The Impact of Education on Fertility and Child Mortality: Do Fathers Really Matter Less Than Mothers?

This paper takes advantage of a massive school construction program that took place in Indonesia between 1973 and 1978 to estimate the effect of education on fertility and child mortality. Time and region varying exposure to the school construction program generates instrumental variables for the average education in the household, and the difference in education between husband and wife. We show that female education is a stronger determinant of age at marriage and early fertility than male education. However, female and male education seem equally important factors in reducing child mortality. We suggest that the OLS estimate of the differential effect of women's and men's education may be biased by failure to take in to account assortative matching.

Yeast Exoglycoproteins Produced Under NaCl-Stress Conditions as Efficient Cryoprotective Agents

Six extracellular yeast glycoproteins were prepared from three yeast species in osmotic equilibrium and unequilibrium environments and used as non-penetrating cryoadditives. Glycoproteins secreted by the strain Dipodascus australiensis into growth medium containing NaCl (8% w/v) were found to be the most effective cryoadditives. It was possible to use these glycoproteins alone (without DMSO as penetrating agent) for the cryoprotection of the studied yeasts

Proizvodnja biomase obogaćene karotenoidima ili ergostorolom s pomoću crvenoga kvasca Rhodotorula glutinis izloženog stresnim uvjetima

The aim of this study is to compare the production of biomass enriched with carotenoids and ergosterol by yeast strain Rhodotorula glutinis CCY 20-2-26 grown under optimal growth conditions and in the presence of exogenous stress factors. R. glutinis cells were exposed to UV irradiation, oxidative stress (2–10 mmol/L H2O2) and osmotic stress (2–10 % NaCl). During the experiment, growth characteristics and the production of biomass, carotenoids and ergosterol were evaluated. Experiments were carried out in Erlenmeyer flasks and in laboratory fermentor. First, R. glutinis cells were exposed to higher concentration of stress factors added into the production medium. Further, low concentrations of NaCl and H2O2 were added to the inoculum medium or to both inoculum and production media. Exposure of red yeast cells to all tested stress factors resulted in higher production of carotenoids as well as ergosterol, while biomass production was changed only slightly. Under high stress, 2–3 times increase of β-carotene was observed. The addition of low salt or peroxide concentration into the inoculation media led to about 2-fold increase of carotenoid production. In Erlenmeyer flasks the best effect on the carotenoid and ergosterol production (3- to 4-fold increase) was exhibited by the combined stress: the addition of low amount of NaCl (2 mmol/L) into the inoculum medium, followed by the addition of H2O2 (5 mmol/L) into the production medium. The production of ergosterol in most cases increased simultaneously with the production of carotenoids. Cultivation of R. glutinis carried out in a 2-litre laboratory fermentor was as follows: under optimal conditions about 37 g/L of yeast biomass were obtained containing approx. 26.30 mg/L of total carotenoids and 7.8 mg/L of ergosterol. After preincubation with a mild stress factor, the yield of biomass as well as the production of carotenoids and ergosterol substantially increased. The best production of enriched biomass was obtained in the presence of peroxide in the inoculation medium (52.7 g/L of biomass enriched with 34 mg/L of carotenoids) and also under combined salt/peroxide or salt/salt stress (about 30–50 g/L of biomass enriched with 15–54 mg/L of total carotenoids and about 13–70 mg/L of ergosterol). R. glutinis CCY 20-2-26 could be used as a potential biotechnological producer of carotenoid-rich biomass.Svrha je ovoga rada usporediti proizvodnju biomase, obogaćene karotenoidima ili ergosterolom s pomoću crvenoga kvasca Rhodotorula glutinis CCY 20-2-26 u optimalnim uvjetima rasta, s proizvodnjom u uvjetima vanjskoga stresa. Stanice R. glutinis bile su izložene UV-zračenju, oksidativnom (2-10 mmol/L H2O2) i osmotskom stresu (2-10 % NaCl). Tijekom pokusa, provedenog u Erlenmeyerovim tikvicama i laboratorijskom fermentoru, procijenjene su karakteristike rasta te proizvodnja biomase, karotenoida i ergosterola. Stanice R. glutinis najprije su izložene većim koncentracijama soli i vodikova peroksida dodanih podlozi za uzgoj, a zatim malim koncentracijama tih spojeva dodanih inokulumu ili inokulumu i podlozi za uzgoj. Izlaganjem stanica kvasca stresnim uvjetima dobivene su veće količine karotenoida ili ergosterola, dok se količina proizvedene biomase nije bitno povećala. Dodatkom veće koncentracije soli ili vodikova peroksida količina se β-karotena povećala 2-3 puta, a dodatkom malih koncentracija tih spojeva inokulumu količina je karotenoida dvostruko porasla. U pokusu provedenom u Erlenmeyerovim tikvicama dobiveno je 3-4 puta više karotenoida i ergosterola (u usporedbi s kontrolnim uzorkom) pri ovim uvjetima: 2 % NaCl je dodano inokulumu, a zatim je 5 mmol/L H2O2 dodano podlozi za uzgoj. Uzgojem R. glutinis u laboratorijskom fermentoru volumena 2 L pri optimalnim je uvjetima dobiveno 37 g/L biomase, obogaćene s 26,3 mg/L karotenoida i 7,8 mg/L ergosterola. Nakon prethodne inkubacije stanica kvasca pod blagim se stresom bitno povećala proizvodnja karotenoida i ergosterola. Najbolji su rezultati postignuti u ovim uvjetima: dodatkom vodikova peroksida dobiveno je 52,7 g/L biomase obogaćene s 34 mg/L karotenoida, a dodatkom soli i vodikova peroksida ili dviju različitih koncentracija soli dobiveno je 30-50 g/L biomase obogaćene s 15-54 mg/L karotenoida i 13-70 mg/L ergosterola. Na kraju je pokusa zaključeno da se R. glutinis CCY 20-2-26 može uspješno upotrijebiti za proizvodnju biomase obogaćene karotenoidima

