Depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among caregivers of young children in rural Lesotho: Associations with food insecurity, household death and parenting stress

Good mental health is a critical resource for mothers and caregivers of young children, given the central role of mental health in enabling responsive caregiving. However, fulfilling caregiving responsibilities under challenging circumstances such as extreme poverty, food insecurity, and gender inequality intensifies vulnerability to poor mental health. Previous research focuses on mental health of mothers, while in many LMICs children are cared for by other caregivers, such as grandparents. We examined the prevalence of mental health problems among primary caregivers of young children in rural Lesotho, and investigated factors associated with these mental health problems. We analysed baseline data from a cluster randomised controlled trial, where all caregivers with children between 1 and 5 years old across 34 villages were invited to participate. The analysis included mental health data from 781 caregivers of 998 children. We assessed caregiver mental health using three self-report screening instruments. Univariate and multivariate regression modelling tested associations between caregiver, child and household variables and (1) depression symptoms (PHQ-9), (2) anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), (3) psychological distress (SRQ-20), (4) suicidal ideation and (5) help-seeking for mental health. This study reported a high prevalence of symptoms of psychological distress (46.2%), depression (25.7%), anxiety (17.1%) and suicidal ideation (27.5%) among caregivers. Greater prevalence was associated with food insecurity, parenting stress or recent death in the family/household. Older caregivers reported higher rates of psychological distress and depression, while younger caregivers reported higher rates of anxiety. Suicidal ideation was associated with greater food insecurity and parenting stress, and lower caregiver education. Our findings support the need to address intersecting public health issues to improve conditions for caregivers in these settings. Targeting modifiable risk factors such as food insecurity among individuals within a society who carry disproportionate burdens of caregiving should be prioritised, especially in contexts of scarcity, where mental health is not prioritised

Improving early childhood care and development, HIV testing, treatment and support, and nutrition in Mokhotlong, Lesotho: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial

Background Since 1990, the lives of 48 million children under the age of 5 have been saved because of increased investments in reducing child mortality. However, despite these unprecedented gains, more than 200 million children in low and middle income countries (LMIC) cannot meet their developmental potential due to poverty, poor health and nutrition, and lack of necessary stimulation and care. Lesotho has high levels of poverty, HIV and malnutrition, all of which affect child development outcomes. There is a unique opportunity to address these complex issues through the widespread network of informal preschools in rural villages in the country, which provide a setting for inclusive, integrated Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), HIV and nutrition interventions. Methods We are conducting a cluster randomised controlled trial in Mokhotlong district, Lesotho, to evaluate a newly developed community-based intervention programme to integrate HIV testing and treatment services, ECCD, and nutrition education for caregivers with children aged 1-5 years living in rural villages. Caregivers and their children are randomly assigned by village to intervention or control condition. We select, train, and supervise community health workers recruited to implement the intervention, which consists of nine group-based sessions with caregivers and children over 12 weeks (eight weekly sessions, and a ninth top up session one month later), followed by a locally hosted community health outreach day event. Group-based sessions focus on using early dialogic booksharing to promote cognitive development and caregiver-child interaction, health-related messages, including motivation for HIV-testing and treatment uptake for young children, and locally appropriate nutrition education. All children aged 1-5 years and their primary caregivers living in study villages are eligible for participation. Caregivers and their children will be interviewed and assessed at baseline, immediately after completion of the intervention, and 12 months post intervention. Discussion This study provides a unique opportunity to assess the potential of an integrated early childhood development intervention to prevent or mitigate developmental delays in children living in a context of extreme poverty and high HIV rates in rural Lesotho. This paper presents the intervention content and research protocol for the study

Nucleation and crystallization in bio-based immiscible polyester blends

Bio-based thermoplastic polyesters are highly promising materials as they combine interesting thermal and physical properties and in many cases biodegradability. However, sometimes the best property balance can only be achieved by blending in order to improve barrier properties, biodegradability or mechanical properties. Nucleation, crystallization and morphology are key factors that can dominate all these properties in crystallizable biobased polyesters. Therefore, their understanding, prediction and tailoring is essential. In this work, after a brief introduction about immiscible polymer blends, we summarize the crystallization behavior of the most important bio-based (and immiscible) polyester blends, considering examples of double-crystalline components. Even though in some specific blends (e.g., polylactide/polycaprolactone) many efforts have been made to understand the influence of blending on the nucleation, crystallization and morphology of the parent components, there are still many points that have yet to be understood. In the case of other immiscible polyester blends systems, the literature is scarce, opening up opportunities in this environmentally important research topic.The authors would like to acknowledge funding by the BIODEST project ((RISE) H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017-778092

