Violence against Women Living with HIV: A Cross Sectional Study in Nepal

Background: Violence against Women (VAW) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) both constitute major public health issues and there is an increasing evidence of their intersection. Data are sparse on the intersection of VAW and HIV in South Asia region. We aimed to identify different forms and magnitude of violence incurred by women living with HIV, and analyse causes and consequences. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 43 HIV positive women in three districts of Nepal, in the period of March-May 2008. Data was collected through semi-structured interview questionnaire. Results: The vast majority of the participants (93.02%) had suffered from at least one form of the violence. The prevalence of violence rose up sharply after being diagnosed with HIV positive than before (93.02% vs.53.5%). Forty-five percent of the participants reported their husbands being main perpetrator of violence. Self-humiliation and health and treatment problem were the major consequences of violence as reported by 90% and 77.5% of the participants respectively. Conclusion: Violence was observed to be highly prevalent among women living with HIV in Nepal. Further larger and nationally representative researches are imperative to better understand the cross-section between VAW and HIV. Our finding recommends to prioritizing programs on social aspects of HIV such as violence

Policy Implications of Ranking Distributions of Nitrate Runoff and Leaching by Farm, Region, and Soil Productivity

WP 1996-21 December 1996The purpose of this study is to understand the implications of farm-to-farm and regional variations in nitrogen runoff and leaching for targeting specific policies to reduce nutrient contamination. To do this, we estimate 3D-year distributions of nitrate runoff and leaching for individual soils on nearly 150 farms in three farm production regions of New York and rank the distributions according to second degree stochastic dominance criteria. Based on these rankings, it is evident that cropland across farms and regions of New York is so heterogeneous that it is impossible to target policies to reduce nitrate contamination based on farm or regional characteristics. A much clearer ranking is found if soils are grouped by productivity group as measured by corn yield. Based on the estimated elasticities of nitrate runoff and leaching with respect to nitrogen application, one can target those areas where contamination problems are I most severe by focusing on soils with potential yields greater than 125 bu.lac. For it to make sense to target lower productivity soils, the productivity of additional nitrogen application at the margin on the highest yielding soils would have to be about double that of the lower yielding group. Evidence indicates that the ratios of productivities are less than unity in all three production regions

Scalable and Tunable Carbide-Phosphide Composite Catalyst System for the Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass

© 2017 American Chemical Society. We have prepared composite materials of hexagonal nickel phosphide and molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) utilizing a simple and scalable two-stage synthesis method composed of carbothermic reduction followed by hydrothermal incubation. We observe the monophasic hexagonal phosphide Ni2P in the composite at low phosphide-to-carbide (P:C) ratios. Upon an increase in the proportion of P:C, the carbide surface becomes saturated, and we detect the emergence of a second hexagonal nickel phosphide phase (Ni5P4) upon annealing. We demonstrate that vapor-phase upgrading (VPU) of whole biomass via catalytic fast pyrolysis is achievable using the composite material as a catalyst, and we monitor the resulting product slates using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Our analysis of the product vapors indicates that variation of the P:C molar ratio in the composite material affords product slates of varying complexity and composition, which is indicated by the number of products and their relative proportions in the product slate. Our results demonstrate that targeted vapor product composition can be obtained, which can potentially be utilized for tuning of the composition of the bio-oil downstream

Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers' health and well-being: a review of the literature.

Background: The health and well-being of migrant workers from low-income countries is often neglected in travel medicine. This article uses Nepal as a case study to highlight key issues affecting this particular group of international travellers. Methods: This narrative review used a comprehensive systematic literature search to identify relevant studies on Nepal. The included articles were thematically analysed leading to four key themes or risk factors. Results: The search found 18 articles from which we identified 3 key themes related directly to migrant workers: (1) sexual risk taking; (2) occupational health and (3) lifestyles, and a fourth theme related to partners and family of migrant workers who are left behind in Nepal. Of the 18 included articles, 11 articles discussed sexual risk taking and HIV, whilst considerably fewer focused on work-related risk factors and lifestyle factors in migrant workers. Conclusions: Migrant workers who are generally healthy appear to be similar to tourist travellers in regarding sexual health as a key issue related to being abroad. Risky sexual behaviour increases in individuals separated from their usual sexual partners, away from their own communities and families, leading to the so-called 'situational disinhibition'. Considering the recent media coverage of deaths and injuries among migrant workers in the Middle East, it is interesting to see that their sexual health is more prevalent in the research literature. This article argues that travel medicine should provide more emphasis to the health and well-being of migrant workers as a highly vulnerable group of travellers with additional impact on the health of those left behind

