Aspirations and food security in rural Ethiopia

Despite some improvements in recent years, poverty and food insecurity remain widespread and the main challenges in Ethiopia. Much of the empirical literature focuses on identifying the resource-related constraints for farmers to achieve food security and move out of poverty, with little attention paid to ‘internal’ or psychological factors such as aspirations. Using individual and household data collected in rural Ethiopia, we examined if aspirations were strongly associated with well-being outcomes, in our case food security, as posited in the theoretical framework of aspirations failure. We found that aspirations of the household head were positively and strongly associated with various triangulating measures of household food security including per-capita calorie consumption, the food consumption score (FCS), the household dietary diversity score (HDDS), and negatively associated with the household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS). In contrast, results suggest that the aspirations of the spouse of the household head are negatively associated with per-capita calorie consumption and FCS. We discuss the channels through which aspirations may affect food security and the avenues for future research.     

客户就在你面前——谈企业内部的营销理念

大约在八年前，我在一次会上提出了“两个客户”的理念，即外部客户和内部客户。外部客户就是指公司（工厂）以外给我们业务的组织或人们，内部客户就是指上述客户在公司（工厂）内部的代表——营业部。大家都说市场经济，但是真正具有市场竞争意识的恐怕只有实际接触市场的营业部成员。公司内部其他人因为身处公司内部，他们不直接与客户接触，他们之间的人员关系永远是同事。“内部客户”理念树立以后（当然，这经过了较长时间的实际工作的碰撞、交锋），公司内部的人们看待营业部人员的观念转变为：第一是客户，第二才是同事。“内部客户…     

Vulnerability of smallholder rural households to food insecurity in Eastern Ethiopia

Although several empirical methodologies as to how best assess vulnerability to food insecurity have been proposed in the literature, none of these has evolved into a unanimously accepted approach. This article contributes to this literature by adapting the Vulnerability as Expected Poverty approach from poverty analysis methodology with the aim of scrutinizing factors determining household level vulnerability to food insecurity based on cross-section data collected from 277 randomly selected households in eastern Ethiopia. Vulnerability to food insecurity was strongly associated with several factors which included family size, size of cultivated landholding, soil fertility status of plots, access to irrigation, number of extension visits, use of fertilizer and improved seed. The probability that any given household??s food consumption expenditure would fall below a specified cut-off level has also been computed and vulnerable households identified. The total number of vulnerable households (111) was found to be greater than those who are currently food insecure (103). This implies that design and implementation of food security policies and strategies need to focus not only on those who are observed to be currently food insecure, but also on setting up social protection mechanisms to help prevent households from falling more deeply into food insecurity in the future.     

愿2015年的你一如既往的时尚、善良、美好

时尚界的变化总是新奇且迅猛的,“ One day you are in,and next day you are out”,有那么一些词一定是讨论最广、提及最多和记忆度最高的。它们是：
　　1.跨界。“跨界”在时尚界几乎无处不在,时尚与科技跨界碰撞的火花最为耀眼。
　　2.投资。VC对时尚领域和时尚方式的关注和投资在2014年十分火热,专家认为战略投资是未来时尚领域投资合作的趋势,和时尚生活方式息息相关的 APP将成为投资热点。
　　3.时尚电商。电商几乎是2014年最热的词,而在时尚领域,时尚电商也是不折不扣的年度热点。对于奢侈品大牌来说,如何借助电商的力量又不拉低品牌的稀有度和奢侈感是重要的课题。     

Cumulative cancer risk from air pollution in Houston: disparities in risk burden and social disadvantage

