Sub clinical vitamin A deficiency and anemia among Vietnamese children less than five years of age

The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of sub clinical vitamin A deficiency and anemia in Vietnamese children. For this, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in 40 villages (clusters) of four ecological regions in Vietnam during Apr-May 2001. In total 1657 children less than 5 years old were included by a cluster random sampling method. The prevalence of sub clinical vitamin A deficiency (serum retinol <0.70 μmol/L) was 12.0% and the prevalence of anemia (hemoglobin <110g/L) was 28.4 %. In the children under 6 months the prevalence of sub clinical vitamin A deficiency was 35.1 % whereas the prevalence of anemia in this group was as high as 61.7%. The prevalence of children with both sub clinical vitamin A deficiency and anemia was 6.1%. Sub clinical vitamin A deficiency and anemia prevalence differed significantly across the regions, with highest prevalence in the Northern Mountainous areas for vitamin A deficiency and in the Northern Mountainous area and Mekong River Delta for anemia. It is concluded that sub clinical vitamin A deficiency and anemia are still important public health problems in Vietnam. Sustainable strategies for combating vitamin A deficiency and nutritional anemia are needed and should concentrate on target groups, especially infants and malnourished children in high risk regions

Study protocol: Cost effectiveness of two strategies to implement the NVOG guidelines on hypertension in pregnancy: An innovative strategy including a computerised decision support system compared to a common strategy of professional audit and feedback, a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hypertensive disease in pregnancy remains the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands. Seventeen percent of the clinical pregnancies are complicated by hypertension and 2% by preeclampsia. The Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NVOG) has developed evidence-based guidelines on the management of hypertension in pregnancy and chronic hypertension. Previous studies showed a low adherence rate to other NVOG guidelines and a large variation in usual care in the different hospitals. An explanation is that the NVOG has no general strategy of practical implementation and evaluation of its guidelines. The development of an effective and cost effective implementation strategy to improve adherence to the guidelines on hypertension in pregnancy is needed.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The objective of this study is to assess the cost effectiveness of an innovative implementation strategy of the NVOG guidelines on hypertension including a computerised decision support system (BOS) compared to a common strategy of professional audit and feedback. A cluster randomised controlled trial with an economic evaluation alongside will be performed. Both pregnant women who develop severe hypertension or pre-eclampsia and professionals involved in the care for these women will participate. The main outcome measures are a combined rate of major maternal complications and process indicators extracted from the guidelines. A total of 472 patients will be included in both groups. For analysis, descriptive as well as regression techniques will be used. A cost effectiveness and cost utility analysis will be performed according to the intention-to-treat principle and from a societal perspective. Cost effectiveness ratios will be calculated using bootstrapping techniques.</p

Expression analysis of somatic embryogenesis-related SERK, LEC1, VP1 and NiR ortologues in rye (Secale cereale L.)

The genetic basis of the regeneration process in cultured immature embryos of rye (Secale cereale L.) was analyzed. The experiments were designed to reveal differences between the in vitro culture responses of two inbred lines: L318 (a high regeneration ability) and L9 (a low potential for regeneration). The rye ortologues of plant genes previously recognized as crucial for somatic embryogenesis and morphogenesis in vitro were identified. Using oligonucleotide primers designed to conserved regions of the genes Somatic Embryogenesis Receptor-like Kinase (SERK), Leafy Cotyledon 1 (LEC1), Viviparous 1 (VP1) and NiR (encoding ferredoxin-nitrite reductase), it was possible to amplify specific homologous sequences from rye RNA by RT-PCR. The transcript levels of these genes were then measured during the in vitro culture of zygotic embryos, and the sites of expression localized. The expression profiles of these genes indicate that their function is likely to be correlated with the in vitro response of rye. In line L9, increased expression of the rye SERK ortologue was observed at most stages during the culture of immature embryos. The suppression of ScSERK expression appears to start after the induction of somatic embryogenesis and lasts up to plant regeneration. The rye ortologues of the LEC1 and VP1 genes may function in a complimentary manner and have a negative effect on the production of the embryogenic callus. The expression of the rye NiR ortologue during in vitro culture reveals its importance in the process of plant regeneration

Enhancement of Rydberg-mediated single-photon nonlinearities by electrically tuned Förster resonances

We demonstrate experimentally that Stark-tuned Förster resonances can be used to substantially increase the interaction between individual photons mediated by Rydberg interaction inside an optical medium. This technique is employed to boost the gain of a Rydberg-mediated single-photon transistor and to enhance the non-destructive detection of single Rydberg atoms. Furthermore, our all-optical detection scheme enables high-resolution spectroscopy of two-state Förster resonances, revealing the fine structure splitting of high-n Rydberg states and the non-degeneracy of Rydberg Zeeman substates in finite fields. We show that the ∣50S1/2,48S1/2⟩↔∣49P1/2,48P1/2⟩ pair state resonance in 87Rb enables simultaneously a transistor gain G>100 and all-optical detection fidelity of single Rydberg atoms F>0.8. We demonstrate for the first time the coherent operation of the Rydberg transistor with G>2 by reading out the gate photon after scattering source photons. Comparison of the observed readout efficiency to a theoretical model for the projection of the stored spin wave yields excellent agreement and thus successfully identifies the main decoherence mechanism of the Rydberg transistor