Poverty among households living in slum area of Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon City, Myanmar

Background: Slums can be regarded as physical manifestations of urban poverty. Although the world has made dramatic improvement in reducing poverty since 1990, poverty still persists at an unacceptable level. Although current situations highlights the importance of slum areas to be given priority in poverty alleviation, there are limited data on poverty level among people living in urban slums of Myanmar.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among households living in slum areas of Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon City, Myanmar during 2016. Multi-staged systematic random sampling and face-to-face interview were applied in selecting the samples and collecting the data, respectively. The new global poverty line (1.9 USD per person per day) was used as a threshold in determining the poverty. Chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression analysis were utilized in data analysis.Results: Altogether 254 participants were recruited after getting informed consent. The occurrence of poverty among households was 54.3% (95% CI: 48.2%, 60.5%). Head counts of poverty among study population was 58.8%. The education status of household’s head, size of household and the presence of less than 15 years old children in the household were detected as significant determinants of being poor household.Conclusions: Poverty among households living in slum area of Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon City was high. Measures to alleviate poverty in urban slums should be intensified. Education level of household’s heads should be improved. Family planning or birth spacing programme should also be strengthened, especially in urban slums.

Engineering ligand-responsive RNA controllers in yeast through the assembly of RNase III tuning modules

The programming of cellular networks to achieve new biological functions depends on the development of genetic tools that link the presence of a molecular signal to gene-regulatory activity. Recently, a set of engineered RNA controllers was described that enabled predictable tuning of gene expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae through directed cleavage of transcripts by an RNase III enzyme, Rnt1p. Here, we describe a strategy for building a new class of RNA sensing-actuation devices based on direct integration of RNA aptamers into a region of the Rnt1p hairpin that modulates Rnt1p cleavage rates. We demonstrate that ligand binding to the integrated aptamer domain is associated with a structural change sufficient to inhibit Rnt1p processing. Three tuning strategies based on the incorporation of different functional modules into the Rnt1p switch platform were demonstrated to optimize switch dynamics and ligand responsiveness. We further demonstrated that these tuning modules can be implemented combinatorially in a predictable manner to further improve the regulatory response properties of the switch. The modularity and tunability of the Rnt1p switch platform will allow for rapid optimization and tailoring of this gene control device, thus providing a useful tool for the design of complex genetic networks in yeast

Understanding urban inequalities in children's linear growth outcomes: a trend and decomposition analysis of 39,049 children in Bangladesh (2000-2018)

BACKGROUND: Despite significant progress in reducing child undernutrition, Bangladesh remains among the top six countries globally with the largest burden of child stunting and has disproportionately high stunting prevalence among the urban poor. We use population representative data to identify key predictors of child stunting in Bangladesh and assess their contributions to linear growth differences observed between urban poor and non-poor children. METHODS: We combined six rounds of Demographic and Health Survey data spanning 2000-2018 and used official poverty rates to classify the urban population into poor and non-poor households. We identified key stunting determinants using stepwise selection method. Regression-decomposition was used to quantify contributions of these key determinants to poverty-based intra-urban differences in child linear growth status. RESULTS: Key stunting determinants identified in our study predicted 84% of the linear growth difference between urban poor and non-poor children. Child's place of birth (27%), household wealth (22%), maternal education (18%), and maternal body mass index (11%) were the largest contributors to the intra-urban child linear growth gap. Difference in average height-for-age z score between urban poor and non-poor children declined by 0.31 standard deviations between 2000 and 2018. About one quarter of this observed decrease was explained by reduced differentials between urban poor and non-poor in levels of maternal education and maternal underweight status. CONCLUSIONS: Although the intra-urban disparity in child linear growth status declined over the 2000-2018 period, socioeconomic gaps remain significant. Increased nutrition-sensitive programs and investments targeting the urban poor to improve girls' education, household food security, and maternal and child health services could aid in further narrowing the remaining linear growth gap

Change in nutritional status of urban slum children before and after the first COVID-19 wave in Bangladesh: a repeated cross-sectional assessment

The onset of COVID-19 severely disrupted economies and increased acute household food insecurity in developing countries. Consequently, a global rise in childhood undernutrition was predicted, especially among vulnerable populations, but primary evidence on actual changes in nutritional status remained scarce. In this paper, we assessed shifts in nutritional status of urban slum children in Bangladesh pre- and post- the country's first wave of COVID-19 and nationwide lockdown. We used two rounds of cross-sectional data collected before and after the pandemic's first year in two large slum settlements (Korail and Tongi) of Dhaka and Gazipur, Bangladesh (n = 1119). Regression models estimated pre-post changes in: 1) predictors of childhood undernutrition (household income, jobs, food security, dietary diversity, healthcare utilization, and hand hygiene); and 2) under-five children's nutritional status (average height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and weight-for-height z-score (WHZ), stunting, and wasting). Subgroup analysis was done by household migration status and slum area. Over the sample period, average monthly household income dropped 23% from BDT 20,740 to BDT 15,960 (beta = -4.77; 95% CI:-6.40, -3.15), and currently employed fathers slightly declined from 99% to 95% (beta = -0.04; 95% CI:-0.05, -0.02). Average HAZ among the slum children improved 0.13 SD (95% CI: 0.003, 0.26). Among non-migrant children in Tongi, the odds of stunting increased (OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.16, 3.48) and average WHZ reduced -0.40 SD (95% CI: -0.74, -0.06). Despite great economic hardship, and differential patterns of representativeness by household geography and migration status, slum children in Bangladesh generally demonstrated resilience to nutritional decline over the first year of the pandemic. While underlying threats to nutritional deterioration persisted, considerable job and income recovery in the post-lockdown period appeared to have cushioned the overall decline. However, as the pandemic continues, monitoring and appropriate actions are needed to avert lasting setbacks to Bangladesh nutritional progress

