More than 30 million children worldwide have moderate acute malnutrition. Current treatments have limited effectiveness, and much remains unknown about the pathogenesis of this condition. Children ...with moderate acute malnutrition have perturbed development of their gut microbiota.
In this study, we provided a microbiota-directed complementary food prototype (MDCF-2) or a ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF) to 123 slum-dwelling Bangladeshi children with moderate acute malnutrition between the ages of 12 months and 18 months. The supplementation was given twice daily for 3 months, followed by 1 month of monitoring. We obtained weight-for-length, weight-for-age, and length-for-age z scores and mid-upper-arm circumference values at baseline and every 2 weeks during the intervention period and at 4 months. We compared the rate of change of these related phenotypes between baseline and 3 months and between baseline and 4 months. We also measured levels of 4977 proteins in plasma and 209 bacterial taxa in fecal samples.
A total of 118 children (59 in each study group) completed the intervention. The rates of change in the weight-for-length and weight-for-age z scores are consistent with a benefit of MDCF-2 on growth over the course of the study, including the 1-month follow-up. Receipt of MDCF-2 was linked to the magnitude of change in levels of 70 plasma proteins and of 21 associated bacterial taxa that were positively correlated with the weight-for-length z score (P<0.001 for comparisons of both protein and bacterial taxa). These proteins included mediators of bone growth and neurodevelopment.
These findings provide support for MDCF-2 as a dietary supplement for young children with moderate acute malnutrition and provide insight into mechanisms by which this targeted manipulation of microbiota components may be linked to growth. (Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04015999.).
Wheat is one of the world’s most commonly consumed cereal grains. During abiotic stresses, the physiological and biochemical alterations in the cells reduce growth and development of plants that ...ultimately decrease the yield of wheat. Therefore, novel approaches are needed for sustainable wheat production under the changing climate to ensure food and nutritional security of the ever-increasing population of the world. There are two ways to alleviate the adverse effects of abiotic stresses in sustainable wheat production. These are (i) development of abiotic stress tolerant wheat cultivars by molecular breeding, speed breeding, genetic engineering, and/or gene editing approaches such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas toolkit, and (ii) application of improved agronomic, nano-based agricultural technology, and other climate-smart agricultural technologies. The development of stress-tolerant wheat cultivars by mobilizing global biodiversity and using molecular breeding, speed breeding, genetic engineering, and/or gene editing approaches such as CRISPR-Cas toolkit is considered the most promising ways for sustainable wheat production in the changing climate in major wheat-growing regions of the world. This comprehensive review updates the adverse effects of major abiotic stresses and discusses the potentials of some novel approaches such as molecular breeding, biotechnology and genetic-engineering, speed breeding, nanotechnology, and improved agronomic practices for sustainable wheat production in the changing climate.
Flavonoids are important natural compounds with diverse biologic activities. Citrus flavonoids constitute an important series of flavonoids. Naringin and its aglycone naringenin belong to this series ...of flavonoids and were found to display strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. Several lines of investigation suggest that naringin supplementation is beneficial for the treatment of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. A number of molecular mechanisms underlying its beneficial activities have been elucidated. However, their effect on obesity and metabolic disorder remains to be fully established. Moreover, the therapeutic uses of these flavonoids are significantly limited by the lack of adequate clinical evidence. This review aims to explore the biologic activities of these compounds, particularly on lipid metabolism in obesity, oxidative stress, and inflammation in context of metabolic syndrome.
Bi-directional airflow is generated in the wave energy plant with oscillating water column (OWC). Turbines for bi-directional airflow have been used in such devices, and they rotates in the same ...direction. Some turbines for bi-directional airflow were proposed, and their performance were investigated by wind tunnel tests and CFD analyses. Typical turbines have some inherent disadvantages such as severe stall and low efficiency. Therefore, the authors proposed two unique turbines for bi-directional flow: Wells turbine with booster and counter-rotating impulse turbine. Extensive numerical works were conducted to perform a comparative study between the conventional and proposed turbines.
