Project description:BackgroundMalnutrition among women disproportionately exists across socioeconomic classes of Bangladesh. According to our knowledge, studies which attempted to identify determinants and their contributions to explain BMI-based nutritional gap between the poorest and the richest categories of Wealth Index are still scarce.ObjectivesTo identify the nutritional gap of women between the richest-poorest classes in Bangladesh, and to determine how much of this gap are attributed to differences in predictors and differences in coefficients.Study populationReproductive-aged (15-49 years) women of Bangladesh.Methods and proceduresWe utilized the latest round (2017-2018) data of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). Body mass index (BMI) has been used to measure the nutritional status of women. The kernel density was used to visualize the nutritional gap. The Oaxaca-Blinder (OB) decomposition method was used to ascertain influential determinants and their contributions to the existing gap between the richest-poorest classes of women.ResultsWe analyzed the data of 18,682 reproductive-aged women. There was a significant mean BMI gap of 4.1 unit (95% CI: 3.90-4.35) between the poorest-richest (25.6 vs 21.5) women. The overall prevalence of underweight, overweight and obese were 11.8%, 33.8% and 15.4%, respectively. The richest women were less underweight (7.5%) but more overweight (23.7%) and obese (42.2%). In contrast, the poorest women were more underweight (32.0%) but less overweight (13.9%) and obese (7.0%). According to results of OB decomposition method, all predictors combinedly can explain 1.62 units (95% CI: 1.31-1.93) of the total mean BMI gap (equivalent to 40%). Some of the major predictors were women years of education (0.45 units, 95% CI: 0.27-0.64), spouse years of education (0.16 units, 95% CI: -0.02-0.34), current working status (0.17 units, 95% CI: 0.10-0.34), access to Television (0.50 units, 95% CI: 0.28-0.72), and place of residence (0.37 units, 95% CI: 0.22-0.72). The unexplained part of the poorest-richest gap was 2.51 units (95% CI: 2.13-2.89), which means that this particular gap will remain unchanged even though the mean difference of the predictors was diminished.ConclusionsA large part of the nutritional gap (approximately 60%) between the poorest and richest classes of women are found to be unchanged by the predictors of the study. Therefore, further predictors should be identified to minimize such gap. Moreover, policy makers and relevant stakeholders should implement feasible strategies to minimize the existing differences in the major predictors.
Project description:The home-market effect, first hypothesized by Linder (1961) and later formalized by Krugman (1980), is the idea that countries with larger demand for some products at home tend to have larger sales of the same products abroad. In this article, we develop a simple test of the home-market effect using detailed drug sales data from the global pharmaceutical industry. The core of our empirical strategy is the observation that a country's exogenous demographic composition can be used as a predictor of the diseases that its inhabitants are most likely to die from and, in turn, the drugs they are most likely to demand. We find that the correlation between predicted home demand and sales abroad is positive and greater than the correlation between predicted home demand and purchases from abroad. In short, countries tend to be net sellers of the drugs they demand the most, as predicted by Linder (1961) and Krugman (1980).
Project description:Adults under time pressure share with others generously, but with more time they act more selfishly. In the current study, we investigated whether young children already operate in this same way, and, if so, whether this changes over the preschool and early school age years. We tested 144 children in three age groups (3-, 5-, and 7-year olds) in a one-shot dictator game: Children were given nine stickers and had the possibility to share stickers with another child who was absent. Children in the Time Pressure condition were instructed to share quickly, whereas children in the Delay condition were instructed to take time and consider their decision carefully. Across ages, children in the Time Pressure condition shared significantly more stickers than children in the Delay condition. Moreover, the longer children waited, the less they shared. Thus, children, like adults, are more prosocial when acting spontaneously than after considering their decision more carefully.
