Alcohol Production as an Adaptive Livelihood Strategy for Women Farmers in Tanzania and Its Potential for Unintended Consequences on Women's Reproductive Health.

Although women occupy a central position in agriculture in many developing countries, they face numerous constraints to achieving their full potential including unequal access to assets and limited decision-making authority. We explore the intersection of agricultural livelihoods, food and economic security, and women's sexual and reproductive health in Iringa Region, Tanzania. Our goal was to understand whether the benefits of supporting women in the agricultural sector might also extend to more distal outcomes, including sexual and reproductive health. Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to guide data collection, we conducted 13 focus group discussions (FGD) with female (n = 11) and male farmers (n = 2) and 20 in-depth interviews with agricultural extension officers (n = 10) and village agro-dealers (n = 10). Despite providing the majority of agricultural labor, women have limited control over land and earned income and have little bargaining power. In response to these constraints, women adopt adaptive livelihood strategies, such as alcohol production, that allow them to retain control over income and support their households. However, women's central role in alcohol production, in concert with the ubiquitous nature of alcohol consumption, places them at risk by enhancing their vulnerability to unsafe or transactional sex. This represents a dangerous confluence of risk for female farmers, in which alcohol plays an important role in income generation and also facilitates high-risk sexual behavior. Alcohol production and consumption has the potential to both directly and indirectly place women at risk for undesirable sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Group formation, better access to finance, and engaging with agricultural extension officers were identified as potential interventions for supporting women farmers and challenging harmful gender norms. In addition, joint, multi-sectoral approaches from health and agriculture and alternative income-generating strategies for women might better address the complexities of achieving safe and sustainable livelihoods for women in this context

Higgs decay with monophoton + MET signature from low scale supersymmetry breaking

We study the decay of a standard model-like Higgs boson into a gravitino and a neutralino, which subsequently decays promptly into another gravitino and a photon. Such a decay can be important in scenarios where the supersymmetry breaking scale is of the order of a few TeV, and in the region of low transverse momenta of the photon, it may provide the dominant contribution to the final state with a photon and two gravitinos. We estimate the relevant standard model backgrounds and the prospects for discovering this Higgs decay through a photon and missing transverse energy signal at the LHC in terms of a simplified model. We also give an explicit model with manifest, but spontaneously broken, supersymmetry in which the usual MSSM soft terms are promoted to supersymmetric operators involving a dynamical goldstino supermultiplet. This model can give rise to a SM-like CP-even neutral Higgs particle with a mass of 125 GeV, without requiring substantial radiative corrections, and with couplings sufficiently large for a signal discovery through the above mentioned Higgs decay channel with the upcoming data from the LHC.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables; v2: updated to JHEP version, references adde

From eviction to evicting: Rethinking the technologies, lives and power sustaining displacement

An unnamed shift has occurred in geographies of eviction. While past research focused on the causes and effects of eviction in political economy, state power, and cultural difference, emerging work emphasises the subjective experience and sustaining practices of eviction as it happens. This paper makes the case for this turn away from causes and outcomes of ‘eviction’, and towards ‘evicting’ as a set of material technologies and practices that sustain displacement, and explores the implications of such a shift. Research into lived durations of eviction, evicting technologies, and eviction enforcement agencies opens up new conceptual and political fields of intervention

Automatic radiographic quantification of hand osteoarthritis; accuracy and sensitivity to change in joint space width in a phantom and cadaver study