Environmentally Friendly Process for Recovery of Wood Preservative from Used Copper Naphthenate-Treated Railroad Ties

© 2017 American Chemical Society. Removal of copper naphthenate (CN) from used wooden railroad ties was investigated to improve the commercial viability of this biomass as a fuel source and avoid alternative disposal methods such as landfilling. Bench-scale thermal desorption of organic preservative components from CN-impregnated ties was followed by extraction of the copper fraction with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, 1-hydroxy ethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid, or 2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid (PDA). Naphthenic acid (NA) and carrier oil were recovered at desorption temperatures between 225 and 300 °C and could potentially be recycled to treat new ties. The thermal treatment also mimicked torrefaction, improving the biomass properties for use as a thermochemical conversion feedstock. Chelation with PDA, a biodegradable chelating agent, after desorption had the highest extraction efficiency of copper and other naturally present inorganics, extracting 100% of the copper from both the raw and 225 °C-treated samples. Optimized desorbed material showed a 64% decrease in ash content when extracted with PDA; however, extraction efficiency decreased as desorption temperature increased, indicating that thermal treatment caused the inorganics to be less extractable. We concluded that the optimum desorption conditions were between 250 and 275 °C for 45 min followed by extraction with PDA when considering both NA removal and inorganic extraction efficiency

Priority public health interventions and research agendas in post-earthquake Nepal

The occurrence of natural disasters including earthquake is becoming more frequent phenomena worldwide. All these disasters trigger huge damages to infrastructure, economies as well as population health. Nepal’s earthquake in 2015 has multiple effects on population health and health services delivery. Many public health facilities, mostly health posts or sub-healthposts, were damaged or completely destroyed. Priority health services such as immunization and antenatal care were also seriously affected. The earthquake has prompted the need for a disaster-related population-health-research agenda as well as renewed disaster strategy in post-earthquake Nepal. Meanwhile, it also unveiled the gap in knowledge and practice regarding earthquake resilience in Nepal. There is an opportunity for school-based and community-based interventions in both disaster preparedness and resilience. Nepal can build on experiences from other countries as well as from its own. We have discussed possible impacts of the Nepal earth- quake on population health and health system infrastructures. We have also suggested possible public health interventions bestowing active awareness among the population and a research agenda in this regard. We strongly urge for the translation of the National Health Policy (2014) into action, as it prioritizes the need of an earthquake resistant infrastructure as well as the implementation of a disaster response pla

The Impact of Spousal Migration on the Mental Health of Nepali Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Spousal separation, lack of companionship, and increased household responsibilities may trigger mental health problems in left-behind female spouses of migrant workers. This study aimed to examine mental ill-health risk in the left-behind female spouses of international migrant workers in Nepal. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the Nawalparasi district. Study areas were purposively chosen; however, participants were randomly selected. Nepali versions of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) were used. Mental ill-health risk was prevalent in 3.1% of the participants as determined by GHQ. BDI identified mild or moderate depression in 6.5% of the participants with no one having severe depression. In bivariate analysis, a high frequency of communication with the husband was associated with lower mental ill-health risk and depression, as well as increasing resilience. Reduced return intervals of husbands and a high frequency of remittance were also associated with a low GHQ score. In a multiple regression model, adjusting for potential confounding variables, participants who communicated with their husbands at least once a day had a greater mean CD-RISC score (i.e., high resilience against mental ill-health risk) compared to those who did so at least once a week; a mean difference of 3.6 (95% CI 0.4 to 6.9), P = 0.03. To conclude, a low mental ill-health risk was found in the female spouses of migrants

Experts warn Nepal Government not to reduce local Public Health spending

The health system in Nepal is currently undergoing some very interesting radical reforms. The new Constitution in 2015 brought a complete restructuring of the country’s political system, creating a Federal Republic with seven Provinces. This change involves a significant devolution of power and resources from central to local level in many sectors including the health sector. This editorial warns of the risk of moving away the political focus from Public Health in a centralised political syste