Effects of Community-Based Natural Resource Management on Household Welfare in Namibia

Biodiversity conservation, as an environmental goal, is increasingly recognized to be connected to the socioeconomic well-being of local communities. The development of a widespread community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) program in Namibia makes it an ideal location to analyze the connection between conservation and socioeconomic well-being of local communities. Namibia’s CBNRM program involves the formation of communal conservancies within rural communities and previous studies have found it to be successful on both ecological and economic fronts. In order to broaden the understanding of the program’s impact to include social factors, we have conducted a comparative analysis to determine the effects of this program on household welfare outcomes. Data from two rounds of the Namibia Demographic and Health Surveys (2000 and 2006/07) and quasi-experimental statistical methods were used to evaluate changes in various health, education and wealth outcomes of those living in conservancies, relative to non-conservancy comparison groups. Regression results indicate mixed effects of the conservancy program at the household level. The program had positive effects on some health outcome variables, including bednet ownership, which was twice as likely to increase over time in conservancy compared to non-conservancy households. Program impacts were negative for education outcomes, with the proportion of school attendance of conservancy children being 45% less likely to increase over time than non-conservancy children. Wealth outcome results were inconclusive. Our findings highlight the importance of analyzing community conservation programs at a variety of scales when evaluating overall impact, as community-level benefits may not necessarily extend down to the household level (and vice versa).     

Ecophysiological differences between fringe and dwarf Avicennia marina mangroves

In this investigation, morphological and physiological differences between fringe and dwarf Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. growing in seawater and hypersalinity were compared along a tree height and productivity gradient in Richards Bay, South Africa. Dwarf trees had thicker leaves and cuticles, lower specific leaf area and salt gland frequency, while the concentrations of total chlorophyll and chlorophylls a and b were lower by 26, 23 and 39%, respectively, compared to fringe trees. Soil ψ and soil salinity were −3.04 ± 0.09 MPa and 36 ± 3 psu in the fringe zone, compared to −7.24 ± 0.38 MPa and 58 ± 5 psu, respectively, in the dwarf zone. Midday minimum xylem ψ was −4.3 ± 0.23 MPa in the fringe zone and −6.4 ± 0.28 MPa in the dwarf zone. In leaves of dwarf trees, the concentration of Na⁺ was 30% higher, while those of K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ were lower by 41, 38 and 55%, respectively, than fringe trees. The Na⁺/K⁺ ratio of leaves was 2.1 ± 0.03 for fringe and 5.6 ± 0.05 for dwarf trees. Rates of secretion of Na⁺, Cl⁻, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ over 24 h were significantly lower in dwarf trees by 44, 45, 78, 66 and 54%, respectively. In fringe trees, the rate of secretion of Na⁺ and Cl⁻ was about 28% higher during the night than during the day, while in dwarf trees the corresponding increase was about 174%. CO₂ exchange, leaf conductance, quantum yield of PS II, ETR through PSII and intrinsic photochemical efficiency of PS II were significantly lower in dwarf trees by 50, 83, 39, 33 and 12%, respectively.     

Pregnant women's access to PMTCT and ART services in South Africa and implications for universal antiretroviral treatment

Objectives

We describe pregnant womens'' access to PMTCT and HAART services and associated birth outcomes in South Africa.

Methods

Women recuperating in postnatal wards of a referral hospital participated in an evaluation during February–May 2010 during which their maternity records were examined to describe their access to VCT, CD4 Counts, dual ART or HAART during pregnancy.

Results

Of the 1609 women who participated in this evaluation, 39% (95%CI36.7–41.5%) tested HIV-positive during their pregnancy. Of the HIV-positive women 2.9% did not have a CD4 count done and an additional 31.3% did not receive their CD4 results. The majority (96.8%) of the HIV-positive women commenced dual ART at their first antenatal visit independent of their CD4 result. During February–May 2010, 48.0% of the women who had a CD4 result were eligible for HAART (CD4<200 cells/mm³) and 29.1% of these initiated HAART during pregnancy. Under the current South African PMTCT guidelines 71.1% (95%CI66.4–75.4%) of HIV positive pregnant women could be eligible for HAART (CD4<350 cells/mm³). There were significantly more preterm births among HIV-positive women (p = 0.01) and women who received HAART were no more at risk of preterm deliveries (AOR 0.73;95%CI0.39–1.36;p = 0.2) as compared to women who received dual ART. Nine (2.4%; 95%CI1.1–4.5%) HIV exposed infants were confirmed HIV infected at birth. The in-utero transmission rate was highest among women who required HAART but did not initiate treatment (8.5%) compared to 2.7% and 0.4% among women who received HAART and women who were not eligible for HAART and received PMTCT prophylaxis respectively.

