Health Impact and Risk Factors Affecting South and Southeast Asian Women Following Natural Disasters: A Systematic Review.

(1) Background: Following natural disasters, women have a higher prevalence of adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Given that the South and Southeast Asia regions are highly disaster prone, a review was undertaken to identify the potential health impact and key risk factors affecting women after disasters in the countries located in South and Southeast Asia regions. (2) Methods: A systematic literature search of four databases yielded 16 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidance, between July 2008 and March 2021. (3) Results: The majority of studies reported women's negative/poor mental health, identifying a significant association of socio-demographics, during disaster exposure, post-disaster, and pre-existing risk factors. The six most-cited influences on women's mental health found in the reviewed literature were being female, adult age group, having no formal education, poverty or low economic status, poor physical health/physical injuries, and death of family members. Women's health during the post-disaster period was generally reported as poor among all the countries of the South and Southeast Asia regions. (4) Conclusions: Appropriate social support and the availability of free healthcare access for women are warranted in disaster-affected areas. This review offers a valuable contribution to the knowledge of women's health complications/challenges and associated risk factors related to disasters, essential for the development of strategies to help reduce this burden in the future. Further research is required on natural disasters to identify ways to reduce women's health impacts after natural disasters, especially in the context of low-income and lower-middle-income countries

Light and temperature effects on sprout yield and its proximate composition and vitamin C content in Lignosus and Mung beans

Bean sprout is used as vegetables. The present study investigated the effect of temperature and light on seed germination and sprout yield, and proximate (crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, nitrogen free extract and ash) composition of sprout in Lignosus (Dipogon lignosus (L.) Verdc.) and Mung (Vigna radiata Wilczek) beans. Three temperatures (ambient, 25o and 30oC) and two light regimes; continuous dark, (CD) and continuous dark alternated by ½ hour light daily, (DAL) were used for seed germination and bean sprout yield. Data were collected 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours after setting the presoaked seeds in the petri dishes. Of the temperature regimes, generally better seed germination and sprout fresh weight (yield) were observed at 25oC in Mung bean and 30oC in Lignosus bean. Germination and sprout yield were similar under CD and DAL. Both under CD and DAL, sprout yield was higher after 120 hours compared to 96 hrs after germination in both the beans. Proximate composition of dry seeds and their sprouts was also determined. Irrespective of species, crude protein content was significantly higher in sprout (average of 29.33%) than dry seed (average of 24.33%).Vitamin C was significantly higher in Lignosus bean sprout (20.93 mg 100g-1) compared to Mung bean sprout (9.52 mg 100g-1). This is the first world report on Lignosus bean sprout. It may be concluded that better sprout yield and good protein content were obtained at 25oC in Mung bean and 30oC in Lignosus bean after 120 hrs of germination irrespective of dark and light

Towards a large-scale quantum simulator on diamond surface at room temperature

Strongly-correlated quantum many-body systems exhibits a variety of exotic phases with long-range quantum correlations, such as spin liquids and supersolids. Despite the rapid increase in computational power of modern computers, the numerical simulation of these complex systems becomes intractable even for a few dozens of particles. Feynman's idea of quantum simulators offers an innovative way to bypass this computational barrier. However, the proposed realizations of such devices either require very low temperatures (ultracold gases in optical lattices, trapped ions, superconducting devices) and considerable technological effort, or are extremely hard to scale in practice (NMR, linear optics). In this work, we propose a new architecture for a scalable quantum simulator that can operate at room temperature. It consists of strongly-interacting nuclear spins attached to the diamond surface by its direct chemical treatment, or by means of a functionalized graphene sheet. The initialization, control and read-out of this quantum simulator can be accomplished with nitrogen-vacancy centers implanted in diamond. The system can be engineered to simulate a wide variety of interesting strongly-correlated models with long-range dipole-dipole interactions. Due to the superior coherence time of nuclear spins and nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, our proposal offers new opportunities towards large-scale quantum simulation at room temperatures

Trapped in the prison of the mind: notions of climate-induced (im)mobility decision-making and wellbeing from an urban informal settlement in Bangladesh

The concept of Trapped Populations has until date mainly referred to people ‘trapped’ in environmentally high-risk rural areas due to economic constraints. This article attempts to widen our understanding of the concept by investigating climate-induced socio-psychological immobility and its link to Internally Displaced People’s (IDPs) wellbeing in a slum of Dhaka. People migrated here due to environmental changes back on Bhola Island and named the settlement Bhola Slum after their home. In this way, many found themselves ‘immobile’ after having been mobile—unable to move back home, and unable to move to other parts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, or beyond. The analysis incorporates the emotional and psychosocial aspects of the diverse immobility states. Mind and emotion are vital to better understand people’s (im)mobility decision-making and wellbeing status. The study applies an innovative and interdisciplinary methodological approach combining Q-methodology and discourse analysis (DA). This mixed-method illustrates a replicable approach to capture the complex state of climate-induced (im)mobility and its interlinkages to people’s wellbeing. People reported facing non-economic losses due to the move, such as identity, honour, sense of belonging and mental health. These psychosocial processes helped explain why some people ended up ‘trapped’ or immobile. The psychosocial constraints paralysed them mentally, as well as geographically. More empirical evidence on how climate change influences people’s wellbeing and mental health will be important to provide us with insights in how to best support vulnerable people having faced climatic impacts, and build more sustainable climate policy frameworks