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.OBJECTIVE: To validate a newly developed quantification method that automatically detects and quantifies the joint space width (JSW) in hand radiographs. Repeatability, accuracy and sensitivity to changes in JSW were determined. The influence of joint location and joint shape on the measurements was tested. METHODS: A mechanical micrometer set-up was developed to define and adjust the true JSW in an acrylic phantom joint and in human cadaver-derived phalangeal joints. Radiographic measurements of the JSW were compared to the true JSW. Repeatability, systematic error (accuracy) and sensitivity (defined as the smallest detectable difference (SDD)) were determined. The influence of joint position on the JSW measurement was assessed by varying the location of the acrylic phantom on the X-ray detector with respect to the X-ray beam and the influence of joint shape was determined by using morphologically different human cadaver joints. RESULTS: The mean systematic error was 0.052 mm in the phantom joint and 0.210 mm in the cadaver experiment. In the phantom experiments, the repeatability was high (SDD = 0.028 mm), but differed slightly between joint locations (p = 0.046), and a change in JSW of 0.037 mm could be detected. Dependent of the joint shape in the cadaver hand, a change in JSW between 0.018 and 0.047 mm could be detected. CONCLUSIONS: The automatic quantification method is sensitive to small changes in JSW. Considering the published data of JSW decline in the normal and osteoarthritic population, the first signs of OA progression with this method can be detected within 1 or 2 years.This work was funded by the Dutch Arthritis Association (Reumafonds). The study sponsor had no involvement in study design, data collection, data analysis, or interpretation of the results

Role of mitochondrial raft-like microdomains in the regulation of cell apoptosis

Lipid rafts are envisaged as lateral assemblies of specific lipids and proteins that dissociate and associate rapidly and form functional clusters in cell membranes. These structural platforms are not confined to the plasma membrane; indeed lipid microdomains are similarly formed at subcellular organelles, which include endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi and mitochondria, named raft-like microdomains. In addition, some components of raft-like microdomains are present within ER-mitochondria associated membranes. This review is focused on the role of mitochondrial raft-like microdomains in the regulation of cell apoptosis, since these microdomains may represent preferential sites where key reactions take place, regulating mitochondria hyperpolarization, fission-associated changes, megapore formation and release of apoptogenic factors. These structural platforms appear to modulate cytoplasmic pathways switching cell fate towards cell survival or death. Main insights on this issue derive from some pathological conditions in which alterations of microdomains structure or function can lead to severe alterations of cell activity and life span. In the light of the role played by raft-like microdomains to integrate apoptotic signals and in regulating mitochondrial dynamics, it is conceivable that these membrane structures may play a role in the mitochondrial alterations observed in some of the most common human neurodegenerative diseases, such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's chorea and prion-related diseases. These findings introduce an additional task for identifying new molecular target(s) of pharmacological agents in these pathologies

Homozygous staggerer (sg/sg) mice display improved insulin sensitivity and enhanced glucose uptake in skeletal muscle

Homozygous staggerer (sg/sg) mice, which have decreased and dysfunctional Ror alpha (also known as Rora) expression in all tissues, display a lean and dyslipidaemic phenotype. They are also resistant to (high fat) diet-induced obesity. We explored whether retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor (ROR) alpha action in skeletal muscle was involved in the regulation of glucose metabolism

Development of a Management Algorithm for Post-operative Pain (MAPP) after total knee and total hip replacement: study rationale and design.

BACKGROUND: Evidence from clinical practice and the extant literature suggests that post-operative pain assessment and treatment is often suboptimal. Poor pain management is likely to persist until pain management practices become consistent with guidelines developed from the best available scientific evidence. This work will address the priority in healthcare of improving the quality of pain management by standardising evidence-based care processes through the incorporation of an algorithm derived from best evidence into clinical practice. In this paper, the methodology for the creation and implementation of such an algorithm that will focus, in the first instance, on patients who have undergone total hip or knee replacement is described. METHODS: In partnership with clinicians, and based on best available evidence, the aim of the Management Algorithm for Post-operative Pain (MAPP) project is to develop, implement, and evaluate an algorithm designed to support pain management decision-making for patients after orthopaedic surgery. The algorithm will provide guidance for the prescription and administration of multimodal analgesics in the post-operative period, and the treatment of breakthrough pain. The MAPP project is a multisite study with one coordinating hospital and two supporting (rollout) hospitals. The design of this project is a pre-implementation-post-implementation evaluation and will be conducted over three phases. The Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARiHS) framework will be used to guide implementation. Outcome measurements will be taken 10 weeks post-implementation of the MAPP. The primary outcomes are: proportion of patients prescribed multimodal analgesics in accordance with the MAPP; and proportion of patients with moderate to severe pain intensity at rest. These data will be compared to the pre-implementation analgesic prescribing practices and pain outcome measures. A secondary outcome, the efficacy of the MAPP, will be measured by comparing pain intensity scores of patients where the MAPP guidelines were or were not followed. DISCUSSION: The outcomes of this study have relevance for nursing and medical professionals as well as informing health service evaluation. In establishing a framework for the sustainable implementation and evaluation of a standardised approach to post-operative pain management, the findings have implications for clinicians and patients within multiple surgical contexts

