Application of ordinal logistic regression analysis in determining risk factors of child malnutrition in Bangladesh

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study attempts to develop an ordinal logistic regression (OLR) model to identify the determinants of child malnutrition instead of developing traditional binary logistic regression (BLR) model using the data of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2004.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Based on weight-for-age anthropometric index (Z-score) child nutrition status is categorized into three groups-severely undernourished (< -3.0), moderately undernourished (-3.0 to -2.01) and nourished (≥-2.0). Since nutrition status is ordinal, an OLR model-proportional odds model (POM) can be developed instead of two separate BLR models to find predictors of both malnutrition and severe malnutrition if the proportional odds assumption satisfies. The assumption is satisfied with low p-value (0.144) due to violation of the assumption for one co-variate. So partial proportional odds model (PPOM) and two BLR models have also been developed to check the applicability of the OLR model. Graphical test has also been adopted for checking the proportional odds assumption.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All the models determine that age of child, birth interval, mothers' education, maternal nutrition, household wealth status, child feeding index, and incidence of fever, ARI & diarrhoea were the significant predictors of child malnutrition; however, results of PPOM were more precise than those of other models.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings clearly justify that OLR models (POM and PPOM) are appropriate to find predictors of malnutrition instead of BLR models.</p

One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants

Abstract: Green plants (Viridiplantae) include around 450,000–500,000 species1, 2 of great diversity and have important roles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, as part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative, we sequenced the vegetative transcriptomes of 1,124 species that span the diversity of plants in a broad sense (Archaeplastida), including green plants (Viridiplantae), glaucophytes (Glaucophyta) and red algae (Rhodophyta). Our analysis provides a robust phylogenomic framework for examining the evolution of green plants. Most inferred species relationships are well supported across multiple species tree and supermatrix analyses, but discordance among plastid and nuclear gene trees at a few important nodes highlights the complexity of plant genome evolution, including polyploidy, periods of rapid speciation, and extinction. Incomplete sorting of ancestral variation, polyploidization and massive expansions of gene families punctuate the evolutionary history of green plants. Notably, we find that large expansions of gene families preceded the origins of green plants, land plants and vascular plants, whereas whole-genome duplications are inferred to have occurred repeatedly throughout the evolution of flowering plants and ferns. The increasing availability of high-quality plant genome sequences and advances in functional genomics are enabling research on genome evolution across the green tree of life

Aggressiveness of self-etch adhesives on unground enamel

Manufacturers of mild self-etch adhesives advocate the adjunctive use of phosphoric acid etching when bonding to unground enamel. This study tested the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the recently introduced, more aggressive self-etch adhesives and a total-etch adhesive in bonding to unground enamel. The ultrastructure and microtensile bond strengths (μTBS) of Xeno III (Dentsply) and Simplicity (Apex Dental Materials), bonded to unground enamel, were examined after thermocycling. Clearfil SE Bond (Kuraray), a mild self-etch adhesive, was used as the negative control, and One-Step (BISCO), a total-etch adhesive bonded to phosphoric acid-etched unground enamel, was used as the positive control. Differences in the thickness of enamel hybrid layers were observed and the aggressiveness of apatite dissolution in the four adhesives.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Role of red meat in the diet for children and adolescents

Optimal nutrition during the first years of life is crucial for optimal growth and development and, possibly, the prevention of chronic disease of adulthood. Iron-deficiency anaemia in childhood and adolescence is associated with serious adverse outcomes that may not be reversible, making detection and early treatment an imperative. Zinc plays a major role in cellular growth. Vitamin A is essential for the functioning of the eyes and the immune system. Vitamin A is necessary for membrane stability, and zinc is essential for mobilisation of the beta-carotene. Vitamin A deficiency contributes to anaemia by immobilising iron in the reticuloendothelial system, reducing haemopoiesis and increasing susceptibility to infections. Like iron, iodine appears to be involved in myelin production and, hence, nerve conduction. Meat is a core food in the diet for children and adolescents because it provides significant amounts of these micronutrients

A conserved plan for wiring up the fan-shaped body in the grasshopper and Drosophila

The central complex comprises an elaborate system of modular neuropils which mediate spatial orientation and sensory-motor integration in insects such as the grasshopper and Drosophila. The neuroarchitecture of the largest of these modules, the fan-shaped body, is characterized by its stereotypic set of decussating fiber bundles. These are generated during development by axons from four homologous protocerebral lineages which enter the commissural system and subsequently decussate at stereotypic locations across the brain midline. Since the commissural organization prior to fan-shaped body formation has not been previously analyzed in either species, it was not clear how the decussating bundles relate to individual lineages, or if the projection pattern is conserved across species. In this study, we trace the axonal projections from the homologous central complex lineages into the commissural system of the embryonic and larval brains of both the grasshopper and Drosophila. Projections into the primordial commissures of both species are found to be lineage-specific and allow putatively equivalent fascicles to be identified. Comparison of the projection pattern before and after the commencement of axon decussation in both species reveals that equivalent commissural fascicles are involved in generating the columnar neuroarchitecture of the fan-shaped body. Further, the tract-specific columns in both the grasshopper and Drosophila can be shown to contain axons from identical combinations of central complex lineages, suggesting that this columnar neuroarchitecture is also conserved