Determinants of Undernutrition among Children under Age 5 in the Puntland State of Somalia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of nutritional status among children under age 5 (0-59 months) in Puntland. Undernutrition is a global challenge, it does not only adversely affect short‐ and long‐term health and economic well‐being of children but it is also a leading contributor to death and disability globally. Undernutrition short-term effects include mortality and morbidity where long-term effects are that the children do not reach their full developmental potential and would have poor cognitive performance, which in turn has consequences on the country’s economic productivity. Nutritional status of the Somali children in Puntland is relatively poor due to many reasons such as low economic conditions of Somali households, lack of food security and severe drought that has affected the country in recent years and among other factors. This study used data from the Puntland Health and Demographic Survey 2020 which was conducted by the Department of Statistics at Puntland Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation with technical support from UNFPA Somalia. The analysis used stunting, wasting, and underweight as dependent variables, while the independent variables were children, maternal, and household characteristics. Bivariate and multivariate Logistic regression models were performed to analyze the determinants of nutritional status among the children. The study showed a significant association between children’s nutritional status and most of the explanatory variables under study. Place of residence, gender of household head, wealth index, source of drinking water, source of energy for cooking, toilet facility, mother’s age, marital status, education, breastfeeding, ANC visits, BMI, work status, child’s sex, child’s age, birth order and size at birth have significant associations with children’s nutrition status. The study found that most variables in child, maternal, and household characteristics were significantly associated with stunting and wasting among children under age five.  Based on these findings, the research recommends that a multi-sectoral approach is needed to address undernutrition in Puntland state. Combined nutrition programmes from different sectors in line with National Development Plans (NDP) need to be designed to address the underlying causes of acute and chronic malnutrition

Avatars of Eurocentrism in the critique of the liberal peace

Recent scholarly critiques of the so-called liberal peace raise important political and ethical challenges to practices of postwar intervention in the global South. However, their conceptual and analytic approaches have tended to reproduce rather than challenge the intellectual Eurocentrism underpinning the liberal peace. Eurocentric features of the critiques include the methodological bypassing of target subjects in research, the analytic bypassing of subjects through frameworks of governmentality, the assumed ontological split between the ‘liberal’ and the ‘local’, and a nostalgia for the liberal subject and the liberal social contract as alternative bases for politics. These collectively produce a ‘paradox of liberalism’ that sees the liberal peace as oppressive but also the only true source of emancipation. However, the article suggests that a repoliticization of colonial difference offers an alternative ‘decolonizing’ approach to critical analysis through repositioning the analytic gaze. Three alternative research strategies for critical analysis are briefly developed

The effect of ammonia concentration on the treatment of bio electrochemical leachate using MFCs technology.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have garnered attention in bio-electrochemical leachate treatment systems. The most common forms of inorganic ammonia nitrogen are ammonium ([Formula: see text]) and free ammonia. Anaerobic digestion can be inhibited in both direct (changes in environmental conditions, such as fluctuations in temperature or pH, can indirectly hinder microbial activity and the efficiency of the digestion process) and indirect (inadequate nutrient levels, or other conditions that indirectly compromise the microbial community's ability to carry out anaerobic digestion effectively) ways by both kinds. The performance of a double-chamber MFC system-composed of an anodic chamber, a cathode chamber with fixed biofilm carriers (carbon felt material), and a Nafion 117 exchange membrane is examined in this work to determine the impact of ammonium nitrogen ([Formula: see text]) inhibition. MFCs may hold up to 100 mL of fluid. Therefore, the bacteria involved were analysed using 16S rRNA. At room temperature, with a concentration of 800 mg L-1 of ammonium nitrogen and 13,225 mg L-1 of chemical oxygen demand (COD), the study produced a considerable power density of 234 mWm-3. It was found that [Formula: see text] concentrations above 800 mg L-1 have an inhibitory influence on power output and treatment effectiveness. Multiple routes removed the most nitrogen ([Formula: see text]-N: 87.11 ± 0.7%, NO2 -N: 93.17 ± 0.2% and TN: 75.24 ± 0.3%). Results from sequencing indicate that the anode is home to a rich microbial community, with anammox (6%), denitrifying (6.4%), and electrogenic bacteria (18.2%) making up the bulk of the population. Microbial fuel cells can efficiently and cost-effectively execute anammox, a green nitrogen removal process, in landfill leachate