The rectification-valve system has been invented to drive an air turbine equipped with the oscillating water column (OWC) based wave energy plant. However, this flow rectification system has widely ...regarded as impractical, except possibly in small devices like navigation buoys, due to the lack of durability of the valves and its complex mechanism. Moreover, as the valve size must be large for a high output, that makes the system practically infeasible. Therefore, a twin unidirectional impulse turbine topology has been suggested in previous studies to make the system valueless; the conventional unidirectional air turbines can be used. In this topology, the bidirectional airflow is rectified by the pressure difference between two unidirectional impulse turbines, and the most of airflow should get through the forward turbine. However, our previous study suggested that the mean efficiency of the twin turbine system would be lower than that of the unidirectional impulse turbine, since a portion of airflow gets through the reverse turbine whose efficiency is very low. In this study, a fluidic diode was adopted in the twin unidirectional impulse turbine system in order to reduce the air flow through the reverse turbine. The wind tunnel test and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis were conducted to investigate the effect of fluidic diodes on the turbine performance. Further, the usefulness of a fluidic diode in the twin unidirectional impulse turbine topology to be discussed from the view point of mean efficiency under an unsteady flow condition.
The current study aims to examine the symmetric and asymmetric effects of climate change (CC) on rice productivity (RP) in Malaysia. The Autoregressive-Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Non-linear ...Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) models were employed in this study. Time series data from 1980 to 2019 were collected from the World Bank and the Department of Statistics, Malaysia. The estimated results are also validated using Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), and Canonical Cointegration Regression (CCR). The findings of symmetric ARDL show that rainfall and cultivated area have significant and advantageous effects on rice output. The NARDL-bound test outcomes display that climate change has an asymmetrical long-run impact on rice productivity. Climate change has had varying degrees of positive and negative impacts on rice productivity in Malaysia. Positive changes in temperature and rainfall have a substantial and destructive impact on RP. At the same time, negative variations in temperature and rainfall have a substantial and positive impact on rice production in the Malaysian agriculture sector. Changes in cultivated areas, both positive and negative, have a long-term optimistic impact on rice output. Additionally, we discovered that only temperature affects rice output in both directions. Malaysian policymakers must understand the symmetric and asymmetric effects of CC on RP and agricultural policies that will promote sustainable agricultural development and food security.
To determine the thermal effects of an oscillating mist fan (spraying 86 L/h of droplets with 25 µm mean diameter) on worker comfort, its effects on the thermal environment were measured in a large ...indoor space (37,500 m
2
/525,000 m
3
). It was found that the temperature dropped by 0.2-2.5 K, with local humidity increasing by 5%. Ventilation air-exchange calculations indicate that in hot summer conditions, an 8-h shift could be continuously cooled without creating high humidity, recovering to initial values after 16 h of ventilation at 0.3 ach. The cooling effect of the mist and fan was measured and compared with that of the fan. The mist and fan-cooling effect exceeded 100 W/m
2
in all cases, while the mist and fan cooling exceeded the fan alone by 18 W/m
2
on average, 24 W/m
2
at the peak values and 11 W/m
2
average during oscillation. The ASHRAE 55-2013 model is modified to include this additional cooling. Standard effective temperatures (SETs) are calculated with and without the mist fan-cooling effect. Linear approximations for reduction in SET were developed as a function of air temperature and mist-cooling effect. The deployment of this technology would improve thermal comfort for factory workers on hot summer days.
In an oscillating water column (OWC) based wave energy plant, a bi-directional airflow is generated in the air chamber. To harness energy, the bi-directional airflow turbines that rotate in the same ...direction are used in such wave energy conversion devices. Some turbines for bi-directional airflow have been proposed to date, and their performance were investigated by wind tunnel tests and CFD analyses. Some of the typical turbines have inherent disadvantages, such as severe stall problem and low efficiency. Therefore, authors proposed two unique turbines for bi-directional flow: Wells turbine with booster and counter-rotating impulse turbine. An extensive computational work was conducted to perform a comparative study between the conventional and proposed turbines for bi-directional airflow.
