Green Economy and Food Security in Africa

The study is carried out with the objective of making contributions to the policy debate that is vital and relevant towards achieving sustainable development goals of ending poverty (SDG1), ensuring adequate food and nutrition (SDG2), promoting health and well-being (SDG3), ensuring sustainable management of water and sanitation (SGD6), building sustainable cities (SDG11), reducing emissions that cause climate change (SDG13), and protecting life in the ocean (SDG14) and on land (SDG15). The study used information from various data sources. This study made use of the data obtained from three main sources, notably, the FAO—Food and Agricultural Organization, CPIA—Country Policy and Institutional Assessment and WDI— World Development Indicators to accomplish its goals. The data for the analysis cover the range of 2005 to 2020 for African countries that members of the International Development Association (37 nations). To handle the problem of endogeneity, they applied the GMM— generalized method of moments. Findings revealed that when the economy is green, the state of food security increases. It proves that one proportionate increase in a green economy may lead to the improvement of food security in Africa by 0.24%. The findings from the GMM show that as an economy becomes greener, the condition of food insecurity reduces. In conclusion, the study submits that it is required for all relevant stakeholders to focus on policy and strategies to reach green economic growth

Valuing families' preferences for drug treatment: a discrete choice experiment

The burden on family members of those who are dependent on illicit drugs is largely unidentified despite the presence of significant negative financial, health and social impacts. This makes it difficult to provide appropriate services and support. This study aimed to assess the preferences for treatment attributes for heroin dependence among family members affected by the drug use of a relative and to obtain a measure of the intangible economic benefit. Discrete choice experiment. Data were analysed using mixed logit which accounted for repeated responses. Australia PARTICIPANTS: Eligible participants were Australian residents of 18+ years of age with a relative with problematic drug use. Complete data on 237 respondents were analysed; 21 invalid responses were deleted. Participant preference for likelihood of staying in treatment, family conflict, own health status, contact with police and monetary contribution to a charitable organisation providing treatment. All attributes were significant, and the results suggest there was a preference for longer time in treatment, less family discord, better own health status, less likelihood of their relative encountering police, and while they were willing to contribute to a charity for treatment to be available, they prefer to pay less not more. In order of relative importance, participants were willing to pay an additional $4.46 (95$42.00 (95% CI 28.30-55.69) to avoid 5 days per week of family discord, $87.94 (95$129.66 (95% CI 53.50-205.87) for each 1% decline in the chance of police contact. Drug treatment in Australia appears to have intangible benefits for affected family members. Families are willing to pay for treatment which reduces family discord, improves their own health, increases time in treatment and reduces contact with police. BACKGROUND AND AIMS DESIGN SETTING MEASUREMENTS FINDINGS CONCLUSION

Pollutant-Induced Modulation in Conformation and β-Lactamase Activity of Human Serum Albumin

Structural changes in human serum albumin (HSA) induced by the pollutants 1-naphthol, 2-naphthol and 8-quinolinol were analyzed by circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. The alteration in protein conformational stability was determined by helical content induction (from 55 to 75%) upon protein-pollutant interactions. Domain plasticity is responsible for the temperature-mediated unfolding of HSA. These findings were compared to HSA-hydrolase activity. We found that though HSA is a monomeric protein, it shows heterotropic allostericity for β-lactamase activity in the presence of pollutants, which act as K- and V-type non-essential activators. Pollutants cause conformational changes and catalytic modifications of the protein (increase in β-lactamase activity from 100 to 200%). HSA-pollutant interactions mediate other protein-ligand interactions, such as HSA-nitrocefin. Therefore, this protein can exist in different conformations with different catalytic properties depending on activator binding. This is the first report to demonstrate the catalytic allostericity of HSA through a mechanistic approach. We also show a correlation with non-microbial drug resistance as HSA is capable of self-hydrolysis of β-lactam drugs, which is further potentiated by pollutants due to conformational changes in HSA

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory mechanisms in uveitis

The eye, as currently viewed, is neither immunologically ignorant nor sequestered from the systemic environment. The eye utilises distinct immunoregulatory mechanisms to preserve tissue and cellular function in the face of immune-mediated insult; clinically, inflammation following such an insult is termed uveitis. The intra-ocular inflammation in uveitis may be clinically obvious as a result of infection (e.g. toxoplasma, herpes), but in the main infection, if any, remains covert. We now recognise that healthy tissues including the retina have regulatory mechanisms imparted by control of myeloid cells through receptors (e.g. CD200R) and soluble inhibitory factors (e.g. alpha-MSH), regulation of the blood retinal barrier, and active immune surveillance. Once homoeostasis has been disrupted and inflammation ensues, the mechanisms to regulate inflammation, including T cell apoptosis, generation of Treg cells, and myeloid cell suppression in situ, are less successful. Why inflammation becomes persistent remains unknown, but extrapolating from animal models, possibilities include differential trafficking of T cells from the retina, residency of CD8(+) T cells, and alterations of myeloid cell phenotype and function. Translating lessons learned from animal models to humans has been helped by system biology approaches and informatics, which suggest that diseased animals and people share similar changes in T cell phenotypes and monocyte function to date. Together the data infer a possible cryptic infectious drive in uveitis that unlocks and drives persistent autoimmune responses, or promotes further innate immune responses. Thus there may be many mechanisms in common with those observed in autoinflammatory disorders

The Risk of Intraocular Pressure Elevation in Pediatric Noninfectious Uveitis

To characterize the risk and risk factors for intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation in pediatric non-infectious uveitis

A cognitive perspective on equivalent effect: using eye tracking to measure equivalence in source text and target text cognitive effects on readers

Eye-tracking methods have long been used to explore cognitive processing in reading, but the recent burgeoning of such methods in the field of translation studies has focused almost entirely on the translation process or audiovisual translation, neglecting the effects of the translation product itself. This paper presents a proof-of-concept study using eye tracking to compare fixation data between native readers of a French literary source text and native readers of its English translation at specific, corresponding points in the texts. The preliminary data are consistent with previous findings on the relationship between the features of the fixated word and fixation durations. These findings are also consistent with stylistic analyses and indicate that this method can be used to compare the levels of cognitive effort between two readership groups in order to investigate whether their experience is similar – whether an ‘equivalent effect’ has been achieved – thus contributing to the ongoing discourse surrounding equivalence in translation studies

The Role of Neighborhood Environment in Promoting Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Disease among Young Adults: Data from Middle to High Income Population in an Asian Megacity

Background: Modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have their triggers in the neighborhood environments of communities. Studying the environmental triggers for CVD risk factors is important to understand the situation in a broader perspective. Young adults are influenced the most by the environment profile around them hence it is important to study this subset of the population.Methods: This was a descriptive study conducted using the EPOCH research tool designed by the authors of the PURE study. The study population consisted of young adults aged 18-25 in two areas of Karachi. The study setting was busy shopping malls frequented by young adults in the particular community being studied.Results: Our total sample size was 120 individuals, who consented to be interviewed by our interviewers. Less than 50% of the population recognized some form of restriction regarding smoking in their communities. The largest contributor to tobacco advertising was actors smoking in movies and TV shows with 89% responses from both communities. Only 11.9% of the individuals disapproved of smoking cigarettes among men with wide acceptance of \u27sheesha\u27 across all age groups. Advertising for smoking and junk food was more frequent as compared to smoking cessation, healthy diet and exercise in both the areas. Unhealthy food items were more easily available in contrast to healthier options. The cost of healthy snack food options including vegetables and fruits was higher than sugary drinks and foods.CONCLUSION: This assessment showed that both communities were exposed to environments that promote risk factors for cardiovascular diseases