Genetic analysis of Myanmar Vigna species in responses to salt stress at the seedling stage

Twelve (12) Vigna genotypes were investigated for the evaluation of their tolerance levels in responses to four concentrations of NaCl (0, 75, 150 and 225 mM) at seedling stage. In the investigation, salt stress inhibited almost all the growth parameters as well as relative water content;  however, the degree of reduction was highly dependent on different genotypes and salinity levels. Generally, the control plants showed higher degree of all measured parameters than those of salt stress plants. Analysis of the heredity parameters based on the 12 investigated genotypes showed different genotypic variance of the salt tolerance index (STI) values. Salinity stress induced two new bands between 45 and 22 kDa, respectively, in salt tolerant genotypes. Furthermore, band intensity of the salt treated genotypes was higher than the control plants. Ward’s clustering technique was clearly divided into two clusters, A and B, according to their levels of salt tolerance. Considering their STI values of growth parameters, two genotypes V7 and V4 were identified as salt tolerant, whereas, V2, V6, V9, V8, V11 and V1 were recognized as salinity susceptible genotypes. These results suggest that, the genetically diverseaccessions resistant to salt stresses within the Vigna genotypes can be of considerable practical value for studying the mechanism of salt tolerance and for the provision of genetic resources for salinity breeding program.Key words: Cluster analysis, heritability, salt tolerance, SDS-PAGE, Vigna

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

Breastfeeding duration in mothers who express breast milk: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: The expression of breast milk allows a mother to be away intermittently from her infant while continuing to breastfeed. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between expression of breast milk and breastfeeding duration METHODS: A cohort study of 12 months duration. The mothers were recruited from two public maternity hospitals in Perth, Australia between mid-September 2002 and mid-July 2003. While in hospital, participating mothers completed a questionnaire that included questions on how they were feeding their newborn. Telephone interviews conducted at regular periods monitored changes in infant feeding practices, including expression of breast milk. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to explore the association between breast milk expression and the duration of any breastfeeding. RESULTS: A total of 587 mothers, or 55% of those eligible, participated in the study. Of these 93.5% were breastfeeding at discharge from hospital. Mothers who expressed breast milk (at one or more time periods) were less likely to discontinue any breastfeeding before six months (Relative Risk 0.71, 95% CI 0.52, 0.98) than those who had never expressed milk. CONCLUSION: This study found that mothers who express breast milk are more likely to breastfeed to six months (any breastfeeding). While further research is required in different cultures to confirm these results, the appropriate use of expressed breast milk may be a means to help mothers to achieve six months of full breastfeeding while giving more lifestyle options

Performanse višeimpulsno-pozicijske amplitudne modulacije za TH IR-UWB komunikacijske sustave

The multi pulse position amplitude modulation scheme for time-hopping multiple access impulse radio ultrawideband communication systems has been presented in this paper. Multi pulse position amplitude modulation is a hybrid modulation technique, which combines multi pulse position modulation and pulse amplitude modulation. It is shown that multi pulse position amplitude modulation significantly outperforms pulse position modulation with respect to bandwidth efficiency. The multi pulse position amplitude modulation error probability over IEEE 802.15.3a multipath fading channels in multiuser environment is derived. The system analysis shows that the proper selection of modulation parameters can improve the system performance at the cost of hardware complexity (and vice versa).U ovom je radu predstavljena višeimpulsno-pozicijska amplitudna modulacijska shema za impulsne ultraširokopojasne radiokomunikacijske sustave, zasnovana na višekorisničkom pristupu s vremenskim skakanjem. Višeimpulsno-pozicijska amplitudna modulacija je hibridni modulacijski postupak, koji je kombinacija višeimpulsno-pozicijske modulacije i impulsno-amplitudne modulacije. Pokazano je da višeimpulsno-pozicijska amplitudna modulacija značajno nadmašuje impulsno-pozicijsku modulaciju u pogledu pojasne učinkovitosti. Izvedena je vjerojatnost pogreške višeimpulsno-pozicijske amplitudne modulacije u kanalu IEEE 802.15.3a s višestaznim rasprostiranjem i iščezavanjem signala u višekorisničkom okruženju. Analiza sustava pokazuje da odgovaraju ći izbor parametara modulacije može poboljšati performanse sustava uz povećanje složenosti sklopovlja (i obrnuto)