Progress of children with severe acute malnutrition in the malnutrition treatment centre rehabilitation program: evidence from a prospective study in Jharkhand, India

Background In Jharkhand, Malnutrition Treatment Centres (MTCs) have been established to provide care to children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The study examined the effects of facility- and community based care provided as part the MTC program on children with severe acute malnutrition. Method A cohort of 150 children were enrolled and interviewed by trained investigators at admission, discharge, and after two months on the completion of the community-based phase of the MTC program. Trained investigators collected data on diet, morbidity, anthropometry, and utilization of health and nutrition services. Results We found no deaths among children attending the MTC program. Recovery was poor, and the majority of children demonstrated poor weight gain, with severe wasting and underweight reported in 52 and 83% of the children respectively at the completion of the community-based phase of the MTC program. The average weight gain in the MTC facility (3.8 ± 5.9 g/kg body weight/d) and after discharge (0.6 ± 2.1 g/kg body weight/d) was below recommended standards. 67% of the children consumed food that met less than 50% of the recommended energy and protein requirement. Children experienced high number of illness episodes after discharge: 68% children had coughs and cold, 40% had fever and 35% had diarrhoea. Multiple morbidities were common: 50% of children had two or more episodes of illness. Caregiver’s exposure to MTC’s health and nutrition education sessions and meetings with frontline workers did not improve feeding practices at home. The take-home ration amount distributed to children through the supplementary food program was inadequate to achieve growth benefits. Conclusions Recovery of children during and after the MTC program was suboptimal. This highlights the need for additional support to strengthen MTC program so that effective care to children can be provided

Integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture and forestry: opportunities and trade-offs

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.International audienceAlthough many activities can jointly contribute to the climate change strategies of adaptation and mitigation, climate policies have generally treated these strategies separately. In recent years, there has been a growing interest shown by practitioners in agriculture, forestry, and landscape management in the links between the two strategies. This review explores the opportunities and trade-offs when managing landscapes for both climate change mitigation and adaptation; different conceptua-lizations of the links between adaptation and mitigation are highlighted. Under a first conceptualization of 'joint outcomes,' several reviewed studies analyze how activities without climatic objectives deliver joint adaptation and mitigation outcomes. In a second conceptualization of 'unintended side effects,' the focus is on how activities aimed at only one climate objective—either adaptation or mitigation—can deliver outcomes for the other objective. A third conceptualization of 'joint objectives' highlights that associating both adaptation and mitigation objectives in a climate-related activity can influence its outcomes because of multiple possible interactions. The review reveals a diversity of reasons for mainstreaming adaptation and mitigation separately or jointly in landscape management. The three broad conceptualizations of the links between adaptation and mitigation suggest different implications for climate policy mainstreaming and integration

L-arginine Supplementation Improves Responses to Injury and Inflammation in Dextran Sulfate Sodium Colitis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), consisting of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), results in substantial morbidity and is difficult to treat. New strategies for adjunct therapies are needed. One candidate is the semi-essential amino acid, L-arginine (L-Arg), a complementary medicine purported to be an enhancer of immunity and vitality in the lay media. Using dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) as a murine colonic injury and repair model with similarities to human UC, we assessed the effect of L-Arg, as DSS induced increases in colonic expression of the y+ cationic amino acid transporter 2 (CAT2) and L-Arg uptake. L-Arg supplementation improved the clinical parameters of survival, body weight loss, and colon weight, and reduced colonic permeability and the number of myeloperoxidase-positive neutrophils in DSS colitis. Luminex-based multi-analyte profiling demonstrated that there was a marked reduction in proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine expression with L-Arg treatment. Genomic analysis by microarray demonstrated that DSS-treated mice supplemented with L-Arg clustered more closely with mice not exposed to DSS than to those receiving DSS alone, and revealed that multiple genes that were upregulated or downregulated with DSS alone exhibited normalization of expression with L-Arg supplementation. Additionally, L-Arg treatment of mice with DSS colitis resulted in increased ex vivo migration of colonic epithelial cells, suggestive of increased capacity for wound repair. Because CAT2 induction was sustained during L-Arg treatment and inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) requires uptake of L-Arg for generation of NO, we tested the effect of L-Arg in iNOS−/− mice and found that its benefits in DSS colitis were eliminated. These preclinical studies indicate that L-Arg supplementation could be a potential therapy for IBD, and that one mechanism of action may be functional enhancement of iNOS activity

Factors affecting treatment-seeking for febrile illness in a malaria endemic block in Boudh district, Orissa, India: policy implications for malaria control

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Orissa state in eastern India accounts for the highest malaria burden to the nation. However, evidences are limited on its treatment-seeking behaviour in the state. We assessed the treatment-seeking behaviour towards febrile illness in a malaria endemic district in Orissa.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional community-based survey was carried out during the high malaria transmission season of 2006 in Boudh district. Respondents (n = 300) who had fever with chills within two weeks prior to the day of data collection were selected through a multi-stage sampling and interviewed with a pre-tested and structured interview schedule. Malaria treatment providers (n = 23) were interviewed in the district to gather their insights on factors associated with prompt and effective treatment through a semi-structured and open-ended interview guideline.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Majority of respondents (n = 281) sought some sort of treatment e.g. government health facility (35.7%), less qualified providers (31.3%), and community level health workers and volunteers (24.3%). The single most common reason (66.9%) for choosing a provider was proximity. Over a half (55.7%) sought treatment from appropriate providers within 48 hours of onset of symptoms. Respondents under five years (OR 2.00, 95% CI 0.84-4.80, <it>P </it>= 0.012), belonging to scheduled tribe community (OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.11-4.07, <it>P </it>= 0.022) and visiting a provider more than five kilometers (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.09-3.83, <it>P </it>= 0.026) were more likely to have delayed or inappropriate treatment. Interviews with the providers indicated that patients' lack of trust in community volunteers providing treatment led to inappropriate treatment-seeking from the less qualified providers. The reasons for the lack of trust included drug side effects, suspicions about drug quality, stock-outs of drugs and inappropriate attitude of the provider.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Large-scale involvement of less qualified providers is suggested in the malaria control programme as volunteers after appropriate capacity development since the community has more trust in them. This should be supported by uninterrupted supply of drugs to the community volunteers, and involvement of the community-based organizations and volunteers in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of malaria control services. There is also a need for continuous and rigorous impact evaluations of the program to make necessary modifications, scale up and to prevent drug resistance.</p

