Land tenurial systems and the adoption of Mucuna planted fallow in the derived savannas of West Africa:

In 1987, an improved resource management system that incorporates velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) to address soil fertility and weed (Imperata cylindrica) infestation was introduced to the small-scale farmers in a densely populated area of the derived savannas in Benin Republic (West Africa). Six years later, an adoption study was conducted to assess factors driving the adoption process. Four types of land tenure systems based on mode of access to land were identified: divided inheritance, purchasing, gifts, and sharecropping/renting. The first three provide long-term security over land, and together, they represent about 76 percent of the survey fields. Results from three variants of a probit model indicated that security over land was among the factors that significantly affect the adoption of the technology, with a high marginal effect on the probability of adoption, while gender did not have a significant effect. The most important determinant for adoption is the number of times a field is weeded during a cropping season (a proxy for the amount of labor required to tend a crop for better yields). High weeding requirements favorably affect the adoption of velvet bean only if farmers have full security on the degraded (weedy) land. The predominance of land tenure systems that provide secure property rights, namely the traditional acquisition of land through inheritance or gift mode and the gradual development of a land market, facilitated a quick spread of the Mucuna planted fallows in the study region.Watershed management., Water use India Citizen participation., Irrigation projects India., Gender, Property rights, Agricultural technology, Agricultural growth,

Hypothalamic Neuroendocrine Functions in Rats with Dihydrotestosterone-Induced Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Effects of Low-Frequency Electro-Acupuncture

Adult female rats continuously exposed to androgens from prepuberty have reproductive and metabolic features of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We investigated whether such exposure adversely affects estrous cyclicity and the expression and distribution of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), GnRH receptors, and corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the hypothalamus and whether the effects are mediated by the androgen receptor (AR). We also assessed the effect of low-frequency electro-acupuncture (EA) on those variables. At 21 days of age, rats were randomly divided into three groups (control, PCOS, and PCOS EA; n = 12/group) and implanted subcutaneously with 90-day continuous-release pellets containing vehicle or 5α-dihydrostestosterone (DHT). From age 70 days, PCOS EA rats received 2-Hz EA (evoking muscle twitches) five times/week for 4–5 weeks. Hypothalamic protein expression was measured by immunohistochemistry and western blot. DHT-treated rats were acyclic, but controls had regular estrous cycles. In PCOS rats, hypothalamic medial preoptic AR protein expression and the number of AR- and GnRH-immunoreactive cells were increased, but CRH was not affected; however, GnRH receptor expression was decreased in both the pituitary and hypothalamus. Low-frequency EA restored estrous cyclicity within 1 week and reduced the elevated hypothalamic GnRH and AR expression levels. EA did not affect GnRH receptor or CRH expression. Interestingly, nuclear AR co-localized with GnRH in the hypothalamus. Thus, rats with DHT-induced PCOS have disrupted estrous cyclicity and an increased number of hypothalamic cells expressing GnRH, most likely mediated by AR activation. Repeated low-frequency EA normalized estrous cyclicity and restored GnRH and AR protein expression. These results may help explain the beneficial neuroendocrine effects of low-frequency EA in women with PCOS

Comparison of acupuncture pretreatment followed by letrozole versus letrozole alone on live birth in anovulatory infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

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KARAKTERISTIK MIKROBIOLOGIS, KIMIA, FISIK DAN ORGANOLEPTIK SUSU PASTEURISASI DENGAN PENAMBAHAN EKSTRAK DAUN AILERU (Wrightia calycina) SELAMA PENYIMPANAN

Penelitian susu pasteurisasi dengan penambahan ekstrak daun Aileru selama penyimpanan telah dilakukan untuk mengetahui konsentrasi daun Aileru yang tepat dalam mempertahankan mutu susu pasteurisasi, dan pengaruhnya terhadap karakteristik mikrobiologis (total mikroba), kimia (kadar protein, profil protein, kadar lemak dan kadar laktosa), fisik (nilai pH dan total asam) dan organoleptik (warna, tingkat kesukaan, aroma dan konsistensi) susu pasteurisasi. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan di Laboratorium Laboratorium Teknologi Hasil Ternak, Laboratorium Ilmu Tanaman Makanan Ternak, Laboratorium Fisiologi dan Biokimia Fakultas Peternakan Universitas Diponegoro, serta Laboratorium Ilmu dan Teknologi Pangan UNIKA Soegijapranata Semarang. Penelitian dilakukan dengan menggunakan Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL) Pola Faktorial yang terdiri atas 2 (dua) faktor, faktor pertama (A) adalah konsentrasi daun Aileru yang terdiri dari 4 taraf perlakuan (0%, 7,5%, 10%, 12,5%) dan faktor kedua (B) adalah lama penyimpanan yang terdiri dari 4 taraf perlakuan (0 jam, 5 jam, 10 jam, 15 jam), masing-masing perlakuan dilakukan pengulangan sebanyak 2 kali. Data dianalisa secara statistik menggunakan analisis ragam (ANOVA), apabila terdapat perbedaan antar perlakuan dilanjutkan dengan Uji Beda Nyata Jujur (UBNJ) dengan taraf signifikansi 5%. Hasil dari penelitian menunjukkan bahwa perlakuan konsentrasi ekstrak daun Aileru dan lama penyimpanan berpengaruh nyata (P>0,05) terhadap karakteristik mikrobiologis (total mikroba), karakteristik kimia (kadar protein, kadar lemak, kadar laktosa), karakteristik fisik (total asam dan pH), katakteristik organoleptik (warna, tingkat kesukaan, konsistensi dan aroma) susu pasteurisasi, serta berpengaruh terhadap terbentuknya pita atau band pada parameter profil elektroforesis protein karena memiliki pita atau band yang sangat tebal (konsentrasi 7,5% dan 10%), hal ini menunjukkan bahwa daun Aileru memiliki kandungan protein. Secara umum kosentrasi ekstrak daun Aileru 7,5% (A1) dan 10% (A2) pada penyimpanan 5 jam (B1) dapat memberikan efek yang baik terhadap susu pasteurisasi baik terhadap karakteristik mikrobiologis, kimia, fisik maupun organoleptik serta profil elektoforesis protein susu pasteurisasi

