Social Safety Nets for Food and Nutritional Security in India

This paper brings together existing literature on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNRGEA) and the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India, offering a narrative review of the evidence on impacts on food security, health and nutrition of beneficiaries. Both programs operate on a large scale and have the capacity to impact the factors leading to undernutrition. It is evident that despite the deficiencies in implementation, both the MGNREGA and the PDS are inclusive and reach the poor and the marginalized who are likely to also experience greater undernutrition and poor health. Data challenges have however prevented researchers from conducting studies that assess the ultimate impact of these two large-scale programs on health and nutrition. The evidence that exists suggests largely positive impacts indicating a clear potential to make these programs more nutrition sensitive not just by incorporating elements that would explicitly address nutritional concerns but also by directing specific attention to innovations that strengthen critical complementarities and synergies that exist between the two programs

Room Temperature Ionic Liquid-based Microextraction for Pre-concentration of Cadmium and Copper from Biological Samples and Determination by FAAS

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are considered "Green Solvents" for their thermally stable and non-volatile properties. They are employed to replace traditional volatile organic solvents in solvent extraction; organic synthesis, and electrochemistry. In the present work, a simple, selective, sensitive and economical microextraction methodology was developed based on the separation and pr-concentration of RTILs for trace cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) determination in biological samples. Cd and Cu pre-concentration was established using the RTIL(1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C4mim] [PF6]) with dithizorie complex. For the quantitative recovery of Cd and Cu, the effects of the parameters inducing the extraction efficiency and its subsequent determinations, i.e., pH, amount of complexing reagent, volurne of RTILs and dispersant solvent, sample Volume,, extraction time, and temperature Were studied. For Cd and Cu determination under the optimized conditions, the detection limits (LOD) of 0.05 and 0.08 mu g/L and quantification limits (LOQ) of 0.15 and 0.25 mu g/L, respectively, were obtained. An enrichment factor of 75 was achieved for both analytes and the relative standard deviation was < 3%. BCR 144R sewage sludge of domestic origin certified reference material (CRM) was used for validation of the present method. The proposed RTIL. microextraction method was applied for the pre-concentration of Cd and Cu in biological samples with satisfactory results.Room temperature ionic liquids(RTILs) are considered“Green Solvents” for their thermallystable and non-volatile properties.They are employed toreplace traditional volatile organicsolvents in solvent extraction,organic synthesis, and electrochemistry.In the present work,a simple, selective, sensitive andeconomical microextractionmethodology was developedbased on the separation and preconcentrationof RTILs for tracecadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu)determination in biological samples.The Cd and Cu pre-concentrationwas established using theRTIL (1-butyl-3-methylimidazoliumhexafluorophosphate([C4mim][PF6]) with dithizonecomplex. For the quantitativerecovery of Cd and Cu, the effectsof the parameters inducing theextraction efficiency and its subsequentdeterminations, i.e., pH,amount of complexing reagent,volume of RTILs and dispersantsolvent, sample volume, extractiontime, and temperature werestudied. For Cd and Cu determinationunder the optimized conditions,the detection limits (LOD)of 0.05 and 0.08 µg/L and quantificationlimits (LOQ) of 0.15 and0.25 µg/L, respectively, wereobtained. An enrichment factor of75 was achieved for both analytesand the relative standard deviationwas < 3%. BCR 144R sewagesludge of domestic origin certifiedreference material (CRM) wasused for validation of the presentmethod. The proposed RTIL microextractionmethod was appliedfor the pre-concentration of Cdand Cu in biological samples withsatisfactory results

ISSN-1996-918X Pak

Abstract A green analytical procedure based on cloud point extraction (CPE) is proposed for arsenic determination in biological samples (scalp hair). The scalp hair samples were subjected to microwave assisted digestison in a mixture of nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide (2:1 ratio), prior to preconcentration by CPE. Arsenic in digested samples of scalp hair was formed complex with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC), and resulted As-PDC complex was extracted by a non-ionic surfactant octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114), after centrifugation the surfactant-rich phase was diluted with 0.1 mol L −1 HNO 3 in methanol. For optimum recovery of analyte, the influence of the analytical parameters including pH, amounts of complexing and surfactant reagents were investigated. An enrichment factor of 50 was obtained for the preconcentration of As. Limit of detection and quantitation obtained under the optimal conditions were 0.03 and 0.11 µg kg -1 , respectively. The obtained result showed sufficient recovery (&gt; 98%) for As in certified reference material of human hair (BCR 397). The developed method was applied to the determination of As in scalp hair samples of male and female subjects of two villages of Hyderabad, Pakistan

Determination of Total Mercury in Muscle Tissues of Marine Fish Species by Ultrasonic Assisted Extraction Followed by Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A simple and rapid ultrasonic assisted extraction procedure (UEP) was developed for the determination of total mercury (Hg) in muscle tissues of marine fish species. For this purpose four fish species were collected from fish markets of Karachi, Pakistan. Total Hg concentration was determined by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS), following UEP. Certified reference material DORM-2 (dogfish muscle) was used to validate the results. No significant difference was observed between the experimental results and the certified values of CRM (paired t-test). The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) of Hg were 0.133 and 0.445 µg/kg respectively. The Hg concentration in muscle tissues were obtained in the range of 0.721 – 1.41 mg/kg on dry weight. The contribution of the daily intake of Hg, based on the consumption of 250 g fresh fish muscles per day was found in the range of 0.615 – 1.22 µg/kg body weight/ day, which is greater than WHO permissible limit