Air toxics are of particular concern in Greater Houston, home to one of the world's largest petrochemical complexes and a quarter ofthe nation's refining capacity. Much of this complex lies along a navigable ship channel that flows 50 miles from east of the central business district through Galveston Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico. Numerous communities, including both poor and affluent neighborhoods, are located in close proximity to the 200 facilities along this channel. Our aim is to examine the spatial distribution of cumulative, air-pollution-related cancer risks in Houston and Harris County, with particular emphasis on identifying ethnic, economic, and social disparities. We employ exposure estimates from NATA-1999 and census data to assess whether the cumulative cancer risks from air toxics in Houston (and Harris County) fall disproportionately on certain ethnicities and on the socially and economically disadvantaged. The cancer risk burden across Harris County census tracts increases with the proportion of residents who are Hispanic and with key indicators of relative social disadvantage. Aggregate disadvantage grows at each higher level of cancer risk. The highest cancer risk in Harris County is concentrated along a corridor flanking the ship channel. These high-risk neighborhoods, however, vary markedly in relative disadvantage, as well as in emission source mix. Much of the risk they face appears to be driven by only a few hazardous air pollutants. Results provide evidence of risk disparities from hazardous air pollution based on ethnicity and social disadvantage. At the highest levels of risk the pattern is more complex, arguing for a neighborhood level of analysis, especially when proximity to high-emissions industries is a substantial contributor to cumulative cancer risk.     

Impact of different aspects of social participation and social capital on smoking cessation among daily smokers: a longitudinal study

Objective: To investigate differences in different aspects of social participation and social capital among baseline daily smokers that had remained daily smokers, become intermittent smokers, or stopped smoking at one year follow up.

Design/setting/participants/measurements: 12 507 individuals, aged 45–69 years, interviewed at baseline between 1992 and 1994 and at a one year follow up were investigated in this longitudinal study. The three groups of baseline daily smokers were compared to the reference population (baseline intermittent smokers and non-smokers) according to different aspects of social participation and social capital. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to assess differences in different aspects of social participation and social capital.

Results: The baseline daily smokers that remained daily smokers at the one year follow up had significantly increased odds ratios of non-participation in study circles in other places than at work, meeting of organisations other than unions, theatre/cinema, arts exhibition, church, sports events, large gatherings of relatives, and private parties compared to the reference population. The baseline daily smokers that had become intermittent smokers at the one year follow up had significantly increased odds ratios of non-participation in church services. The baseline daily smokers that had stopped smoking had increased odds ratios of non-participation in having attended a meeting of organisations other than labour unions during the past year, having been to a theatre or cinema, and of having visited an arts exhibition during the past year. All three categories of baseline daily smokers had significantly decreased odds ratios of non-participation in night club/entertainment.

Conclusions: The baseline daily smokers that had remained daily smokers at the one year follow up had particularly high rates of non-participation compared to the reference population in both activities specifically related to social capital, such as other study circles, meetings of organisations other than labour unions, and church attendance and cultural activities such as theatre/cinema and arts exhibition, although significantly lower participation in cultural activities and meetings of other organisations was also observed among daily smokers that had stopped smoking. All three baseline daily smoker groups had higher rates of having visited a night club during the past year.

     

Psychosocial work conditions, social capital, and daily smoking: a population based study

Objective: To investigate the associations between psychosocial conditions at work, social capital/social participation, and daily smoking.

Design/setting/participants/measurements: The 2000 public health survey in Scania is a cross sectional postal questionnaire study with a 59% participation rate. A total of 5180 persons aged 18–64 years that belonged to the work force and the unemployed were included in this study. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between psychosocial factors at work/unemployment, social participation, and daily smoking. Psychosocial conditions at work were defined according to the Karasek-Theorell demand–control/decision latitudes into relaxed, active, passive, and jobstrain categories. The multivariate analyses included age, country of origin, education and economic stress.

Results: 17.2% proportion of all men and 21.9% of all women were daily smokers. The jobstrain (high demands/low control) and unemployed categories had significantly higher odds ratios of daily smoking among both men and women compared to the relaxed (low demands/high control) reference category. The passive (low demands/low control), jobstrain, and unemployed categories were also significantly associated with low social participation. Low social participation was significantly and positively associated with daily smoking within each of the psychosocial work conditions and unemployed categories.

Conclusions: The positive association between low social capital/low social participation and daily smoking is well known. However, both social participation and daily smoking are associated with psychosocial work conditions and unemployment. Psychosocial work conditions and unemployment may affect daily smoking both directly and through a pathway including social participation.

