IMPACT OF OBESITY ON PULMONARY FUNCTIONS AMONG YOUNG NON-SMOKER HEALTHY FEMALE OF SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA

Objectives: The sedentary lifestyle, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet of Malaysian female have become important contributing factors to the rise of obesity. Studies on pulmonary function in relation to obesity are very few in Malaysia. Therefore, the study was aimed to evaluate the effect of obesity on pulmonary functions among young adult healthy female students of Shah Alam, Malaysia.Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in a total of 100 (50 obese and 50 non-obese) adult non-smoker healthy female students aged 18–25 years. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), FEV1 as a percentage of FVC (FEV1/FVC%), maximum midexpiratory flow rate (FEF 25–75%), and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) were measured using a computerized spirometer. Body weight, height, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC) were measured.Results: The mean FVC (L), FEV1 (L), FEV1/FVC ratio, FEF 25–75% (L/s), and PEFR (L/s) of obese group were marginally lower than non-obese control group, but the differences were not statistically significant. WC and waist–hip ratio exhibited significant (p<0.05) inverse correlation with all pulmonary function measurements except FEV1/FVC%. However, body mass index had no significant correlation with any spirometric variables in studied obese females.Conclusion: There was no significant effect of obesity on pulmonary functions in the studied Malaysian females. However, abdominal obesity had more impact on the impairment of pulmonary functions than overall relative obesity

Effects of pesticide, indoxacarb on zebrafish (Danio Rerio) toxicity test

The effect of different concentrations of indoxacarb were studied on adult and embyros of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Acute and chronic toxicity tests were performed on adult and embryos, at different concentrations. At the highest concentration of 30 ppm, there was significant reduction on the hatching rate of embryos. The lethal concentration (LC50) in this study was 1.44 ppm. In acute and chronic toxicity on adult zebrafish, at concentrations of 0.5 ppm and 1.0 ppm, survival was until 14 days. Based on our findings we suggest to reduce the chemical footprint, if not on a total ban on indoxacarb, especially for agricultural applications

INDICES: Exploiting Edge Resources for Performance-aware Cloud-hosted Services

International audienceDespite the known benefits of hosting cloud-based services, the longer and often unpredictable end-to-end network latencies between the end user and the cloud can be detrimental to the response time requirements of the interactive cloud-hosted applications. Existing efforts that exploit edge/fog technology to migrate services closer to clients in order to improve response times do not fully resolve this problem as they do not focus on performance and interference issues at the migrated locations. This paper proposes INDICES framework that addresses these limitations by providing a novel solution that determines when and to which MDC a service should be migrated to and thus provides the desired performance. Empirical results validating our claims are presented using a setup comprising a centralized cloud and MDCs composed of heterogeneous hardware

Mapping child growth failure across low- and middle-income countries

Child growth failure (CGF), manifested as stunting, wasting, and underweight, is associated with high 5 mortality and increased risks of cognitive, physical, and metabolic impairments. Children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face the highest levels of CGF globally. Here we illustrate national and subnational variation of under-5 CGF indicators across LMICs, providing 2000–2017 annual estimates mapped at a high spatial resolution and aggregated to policy-relevant administrative units and national levels. Despite remarkable declines over the study period, many LMICs remain far from the World Health 10 Organization’s ambitious Global Nutrition Targets to reduce stunting by 40% and wasting to less than 5% by 2025. Large disparities in prevalence and rates of progress exist across regions, countries, and within countries; our maps identify areas where high prevalence persists even within nations otherwise succeeding in reducing overall CGF prevalence. By highlighting where subnational disparities exist and the highest-need populations reside, these geospatial estimates can support policy-makers in planning locally 15 tailored interventions and efficient directing of resources to accelerate progress in reducing CGF and its health implications