Livelihood strategies in the rural Kenyan highlands

The concept of a livelihood strategy has become central to development practice in recent years. Nonetheless, precise identification of livelihoods in quantitative data has remained methodologically elusive. This paper uses cluster analysis methods to operationalize the concept of livelihood strategies in household data and then uses the resulting strategy-specific income distributions to test whether the hypothesized outcome differences between livelihoods indeed exist. Using data from Kenya’s central and western highlands, we identify five distinct livelihood strategies that exhibit statistically significant differences in mean per capita incomes and stochastic dominance orderings that establish clear welfare rankings among livelihood strategies. Multinomial regression analysis identifies geographic, demographic and financial determinants of livelihood choice. The results should facilitate targeting of interventions designed to improve household livelihoods.Livelihood strategy, Kenya, Smallholder agriculture, Cluster analysis, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Economics of Insecticide use and Potential for Bt Maize Varieties in the Control of Stalkborer in Kenya.

Maize is the staple food crop and source of income for majority of the Kenyan population and many sub-Saharan African countries. The increasing Kenyan population demands an increase in maize production if intermittent food deficits have to be averted. Since the introduction of improved maize varieties in mid-1960, the start of Green Revolution period, maize yields increased drastically up to 1970s and started declining from 1980s to-date. The key contributory factors are nutrient mining, sub-optimal input use and insect pest damage. Of the insect pests, stalk borer is of economic importance. Currently, KARI and CIMMYT are developing maize varieties that are tolerant to stalk borer damage. In order to evaluate the potential impact of these interventions economics of stalk borer control at farm level was evaluated. Surveys complemented with on-farm trials were executed in six major maize growing zones of Kenya. Farmers were randomly selected and a sample-frame established after which a total of 1854 households were randomly selected using random sampling technique. Each household was interviewed using structured questionnaire. Data on method of stalk borer control and the type insecticides used was collected. Partial budget and economic surplus models were used. The results indicated that very few farmers control stalk borer in maize despite significant stalk borer losses of about 15%. Therefore if Bt maize is introduced in Kenya it is likely to reduce these losses. This will benefit many hungry and poor Kenyans with improved household food supply and on farm incomes, in line with Government policy of food security and poverty eradication.Crop Production/Industries,

Flaxseed gum-biopolymers interactions driving rheological behaviour of oropharyngeal dysphagia-oriented products

Viscosity-modified diet through thickeners is used as a strategy to circumvent swallowing problems by oropharyngeal dysphagia patients. Most commercial products present xanthan and starch in their formulations, but flaxseed gum (FG) is a potential thickener for liquid food that provides additional health benefits. FG was mixed either with modified starch (MS) and/or xanthan gum (XG), varying biopolymersâ concentration according to a central composite rotational design in which rheological and colour properties in water were the evaluated responses. All formulations showed a shear time-independent and shear-thinning behaviour, mainly influenced by XG and MS concentrations. In oscillatory measurements, the formulations presented a prevailing elastic character attributed to MS and mainly to XG, which despite the lower concentration in which it was incorporated, exerted a similar influence on this rheological property. However, the increase of FG concentration was the most significant factor influencing viscosity, but also favoured an increase of both viscoelastic moduli mainly G'. Analysis of the microstructure disclosed different network structures as a result of biopolymers interactions, which was related to rheological behaviour giving insights to design new thickeners for dysphagia management. In addition, the amount of glucose released after in vitro digestion was evaluated and compared to a commercial MS-based thickener. Interestingly, the commercial formulation showed a glucose release significantly higher than the proposed FG/MS/XG-based formulations. These results open the opportunity to tailor the rheological characteristics of food systems by adding and combining natural ingredients, improving technological and nutritional properties.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) (Finance code 001); São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP (Process numbers 2016/05448–8; 2011/51707–1; EMU 2009/54137–1; 2007/58017–5; 2006/03263–9; 2004/08517–3) and by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq - Process 307168/2016–6). Okuro and Santos thanks São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (Grant numbers 2018/20308–3 and 2017/18109–0)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Association of severe hypertension with pneumonia in elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke

