Agricultural Interventions as a Means to Improving Food Security: Experiences of HIV/AIDS-Affected Households in Northern Malawi

Many rural Malawians experience food insecurity, attributed to a number of factors including poverty, climate change, structural adjustment, poor governance and the impacts of HIV/AIDS. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS is currently estimated at 11% amongst adults. To address food insecurity in Northern Malawi, the Soils, Food and Health Communities (SFHC) agroecological project was implemented in 2000. In 2006, the project began to focus some of its program on farmers living with HIV/AIDS, but the impact of this shift has not been studied. There are few studies examining the potential for agricultural interventions to address the food security needs of AIDS-affected households. To fill this gap, this study examines how the SFHC agroecological intervention impacted HIV/AIDS-affected households. Using a feminist political ecology approach, I collected and analysed data from participant observation, visual diagramming with focus groups (n=6) and in-depth interviews (n=63). The findings suggest that SFHC agroecological methods contribute to increased crop yields, labour relief, income generation, networking and dietary diversity. Yet, household poverty, ongoing impacts of HIV/AIDS, gender inequalities and abuse, the high number of dependents per household, and other competing agricultural interventions undermine the intervention’s potential to improve food production and food security. In conclusion, I recommend gender equality advocacy, collaboration of competing interventions, HIV/AIDS burden-sensitive, and holistic program modifications aimed at addressing the factors that are inhibiting HIV/AIDS-affected households’ food security improvement

Evaluating the Efficacy of an Attachment-Informed Psychotherapeutic Parenting Program for Incarcerated Parents

An attachment-based, psychotherapeutic parent education course was created for incarcerated mothers and fathers to improve their ability to provide positive parenting and a more stable home environment for their children. The current study assessed the effects of this parenting curriculum on parents’ tendencies to be abusive, their sense of efficacy and satisfaction as a parent, their psychological distress, and their knowledge of child development and positive child guidance strategies. Results of pre-post assessments showed a significant improvement in parents’ sense of efficacy and satisfaction in the parenting role; their knowledge, skills, and behavior as a parent; their understanding of child development; their knowledge of alternatives to using corporal punishment; establishing appropriate parent-child boundaries; and they were less likely to view their child’s independence as a threat. Females showed a significant decrease in distress symptoms. Results are discussed in terms of the critical need for effective, high-quality parent education to break the intergenerational cycle of poor parenting for this at-risk population

Microbial Analysis of Biomedical Wastes From Selected Health Facilities in Parts of Edo South and Its Public Health Implication

This study, aimed at the microbial analysis of biomedical waste (BMW) was carried out using 100 samples of 10 different BMW collected in duplicates from 5 busy primary healthcare centers (PHCs).The research findings showed a high prevalence of E.coli (39%) and S.aureus (32%) which were both statistically significant at P≤0.05, while the least isolated organisms were K. pnuemoniae (10%) and B. subtilis (4%) and were statistically not significant at P≥0.05. Samples from dressings and beddings were found to contain the highest microbial loadof 25 and 13 respectively while the least number of isolates were from expired cytotoxic drugs (2) and lancets (1).The biochemical tests showed the presence of Gram positive and negative organisms with record of both aerobic and anaerobic isolates from the BMW. The investigation revealed that BMW contains mixed bacterial community with some being pathogenic and pose a public health hazard to both health workers and other community members, therefore adequate treatment measures should be given to all BMW before disposal

Na\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e/K\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e-ATPase α1 mRNA Expression In the Gill and Rectal Gland of the Atlantic Stingray, \u3ci\u3eDasyatis sabina\u3c/i\u3e, Following Acclimation to Increased Salinity Physiology

Background: The salt-secreting rectal gland plays a major role in elasmobranch osmoregulation, facilitating ion balance in hyperosmotic environments in a manner analogous to the teleost gill. Several studies have examined the central role of the sodium pump Na+/K+-ATPase in osmoregulatory tissues of euryhaline elasmobranch species, including regulation of Na+/K+-ATPase activity and abundance in response to salinity acclimation. However, while the transcriptional regulation of Na+/K+-ATPase in the teleost gill has been well documented the potential for mRNA regulation to facilitate rectal gland plasticity during salinity acclimation in elasmobranchs has not been examined. Therefore, in this study we acclimated Atlantic stingrays, Dasyatis sabina (Lesueur) from 11 to 34 ppt salinity over 3 days, and examined changes in plasma components as well as gill and rectal gland Na+/K+-ATPase α1 (atp1a1) mRNA expression. Results: Acclimation to increased salinity did not affect hematocrit but resulted in significant increases in plasma osmolality, chloride and urea. Rectal gland atp1a1 mRNA expression was higher in 34 ppt-acclimated D. sabina vs. controls. There was no significant change in gill atp1a1 mRNA expression, however mRNA expression of this gene in the gill and rectal gland were negatively correlated. Conclusions: This study demonstrates regulation of atp1a1 in the elasmobranch salt-secreting gland in response to salinity acclimation and a negative relationship between rectal gland and gill atp1a1 expression. These results support the hypothesis that the gill and rectal gland play opposing roles in ion balance with the gill potentially facilitating ion uptake in hypoosmotic environments. Future studies should further examine this possibility as well as potential differences in the regulation of Na+/K+-ATPase gene expression between euryhaline and stenohaline elasmobranch species

