Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4 (62.3 (55.1�70.8) million) to 6.4 (58.3 (47.6�70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization�s Global Nutrition Target of <5 in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2 (30 (22.8�38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0 (55.5 (44.8�67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic. © 2020, The Author(s)

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

BACKGROUND: Assessments of age-specific mortality and life expectancy have been done by the UN Population Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNPOP), the United States Census Bureau, WHO, and as part of previous iterations of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). Previous iterations of the GBD used population estimates from UNPOP, which were not derived in a way that was internally consistent with the estimates of the numbers of deaths in the GBD. The present iteration of the GBD, GBD 2017, improves on previous assessments and provides timely estimates of the mortality experience of populations globally. METHODS: The GBD uses all available data to produce estimates of mortality rates between 1950 and 2017 for 23 age groups, both sexes, and 918 locations, including 195 countries and territories and subnational locations for 16 countries. Data used include vital registration systems, sample registration systems, household surveys (complete birth histories, summary birth histories, sibling histories), censuses (summary birth histories, household deaths), and Demographic Surveillance Sites. In total, this analysis used 8259 data sources. Estimates of the probability of death between birth and the age of 5 years and between ages 15 and 60 years are generated and then input into a model life table system to produce complete life tables for all locations and years. Fatal discontinuities and mortality due to HIV/AIDS are analysed separately and then incorporated into the estimation. We analyse the relationship between age-specific mortality and development status using the Socio-demographic Index, a composite measure based on fertility under the age of 25 years, education, and income. There are four main methodological improvements in GBD 2017 compared with GBD 2016: 622 additional data sources have been incorporated; new estimates of population, generated by the GBD study, are used; statistical methods used in different components of the analysis have been further standardised and improved; and the analysis has been extended backwards in time by two decades to start in 1950. FINDINGS: Globally, 18·7% (95% uncertainty interval 18·4–19·0) of deaths were registered in 1950 and that proportion has been steadily increasing since, with 58·8% (58·2–59·3) of all deaths being registered in 2015. At the global level, between 1950 and 2017, life expectancy increased from 48·1 years (46·5–49·6) to 70·5 years (70·1–70·8) for men and from 52·9 years (51·7–54·0) to 75·6 years (75·3–75·9) for women. Despite this overall progress, there remains substantial variation in life expectancy at birth in 2017, which ranges from 49·1 years (46·5–51·7) for men in the Central African Republic to 87·6 years (86·9–88·1) among women in Singapore. The greatest progress across age groups was for children younger than 5 years; under-5 mortality dropped from 216·0 deaths (196·3–238·1) per 1000 livebirths in 1950 to 38·9 deaths (35·6–42·83) per 1000 livebirths in 2017, with huge reductions across countries. Nevertheless, there were still 5·4 million (5·2–5·6) deaths among children younger than 5 years in the world in 2017. Progress has been less pronounced and more variable for adults, especially for adult males, who had stagnant or increasing mortality rates in several countries. The gap between male and female life expectancy between 1950 and 2017, while relatively stable at the global level, shows distinctive patterns across super-regions and has consistently been the largest in central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia, and smallest in south Asia. Performance was also variable across countries and time in observed mortality rates compared with those expected on the basis of development. INTERPRETATION: This analysis of age-sex-specific mortality shows that there are remarkably complex patterns in population mortality across countries. The findings of this study highlight global successes, such as the large decline in under-5 mortality, which reflects significant local, national, and global commitment and investment over several decades. However, they also bring attention to mortality patterns that are a cause for concern, particularly among adult men and, to a lesser extent, women, whose mortality rates have stagnated in many countries over the time period of this study, and in some cases are increasing

Author Correction: Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017 (Nature Medicine, (2020), 26, 5, (750-759), 10.1038/s41591-020-0807-6)

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. © 2020, The Author(s)

Author Correction: Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017 (Nature Medicine, (2020), 26, 5, (750-759), 10.1038/s41591-020-0807-6)

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. © 2020, The Author(s)

Effect of different doses of GA3 application at primordia initiation stage on the growth and yield of Oyster mushroom

Gibberellic acid (GA3) was sprayed with eleven doses viz. 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 ppm at the primordia initiation stage to evaluate its effect on the growth and yield performance of Oyster Mushroom. At 10 ppm level GA3 gave the highest economic yield and dry weight. Application of GA3 increased the fresh economic yields to about 30% and 34%, while 80% and 115% dry weights increase occurred compared to the control at first and second harvests, respectively. GA3 showed a positive effect on number of effective fruiting body, stalk length, pileus diameter, biological yield, economic yield and dry economic yield. The result suggested that GA3 at 10 ppm/packet would be the best possible concentration for production of Oyster Mushroom

Effects of growth promoter and multivitamin-mineral premix supplementation on body weight gain in broiler chickens

