Glucose tolerance study in low and normal birth weight young adults

A CAJM article measuring blood glucose levels by conducting an oral glucose tolerance test in low and normal birth weight young black adults in a Zimbabwe hospital.Birth weight is an important marker and predictor of the future health status of an individual. The incidence of low birth weight is becoming an important public health issue in developing countries. The prevalence of low birth weight in Zimbabwe is 10%and its prevalence is higher in females than males.' Type II diabetes is one of the major health problems in the whole world. Low birth weight is linked to glucose intolerance which leads to type II diabetes. Numerous epidemiological and experimental studies have demonstrated that there is a significant physiological predisposition to glucose intolerance resulting from Low Birth Weight (LBW), a marker of adverse intrauterine environment

Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza juncea var. sericea) for sustainable small ruminant production: feed, helminth suppressant and meat preservation capabilities

CITATION: Mahachi, L. N. et al. 2020. Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza juncea var. sericea) for sustainable small ruminant production: Feed, helminth suppressant and meat preservation capabilities. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 270. doi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2020.114688The original publication is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/animal-feed-science-and-technologySmall ruminants significantly contribute towards livelihood, food and nutrition security for people living in semiarid low-to-middle-income countries. However, their productivity is largely constrained by feed shortages, prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) and postharvest meat losses. The current review explores the possibility of using sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza juncea var. sericea) as a natural helminth suppressant, feed ingredient and meat preservative for improving small ruminant health, meat production and shelf life. Sericea lespedeza has moderate contents of crude protein, fibre, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and diverse composition of physiologically active substances such as condensed tannins, sterols and flavanols from which it derives nutritional, anti-bloat, helminth suppressant, antimicrobial and antioxidative properties. Overall, the present review demonstrates the potential of feeding sericea lespedeza to small ruminants as a sustainable means of controlling GIN and enhancing meat production and shelf life, while also reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, more research is required to determine optimal feeding strategies and doses for reducing GHG emissions while improving health, meat production and quality of small ruminants.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377840120305927?via%3DihubPublishers versio

Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study

Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from 24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a median of 10 years offollow up (∼2005–2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582) switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas, electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels

The blood group as determinant of endurance in running a comparison between sedentary blood group O and non-blood group O individuals

Background: Beyond their traditional relevance (blood transfusion and organ transplants), recent data has shown that blood groups have a role to play in endurance during physical activity.Objective: To determine the influences of blood groups and muscle fibre types on endurance.Design: An experimental design, specifically an ex post facto design with a cohort of healthy male participants.Setting: The research was community based.Subjects: Avolunteer sample of 50 male participants from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences was studied. Participants were between the ages of 20-25 years with a physical activity level of less than 4000 MET/minutes/week.Participants with a history of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and/or were taking any pharmaceutical drug were excluded.Main Outcome Measures: An association between blood group, muscle fibre type and endurance during exercise in sedentary individuals.Results: Mean age was 21.1±1.1 years. The mean height and weight were 173.88±5.80cm and 67.09±8.63kg respectively. Blood group O participants covered significantly more distance 2.45±1.03 km compared to 1.86±0.52 km covered by non-O blood group participants (*p=0.016) and spent more time on the treadmill 22.30±5.75 minutes compared to 18.03±4.01 minutes covered by the Non-O individuals (*p=0.004). There was a statistically significant association between muscle fibre composition and blood group category (*p=0.002). Most blood O participants (73%) had dominant type I muscle fibres.Conclusion: There is an association between the blood group and endurance. Sedentary blood group O individuals have better endurance compared to sedentary Non-O individuals. Participants with dominant type I muscles have better endurance. Agreater proportion of blood group O participants had dominant type I muscle fibres. &nbsp

Regulated displacement of TBP from the PHO8 promoter in vivo requires Cbf1 and the Isw1 chromatin remodeling complex.

Regulated binding of TBP to a promoter is a key event in transcriptional regulation. We show here that on glucose depletion, the S. cerevisiae Isw1 chromatin remodeling complex is required for the displacement of TBP from the PHO8 promoter. Displacement of TBP also requires the sequence-specific bHLH-LZ factor Cbf1p that targets Isw1p to the PHO8 UAS. Cbf1p- and Isw1p-dependent displacement of TBP is also observed at the PHO84 promoter, but not at the ADH1 promoter, where loss of TBP is Cbf1p- and Isw1p independent. The results point to a promoter-specific Isw1p-dependent mechanism for targeted regulation of basal transcription by displacement of TBP from a promoter