Food Habits and Forms of Food Insecurity among International University Students in Oslo: A Qualitative Study

A growing number of studies indicate that university students and especially international students are prone to experiencing food insecurity (FI). Still, few studies have investigated forms of FI among international students in Europe. Thus, this qualitative study aims to explore experiences regarding FI among international university students in Oslo. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted between May and June 2022 and analyzed using a thematic approach. The sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) was used as a framework for analyzing and interpreting the data. The students experienced food prices as being high and found food variety at the grocery stores to be low, resulting in struggles to fulfil their food preferences and keep a varied diet. Particularly, social aspects of eating were affected due to high dining prices or inadequate cooking facilities in student homes. However, no student openly reported skipping meals and many mentioned attention for healthy eating. Considering our results, it seems of importance to give more attention to cultural and social aspects related to FI when assessing FI among international students. As the number of international students is increasing, knowing more about this phenomenon can support the promotion of initiatives addressing FI in this population.publishedVersio

Re-imagining malaria: heterogeneity of human and mosquito behaviour in relation to residual malaria transmission in Cambodia

BackgroundIn certain regions in Southeast Asia, where malaria is reduced to forested regions populated by ethnic minorities dependent on slash-and-burn agriculture, malaria vector populations have developed a propensity to feed early and outdoors, limiting the effectiveness of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLIN) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). The interplay between heterogeneous human, as well as mosquito behaviour, radically challenges malaria control in such residual transmission contexts. This study examines human behavioural patterns in relation to the vector behaviour.MethodsThe anthropological research used a sequential mixed-methods study design in which quantitative survey research methods were used to complement findings from qualitative ethnographic research. The qualitative research existed of in-depth interviews and participant observation. For the entomological research, indoor and outdoor human landing collections were performed. All research was conducted in selected villages in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia.ResultsVariability in human behaviour resulted in variable exposure to outdoor and early biting vectors: (i) indigenous people were found to commute between farms in the forest, where malaria exposure is higher, and village homes; (ii) the indoor/outdoor biting distinction was less clear in forest housing often completely or partly open to the outside; (iii) reported sleeping times varied according to the context of economic activities, impacting on the proportion of infections that could be accounted for by early or nighttime biting; (iv) protection by LLINs may not be as high as self-reported survey data indicate, as observations showed around 40% (non-treated) market net use while (v) unprotected evening resting and deep forest activities impacted further on the suboptimal use of LLINs.ConclusionsThe heterogeneity of human behaviour and the variation of vector densities and biting behaviours may lead to a considerable proportion of exposure occurring during times that people are assumed to be protected by the distributed LLINs. Additional efforts in improving LLIN use during times when people are resting in the evening and during the night might still have an impact on further reducing malaria transmission in Cambodia

Food Habits and Forms of Food Insecurity among International University Students in Oslo: A Qualitative Study

A growing number of studies indicate that university students and especially international students are prone to experiencing food insecurity (FI). Still, few studies have investigated forms of FI among international students in Europe. Thus, this qualitative study aims to explore experiences regarding FI among international university students in Oslo. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted between May and June 2022 and analyzed using a thematic approach. The sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) was used as a framework for analyzing and interpreting the data. The students experienced food prices as being high and found food variety at the grocery stores to be low, resulting in struggles to fulfil their food preferences and keep a varied diet. Particularly, social aspects of eating were affected due to high dining prices or inadequate cooking facilities in student homes. However, no student openly reported skipping meals and many mentioned attention for healthy eating. Considering our results, it seems of importance to give more attention to cultural and social aspects related to FI when assessing FI among international students. As the number of international students is increasing, knowing more about this phenomenon can support the promotion of initiatives addressing FI in this population

Measles elimination: progress, challenges and implications for rubella control.

Measles and rubella are major vaccine-preventable causes of child mortality and disability. They have been eliminated from the Americas and some other regions have also come close to elimination. In this paper, we review regional progress toward measles and rubella control/elimination goals, describe the recent epidemiology of these infections and discuss challenges to achieving the goals. Globally, measles vaccination is estimated to prevent nearly 2 million deaths each year. Despite this remarkable progress, large measles outbreaks have occurred in recent years, often involving older persons who were not vaccinated in earlier years. Such an occurrence would be particularly damaging for rubella control programmes as it could lead to peaks in congenital rubella syndrome. Challenges to achieving and sustaining high vaccination coverage include civil conflict, weak health systems, geographic, cultural and economic barriers to reaching certain population groups and inadequate monitoring and use of data for action. Countries and regions aiming to eliminate measles and control rubella urgently need to improve the implementation and monitoring of both routine and mass vaccination campaign strategies

Tethering chiral Rh diene complexes inside mesoporous solids: experimental and theoretical study of substituent, pore and linker effects on asymmetric catalysis

Understanding confinement effects in molecular heterogeneous catalysis is a challenging task. In a combined experimental and theoretical approach, we studied the influence of the type, polarity, pore size and shape of the mesoporous material as well as of the aryl substituent at the diene, spacer type and lengths on asymmetric Rh diene catalysis under confinement. For this purpose, a library of novel chiral Rh norbornadiene complexes was immobilized on ordered mesoporous silica (OMS), ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) and non-templated mesoporous SiO$_2$ materials with different pore sizes via azide–alkyne 1,3-dipolar click reaction. Among the different materials, Rh complexes immobilized on OMS performed best in the 1,2-addition of aryl boroxines to N-tosyl imines as a benchmark reaction. High yields were achieved when Rh complexes were connected to pore walls by unbranched linkers of medium lengths (d$_{pore}$ = 5.9 nm). Good enantioselectivities were obtained either by linear alkyl linkers in smaller pores (d$_{pore}$ = 4.9 nm) or branched aminoethanol linkers in larger pores (d$_{pore}$ = 6.8 nm). However, the largest confinement effect was caused by the aryl substituent at the diene moiety, giving up to e.r. 99 : 1 for 1-naphthyl. While complementary X-ray absorption experiments (EXAFS, XANES) could not distinguish between triazole and amide carbonyl coordination at Rh, computational studies supported the triazole coordination