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory mechanisms in uveitis

The eye, as currently viewed, is neither immunologically ignorant nor sequestered from the systemic environment. The eye utilises distinct immunoregulatory mechanisms to preserve tissue and cellular function in the face of immune-mediated insult; clinically, inflammation following such an insult is termed uveitis. The intra-ocular inflammation in uveitis may be clinically obvious as a result of infection (e.g. toxoplasma, herpes), but in the main infection, if any, remains covert. We now recognise that healthy tissues including the retina have regulatory mechanisms imparted by control of myeloid cells through receptors (e.g. CD200R) and soluble inhibitory factors (e.g. alpha-MSH), regulation of the blood retinal barrier, and active immune surveillance. Once homoeostasis has been disrupted and inflammation ensues, the mechanisms to regulate inflammation, including T cell apoptosis, generation of Treg cells, and myeloid cell suppression in situ, are less successful. Why inflammation becomes persistent remains unknown, but extrapolating from animal models, possibilities include differential trafficking of T cells from the retina, residency of CD8(+) T cells, and alterations of myeloid cell phenotype and function. Translating lessons learned from animal models to humans has been helped by system biology approaches and informatics, which suggest that diseased animals and people share similar changes in T cell phenotypes and monocyte function to date. Together the data infer a possible cryptic infectious drive in uveitis that unlocks and drives persistent autoimmune responses, or promotes further innate immune responses. Thus there may be many mechanisms in common with those observed in autoinflammatory disorders

High levels of genetic variability and differentiation in hilsa shad, Tenualosa ilisha (Clupeidae, Clupeiformes) populations revealed by PCR-RFLP analysis of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop region

The hilsa shad, Tenualosa ilisha (Clupeidae, Clupeiformes) is an important anadromous clupeid species from the Western division of the Indo-Pacific region. It constitutes the largest single fishable species in Bangladesh. Information on genetic variability and population structure is very important for both management and conservation purposes. Past reports on the population structure of T. ilisha involving morphometric, allozyme and RAPD analyses are contradictory. We examined genetic variability and divergence in two riverine (the Jamuna and the Meghna), two estuarine (Kuakata and Sundarbans) and one marine (Cox's Bazar) populations of T. ilisha by applying PCR-RFLP analysis of the mtDNA D-loop region. The amplified PCR products were restricted with four restriction enzymes namely, XbaI, EcoRI, EcoRV, and HaeIII. High levels of haplotype and gene diversity within and significant differentiations among, populations of T. ilisha were observed in this study. Significant FST values indicated differentiation among the river, estuary and marine populations. The UPGMA dendrogram based on genetic distance resulted in two major clusters, although, these were subsequently divided into three, corresponding to the riverine, estuarine and marine populations. The study underlines the usefulness of RFLP of mtDNA D-loop region as molecular markers, and detected at least two differentiated populations of T. ilisha in Bangladesh waters

The Formation and Evolution of the First Massive Black Holes

The first massive astrophysical black holes likely formed at high redshifts (z>10) at the centers of low mass (~10^6 Msun) dark matter concentrations. These black holes grow by mergers and gas accretion, evolve into the population of bright quasars observed at lower redshifts, and eventually leave the supermassive black hole remnants that are ubiquitous at the centers of galaxies in the nearby universe. The astrophysical processes responsible for the formation of the earliest seed black holes are poorly understood. The purpose of this review is threefold: (1) to describe theoretical expectations for the formation and growth of the earliest black holes within the general paradigm of hierarchical cold dark matter cosmologies, (2) to summarize several relevant recent observations that have implications for the formation of the earliest black holes, and (3) to look into the future and assess the power of forthcoming observations to probe the physics of the first active galactic nuclei.Comment: 39 pages, review for "Supermassive Black Holes in the Distant Universe", Ed. A. J. Barger, Kluwer Academic Publisher

Development and initial validation of the Influences on Patient Safety Behaviours Questionnaire

YesBackground: Understanding the factors that make it more or less likely that healthcare practitioners (HCPs) will perform certain patient safety behaviors is important in developing effective intervention strategies. A questionnaire to identify determinants of HCP patient safety behaviors does not currently exist. This study reports the development and initial validation of the Influences on Patient Safety Behaviors Questionnaire (IPSBQ) based on the Theoretical Domains Framework. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-three HCPs from three acute National Health Service Hospital Trusts in the United Kingdom completed the 34-item measure focusing on one specific patient safety behavior (using pH as the first line method for checking the position of a nasogastric tube). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was undertaken to generate the model of best fit. Results: The final questionnaire consisted of 11 factors and 23 items, and CFA produced a reasonable fit: χ2 (175) = 345.7, p < 0.001; CMIN/DF = 1.98; GFI = 0.90 and RMSEA = 0.06, as well as adequate levels of discriminant validity, and internal consistency (r = 0.21 to 0.64). Conclusions: A reliable and valid theoretically underpinned measure of determinants of HCP patient safety behavior has been developed. The criterion validity of the measure is still unknown and further work is necessary to confirm the reliability and validity of this measure for other patient safety behaviors