Conclusion

In this urban South African community the antenatal HIV prevalence remains high (39%) and timeous access to CD4 results during pregnancy is limited. Under the current South African guidelines, and assuming that access to CD4 results has improved, more than 70% of HIV-positive pregnant women in this community would be requiring HAART.     

C-2-aryl O-substituted HI-236 derivatives as non-nucleoside HIV-1 reverse-transcriptase inhibitors

Several novel thiourea derivatives of the NNRTI HI-236 substituted at the C-2 oxygen of the phenyl ring have been synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activity against HIV-1 (IIIB) replication in MT-2 cell cultures. The compounds were synthesized in order to fine-tune the activity of HI-236 as well as to gain insight into spatial characteristics in the pocket pertaining to the positional choice of tether in the design of [NRTI]-tether-[HI-236] bifunctional inhibitors. Two of the thiourea derivatives bearing a butynyl (6c) or hydroxyethyl tether (6n) were endowed with improved anti-HIV activity compared to HI-236. NNRTI activity was confirmed by a cell-free RT assay on six of the derivatives in which 6c returned an IC(50) of 3.8 nM compared to 28 nM for HI-236, establishing it as an improved lead for HI-236. The structure-activity profile is discussed in terms of potential interactions in the NNRTI pocket as suggested by a docking model using AutoDock, which have a bearing on the bifunctional drug design.     

Removing the threat of diclofenac to critically endangered Asian vultures

Veterinary use of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug diclofenac in South Asia has resulted in the collapse of populations of three vulture species of the genusGyps to the most severe category of global extinction risk. Vultures are exposed to diclofenac when scavenging on livestock treated with the drug shortly before death. Diclofenac causes kidney damage, increased serum uric acid concentrations, visceral gout, and death. Concern about this issue led the Indian Government to announce its intention to ban the veterinary use of diclofenac by September 2005. Implementation of a ban is still in progress late in 2005, and to facilitate this we sought potential alternative NSAIDs by obtaining information from captive bird collections worldwide. We found that the NSAID meloxicam had been administered to 35 captiveGyps vultures with no apparent ill effects. We then undertook a phased programme of safety testing of meloxicam on the African white-backed vultureGyps africanus, which we had previously established to be as susceptible to diclofenac poisoning as the endangered AsianGyps vultures. We estimated the likely maximum level of exposure (MLE) of wild vultures and dosed birds by gavage (oral administration) with increasing quantities of the drug until the likely MLE was exceeded in a sample of 40G. africanus. Subsequently, sixG. africanus were fed tissues from cattle which had been treated with a higher than standard veterinary course of meloxicam prior to death. In the final phase, ten Asian vultures of two of the endangered species(Gyps bengalensis,Gyps indicus) were dosed with meloxicam by gavage; five of them at more than the likely MLE dosage. All meloxicam-treated birds survived all treatments, and none suffered any obvious clinical effects. Serum uric acid concentrations remained within the normal limits throughout, and were significantly lower than those from birds treated with diclofenac in other studies. We conclude that meloxicam is of low toxicity toGyps vultures and that its use in place of diclofenac would reduce vulture mortality substantially in the Indian subcontinent. Meloxicam is already available for veterinary use in India.     