Post-Traumatic Intra-Cocoon Mesenteric Tear: A Case Report

Sclerosing peritonitis, more commonly called abdominal cocoon, is a rare intra-peritoneal disease that is characterized by complete or partial encapsulation of the small intestine by a thick collagenous membrane. This disease mostly presents in the form of small bowel obstruction, however in our case the patient presented with intra-cocoon bleeding following a motor vehicle accident

The influence of various chemical oxygen demands on microbial fuel cells performance using leachate as a substrate.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), hailed as a promising technology, hold the potential to combat various wastewater pollutants while simultaneously converting their chemical energy into electricity through biocatalysts. This study explores the applicability of a dual compartment MFC (DC-MFC) under varying conditions, targeting the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from landfill leachate and electricity generation. In this setup, anaerobic sludge from a wastewater treatment plant serves as the inoculum in the anode compartment of the MFC, with a Nafion117 membrane acting as the separator between MFC units. The cathode compartments are filled with distilled water and continually aerated for 24 h to enhance air supply. The study assesses the MFC's performance across different COD concentrations, focusing on COD removal, power generation, and Coulombic efficiency. The findings reveal that COD removal efficiency is notably enhanced at higher concentrations of organic matter. Specifically, at a COD concentration of 3325.0 mg L-1, the MFC exhibited the highest COD removal efficiency (89%) and maximum power density (339.41 mWm-2), accompanied by a Coulombic efficiency of 25.5%. However, as the initial substrate concentration increased to 3825 mg L-1, the efficiency decreased to 72%, with a Coulombic efficiency of 13.56% and a power density of 262.34 mWm-2. Optical density levels increased due to bacterial growth at ambient temperature and neutral pH, reflecting the dynamic microbial response within the system

Gene expression in lungs of mice lacking the 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter gene

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While modulation of the serotonin transporter (5HTT) has shown to be a risk factor for pulmonary arterial hypertension for almost 40 years, there is a lack of in vivo data about the broad molecular effects of pulmonary inhibition of 5HTT. Previous studies have suggested effects on inflammation, proliferation, and vasoconstriction. The goal of this study was to determine which of these were supported by alterations in gene expression in serotonin transporter knockout mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight week old normoxic mice with a 5-HTT knock-out (5HTT-/-) and their heterozygote(5HTT+/-) or wild-type(5HTT+/+) littermates had right ventricular systolic pressure(RVSP) assessed, lungs collected for RNA, pooled, and used in duplicate in Affymetrix array analysis. Representative genes were confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR and western blot.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RVSP was normal in all groups. Only 124 genes were reliably changed between 5HTT-/- and 5HTT+/+ mice. More than half of these were either involved in inflammatory response or muscle function and organization; in addition, some matrix, heme oxygenase, developmental, and energy metabolism genes showed altered expression. Quantitative RT-PCR for examples from each major group confirmed changes seen by array, with an intermediate level in 5HTT +/- mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results for the first time show the in vivo effects of 5HTT knockout in lungs, and show that many of the downstream mechanisms suggested by cell culture and ex vivo experiments are also operational in vivo. This suggests that the effect of 5HTT on pulmonary vascular function arises from its impact on several systems, including vasoreactivity, proliferation, and immune function.</p

Genome wide analysis of gene expression changes in skin from patients with type 2 diabetes

Non-healing chronic ulcers are a serious complication of diabetes and are a major healthcare problem. While a host of treatments have been explored to heal or prevent these ulcers from forming, these treatments have not been found to be consistently effective in clinical trials. An understanding of the changes in gene expression in the skin of diabetic patients may provide insight into the processes and mechanisms that precede the formation of non-healing ulcers. In this study, we investigated genome wide changes in gene expression in skin between patients with type 2 diabetes and non-diabetic patients using next generation sequencing. We compared the gene expression in skin samples taken from 27 patients (13 with type 2 diabetes and 14 non-diabetic). This information may be useful in identifying the causal factors and potential therapeutic targets for the prevention and treatment of diabetic related diseases