Determination of the potential impact of domestic Anaerobic Digester Systems: a community based research initiative in rural Bangladesh

Abstract : This research examines the potential impact of domestic anaerobic digester (AD) systems adopted in Bangladesh and similar developing countries. Cattle dung and poultry litter feed stocks were specifically investigated, because these were freely available and plentiful to people living within agricultural areas of rural Bangladesh. Data was collected to ascertain whether these two representative AD facility types provide tangible social, economic and environmental impact that benefits homeowners. Primary quantitative and qualitative data was obtained by field data collection, and meeting with expert groups and stakeholders. Empirical analysis conducted revealed that variations were found in the biomass feedstocks available on different sites but also differences were apparent in terms of the operations and maintenance (O and M) systems of the biogas plants operated. The biogas and methane yield variation was also measured, and variations were found in the cattle dung and poultry litter AD yield capacity. Overall, 64% of feedstock was utilised, 91% of biogas plants remain underfed and energy yield efficiency was 57% from cattle smallholdings’ AD and 28% from poultry farms’ AD. These results showed that small scale AD can offer a significant impact upon rural lifestyles through augmented economics, improved social activities, relationship building with neighbours and improved lifestyle achieved via time savings accrued. These results could help rural entrepreneurs, AD equipment providers and government institutions to develop a road map to implement future AD installation on a much wider geographical scale

Postmortem investigations and identification of multiple causes of child deaths: An analysis of findings from the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network

BACKGROUND: The current burden of >5 million deaths yearly is the focus of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years old by 2030. To accelerate progression toward this goal, data are needed that accurately quantify the leading causes of death, so that interventions can target the common causes. By adding postmortem pathology and microbiology studies to other available data, the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network provides comprehensive evaluations of conditions leading to death, in contrast to standard methods that rely on data from medical records and verbal autopsy and report only a single underlying condition. We analyzed CHAMPS data to characterize the value of considering multiple causes of death. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We examined deaths identified from December 2016 through November 2020 from 7 CHAMPS sites (in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and South Africa), including 741 neonatal, 278 infant, and 241 child <5 years deaths for which results from Determination of Cause of Death (DeCoDe) panels were complete. DeCoDe panelists included all conditions in the causal chain according to the ICD-10 guidelines and assessed if prevention or effective management of the condition would have prevented the death. We analyzed the distribution of all conditions listed as causal, including underlying, antecedent, and immediate causes of death. Among 1,232 deaths with an underlying condition determined, we found a range of 0 to 6 (mean 1.5, IQR 0 to 2) additional conditions in the causal chain leading to death. While pathology provides very helpful clues, we cannot always be certain that conditions identified led to death or occurred in an agonal stage of death. For neonates, preterm birth complications (most commonly respiratory distress syndrome) were the most common underlying condition (n = 282, 38%); among those with preterm birth complications, 256 (91%) had additional conditions in causal chains, including 184 (65%) with a different preterm birth complication, 128 (45%) with neonatal sepsis, 69 (24%) with lower respiratory infection (LRI), 60 (21%) with meningitis, and 25 (9%) with perinatal asphyxia/hypoxia. Of the 278 infant deaths, 212 (79%) had ≥1 additional cause of death (CoD) beyond the underlying cause. The 2 most common underlying conditions in infants were malnutrition and congenital birth defects; LRI and sepsis were the most common additional conditions in causal chains, each accounting for approximately half of deaths with either underlying condition. Of the 241 child deaths, 178 (75%) had ≥1 additional condition. Among 46 child deaths with malnutrition as the underlying condition, all had ≥1 other condition in the causal chain, most commonly sepsis, followed by LRI, malaria, and diarrheal disease. Including all positions in the causal chain for neonatal deaths resulted in 19-fold and 11-fold increases in attributable roles for meningitis and LRI, respectively. For infant deaths, the proportion caused by meningitis and sepsis increased by 16-fold and 11-fold, respectively; for child deaths, sepsis and LRI are increased 12-fold and 10-fold, respectively. While comprehensive CoD determinations were done for a substantial number of deaths, there is potential for bias regarding which deaths in surveillance areas underwent minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS), potentially reducing representativeness of findings. CONCLUSIONS: Including conditions that appear anywhere in the causal chain, rather than considering underlying condition alone, markedly changed the proportion of deaths attributed to various diagnoses, especially LRI, sepsis, and meningitis. While CHAMPS methods cannot determine when 2 conditions cause death independently or may be synergistic, our findings suggest that considering the chain of events leading to death can better guide research and prevention priorities aimed at reducing child deaths

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world's rivers

Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world's rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

