FtDFR</i> was downregulated in 8 and 10 day old light/dark-treated sprouts of both cultivars. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that increasing the culture time did not affect the accumulation of flavonoids or anthocyanins. However, light contributed the production of anthocyanins in Hokkai T10 sprouts. The anthocyanins included cyanidin 3-<i>O</i>-glucoside, cyanidin 3-<i>O</i>-rutinoside, and delphinidin-3-<i>O</i>-coumarylglucoside, which were identified by HPLC and electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry. Instead of anthocyanins, Hokkai T8 sprouts produced large amounts of 4 flavonoid <i>C</i>-glycosylflavone compounds in both light/dark and dark conditions: orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, and isovitexin. These results indicate that these two types of tartary buckwheat sprouts have different mechanisms for flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthesis that also vary in light/dark and dark conditions

Expression levels of flavonoid biosynthesis genes in hairy roots of <i>F. tataricum.</i>

<p>The expression level of each gene is relative to that of the constitutively expressed histone H3 gene.</p

Scores (A) and loading (B) plots of principal components 1 and 2 of the PCA results obtained from metabolite data derived from tartary buckwheat cultivars.

<p>Scores (A) and loading (B) plots of principal components 1 and 2 of the PCA results obtained from metabolite data derived from tartary buckwheat cultivars.</p