     

Consumption of brown rice: a potential pathway for arsenic exposure in rural Bengal

This study assesses the arsenic (As) accumulation in different varieties of rice grain, that people in rural Bengal mostly prefer for daily consumption, to estimate the potential risk of dietary As exposure through rice intake. The rice samples have been classified according to their average length (L) and L to breadth (B) ratio into four categories, such as short-bold (SB), medium-slender (MS), long-slender (LS), and extra-long slender (ELS). The brown colored rice samples fall into the SB, MS, or LS categories; while all Indian Basmati (white colored) are classified as ELS. The study indicates that the average accumulation of As in rice grain increases with a decrease of grain size (ELS: 0.04; LS: 0.10; MS: 0.16; and SB: 0.33 mg kg(-1)), however people living in the rural villages mostly prefer brown colored SB type of rice because of its lower cost. For the participants consuming SB type of brown rice, the total daily intake of inorganic As (TDI-iAs) in 29% of the cases exceeds the previous WHO recommended provisional tolerable daily intake value (2.1 μg day(-1) kg(-1) BW), and in more than 90% of cases, the As content in the drinking water equivalent to the inorganic As intake from rice consumption (C(W,eqv)) exceeds the WHO drinking water guideline of 10 μg L(-1). This study further demonstrates that participants in age groups 18-30 and 51-65 yrs are the most vulnerable to the potential health threat of dietary As exposure compared to participants of age group 31-50 yrs, because of higher amounts of brown rice consumption patterns and lower BMI.     

Lipodepsipeptides from Pseudomonas syringae are partially proteolyzed and are not absorbed by humans: an in vitro study

There are some concerns about the use of Pseudomonas-based products as biocontrol agents because of the hemolytic activity shown by their metabolites. The effects of Pseudomonas lipodepsipeptides (LDPs) on mammals via ingestion and the LDP degradation during the digestion and intestinal permeability have not been evaluated. In this research, the susceptibility of different LDPs to degradation was assayed with enzymatic gastrointestinal digestion, and intestinal permeability to LDPs was investigated in an in vitro system based on an intestinal cell layer system. Results demonstrated that trypsin and chymotrypsin hydrolyze up to 50% of the various LDPs, and that proteolysis was further increased by pronase E treatment. A decrease in LDP hemolytic activity matched LDP degradation during the various steps of the digestion process. Moreover, it was shown that syringomycin E (SRE), the main known LDP, was not able to cross the intestinal cell layer, suggesting that SRE does not reach the bloodstream in vivo. It was concluded that the Pseudomonas-based biocontrol products do not represent a serious risk for consumer health. In fact, LDPs possibly present on biocontrol-treated agricultural commodities would likely be partially digested by gastrointestinal enzymes and would not be absorbed at the intestinal level.     

食物中藻类毒素污染及暴露风险研究进展

分析藻类毒素在不同食物中可能的污染类型、暴露水平、污染风险等。通过大量文献调研从藻类毒素的毒性、危害、污染情况、限量标准以及暴露风险等方面对不同食物中主要存在的藻毒素进行系统阐述和分析。目前报道显示海产品中藻毒素以贝类毒素的暴露频率较高,尤以软骨藻酸的暴露水平最大( 1. 0×10~5μg/kg)。其他非海产食物中,微囊藻毒素的污染范围和污染程度最大,在淡水产品、农作物、藻类食品膳食补充剂等食品中都有相关报道;此外,藻类食品膳食补充剂中暴露频率相对较高的藻毒素是类毒素-a,最大暴露水平高于1×10~4μg/kg。该综述可以为不同食物中可能存在的藻类毒素及其暴露水平、污染风险等提供参考。     

Assessing reliability,change after intervention,and performance of a water insecurity scale in rural Ethiopia