An experiment was conducted at the Khanpura Poultry Farm, near to the Babugonj campus of Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali during the period from August to September, 2011 to evaluate the effect of growth promoter and multivitamin-mineral premix on the body weight gain in broiler chickens. A total of 90 ‘Cobb 500’ day-old broiler chickens were randomly divided into three equal groups (n = 30), namely Groups A, B and C. Broiler birds in groups A and B were supplemented with growth promoter and multivitamin-mineral premix, respectively in addition to commercial feed from day 4 till day 25. The dose of both the growth promoter and multivitamin-mineral premix was 2.5 g/kg of feed. Chickens of group C served as control and supplemented with commercial feed only. Body weight was recorded at three times as on day 11, 18 and 25, respectively. The mean body weight was insignificantly (p > 0.05) higher in birds of groups A (992.5±139.6g) and B (978.3±147.0g) than those of group C (926.7±133.2g). The percent increase in body weight gain compare to control was increased in both the supplemented groups (5.8% in group A and 8.8% in group B) though there was no significant difference. Based on the results, it is suggested that supplementation of growth promoter and multivitamin-mineral premix in broilers even after feeding of commercial feed has positive effect on the growth of broilers

Detection of Avian influenza viral antigen in ducks of Haor areas of Netrakona district using rapid antigen testing

The study was carried out to detect Avian Influenza (AI) viral antigen using rapid antigen detection kit from free ranged ducks in haor areas of Bangladesh. The cloacal swabs were collected randomly from 20 duck farms of two Upazilas of Netrakona district and a total of 65 field samples were tested in this study. The overall proportion of avian influenza H5 antigen positive reactivity was 6.2% in Netrakona district. The proportion of avian influenza H5 antigen positive reactivity was 6.7% in Netrakona Sadar. Beside in Atpara Upazila, the proportion of avian influenza H5 antigen positive reactivity was 5.7%. In this study, significant (p>0.05) relationship was not drawn between the presence of AIV in domestic ducks in two Upazilas. This is the first report that successfully detect avian influenza virus antigen in ducks of Bangladesh using rapid test kits. The ducks in the haor area could act as a source of AI viruses towards infecting domestic chickens and other free living birds of Bangladesh

Seroprevalence of Brucellosis in Sheep in the Gaibandha District of Bangladesh

Brucellosis is an important zoonoses causing signififant economic loss but is very often neglected in Bangladesh. Therefore, a survey was undertaken to investigate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in sheep of selected areas (Gaibandha sadar and Gobindagonj upazilas) in the Gaibandha districts of Bangladesh. A total of 206 sera samples were collected from sheep and were tested for presence of Brucella specific antibody by Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) as screening test and the RBPT positive samples were further confirmed using indirect Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (i-ELISA). Information of sheep's age, sex, housing system, pregnancy status, abortion and reproductive disorder were collected using questionnaire. The overall seroprevalence of brucellosis in sheep was recorded as 3.39% in RBPT and 2.91% in i-ELISA. The prevalence of brucellosis in female sheep (3.41%) was higher than male (3.33%). The prevalence of brucellosis in sheep with abortion history was higher (4.34%) than the sheep with no abortion (3.08%). The highest prevalence of brucellosis (4.00%) was found in sheep keeping with others species such as cattle and goat compared to the sheep keeping alone (1.79%). The higher rate (4.59%) of Brucella antibody was recorded in sheep of 1-2 years of age. Brucellosis might be an important hinders for sheep production in Bangladesh. The present study will help to develop an appropriate prevention strategy for brucellosis in Bangladesh

Prevalence of Brucellosis in pigs: The first report in Bangladesh

Brucellosis, a bacterial zoonotic disease, has been reported in ruminants but still no report in pigs in Bangladesh. The aim of this study was to describe seroprevalence of brucellosis in swine in Bangladesh. Blood from a total of 105 pigs was collected from selected areas of Bangladesh. All samples were screened using Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and further confirmed by using Slow Agglutination Test (SAT). A structured questionnaire was used to collect the epidemiological data related to the animals and husbandry practices. Out of the 105 sera analyzed, 7 (6.7%) and 5 (4.8%) were found to be positive by RBT and SAT respectively. It was observed that, insignificantly higher prevalence of brucellosis based on SAT was found in female (5.6%) than male (2.9%), in aged animal (8.1%) than young (0.0%) and in pregnant animal (12.5%) than non pregnant animal (2.1%) (p>0.05). Prevalence of brucellosis was 42.9% in aborted pigs and 1.6% in non aborted pigs. The association between abortion status and prevalence of brucellosis was statistically highly significant (p<0.01). This report of prevalence of brucellosis in pigs is very important with regards to the human health and other livestock and might help Government and NGOs to design preventive measurement and establish livestock health policy