VISIBE AND INFRARED SPECTRAL CHARACTERISATION OF CHINESE CABBAGE (<i>BRASSICA RAPA L. SUBSPECIES CHINENSIS</i>), GROWN UNDER DIFFERENT NITROGEN, POTASSIUM AND PHOSPHORUS CONCENTRATIONS

There is a need to intensify research efforts on improving productivity of indigenous vegetables in South Africa. One research avenue is operationalizing remote sensing techniques to monitor crop health status. This study aimed at characterising the spectral properties of Chinese cabbage (Brassica Rapa L. subspecies Chinensis) grown under varying fertilizer treatments: nitrogen (0&thinsp;kg/ha, 75&thinsp;kg/ha, 125&thinsp;kg/ha, 175&thinsp;kg/ha and 225&thinsp;kg/ha), phosphorus (0&thinsp;kg/ha, 9.4&thinsp;kg/ha, 15.6, 21.9&thinsp;kg/ha and 28.1&thinsp;kg/ha) and potassium (0&thinsp;kg/ha, 9.4 &thinsp;kg/ha, 15.6&thinsp;kg/ha, 21.9&thinsp;kg/ha and 28.1&thinsp;kg/ha). Visible and infrared spectral measurements were taken from a total of 60 samples inside the laboratory. Contiguous spectral regions were plotted to show spectral profiles of the different fertilizer treatments and then classified using gradient boosting and random forest classifiers. ANOVA revealed the potential of spectral reflectance data in discriminating different fertiliser treatments from crops. There was also a significant difference between the capabilities of the two classifiers. Gradient boost model (GBM) yielded higher classification accuracies than random forest (RF). The important variables identified by each model improved the classification accuracy. Overall, the results indicate a potential for the use of spectroscopy in monitoring food quality parameters, thereby reducing the cost of traditional methods. Further research into advanced statistical analysis techniques is needed to improve the accuracy with which fertiliser concentrations in crops could be quantified. The random forest model particularly requires improvements

A dynamic and thermodynamic analysis of the 11 December 2017 tornadic supercell in the Highveld of South Africa

On 11 December 2017, a tornadic supercell initiated and moved through the northern Highveld region of South Africa for 7 h. A tornado from this supercell led to extensive damage to infrastructure and caused injury to and displacement of over 1000 people in Vaal Marina, a town located in the extreme south of the Gauteng Province. In this study we conducted an analysis in order to understand the conditions that led to the severity of this supercell, including the formation of a tornado. The dynamics and thermodynamics of two configurations of the Unified Model (UM) were also analysed to assess their performance in predicting this tornadic supercell. It was found that this supercell initiated as part of a cluster of multicellular thunderstorms over a dry line, with three ingredients being important in strengthening and maintaining it for 7 h: significant surface to mid-level vertical shear, an abundance of low-level warm moisture influx from the tropics and Mozambique Channel, and steep mid-level lapse rates. It was also found that the 4.4 km grid spacing configuration of the model (SA4.4) performed better than the 1.5 km grid spacing version. SA1.5 underestimated the low-level warm moisture advection and convergence, and missed the storm initiation. SA4.4 captured the supercell; however, the mid-level vorticity was found to be 1 order of magnitude smaller than that of a typical mesocyclone. A grid length of 4.4 km is too coarse to fully capture the details of a mesocyclone, which may also explain why the model underestimated the surface to mid-level wind shear and low-level horizontal mass and moisture flux convergence. Future investigations will involve experimental research over the Highveld region of South Africa to understand mesoscale and local dynamics processes responsible for tornadogenesis in some severe storms. Such a study, to the best of our knowledge, has never been conducted.</p

Lactones from Unspecific Peroxygenase-Catalyzed In-Chain Hydroxylation of Saturated Fatty Acids

γ- and δ-lactones are valuable flavor and fragrance compounds. Their synthesis depends on the availability of suitable hydroxy fatty acid precursors. Three short unspecific peroxygenases were identified that selectively hydroxylate the C4 and C5 positions of C8-C12 fatty acids to yield after lactonization the corresponding γ- and δ-lactones. A preference for C4 over C5 hydroxylation gave γ-lactones as the major products. Overoxidation of the hydroxy fatty acids was addressed via the reduction of the resulting oxo acids using an alcohol dehydrogenase in a bienzymatic cascade reaction.BT/Biocatalysi