Association between mother's work status and child stunting in urban slums: a cross-sectional assessment of 346 child-mother dyads in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2020)

Background A growing literature highlights the increased risk of stunting among children growing up in informal or slum settlements. Despite relatively high rates of female labor force participation in slums, there is limited evidence on relationship between mother's work participation and nutritional outcomes of children in these settings. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in two large slums (Korail and Tongi) of Dhaka and Gazipur, Bangladesh to assess the association between maternal work and childhood stunting in a low-income urban context. Logistic regression models estimated unconditional and conditional associations between maternal work status and 1) child stunting, 2) child morbidity and dietary intake, and 3) health and hygiene behaviors. Subgroup analyses were done by type of child care support available. Results After adjusting for variations in individual and household level characteristics, we found that children of working mothers had nearly twice the odds of being stunted than children of non-working mothers (OR 1.84, 95%CI 1.05-3.23). Large differences in stunting were found by available care support: compared to children of non-working mothers, children of working mothers with nuclear-type family support had 4.5 times increased odds of stunting (OR 4.49, 95%CI 1.81-11.12), while no odds differential was found for children of working mothers with an extended-type family support (OR 0.69, 95%CI 0.30-1.59). Conclusions Maternal employment is associated with a substantial increase in the odds of child stunting in the slum areas studied. Given that these effects only appear to arise in the absence of adequate family support, integrating appropriate childcare support measures for low-income urban working mothers might be an effective strategy to help reduce the prevalence of chronic undernutrition among slum children

Towards sustainable groundwater systems in South Asia: Data exploration in Nalanda district in Bihar, India

Groundwater resources and irrigation systems are a fundamental consideration for sustainable and inclusive food system transitions in South Asia. Over the course of the latter part of the 20th century and the early 21st century, groundwater has become the primary source of irrigation water across South Asia and globally. The aquifers in Western and Peninsula regions in South Asia have faced water scarcity and groundwater depletion. But in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, aquifers are still considered underutilized by most planners and policymakers. This has resulted in increased investments in groundwater irrigation for water security and climate adaptation. However, the aquifer response to increasing irrigation water withdrawals remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, TAFSSA is developing watershed assessment on sustainable groundwater use. Starting with Nalanda distric in Bihar, India, a relatively water scarce district within the Eastern Gangetic Plains. This research note reports on the initial findings from existing groundwater data and outlines key steps towards building a groundwater model to support sustainable groundwater management and planning

Whole blood gene expression profiling of neonates with confirmed bacterial sepsis

peer-reviewedNeonatal infection remains a primary cause of infant morbidity and mortality worldwide and yet our understanding of how human neonates respond to infection remains incomplete. Changes in host gene expression in response to infection may occur in any part of the body, with the continuous interaction between blood and tissues allowing blood cells to act as biosensors for the changes. In this study we have used whole blood transcriptome profiling to systematically identify signatures and the pathway biology underlying the pathogenesis of neonatal infection. Blood samples were collected from neonates at the first clinical signs of suspected sepsis alongside age matched healthy control subjects. Here we report a detailed description of the study design, including clinical data collected, experimental methods used and data analysis workflows and which correspond with data in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data sets (GSE25504). Our data set has allowed identification of a patient invariant 52-gene classifier that predicts bacterial infection with high accuracy and lays the foundation for advancing diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic strategies for neonatal sepsis

Reactions at supercritical conditions: Applications and fundamentals

Supercritical fluids posses properties that make them attractive as media for chemical reactions. Conducting chemical reactions at supercritical conditions affords opportunities to manipulate the reaction environment (solvent properties) by manipulating pressure, to enhance the solubilities of reactants and products, to eliminate interphase transport limitations on reaction rates, and to integrate reaction and separation unit operations. Supercritical conditions may be advantageous for reactions involved in fuels processing, biomass conversion, biocatalysis, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, environmental control, polymerization, materials synthesis, and chemical synthesis. Moreover, supercritical fluids can be used profitably in fundamental chemical investigations of intermolecular interactions and their influence on chemical processes. Work on chemical reactions in and with supercritical fluids is reviewed. We discuss both fundamental studies and applications of reactions at supercritical conditions, with focus on work published after 1985.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37432/1/690410712_ftp.pd