Project description:The cognitive-buffer hypothesis proposes that more harsh and unpredictable environments favour animals with larger brains and resulting greater cognitive skills. Comparisons across taxa have supported the hypothesis, but it has rarely been tested within a species. We measured brain size, as inferred from head dimensions, for 1141 cliff swallow specimens collected in western Nebraska, 1982-2018. Cliff swallows starving to death during unusual late-spring cold snaps had significantly smaller brains than those dying from other causes, suggesting that brain size in this species can affect foraging success and that greater cognitive ability may confer advantages when conditions exceed normal environmental extremes. Brain size declined significantly with the size of the breeding colony from which a specimen came. Larger brains may be favoured in smaller colonies that represent more unpredictable and more challenging social environments where there is less public information on food sources and less collective vigilance against predators, even in relatively normal conditions. Our results provide intraspecific support for the cognitive-buffer hypothesis and emphasize the potential evolutionary impact of rare climatic events.
Project description:Hydrostatic pressure is one of the physical factors affecting cellular physiology. Hydrostatic pressure of a few hundred MPa decreases the viability of yeast cells, and pressure of a few tens MPa decreases the growth rate. To understand the effect of hydrostatic pressure, we employed yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DNA microarrays and analyzed genome-wide mRNA expression profiles under hydrostatic pressures. In this experiment, we selected a hydrostatic pressure of 40 MPa at 25 degrees C because the condition is not lethal for yeast cells but the growth was suppressed. Keywords: stress response
Project description:IntroductionFindings from the community-based Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) suggest children were more affected by the 2018/19 influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 epidemic.AimTo compare the age distribution of A(H1N1)pdm09 cases in 2018/19 to prior seasonal influenza epidemics in Canada.MethodsThe age distribution of unvaccinated influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases and test-negative controls were compared across A(H1N1)pdm09-dominant epidemics in 2018/19, 2015/16 and 2013/14 and with the general population of SPSN provinces. Similar comparisons were undertaken for influenza A(H3N2)-dominant epidemics.ResultsIn 2018/19, more influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases were under 10 years old than controls (29% vs 16%; p < 0.001). In particular, children aged 5-9 years comprised 14% of cases, greater than their contribution to controls (4%) or the general population (5%) and at least twice their contribution in 2015/16 (7%; p < 0.001) or 2013/14 (5%; p < 0.001). Conversely, children aged 10-19 years (11% of the population) were under-represented among A(H1N1)pdm09 cases versus controls in 2018/19 (7% vs 12%; p < 0.001), 2015/16 (7% vs 13%; p < 0.001) and 2013/14 (9% vs 12%; p = 0.12).ConclusionChildren under 10 years old contributed more to outpatient A(H1N1)pdm09 medical visits in 2018/19 than prior seasonal epidemics in Canada. In 2018/19, all children under 10 years old were born after the 2009 A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic and therefore lacked pandemic-induced immunity. In addition, more than half those born after 2009 now attend school (i.e. 5-9-year-olds), a socio-behavioural context that may enhance transmission and did not apply during prior A(H1N1)pdm09 epidemics.
Project description:Organisms are expected to respond to alterations in their survival by evolutionary changes in their life history traits. As agriculture and aquaculture have become increasingly intensive in the past decades, there has been growing interest in their evolutionary effects on the life histories of agri- and aquacultural pests, parasites, and pathogens. In this study, we used salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) to explore how modern farming might have affected life history evolution in parasites. We infected salmon hosts with lice from either farmed or unfarmed locations, and monitored life history traits of those parasites in laboratory conditions. Our results show that compared to salmon lice from areas unaffected by salmon farming, those from farmed areas produced more eggs in their first clutch, and less eggs later on; they achieved higher infestation intensities in early adulthood, but suffered higher adult mortality. These results suggest that salmon lice on farms may have been selected for increased investment in early reproduction, at the expense of later fecundity and survival. This call for further empirical studies of the extent to which farming practices may alter the virulence of agricultural parasites.