Marker-assisted selection for low phytic acid (lpa1-1) with single nucleotide polymorphism marker and amplified fragment length polymorphisms for background selection in a maize backcross breeding programme

The level of phytic acid is difficult to assess in a maize breeding programme, therefore a co-dominant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker was used to detect the single recessive low phytic acid (lpa1-1) gene in a BC2F1 population developed from a locally adapted tropical normal inbred line (P 16) and CM 32 (lpa1-1 donor). High-resolution melt analysis of the lpa1-1 SNP marker was able to identify 11 homozygous recessive and 17 heterozygote genotypes for the lpa1-1 mutation. The SNP R ² values for the heterozygotes were higher (90.95?C99.59%) than the lpa1-1 recessives (82.81?C99.58%). The selected BC2F1 lines were fingerprinted with six amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) EcoRI/MseI primer combinations to determine the amount of recurrent parent genome present. The 277 AFLP markers were clearly able to differentiate all the BC2F1 lines from each other and the parental controls with a similarity range from 62.12 to 92.15%. It is expected in the BC2 generation to find 87.5% similarity to the recurrent parent, however in this study higher levels of similarity in 13 BC2F1 lines (six heterozygotes and seven homozygous recessive) with 92.15?C83.33% similarity were observed. The use of marker-assisted selection for foreground and background selection greatly increased the efficiency of detection of the homozygous recessive (99.58%) and heterozygous (99.59%) genotypes as well as improving the recovery of the recurrent parent (92.15%) in the BC2F1 generation of the maize backcross breeding programme.     

The Geography of Gender Inequality

Reducing gender inequality is a major policy concern worldwide, and one of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, our understanding of the magnitude and spatial distribution of gender inequality results either from limited-scale case studies or from national-level statistics. Here, we produce the first high resolution map of gender inequality by analyzing over 689,000 households in 47 countries. Across these countries, we find that male-headed households have, on average, 13% more asset wealth and 303% more land for agriculture than do female-headed households. However, this aggregate global result masks a high degree of spatial heterogeneity, with bands of both high inequality and high equality apparent in countries and regions of the world. Further, areas where inequality is highest when measured by land ownership generally are not the same areas that have high inequality as measured by asset wealth. Our metrics of gender inequality in land and wealth are not strongly correlated with existing metrics of poverty, development, and income inequality, and therefore provide new information to increase the understanding of one critical dimension of poverty across the globe.     

Household Factors Associated with Self-Harm in Johannesburg,South African Urban-Poor Households

Introduction

Low and middle income countries bear the majority burden of self-harm, yet there is a paucity of evidence detailing risk-factors for self-harm in these populations. This study aims to identify environmental, socio-economic and demographic household-level risk factors for self-harm in five impoverished urban communities in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Methods

Annual serial cross-sectional surveys were undertaken in five impoverished urban communities in Johannesburg for the Health, Environment and Development (HEAD) study. Logistic regression analysis using the HEAD study data (2006–2011) was conducted to identify household-level risk factors associated with self-harm (defined as a self-reported case of a fatal or non-fatal suicide attempt) within the household during the preceding year. Stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with self-harm.

Results

A total of 2 795 household interviews were conducted from 2006 to 2011. There was no significant trend in self-harm over time. Results from the final model showed that self-harm was significantly associated with households exposed to a violent crime during the past year (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 5.72; 95% CI 1.64–19.97); that have a member suffering from a chronic medical condition (AOR 8.95; 95% 2.39–33.56) and households exposed to indoor smoking (AOR 4.39; CI 95% 1.14–16.47).

Conclusion

This study provides evidence on household risk factors of self-harm in settings of urban poverty and has highlighted the potential for a more cost-effective approach to identifying those at risk of self-harm based on household level factors.     

‘Morphological shifts’ in filamentous bacteria isolated from activated sludge processes

Summary This study aimed at isolating filamentous bacteria from full-scale activated sludge processes and studying them in pure culture. Three cultures were isolated using conventional microbiological techniques. The isolates were positively identified as Gordonia amarae, Thiothrix nivea and Type 1863/Acinetobacter spp., using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes. However, a ‘morphological shift’ from filamentous to single-cell form was observed in pure culture. The application of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) showed filamentous bacteria to be much more diverse in their ability to adapt to their changing enviroments. Pure culture studies of filamentous bacteria form the basis for application in full-scale activated sludge plants. It therefore remains important that the taxonomic status of filamentous bacteria be determined.