Wireless power transmission - exploring source to load inductive link under resonance and varying load condition

Wireless Power Transmission for powering up of the electronic gadgets, electric vehicles, and biomedical implants is being researched heavily these days. It has been proving to be the only in the electric vehicles battery charging systems, as it is hassle free, more efficient and easy to install. In many-to-one as well in one-to-many power transfer selective resonant technique plays a vital role. The many-to-one principle is mainly in the battery charging system of electric vehicles. This paper explores the source-to -load-coil (one -toone and one-to-two) links using the magnitude of the reflective impedance (ZRef) as a parameter estimating the power transfer efficiency. The analytic expressions and simulation results have been explored in this analysis, showing the effect of resonant and load matching

Noise-induced hearing loss and hearing conservation in the iron and steel industry in South Africa

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The iron and steel industry in South Africa has been identified as one of the highest risk industries in terms of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). The National Institute for Occupational Health was commissioned by the Department of Labour to audit the current noise exposure levels and hearing conservation practices in eight major producers of iron and steel, and to make recommendations regarding prevention strategies. METHODS: The audit was conducted in two parts: the noise exposure levels and hearing conservation practices were assessed by the occupational hygiene department. The occupational medicine department assessed the hearing conservation policies and procedures, reviewed employees’ medical records to ascertain the number of NIHL cases, and conducted verification of audiograms on a sample of employees working in noise zones. RESULTS: Area noise levels exceeding 105 dB(A) were measured in four of the eight workplaces. The estimated average annual incidence of NIHL varied from 0.7 - 8.3/1000/year. All companies did baseline, periodic and exit audiometric testing, but there were notable discrepancies between companies and verification audiograms and differences of more than 20 dB(A) were found. Although information and training on noise was reportedly done in all worksites, a high proportion of workers could not demonstrate correct fitting of hearing protection devices or recall when last they were trained. CONCLUSION: A detailed standard operating procedure should be implemented for medical surveillance for NIHL with action timelines that initiate remedial processes prior to employee developing compensable disease. Aggregated audiometric testing results should be communicated to managers and health and safety teams to provide guidance to prioritise areas for control measures. A quality assurance programme for audiometric testing must be implemented. An evaluation tool to measure the effectiveness of the noise and hearing conservation training provided to employees, including contracted employees, should be adopted.http://www.occhealth.co.zaam201

Central Coherence in Eating Disorders: A Synthesis of Studies Using the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test

Background: Large variability in tests and differences in scoring systems used to study central coherence in eating disorders may lead to different interpretations, inconsistent findings and between study discrepancies. This study aimed to address inconsistencies by collating data from several studies from the same research group that used the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (Rey Figure) in order to produce norms to provide benchmark data for future studies. Method: Data was collated from 984 participants in total. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, recovered Anorexia Nervosa, unaffected family members and healthy controls were compared using the Rey Figure. Results: Poor global processing was observed across all current eating disorder sub-groups and in unaffected relatives. There was no difference in performance between recovered AN and HC groups. Conclusions: This is the largest dataset reported in the literature and supports previous studies implicating poor global processing across eating disorders using the Rey Figure. It provides robust normative data useful for future studies

An Empirical Comparison of Consumer Innovation Adoption Models: Implications for Subsistence Marketplaces

So called “pro-poor” innovations may improve consumer wellbeing in subsistence marketplaces. However, there is little research that integrates the area with the vast literature on innovation adoption. Using a questionnaire where respondents were asked to provide their evaluations about a mobile banking innovation, this research fills this gap by providing empirical evidence of the applicability of existing innovation adoption models in subsistence marketplaces. The study was conducted in Bangladesh among a geographically dispersed sample. The data collected allowed an empirical comparison of models in a subsistence context. The research reveals the most useful models in this context to be the Value Based Adoption Model and the Consumer Acceptance of Technology model. In light of these findings and further examination of the model comparison results the research also shows that consumers in subsistence marketplaces are not just motivated by functionality and economic needs. If organizations cannot enhance the hedonic attributes of a pro-poor innovation, and reduce the internal/external constraints related to adoption of that pro-poor innovation, then adoption intention by consumers will be lower