Understanding the trend of temperature and rainfall is of prime importance for climate change related research. This research aims to identify the trends of temperature and rainfall for the last ...50 years (1966–2015) for Bangladesh. To detect the trends, the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test in combination with a trend-free pre-whitening approach for correcting the time series to eliminate the influence of serial correlation has been used whereas the Sen's slope method is used for identification of the trend value. Maximum, minimum, and mean monthly temperatures have been analyzed to identify the monthly, seasonal and annual trend. Four seasons are distinct in Bangladesh, namely, pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter. In case of rainfall, mean monthly rainfall, 1-day maximum rainfall and consecutive 3-day maximum rainfall are analyzed in a similar fashion. For maximum, minimum and mean monthly temperature, the majority of the stations show an increasing trend for all three indices. Monsoon season observes highest increasing trend of 0.015 °C/yr for mean monthly temperature whereas the winter season shows the negative trend of −0.002 °C/yr. On an annual basis, the trend is increasing with a value of 0.008 °C/yr or 0.4 °C in 50 years having significance level, p < .05. On the other hand, mean rainfall shows an increasing trend for the three seasons except for winter, however, significance level in this case is p > .10. The trend of mean rainfall for annual basis shows an increasing trend of 5.675 mm/yr. The trend in one day and consecutive three-day maximum rainfall depicts that the trend is increasing in few places whereas in other places the trend is decreasing with no significant change. The research concludes that the climate of Bangladesh is getting cooler and drier for winter, on the other hand, warmer and wetter for the rest of the year.
•Data did not show significant serial correlation except for post monsoon temperature and winter rainfall series•In case of rainfall, the country as a whole observed no significant trend for all the three indices analyzed.•It has been predicted that, because of climate change, there will be gradual increase of temperature and change in rainfall pattern
Bangladesh is one among the few countries of the world that provides free medical services at the community level through various public health facilities. It is now evident that, clients' perceived ...quality of services and their expectations of service standards affect health service utilization to a great extent. The aim of the study was to develop and validate the measures for perception and satisfaction of primary health care quality in Bangladesh context and to identify their aspects on the utilization status of the Community Clinic services.
This mixed method cross sectional survey was conducted from January to June 2012, in the catchment area of 12 community clinics. Since most of the outcome indicators focus mainly on women and children, women having children less than 2 years of age were randomly assigned and interviewed for the study purpose. Data were collected through FGD, Key informants interview and a pretested semi- structured questionnaire.
About 95 % of the respondents were Muslims and 5 % were Hindus. The average age of the respondents was 23.38 (SD 4.15) and almost all of them are home makers. The average monthly expenditure of their family was 95US $ (SD 32US$). At the beginning of the study, two psychometric research instruments; 24 items perceived quality of primary care services PQPCS scale (chronbach's α = .89) and 22 items community clinic service satisfaction CCSS scale (chronbach's α = .97), were constructed and validated. This study showed less educated, poor, landless mothers utilized the community clinic services more than their educated and wealthier counterpart. Women who lived in their own residence used the community clinic services more frequently than those who lived in a rental house. Perceptions concerning skill and competence of the health care provider and satisfaction indicating interpersonal communication and attitude of the care provider were important predictors for community clinic service utilization. Perception related to the quality of management, administration, physical environment of the service point and satisfaction addressing health promotion and women health issues played significant role on community clinic's services utilization.
Besides parental education and income, client's perception and satisfaction played significant role in community clinic service utilization. Provider's perception of service quality should be studied. The study findings will enable policy-makers to improve quality of primary health care services, realizing providers' and patients' ideas of community clinic service quality.
PDF
