Woodfuel Traps And Consumption Patterns In Salisbury's Townships

The problem of getting cheap firewood is now common is Salisbury's townships. It is getting worse each day as the removal of indigenous timber in the townships' surroundings becomes widespread. Many third world countries face a major problem of wood fuel crisis. In historic times wood fuel shortages dislodged many population centers. Shortage of wood fuel was one of the reasons for the fall of the 'Great Zimbabwe’ Kingdom in the mid-fifteenth century. The 'unnaturally large population, concentrated in one spot ... sooner or later exhausted the grazing, the fertility of the soil and timber available for building and firewood (Garlake, 1973). Beach (1930) noted that 'the people (of Great Zimbabwe) after the year 1100, had begun to make superior huts with walls made of thick daga rather than poles and daga'. The timber needed was therefore, for use mainly as firewood

Peri-Urban Deforestation In Harare, 1955 - 1980

Deforestation is the removal or destruction of woody plant species, or of forest and woodland vegetation types. This may be in the form of selective felling of trees from woodlands or the entire clearance of wooded areas, (Whitlow, 1979). Deforestation in the peripheral areas of Harare is perpetrated by low income families resident in the city’s townships (Low-income residential areas). The principal cause is gathering wood fuel. for cooking and heating. Therefore, the process is a direct result of an energy crisis among the low-income families. Similar occurrences have been reported in other Third World urban centers (Morgan, 1978; Le Houeron and Lundholm, 1976; and F.A.O., 1974)

Determinants of maternal healthcare utilization in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe and other developing countries struggle to achieve millennium development goals originally set for 2015. To assist health policy making, there was an investigation of how demographic, socioeconomic and cultural factors determine maternal healthcare services use in Zimbabwe. A logistic model for four different maternal healthcare services using data from the 2005/6 Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey was estimated. Secondary education increases the odds of use of maternal health services by at least 2 times at 1 percent level of significance whilst access to information increases the odds by 1.52 at the 5 percent level of significance. Women in urban areas are more likely to give birth at healthcare facilities OR 3.49 compared to their rural counterparts at 1 percent significance level. Women from highest income households are more likely to give birth at health facilities than those from poorest households OR 6.44 at 1 percent level of significance whilst the pattern is consistent for other services as well. Other important determinants are age, education, wealth, polygamy and religious affiliation. Generally, policy makers have to appreciate that these factors affect different maternal health services differently. Consequently, strategies to improve the uptake of maternal healthcare like mass media and health workers, particularly for disadvantaged sections of the population like rural areas and the uneducated, should be targeted at specific components rather than planning umbrella strategies

The effect of stock market wealth on private consumption in Zimbabwe

The study seeks to examine stock market wealth effects on private non-durable consumption for Zimbabwean households using quarterly data from 1994(1) to 2008(2). The bounds testing approach to cointegration is employed to test the long run relationship between stock market wealth and consumption. An autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) analysis is implemented to examine the relationship among the variables both in the short-run and the long run. The empirical findings suggest significant wealth effects for Zimbabwe, a developing country. This contradicts the commonly held view that LDCs should have insignificant wealth effect since the financial system is still underdeveloped. The dynamic short run error correction model also shows a speedy convergence to long run equilibrium

p63 and SOX2 Dictate Glucose Reliance and Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a malignancy arising across multiple anatomical sites, is responsible for significant cancer mortality due to insufficient therapeutic options. Here, we identify exceptional glucose reliance among SCCs dictated by hyperactive GLUT1-mediated glucose influx. Mechanistically, squamous lineage transcription factors p63 and SOX2 transactivate the intronic enhancer cluster of SLC2A1. Elevated glucose influx fuels generation of NADPH and GSH, thereby heightening the anti-oxidative capacity in SCC tumors. Systemic glucose restriction by ketogenic diet and inhibiting renal glucose reabsorption with SGLT2 inhibitor precipitate intratumoral oxidative stress and tumor growth inhibition. Furthermore, reduction of blood glucose lowers blood insulin levels, which suppresses PI3K/AKT signaling in SCC cells. Clinically, we demonstrate a robust correlation between blood glucose concentration and worse survival among SCC patients. Collectively, this study identifies the exceptional glucose reliance of SCC and suggests its candidacy as a highly vulnerable cancer type to be targeted by systemic glucose restriction