African, Indian And Chinese Patterns Of Energy Healing

This article examines some African, Indian and Chinese patterns of energy healing in order to explicate common forms. All accept, as a given, the existence of a universal energy to which everyone has access. All extol a form of healing energy and some form of conscious breathwork, with relative emphases on ancestors, meditation and movement in African, Indian and Chinese patterns respectively. Illness is viewed as a disruption or stagnation of energy patterns which need continual channeling, mobilisation, balancing and harmonisation for optimal health. Keywords: Energy healing. Indilinga Vol. 6 (2) 2007 pp. 164-17

Indigenous patterns of energy healing with special reference to Africa, India and China

The approach of this article is on energy healing as holistic, contextual and essentially psychological. In order to explicate common themes, various indigenous patterns of energy healing in Africa, India and China are examined. Core themes that emerge include views of the universe as an interrelated whole, of illness as a disruption or stagnation of energy  patterns, which need continual harmonisation for optimal health, and of a universal energy to which everyone has access, particularly via breathing and meditation techniques. Other themes include universal healing patterns such as dialogue, spirituality, shared worldview, communal context, cultural compatibility, common expectations, emotional arousal, information exchange, various healing approaches, resources, methods and techniques, individual, familial and social learning and change.Keywords: Indigenous knowledge systems, energy healing, Africa, India, China

An investigation into the erroneous access and egress behaviours of building users and their impact upon building performance

Purpose: This study investigates the behaviour of building users and how this behaviour impacts upon building energy performance. Specifically, the work examines the behavioural traits of able-bodied users of a large higher education building who erroneously access and egress the building using doorways intended for disabled users only. Research Approach: An inductive methodological approach is adopted that employs grounded theory to devise new insights into building users’ access and egress habits. Structured interviews are conducted to collect primary data from 68 building users of a large educational building over a four-week period. Responses to questions posed provide the basis for a tabularisation of behavioural traits. Findings: Reasons for able-bodied building users’ preferences to using disabled access are identified and discussed; these are thematically grouped under the headings of: apathy, convenience, emergency, ergonomics, ignorance and phobia. Building upon these findings, the research then offers insights into the approaches that could be adopted to change the erroneous behaviours. These approaches include: education of building users on the impact their behaviour has upon building performance and environmental pollution; more stringent regulation to penalise repeat offenders; and changes to building entrance design using obtrusive (i.e. radio frequency identification tags) and unobstrusive control measures (i.e. a second entrance doorway or slower opening mechanism). Originality: This study is the first of its kind to investigate the rationale for able-bodied building users erroneously utilising disabled persons’ access and egress doorways within a building, which as a consequence, inadvertently reduces the building’s environmental performance

A field survey of Hand-Arm Vibration Exposure in the UK utilities sector

Purpose: Excessive exposure to HAV can lead to hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) which is a major health and well-being issue that can irreparably damage to the neurological, vascular and muscular skeletal system. This paper reports upon field research analysis of the hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure levels of utility workers in the UK construction sector when operating hand held vibrating power tools. Methodology: An empirical epistemological lens was adopted to analyse primary quantitative data on the management of hand held tool trigger times (seconds) collected from field studies. To augment the analysis further, an interpretivist perspective was undertaken to qualitatively analyse interviews held with the participating company’s senior management team post field study results. This approach sought to provide further depth and perspective on the emergent numerical findings. Findings: The findings reveal that none of the operatives were exposed above the exposure limit value (ELV) and that 91.07% resided under the exposure action value (EAV). However the Burr four parameter model probability model (which satisfied the Anderson-Darling, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Chi-squared goodness of fit tests a

Protamine nanocapsules as carriers for oral peptide delivery

Peptides represent a promising therapeutic class with the potential to alleviate many severe diseases. A key limitation of these active molecules relies on the difficulties for their efficient oral administration. The objective of this work has been the rational design of polymer nanocapsules (NCs) intended for the oral delivery of peptide drugs. For this purpose, we selected insulin glulisine as a model peptide. The polymer shell of the NCs was made of a single layer of protamine, a cationic polypeptide selected for its cell penetration properties, or a double protamine/polysialic acid (PSA) layer. Insulin glulisine-loaded protamine and protamine/PSA NCs, prepared by the solvent displacement method, exhibited a size that varied in the range of 200–400 nm and a neutral surface charge (from +8 mV to −6 mV), depending on the formulation. The stability of the encapsulated peptide was assessed using circular dichroism and an in vitro cell activity study. Colloidal stability studies were also performed in simulated intestinal media containing enzymes and the results indicated that protamine NCs were stable and able to protect insulin from the harsh intestinal environment, and that this capacity could be further enhanced with a double PSA-Protamine layer. These NCs were freeze-dried and stored at room temperature without alteration of the physicochemical properties. When the insulin-loaded protamine NCs were administered intra-intestinally to diabetic rats (12 h fasting) it resulted in a prolonged glucose reduction (60%) as compared to the control insulin solution. This work raises prospects that protamine NCs may have a potential as oral peptide delivery nanocarriers