Manual and Electrical Needle Stimulation in Acupuncture Research: Pitfalls and Challenges of Heterogeneity

In the field of acupuncture research there is an implicit yet unexplored assumption that the evidence on manual and electrical stimulation techniques, derived from basic science studies, clinical trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, is generally interchangeable. Such interchangeability would justify a bidirectional approach to acupuncture research, where basic science studies and clinical trials each inform the other. This article examines the validity of this fundamental assumption by critically reviewing the literature and comparing manual to electrical acupuncture in basic science studies, clinical trials, and meta-analyses. The evidence from this study does not support the assumption that these techniques are interchangeable. This article also identifies endemic methodologic limitations that have impaired progress in the field. For example, basic science studies have not matched the frequency and duration of manual needle stimulation to the frequency and duration of electrical stimulation. Further, most clinical trials purporting to compare the two types of stimulation have instead tested electroacupuncture as an adjunct to manual acupuncture. The current findings reveal fundamental gaps in the understanding of the mechanisms and relative effectiveness of manual versus electrical acupuncture. Finally, future research directions are suggested to better differentiate electrical from manual simulation, and implications for clinical practice are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140314/1/acm.2014.0186.pd

Accreditation Standard Guideline Initiative for Tai Chi and Qigong Instructors and Training Institutions.

Evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong (TQ) have emerged in the past two decades, but TQ is underutilized in modern health care in Western countries due to lack of promotion and the availability of professionally qualified TQ instructors. To date, there are no government regulations for TQ instructors or for training institutions in China and Western countries, even though TQ is considered to be a part of Traditional Chinese medicine that has the potential to manage many chronic diseases. Based on an integrative health care approach, the accreditation standard guideline initiative for TQ instructors and training institutions was developed in collaboration with health professionals, integrative medicine academics, Tai Chi and Qigong master instructors and consumers including public safety officers from several countries, such as Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Korea, Sweden and USA. In this paper, the rationale for organizing the Medical Tai Chi and Qigong Association (MTQA) is discussed and the accreditation standard guideline for TQ instructors and training institutions developed by the committee members of MTQA is presented. The MTQA acknowledges that the proposed guidelines are broad, so that the diversity of TQ instructors and training institutions can be integrated with recognition that these guidelines can be developed with further refinement. Additionally, these guidelines face challenges in understanding the complexity of TQ associated with different principles, philosophies and schools of thought. Nonetheless, these guidelines represent a necessary first step as primary resource to serve and guide health care professionals and consumers, as well as the TQ community

Unanticipated Insights into Biomedicine from the Study of Acupuncture

Research into acupuncture has had ripple effects beyond the field of acupuncture. This paper identifies five exemplars to illustrate that there is tangible evidence of the way insights gleaned from acupuncture research have informed biomedical research, practice, or policy. The first exemplar documents how early research into acupuncture analgesia has expanded into neuroimaging research, broadening physiologic understanding and treatment of chronic pain. The second describes how the acupuncture needle has become a tool to enhance biomedical knowledge of connective tissue. The third exemplar, which illustrates use of a modified acupuncture needle as a sham device, focuses on emergent understanding of placebo effects and, in turn, on insights into therapeutic encounters in treatments unrelated to acupuncture. The fourth exemplar documents that two medical devices now in widespread use were inspired by acupuncture: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators for pain control and antinausea wrist bands. The final exemplar describes how pragmatic clinical trial designs applied in acupuncture research have informed current general interest in comparative effectiveness research. In conclusion, these exemplars of unanticipated outcomes of acupuncture research comprise an additional rationale for continued support of basic and clinical research evaluating acupuncture and other under-researched therapies

Publisher correction: Genome-wide association of polycystic ovary syndrome implicates alterations in gonadotropin secretion in European ancestry populations.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper