Supply- and Demand-Side Factors Influencing Utilization of Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling Services in Viet Nam

Adequate utilization of services is critical to maximize the impact of counselling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF), but little is known about factors affecting utilization. Our study examined supply- and demand-side factors associated with the utilization of IYCF counselling services in Viet Nam. We used survey data from mothers with children <2y (n = 1,008) and health staff (n = 60) from the evaluation of a program that embedded IYCF counseling into the existing government health system. The frequency of never users, one-time users, repeat users, and achievers of the recommended minimum number of visits at health facilities were 45.1%, 13.0%, 28.4% and 13.5%, respectively. Poisson regression showed that demand-generation strategies, especially invitation cards, were the key factors determining one-time use (Prevalence ratio, PR 3.0, 95% CI: 2.2–4.2), repeated use (PR 3.2, 95% CI: 2.4–4.2), and achievement of minimum visits (PR 5.5, 95% CI: 3.6–8.4). Higher maternal education was associated with higher utilization both for one-time and repeated use. Being a farmer, belonging to an ethnic minority, and having a wasted child were associated with greater likelihood of achieving the minimum recommended number of visits, whereas child stunting or illness were not. Distance to health center was a barrier to repeated visits. Among supply-side factors, good counselling skills (PR: 1.3–1.8) was the most important factor associated with any service use, whereas longer employment duration and greater work pressure of health center staff were associated with lower utilization. Population attributable risk estimations showed that an additional 25% of the population would have achieved the minimum number of visits if exposed to three demand-generation strategies, and further increased to 49% if the health staff had good counseling skills and low work pressure. Our study provides evidence that demand-generation strategies are essential to increase utilization of facility-based IYCF counselling services in Viet Nam, and may be relevant for increasing and sustaining use of nutrition services in similar contexts.     

Effect of vermicompost leachate in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ceratotheca triloba</Emphasis> under nutrient deficiency

Ceratotheca triloba (Bernh.) Hook.f. commonly known as an African foxglove is an indigenous plant which occurs in most parts of South Africa. The species is commonly consumed as a leafy vegetable and utilized for its medicinal properties. Although the high nutritional value of the species and medicinal properties are well documented, information related to critical aspect of cultivation is currently limited. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of vermicompost leachate (VCL) on growth, nutritional, phytochemical, and antioxidant levels in C. triloba at different growth stages under nutrient-deficient conditions. After in vitro germination, seedlings were grown in the greenhouse for 2 and 4 months under nitrogen (–N); phosphorus (–P); and potassium (–K) deficiency conditions, and were treated with VCL. Vermicompost leachate did not improve the growth of C. triloba plants under the nutrient-deficient conditions. Although –N-deficient plants with or without VCL caused a decline in growth parameters, they significantly enhanced phytochemicals in 2-month-old plants. In most cases, the application of VCL to –P- and –K-deficient plants improved the photosynthetic pigments, protein, and phenolic, as well as flavonoid accumulation. Harvesting time was also found to play a crucial role in the accumulation of evaluated parameters in nutrient-deprived plants. From these findings, it can be deduced that VCL has a potential to minimize the effect of nutrient deficiency especially under –P and –K deficiency in C. triloba plants.     

Carbon sequestration potential in European croplands has been overestimated

Yearly, per‐area carbon sequestration rates are used to estimate mitigation potentials by comparing types and areas of land management in 1990 and 2000 and projected to 2010, for the European Union (EU)‐15 and for four country‐level case studies for which data are available: UK, Sweden, Belgium and Finland. Because cropland area is decreasing in these countries (except for Belgium), and in most European countries there are no incentives in place to encourage soil carbon sequestration, carbon sequestration between 1990 and 2000 was small or negative in the EU‐15 and all case study countries. Belgium has a slightly higher estimate for carbon sequestration than the other countries examined. This is at odds with previous reports of decreasing soil organic carbon stocks in Flanders. For all countries except Belgium, carbon sequestration is predicted to be negligible or negative by 2010, based on extrapolated trends, and is small even in Belgium. The only trend in agriculture that may be enhancing carbon stocks on croplands at present is organic farming, and the magnitude of this effect is highly uncertain. Previous studies have focused on the potential for carbon sequestration and have shown quite significant potential. This study, which examines the sequestration likely to occur by 2010, suggests that the potential will not be realized. Without incentives for carbon sequestration in the future, cropland carbon sequestration under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol will not be an option in EU‐15.     

Use of histone antibodies for studying chromatin topography and the phosphorylation of chromatin subunits

Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies specific for histones as well as sera directed against synthetic peptides of histones were used to probe the topography of chromatin subunits. In native chromatin, the regions corresponding to residues 130-135 of H3 and 6-18 of H2B were found to be exposed and able to interact with antibodies whereas the regions 26-35 and 36-43 of H2B and 80-89 and 85-102 of H4 were not. In vitro phosphorylation of H3 and H5 in native chromatin or of H3 in H1/H5-depleted chromatin led to a marked drop in the binding of antibodies specific for residues 130-135 of H3 and 6-18 of H2B. Phosphorylation of H1/H5-depleted chromatin also altered the degree of exposure of certain H2A epitopes but it did not affect the surface accessibility of residues 1-11 of H2B.     

Conditions for reproducible detection of calmodulin and S100 beta in immunoblots

The conditions used in some immunoblot procedures can fail to detect calmodulin, S100 proteins, and other proteins with similar physical properties. We describe here some of the basis of this difficulty, and provide an immunoblot protocol that allows the rapid and reproducible detection of calmodulin and S100 beta in crude biological samples. These proteins are rapidly transferred from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels to membrane matrices, and retention on the matrix is enhanced by a glutaraldehyde fixation step. Either nitrocellulose or a positively charged membrane filter (ZetaProbe) can be used as the immobilizing matrix. By combining microslab gel electrophoresis, 30 min electrophoretic transfer, and glutaraldehyde fixation of nitrocellulose paper, an immunoblot analysis can be done in an 8-hr day.     

Major locus and other novel additive and epistatic loci involved in modulation of isoflavone concentration in soybean seeds

Seeds of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] accumulate more isoflavones than any tissue of any plant species. In other plant parts, isoflavones are usually released to counteract the effects of various biotic and abiotic stresses. Because of the benefits to the plant and positive implications that consumption may have on human health, increasing isoflavones is a goal of many soybean breeding programs. However, altering isoflavone levels through marker-assisted selection (MAS) has been impractical due to the small and often environmentally variable contributions that each individual quantitative trait locus (QTL) has on total isoflavones. In this study, we developed a Magellan × PI 437654 F₇-RIL population to construct a highly saturated non-redundant linkage map that encompassed 451 SNP and SSR molecular markers and used it to locate genomic regions that govern accumulation of isoflavones in the seeds of soybean. Five QTLs were found that contribute to the concentration of isoflavones, having single or multiple additive effects on isoflavone component traits. We also validated a major locus which alone accounted for up to 10% of the phenotypic variance for glycitein, and 35–37% for genistein, daidzein and the sum of all three soybean isoflavones. This QTL was consistently associated with increased concentration of isoflavones across different locations, years and crosses. It was the most important QTL in terms of net increased amounts of all isoflavone forms. Our results suggest that this locus would be an excellent candidate to target for MAS. Also, several minor QTLs were identified that interacted in an additive-by-additive epistatic manner, to increase isoflavone concentration.     

Randomized trial of time-limited interruptions of protease inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) vs. continuous therapy for HIV-1 infection

Background

The clinical outcomes of short interruptions of PI-based ART regimens remains undefined.

Methods

A 2-arm non-inferiority trial was conducted on 53 HIV-1 infected South African participants with viral load <50 copies/ml and CD4 T cell count >450 cells/µl on stavudine (or zidovudine), lamivudine and lopinavir/ritonavir. Subjects were randomized to a) sequential 2, 4 and 8-week ART interruptions or b) continuous ART (cART). Primary analysis was based on the proportion of CD4 count >350 cells(c)/ml over 72 weeks. Adherence, HIV-1 drug resistance, and CD4 count rise over time were analyzed as secondary endpoints.

Results

The proportions of CD4 counts >350 cells/µl were 82.12% for the intermittent arm and 93.73 for the cART arm; the difference of 11.95% was above the defined 10% threshold for non-inferiority (upper limit of 97.5% CI, 24.1%; 2-sided CI: −0.16, 23.1). No clinically significant differences in opportunistic infections, adverse events, adherence or viral resistance were noted; after randomization, long-term CD4 rise was observed only in the cART arm.

Conclusion

We are unable to conclude that short PI-based ART interruptions are non-inferior to cART in retention of immune reconstitution; however, short interruptions did not lead to a greater rate of resistance mutations or adverse events than cART suggesting that this regimen may be more forgiving than NNRTIs if interruptions in therapy occur.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00100646","term_id":"NCT00100646"}}NCT00100646     

Mechanisms of replenishment of nuclear and rogen receptor in rat ventral prostate

1. The concentration of androgen receptor in the nucleus of the prostatic cell is rapidly elevated by the administration in vivo of 2μg of [³H]testosterone to 1-day-castrated rats. From a concentration of 2300 receptors/nucleus at 5min after intravenous injection of hormone, there is an increase to 21000 receptors/nucleus at 60min. At the same time, the amount of binding of androgen in the cytoplasm remains constant at a relatively low value. 2. An identical dose of [³H]testosterone administered to 7-day-castrated rats produces a much smaller change in the concentration of nuclear receptor, from 700 receptors/nucleus at 5min to only 4300 receptors/nucleus at 60min. Thus the reservoir from which nuclear receptor is replenished is considerably smaller in regressed prostatic cells. Again, the amount of binding of androgen in the cytoplasm remains unchanged at a low value over the experimental time course of 60min. 3. In contrast with the scant labelling of cytoplasmic receptor achieved by injecting animals with [³H]testosterone, labelling in vitro, by incubation of tissue slices with radioisotope, indicates that prostate of 1-day-castrated animals actually contains 21400 receptors/cell in the cytoplasmic compartment, and prostate of 7-day-castrated animals 3000 receptors/cell. 4. Owing to the similarity between the concentration of nuclear receptor measured in vivo and the concentration of cytoplasmic receptor measured in vitro, the labelling techniques in vivo and in vitro were used in sequence to demonstrate the movement of most of the cytoplasmic receptor into the nucleus. In the 5–60min interval after the administration of [³H]testosterone to 1-day-castrated rats, a decrease of 17400 receptor molecules in the cytoplasm is exactly mirrored by an increase of 17200 receptor molecules in the nucleus. 5. These results imply that, in prostate of 1-day-castrated rats, nuclear receptor is replenished exclusively by translocation of cytoplasmic receptor. However, in the regressed prostate of 7-day-castrated rats, only about 25% of the nuclear receptor is replenished through translocation of existing cytoplasmic receptor. The remainder is ultimately synthesized during new rounds of cell division induced by hormone.