Yoga-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation After Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Randomized Trial

Background: Given the shortage of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs in India and poor uptake worldwide, there is an urgent need to find alternative models of CR that are inexpensive and may offer choice to subgroups with poor uptake (e.g., women and elderly). Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the effects of yoga-based CR (Yoga-CaRe) on major cardiovascular events and self-rated health in a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Methods: The trial was conducted in 24 medical centers across India. This study recruited 3,959 patients with acute myocardial infarction with a median and minimum follow-up of 22 and 6 months. Patients were individually randomized to receive either a Yoga-CaRe program (n = 1,970) or enhanced standard care involving educational advice (n = 1,989). The co-primary outcomes were: 1) first occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) (composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, or emergency cardiovascular hospitalization); and 2) self-rated health on the European Quality of Life–5 Dimensions–5 Level visual analogue scale at 12 weeks. Results: MACE occurred in 131 (6.7%) patients in the Yoga-CaRe group and 146 (7.4%) patients in the enhanced standard care group (hazard ratio with Yoga-CaRe: 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.71 to 1.15; p = 0.41). Self-rated health was 77 in Yoga-CaRe and 75.7 in the enhanced standard care group (baseline-adjusted mean difference in favor of Yoga-CaRe: 1.5; 95% CI: 0.5 to 2.5; p = 0.002). The Yoga-CaRe group had greater return to pre-infarct activities, but there was no difference in tobacco cessation or medication adherence between the treatment groups (secondary outcomes). Conclusions: Yoga-CaRe improved self-rated health and return to pre-infarct activities after acute myocardial infarction, but the trial lacked statistical power to show a difference in MACE. Yoga-CaRe may be an option when conventional CR is unavailable or unacceptable to individuals. (A study on effectiveness of YOGA based cardiac rehabilitation programme in India and United Kingdom; CTRI/2012/02/002408)

Genomics-assisted breeding in four major pulse crops of developing countries: present status and prospects

The global population is continuously increasing and is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. This huge population pressure will lead to severe shortage of food, natural resources and arable land. Such an alarming situation is most likely to arise in developing countries due to increase in the proportion of people suffering from protein and micronutrient malnutrition. Pulses being a primary and affordable source of proteins and minerals play a key role in alleviating the protein calorie malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and other undernourishment-related issues. Additionally, pulses are a vital source of livelihood generation for millions of resource-poor farmers practising agriculture in the semi-arid and sub-tropical regions. Limited success achieved through conventional breeding so far in most of the pulse crops will not be enough to feed the ever increasing population. In this context, genomics-assisted breeding (GAB) holds promise in enhancing the genetic gains. Though pulses have long been considered as orphan crops, recent advances in the area of pulse genomics are noteworthy, e.g. discovery of genome-wide genetic markers, high-throughput genotyping and sequencing platforms, high-density genetic linkage/QTL maps and, more importantly, the availability of whole-genome sequence. With genome sequence in hand, there is a great scope to apply genome-wide methods for trait mapping using association studies and to choose desirable genotypes via genomic selection. It is anticipated that GAB will speed up the progress of genetic improvement of pulses, leading to the rapid development of cultivars with higher yield, enhanced stress tolerance and wider adaptability

Development of Useful Recombinant Promoter and Its Expression Analysis in Different Plant Cells Using Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy

BACKGROUND: Designing functionally efficient recombinant promoters having reduced sequence homology and enhanced promoter activity will be an important step toward successful stacking or pyramiding of genes in a plant cell for developing transgenic plants expressing desired traits(s). Also basic knowledge regarding plant cell specific expression of a transgene under control of a promoter is crucial to assess the promoter's efficacy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have constructed a set of 10 recombinant promoters incorporating different up-stream activation sequences (UAS) of Mirabilis mosaic virus sub-genomic transcript (MS8, -306 to +27) and TATA containing core domains of Figwort mosaic virus sub-genomic transcript promoter (FS3, -271 to +31). Efficacies of recombinant promoters coupled to GUS and GFP reporter genes were tested in tobacco protoplasts. Among these, a 369-bp long hybrid sub-genomic transcript promoter (MSgt-FSgt) showed the highest activity in both transient and transgenic systems. In a transient system, MSgt-FSgt was 10.31, 2.86 and 2.18 times more active compared to the CaMV35S, MS8 and FS3 promoters, respectively. In transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum, var. Samsun NN) and Arabidopsis plants, the MSgt-FSgt hybrid promoter showed 14.22 and 7.16 times stronger activity compared to CaMV35S promoter respectively. The correlation between GUS activity and uidA-mRNA levels in transgenic tobacco plants were identified by qRT-PCR. Both CaMV35S and MSgt-FSgt promoters caused gene silencing but the degree of silencing are less in the case of the MSgt-FSgt promoter compared to CaMV35S. Quantification of GUS activity in individual plant cells driven by the MSgt-FSgt and the CaMV35S promoter were estimated using confocal laser scanning microscopy and compared. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: We propose strong recombinant promoter MSgt-FSgt, developed in this study, could be very useful for high-level constitutive expression of transgenes in a wide variety of plant cells