Project description:A prototypical, single-phase, and non-equiatomic high entropy alloy Fe40Mn40Co10Cr10 has been mechanically deformed at room and cryogenic temperatures. Plastic deformation was accommodated via crystallographic slip at room temperature while transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) has been observed in samples deformed at 77 K. The stress-induced martensitic transformation occurred from face-centered cubic (FCC) to hexagonal close-packed (HCP) structures. A detailed electron backscatter diffraction analysis was utilized to detect phase change and evaluate the evolution of the HCP phase volume fraction as a function of plastic strain. Physical properties of undeformed and deformed samples were measured to elucidate the effect of deformation-induced phase transitions on the magnetic and electrical properties of Fe40Mn40Co10Cr10 alloy. Relatively small magnetic moments along with non-saturating magnetic field dependencies suggest that the ground state in the considered material is ferrimagnetic ordering with coexisting antiferromagnetic phase. The temperature evolution of the coercive fields has been revealed for all samples. The magnitudes of the coercive fields place the considered system into the semi-hard magnetic alloys category. The temperature dependence of the zero-field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) magnetization was measured for all samples in the low field regime and the origin of irreversibility in ZFC/FC curves was discussed. Besides, the temperature dependence of the resistivity in all samples was measured and the possible conduction mechanisms were discussed.
Project description:IntroductionThe safety of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) in children is controversial. We were mandated by the College of Chiropractors of British Columbia to review the evidence on this issue.ObjectivesWe conducted a rapid review of the safety of SMT in children (< 10 years). We aimed to: 1) describe adverse events; 2) report the incidence of adverse events; and 3) determine whether SMT increases the risk of adverse events compared to other interventions.Evidence reviewWe searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Index to Chiropractic Literature from January 1, 1990 to August 1, 2019. We used rapid review methodology recommended by the World Health Organization. Eligible studies (case reports/series, cohort studies and randomized controlled trials) were critically appraised. Studies of high and acceptable methodological quality were included. The lead author extracted data. Data extraction was independently validated by a second reviewer. We conducted a qualitative synthesis of the evidence.FindingsMost adverse events are mild (e.g., increased crying, soreness). One case report describes a severe adverse event (rib fracture in a 21-day-old) and another an indirect harm in a 4-month-old. The incidence of mild adverse events ranges from 0.3% (95% CI: 0.06, 1.82) to 22.22% (95% CI: 6.32, 54.74). Whether SMT increases the risk of adverse events in children is unknown.ConclusionThe risk of moderate and severe adverse events is unknown in children treated with SMT. It is unclear whether SMT increases the risk of adverse events in children < 10 years.
Project description:ObjectiveBeginning in October 2021 in the US and elsewhere, cases of severe pediatric hepatitis of unknown etiology were identified in young children. While the adenovirus and adenovirus-associated virus have emerged as leading etiologic suspects, we attempted to investigate a potential role for SARS-CoV-2 in the development of subsequent liver abnormalities.DesignWe conducted a study utilizing retrospective cohorts of de-identified, aggregated data from the electronic health records of over 100 million patients contributed by US health care organizations.ResultsCompared to propensity-score-matched children with other respiratory infections, children aged 1-10 years with COVID-19 had a higher risk of elevated transaminases (Hazard ratio (HR) (95% Confidence interval (CI)) 2.16 (1.74-2.69)) or total bilirubin (HR (CI) 3.02 (1.91-4.78)), or new diagnoses of liver diseases (HR (CI) 1.67 (1.21-2.30)) from one to six months after infection. Patients with pre-existing liver abnormalities, liver abnormalities surrounding acute infection, younger age (1-4 years), or illness requiring hospitalization all had similarly elevated risk. Children who developed liver abnormalities following COVID-19 had more pre-existing conditions than those who developed abnormalities following other infections.ConclusionThese results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 may prime the patient for subsequent development of liver infections or non-infectious liver diseases. While rare (∼1 in 1,000), SARS-CoV-2 is a risk for subsequent abnormalities in liver function or the diagnosis of diseases of the liver.What is already known on this topicClusters of severe hepatitis in children in 2022 coincident with the increase in COVID-19 infections in children raised the question of the contribution of SARS-CoV-2 to the hepatitis outbreak, though it was soon determined that SARS-CoV-2 was not the primary etiologic agent.What this study addsSARS-CoV-2 may prime the patient for subsequent development of liver infections or non-infectious liver diseases.How this study might affect research practice or policyDespite the mild initial disease in children, there may be longer term consequences of COVID-19, such as liver abnormalities, that warrants further investigation.