Longitudinal assessment of lipoprotein(a) levels in perinatally HIV-infected children and adolescents

HIV is an independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease (CVD); therefore, perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) children potentially have a greater CVD risk at older age. Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is an established risk factor for CVD in the general population. To evaluate a potential increased CVD risk for PHIV children, we determined their lipid profiles including Lp(a). In the first substudy, we assessed the lipid profiles of 36 PHIV children visiting the outpatient clinic in Amsterdam between 2012 and 2020. In the second substudy, we enrolled 21 PHIV adolescents and 23 controls matched for age, sex and ethnic background on two occasions with a mean follow-up time of 4.6 years. We assessed trends of lipid profiles and their determinants, including patient and disease characteristics, using mixed models. In the first substudy, the majority of PHIV children were Black (92%) with a median age of 8.0y (5.7-10.8) at first assessment. Persistent elevated Lp(a) levels were present in 21/36 (58%) children (median: 374 mg/L (209-747); cut off = 300). In the second substudy, the median age of PHIV adolescents was 17.5y (15.5-20.7) and of matched controls 16.4y (15.8-19.5) at the second assessment. We found comparable lipid profiles between groups. In both studies, increases in LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol were associated with higher Lp(a) levels. A majority of PHIV children and adolescents exhibited elevated Lp(a) levels, probably associated with ethnic background. Nonetheless, these elevated Lp(a) levels may additionally contribute to an increased CVD risk.Cellular mechanisms in basic and clinical gastroenterology and hepatolog

Supplying Vegetables to Asian Cities: Is there a Case for Peri-Urban Production?

In this paper, we analyse the dynamic interplay between peri-urban vegetable producers and their changing production and marketing environments in Asia, using examples from urban conglomerates in South, Southeast and East Asia. We discuss income generation, labour use, management of land and water resources, use of urban and market waste materials and health and food safety aspects. We conclude that peri-urban vegetable production, even though currently economically viable, is unlikely to be able to compete in the long run for scarce land and labour resources, unless alternative production technologies become available and the positive externalities generated by peri-urban agriculture become internalised. There is thus an urgent need for interdisciplinary research aimed at developing such technologies as well as for integrated economic and environmental analyses that take explicit account of interactions between peri-urban producers, the urban waste management sector, municipal planners and consumer

Is there too much or too little natural forest in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica

Deforestation rates in developing countries are often regarded as excessive, despite the lack of a satisfactory economic benchmark to evaluate this claim. This paper provides such a benchmark for a particular region in Costa Rica. The monetary value of the various functions performed by tropical rainforests is estimated and used in a conventional optimal control model to compute the globally optimal natural forest stock in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica. The results indicate that the current forest stock is suboptimally large, suggesting that promoting further forest conversion can increase economic welfare. The current stock would be near optimal only when (i) the annual benefits of carbon fixation are extremely high and (ii) the government of Costa Rica would be fully compensated for this positive externality

Rural Development Policies and Sustainable Land Use in the Hillside Areas of Honduras: a Quantitave Livelihoods Approach

The survey was a research collaboration between International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR), and the National Program for Sustainable Rural Development (PRONADERS) of the Honduran Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG).The data were collected at three levels: farm household, parcel (distinguished by tenure status), and plot (distinguished by land use type). The survey contains a total of 376 farms, 1066 parcels, and 2143 plots. The survey collected information about household composition, education, asset ownership, labor use, sources of income, sales of crop and livestock products, participation in credit markets, membership of organizations, participation in training and extension, collective action and others at the farm level. The survey also collected information about cropping patterns, crop yields, and technology use including use of inputs at the plot level and land tenure, conservation practices, and conservation investments at the parcel level. In order to better understand the performance of the farm enterprise, the survey also collected detailed biophysical data for a sample of two plots on each farm including landscape attributes, size, type of soil parent material, erosion status, and presence of physical conservation structures. Soil samples were also taken and analyzed in a local soil laboratory resulting in data regarding pH, nutrient content, organic matter content, and soil texture. These data were mainly used for the calculation of water availability, soil fertility, and erosion risk which together served as a basis for soil suitability ratings. Finally, the survey data were supplemented by adding secondary information regarding rainfall, population density, and road density. The raw data are available in Access format and in SPSS format

An interdisciplinary approach to regional land use analysis using GIS, with applications to the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica

Policy makers and other stakeholders concerned with regional rural development increasingly face the need for instruments that can improve transparency in the policy debate and that enhance understanding of opportunities for and limitations to development. To this end, a methodology called SOLUS (Sustainable Options for Land Use) was developed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists over a 10-year period in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica. The main tools of SOLUS include a linear programming (LP) model, two expert systems that define technical coefficients for a large number of production activities, and a geographic information system (GIS). A five-step procedure was developed for GIS to spatially reference biophysical and economic parameters, to create input for the expert systems and the LP model, to store and spatially reference model output data, and to create maps of both model input and output data. SOLUS can be used to evaluate the potential effects of alternative policies and incentive structures on the performance of the agricultural sector. A number of practical applications demonstrate SOLUS's capability to quantify trade-offs between economic objectives (income, employment) and environmental sustainability (soil nutrient balances, pesticide use, greenhouse gas emissions). GIS-created maps visualize the spatial aspects of such trade-offs and indicate hotspots where local goals may conflict with regional goals

Determinants of income-earning strategies and adoption of conservation practices in hillside communities in rural Honduras

Based on the results of participatory diagnostic surveys conducted in 95 rural communities in the hillsides of Honduras, we determine income earning strategies at the community level; identify their main determinants; and analyze the adoption of of conservation practices. Eight income-earning strategies were distinguished that reflect differences in comparative advantage between communities. We explain the choice of income earning strategy using a multinomial logit model that includes biophysical, economic, social and institutional variables. We use a probit model to show that adoption of conservation practices is determined by the type of income earning strategy, population density, market access, and organizational variables