Mab21l2 Is Essential for Embryonic Heart and Liver Development

During mouse embryogenesis, proper formation of the heart and liver is especially important and is crucial for embryonic viability. In this study, we showed that Mab21l2 was expressed in the trabecular and compact myocardium, and that deletion of Mab21l2 resulted in a reduction of the trabecular myocardium and thinning of the compact myocardium. Mab21l2-deficient embryonic hearts had decreased expression of genes that regulate cell proliferation and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes. These results show that Mab21l2 functions during heart development by regulating the expression of such genes. Mab21l2 was also expressed in the septum transversum mesenchyme (STM). Epicardial progenitor cells are localized to the anterior surface of the STM (proepicardium), and proepicardial cells migrate onto the surface of the heart and form the epicardium, which plays an important role in heart development. The rest of the STM is essential for the growth and survival of hepatoblasts, which are bipotential progenitors for hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Proepicardial cells in Mab21l2-deficient embryos had defects in cell proliferation, which led to a small proepicardium, in which α4 integrin expression, which is essential for the migration of proepicardial cells, was down-regulated, suggesting that defects occurred in its migration. In Mab21l2-deficient embryos, epicardial formation was defective, suggesting that Mab21l2 plays important roles in epicardial formation through the regulation of the cell proliferation of proepicardial cells and the migratory process of proepicardial cells. Mab21l2-deficient embryos also exhibited hypoplasia of the STM surrounding hepatoblasts and decreased hepatoblast proliferation with a resultant loss of defective morphogenesis of the liver. These findings demonstrate that Mab21l2 plays a crucial role in both heart and liver development through STM formation

Area-level deprivation and overall and cause-specific mortality: 12 years' observation on British women and systematic review of prospective studies.

BACKGROUND: Prospective studies have suggested a negative impact of area deprivation on overall mortality, but its effect on cause-specific mortality and the mechanisms that account for this association remain unclear. We investigate the association of area deprivation, using Index of Multiple deprivation (IMD), with overall and cause-specific mortality, contextualising findings within a systematic review. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We used data from 4,286 women from the British Women's Heart Health Study (BWHHS) recruited at 1999-2001 to examine the association of IMD with overall and cause-specific mortality using Cox regression models. One standard deviation (SD) increase in the IMD score had a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.21 (95% CI: 1.13-1.30) for overall mortality after adjustment for age and lifecourse individual deprivation, which was attenuated to 1.15 (95% CI: 1.04-1.26) after further inclusion of mediators (health behaviours, biological factors and use of statins and blood pressure-lowering medications). A more pronounced association was observed for respiratory disease and vascular deaths. The meta-analysis, based on 20 published studies plus the BWHHS (n=21), yielded a summary relative risk (RR) of 1.15 (95% CI: 1.11-1.19) for area deprivation (top [least deprived; reference] vs. bottom tertile) with overall mortality in an age and sex adjusted model, which reduced to 1.06 (95% CI: 1.04-1.08) in a fully adjusted model. CONCLUSIONS: Health behaviours mediate the association between area deprivation and cause-specific mortality. Efforts to modify health behaviours may be more successful if they are combined with measures that tackle area deprivation