Does maternity leave affect child health? Evidence from parental leave in Australia survey

One of the arguments that is advanced in support of paid maternity leave (PML) policies is that the mother’s time away from work, around childbirth, is expected to improve maternal health and child health and development. However evidence on these links is scarce and, until recently, little was known about the link, if any, between child health and maternity leave. Moreover, the limited literature that does exist tends to use aggregate data (i.e., an “ecological design”) to test the hypotheses that maternity leave affects maternal and child health. Evidence from micro-level data is rare because of the unavailability of such data on household level. We employ such data from the Parental Leave in Australia Survey (PLAS), which is a nested survey of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), to examine the impacts of maternity leave on child health. Using the PLAS and the first two waves of the LSAC we find that maternity leave, as measured by the duration of paid maternity leave (PML) and other forms of leave around childbirth, have strong and statistically significant effects on: child health, the decision to breastfeed, the duration of breastfeeding, and the probability that child immunisations are up-to-date. Our results show that mothers who take maternity leave are more likely to breastfeed their children and also that longer-term maternity leave is associated with an increase in the duration of breastfeeding. Our results also confirm that both mothers’ PML and fathers’ paid paternity leave (PPL) have statistically significant and positive effects on general health status of children. We also find that, in most specifications, the effects of PML are significant if the duration of leave is at least 6 weeks. PML is also significantly associated with a lower probability of some childhood chronic conditions such as asthma and bronchiolitis, but the effects of PPL on these conditions is ambiguous

Child Health and the Income Gradient: Evidence from Australia

The positive relationship between household income and child health is well documented in the child health literature but the precise mechanisms via which income generates better health and whether the income gradient is increasing in child age are not well understood. This paper presents new Australian evidence on the child health-income gradient. We use data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian (LSAC), which involved two waves of data collection for children born between March 2003 and February 2004 (B-Cohort), and between March 1999 and February 2000 (K-Cohort). This data set allows us to test the robustness of some of the findings of the influential studies of Case et al. (2002) and J.Currie and Stabile (2003), and a recent study by A.Currie et al. (2007) , using a sample of Australian children. The richness of the LSAC data set also allows us to conduct further exploration of the determinants of child health. Our results reveal an increasing income gradient by child age using similar covariates to Case et al. (2002). However, the income gradient disappears if we include a rich set of controls. Our results indicate that parental health and, in particular, the mother's health plays a significant role, reducing the income coefficient to zero. Thus, our results for Australian children are similar to those produced by Propper et al. (2007) on their British child cohort. We also find some evidence that higher incomes have a protective effect when health shocks do arise: for several chronic conditions, children from higher-income households are less likely to be reported as being in poor health than children from lower-income households who have the same chronic conditions. The latter result is similar to some recent findings by Condliffe and Link (2008) on a sample of US children.Child health, Income gradient, Parental health, Nutrition, Panel data, Australia

AN INNOVATIVE METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND FORCED DEGRADATION STUDIES FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF SOFOSBUVIR AND LEDIPASVIR BY RP HPLC

Objective: To develop an innovative, rapid, simple, cost-effective, stability indicating reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method for simultaneous estimation of ledipasvir (LP) and sofosbuvir (SB) in combination pill dosage form. Methods: The method was developed using C8 column, 250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 mm using mobile section comprising of 0.1% (v/v) orthophosphoric acid buffer at pH 2.2 and acetonitrile in the ratio of 45:55 that was pumped through the column at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min. Temperature was maintained at 30 °C, the effluents were monitored at 260 nm with the help of usage of PDA detector. Results: The retention time of LP and SB were found to be 2.246 min and 3.502 min. The approach was found to be linear with the variety of 9-36 µg/ml and 40-240 μg/ml for LP and SB respectively, the assay of estimated compounds were found to be 99.65% and 99.73% w/v for LP and SB respectively. Conclusion: The pressured samples changed into analyzed and this proposed a technique turned into determined to be particular and stability indicating as no interfering peaks of decay compound and excipients were observed. Hence, the approach was easy and economical that may be efficiently applied for simultaneous estimation of both LP and SB in bulk and combination tablet system

Local dispersal of land snail Zootecus insularis (Ehrenberg, 1831) (Gastropoda: Subulinidae) shells in mangroves of Karachi

1869-1872The present study of the gastropod Zootecus insularis found in mangroves of Karachi, Pakistan is the first report of this species from coastal habitat. Although, the species is a land snail, widely distributed in arid and semiarid lands of many countries including Pakistan, and other nearby countries like Afghanistan and India, its presence in marine wetland habitat is reported from Pakistan in the present study. While studying the benthic fauna of the mangrove swamps of Avicennia marina, fifteen empty shells of the species were found in intertidal muddy region of Korangi Creek and Sand Spit backwaters, Karachi. It is distributed mostly along intertidal zones, more commonly in high and low tidal zones during an average tidal height of 0.5 m. The presence of empty shells of Zootecus insularis in the mangroves sediments is probably, a consequence of a passive transport by external sources

Quantifying opportunities for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation using big data from smallholder crop and livestock farmers across Bangladesh

Funding Information: The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) carried out this work with support of the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD; https://ccafs.cgiar.org/research/projects/climate-services-resilient-development-south-asia ) for South Asia project supported by USAID . This work was also supported by the USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA; https://csisa.org ). CCAFS' work is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors . The views expressed in this paper cannot be taken to reflect the official opinions of CCAFS, USAID, or BMGF, and shall not be used for advertising. We sincerely acknowledge the input and support provided by various stakeholders in Bangladesh during stakeholder meetings. We are thankful to Robel Takele and Sanjay Pothireddy for graphics assistance.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Spatially explicit database on crop-livestock management, soil, climate, greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potential for all of Bangladesh

Acknowledgments: The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) carried out this work with support of the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD; https://ccafs.cgiar.org/research/projects/climate-services-resilient-development-south-asia) for South Asia project supported by USAID. This work was also supported by the USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA; https://csisa.org) CCAFS’ work is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors. The views expressed in this paper cannot be taken to reflect the official opinions of CCAFS, USAID, or BMGF, and shall not be used for advertising.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cellular and Cytokine Responses to Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhi Proteins in Patients with Typhoid Fever in Bangladesh

We assessed interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) responses via enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISPOT) to a number of S. Typhi antigens in samples from humans with S. Typhi bacteremia and typhoid fever in Bangladesh. Compared with responses in healthy endemic zone controls, there were significantly increased IFN-γ responses at the time of clinical presentation (acute phase) and at convalescence 14–28 days later. The majority (80–90%) of IFN-γ expressing T cells were CD4+. We observed a significant increase in interleukin-17 (IL-17) positive CD4 + T cells at convalescent versus acute stage of infection using an intracellular cytokine staining assay. We also found that stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) produced significantly increased levels of a number of cytokines at the convalescent versus acute phase of infection, including IFN-γ, MIP-1β, sCD40L, TNF-β, IL-13, and IL-9. These results suggest that S. Typhi antigens induce a predominantly Th1 response, but that elevations in other cytokines may be modulatory

‘We need to share our stories’: the lives of Pakistanis with intellectual disability and their guardians

© 2020 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Introduction: The experiences of Pakistanis with intellectual disabilities (IDs) and their family members have been underexplored empirically. Method: The present study sought to address this gap by understanding the lives of five Special Olympics Pakistan athletes and their guardians through PhotoVoice. Findings: Through thematic analysis, we present the primary theme concerning Pakistan\u27s cultural context that provides an empirical exploration of cultural beliefs about intellectual disability, cultural expectations and support received by people with intellectual disabilities and their guardians. Discussion: We discuss implications for research and practice