Site Selection for Norfolk Day Services Facility

In October 2021, The Center: A Temporary Shelter transitioned from its downtown location to a residential area a few blocks away. After the move, a pressing, geographic-based question has surfaced: what makes the best location for the houseless population to be able to utilize resources? Using two methods, this study endeavored to answer this question in multiple ways, through different lenses. Method one\u27s objectives are to find an optimal location(s) for a potential Norfolk day service facility based on 1) proximity to social and health services, 2) proximity to a neighborhood that would most benefit from a day center, and 3) is easily walkable. Whereas the objectives of method two are to: 1) Utilize survey results from the main stakeholders in a day shelter and, 2) incorporating the voice of the houseless. The first method was a suitability study involving known aspects and locations important to the houseless community that utilized spatial analysis techniques including join, intersect, and erase. The second method utilized the results of a survey conducted by adults experiencing houselessness and their additional comments and suggestions on what factors they believe to be important. This study seeks multiple locations to meet the needs of this complex community. The first method highlights Park Place and Ward’s Corner neighborhoods, while the second method determined that downtown Norfolk, Oceanview and Military Circle would be the most optimal. Most importantly, this study highlights how factors thought to be important from a GIS analyst’s perspective are different from the most important stakeholders\u27: the houseless community.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gradposters2022_artsletters/1003/thumbnail.jp

Arbitrating During and Post Covid-19: Nigeria and the Imperativeness of Adopting a Legal Framework on Third-Party Funding: Lessons from Selected Jurisdictions

The advent of Covid-19 has led to the inability of parties fulfilling their commercial and contractual obligations. This inability has led to disputes and has negatively affected the financial fortune of many persons and businesses so that they may not afford or solely bear the cost of funding arbitration. To ensure that parties’ intention to arbitrate their disputes is not frustrated, Third-party funding (TPF), an acceptable practice in jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore, and Hong Kong, is a possible solution. Unfortunately, TPF is unknown to Nigerian law as it offends the common law doctrines of champerty and maintenance. This article, through a doctrinal methodology, examines the legislative effort towards institutionalising TPF in Nigeria and the ethical concerns advanced against it. The article argues that these concerns are more imaginary than real. Hence, they ought not to deter the adoption of TPF in Nigeria for intra- and post-Covid-19 funding of arbitration. It discusses the practice of TPF in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Ghana, and France in which these ethical concerns have been dealt with and draws lessons for Nigeria

Code-Switching and Code-Mixing As Stylistic Devices In Nigerian Prose Fiction: A Study Of Three Nigerian Novels

Nigeria has a very complex linguistic system, with many indigenous languages, various dialects, and the English language. In a multilingual and bicultural society, literary artists are constrained in their literary works by many problems. One of such problems is the expression of African/Nigerian culture, experiences and worldview in English, the language of another culture. Nigerian novelists, like the poets and the dramatists, create literature deriving from Nigerian background, with varying local situations. To proffer solutions to language problems, the novelists modify English language and adopt various stylistic-creative strategies. Among these are code-switching and code-mixing. In this paper, we examine and explicate how three Nigerian novelists employ code-switching and code-mixing as stylistic strategies in their fiction, highlighting also their stylistic significance. KEYWORDS: Code switching, code mixing, dialect, multi-lingual, culture, sociolinguistics, audience and participants

High Prevalence of Obesity and Female Gender Among Patients With Concomitant Tibialis Posterior Tendonitis and Plantar Fasciitis.

UNLABELLED: The link between increased body weight and hindfoot complaints is largely based on correlation to single foot pathology. We retrospectively reviewed 6879 patients with tibialis posterior tendonitis (TPT), plantar fasciitis (PF), or both. Among patients with either TPT or PF, 1 in 11 (9%) had both. We then compared age, gender, and body mass index among these groups. Patients with both diagnoses were neither statistically older nor more obese than patients with single diagnoses. However, they were statistically more female. Given the overall high prevalence of obesity in the study population, we feel these data support the link between obesity and multiple foot pathology. LEVELS OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic, Level IV: Case series