The Use of Raman Spectroscopy to Monitor Metabolic Changes in Stressed Metschnikowia sp. Yeasts

Raman spectroscopy is a universal method designed for the analysis of a wide range of physical, chemical and biological systems or various surfaces. This technique is suitable to monitor various components of cells, tissues or microorganisms. The advantages include very fast non-contact and non-destructive analysis and no or minimal need for sample treatment. The yeasts Metschnikowia can be considered as industrially usable producers of pulcherrimin or single-cell lipids, depending on cultivation conditions and external stress. In the present study, Raman spectroscopy was used as an effective tool to identify both pulcherrimin and lipids in single yeast cells

Agriculture, nutrition and education: On the status and determinants of primary schooling in rural Mali before the crises of 2012

This cross-sectional study examines the status and the determinants of primary education in food insecure areas of Mali. Net and gross enrolment ratios in primary school were between 0.3 and 0.4 for both girls and boys and well below national levels, highlighting a critical gap in terms of access to primary education. Schooling was found to respond to a broad range of determinants, including child's age and nutrition status, as well as on household consumption, on farm labour, teacher availability, and village level remoteness. Interestingly, no significant gender differences were found in terms of primary education. School meals were found to be associated with increased enrolment, attendance and attainment. The scale of the problem in Mali strongly suggests the need for investments in education and social protection to be prioritised and funded as part of national education policy and development strategies

Nutrition, information and household behavior: Experimental evidence from Malawi

Incorrect knowledge of the health production function may lead to inefficient household choices and thereby to the production of suboptimal levels of health. This paper studies the effects of a randomized intervention in rural Malawi that, over a six-month period, provided mothers of young infants with information on child nutrition without supplying any monetary or in-kind resources. A simple model first investigates theoretically how nutrition and other household choices including labor supply may change in response to the improved nutrition knowledge observed in the intervention areas. We then show empirically that the intervention improved child nutrition, household food consumption and consequently health. We find evidence that labor supply increased, which might have contributed to partially fund the increase in food consumption. This paper is the first to study whether non-health choices, particularly parental labor supply, might be affected by parents' knowledge of the child health production function