Pneumonia is one of the most frequent complications in elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke. Although severe hypertension is often observed in the early phase of acute stroke, there are few studies of acute hypertension as a factor influencing the incidence of stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) in elderly subjects with acute ischemic stroke. To assess the association of acute phase blood-pressure elevation with the incidence of SAP, we compared 10 elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke complicated with severe hypertension (⩾200/120 mm Hg) with 43 patients with moderate hypertension (160–199/100–119 mm Hg), as well as with 65 control normotensive or mildly hypertensive (<160/100 mm Hg) controls on admission. Data were collected on known risk factors, type of ischemic stroke and underlying chronic conditions. The significance of differences in risk factors was analyzed using univariate and multivariate comparisons of 38 SAP cases and others, 8 SAP death cases and others, and 28 patients with poor outcome associated with in-hospital death or artificial feeding at discharge and others. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, the relative risk estimates for SAP, SAP death and poor outcome were 2.83 (95% confidence interval 1.14–7.05), 5.20 (1.01–26.8) and 6.84 (1.32–35.4), respectively, for severe hypertension relative to normotensive or mildly hypertensive controls. We conclude that severe hypertension on admission is an independent predictive factor for SAP in elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke

Análise da postura craniocervical de crianças respiradoras bucais após tratamento postural em bola suíça

The study aimed to evaluate the craniocervical posture of mouth breathing children after postural treatment on swiss ball. Twelve mouth breathing children were undergone to a postural reeducation protocol through stretching and strengthening exercises on swiss ball, diaphragmatic stimulation and stretching of the inspiratory accessory muscles. Craniocervical posture was evaluated through biophotogrammetry analysis. Forward head position was measured through an angle formed by the points in the tragus and in the spinous process of the seventh cervical vertebra with a horizontal line. Cervical column curvature was taken by the horizontal distance from a vertical line passing through the thoracic kyphosis apex to the point of the greatest cervical curvature concavity. Pictures were taken before and after ten treatment sessions. The normality of the variables was tested by Shapiro-Wilk test and the Student's t -test was used to determine differences in variables between assessments. It was considered a significance level of 5% (pO estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a postura craniocervical de crianças respiradoras bucais após tratamento postural em bola suíça. Doze crianças respiradoras bucais foram submetidas a um protocolo de reeducação postural constituído por exercícios de alongamento e fortalecimento muscular sobre a bola suíça, estimulação diafragmática e alongamento dos músculos acessórios da inspiração. A postura craniocervical foi avaliada através da análise biofotogramétrica. A posição da anteriorização da cabeça foi aferida por meio do ângulo formado pelos pontos localizados no tragus direito e no processo espinhoso da sétima vértebra cervical com a linha horizontal. A curvatura cervical foi avaliada pela distância horizontal de uma linha vertical tangenciando o ápice da cifose torácica e o ponto de maior concavidade da curvatura cervical. As fotografias foram obtidas antes e após dez atendimentos. A normalidade das variáveis foi verificada a partir do teste Shapiro-Wilk. Para as comparações entre as médias foi utilizado o teste t de Student para amostras dependentes admitindo-se nível de significância de 5% (

Evaluations of Dementia by EEG Frequency Analysis and Psychological Examination

In order to evaluate the stage of dementia, we focused attention on EEG rhythms and Hasegawa-dementia-rating scale (HDS-R). Frontal EEGs were recorded from dementia patients and normal controls during music and photo-image stimulations, and frequency analysis was performed. In the controls, profiles of rhythm pattern during music stimulation seemed to be markedly different from those during photo-image stimulation. In contrast, in dementia patients, it was difficult to find those differences. Interestingly, as HDS-R decreases, the variability of rhythm patterns also decreases. These results suggest that a decrease in cognitive function might be related to a decrease in the ability to generate various cortical rhythm patterns