There is growing interest in the phenomenon of water insecurity, yet a relative paucity of tools to assess the occurrence and severity of water insecurity at the household level. We sought to assess the validity and reliability of a household water insecurity scale in a rural Ethiopian context. Secondary data on water insecurity from up to 1934 rural Ethiopian households that had participated in a water and sanitation intervention was analysed. Exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha were used to assess dimensionality of the water insecurity responses and parametric and non-parametric tests used to test for differences in household water insecurity scores across household types and objective measures of household water access. Factor analysis revealed one dominant factor and the Cronbach’s alpha of the water insecurity scale was 0.94. Households with access to improved water sources, that lived close to water collection points, that did not farm, and that felt they had “enough” water all scored as significantly more water secure on the household water insecurity scale (P < 0.05). The household water insecurity scale also predicted the occurrence of diarrhea among children in the household (aOR 1.2, 95 % CI 1.08, 1.33) whereas no other measure of water access did. Finally, household water insecurity scores improved by 55 % after a water and sanitation intervention.Our results suggest the possibility of an effective water insecurity tool, which might be deployed to assess the epidemiology of water insecurity including its causes and consequences. Future research should aim to validate the tool against behavioral observations and to link shifts in water insecurity to changes in health and wellbeing.     

Famine exposure during early life and risk of hypertension in adulthood: A meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Background: Many epidemiologic studies have explored the association between famine exposure and the risk of hypertension, but the results remain controversial. Objective: A meta-analysis was performed to determine the association between early life famine exposure, fetal famine exposure, and childhood famine exposure and risk of hypertension. Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of science, Embase, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure for relevant articles published up to October 2016. Pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model. Results: Sixteen studies from 14 articles for early life famine exposure, 11 studies from 10 articles for fetal famine exposure, and 10 studies from 8 articles for childhood famine exposure were included in our meta-analysis. Compared with unexposed group, the pooled RRs were (1.26; 95% CI, 1.11–1.44), (1.27; 95% CI, 1.08–1.49), and (1.32; 95% CI, 1.15–1.52) for early life famine exposure, fetal famine exposure, and childhood famine exposure, respectively. In subgroup analyses, the above-mentioned associations were consistent in cohort studies, and studies conducted in Asia. Conclusion: This meta-analysis confirmed the association between exposure to famine in early life and increased risk of hypertension in adulthood. Prevention of malnutrition during early life is an appropriate recommendation to prevent hypertension.     

The influence of olive oil on human health: not a question of fat alone

Olive oil is the most representative food in the traditional Mediterranean diet and its most important source of MUFA. The healthy benefits of MUFA-rich diets on plasma cholesterol levels, were the first to generate interest in this dietary model. In addition to the benefits conferred by its lipids, olive oil has other biological effects, some of them also related to MUFA. However, most recent studies have shown that there are a number of properties that depend on, or are potentiated by, the consumption of olive oil, such as virgin olive oil, that is rich in microcomponents. This foodstuff, thanks to its double set of benefits, thus tends to produce a better lipid profile and a less prothrombotic environment, promoting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, with a greater endothelial protective capacity. In view of these effects, it would appear that when olive oil is the basic source of dietary alimentary fat it has a major antiatherogenic capacity, which is not shared to the same extent by other oils that are rich in oleic acid but lack its characteristic micronutrients.     

Urinary aflatoxin exposure monitoring in rural and semi-urban populations in Ogun state,Nigeria

Aflatoxins are a major class of fungal toxins that have food safety importance due to their economic and health impacts. This pilot aflatoxin exposure biomonitoring study on 84 individuals was conducted in a rural (Ilumafon) and a semi-urban community (Ilishan Remo) of Ogun state, Nigeria, to compare aflatoxin exposures among the two population cohorts. First morning urine samples were obtained from the participants, and the urinary aflatoxin M₁ (AFM₁) levels were measured by a quantitative Helica Biosystems Inc. ELISA kit assay. About 99% (83 out of 84) of the urine samples had detectable AFM₁ levels in the range of 0.06 to 0.51 ng mL^?1 (median: 0.27 ng mL^?1). The mean urinary AFM₁ levels were significantly (p = 0.001) higher in the semi-urban population (0.31 ± 0.09 ng mL^?1) compared to the rural population (0.24 ± 0.07 ng mL^?1). There were, however, no significant differences in mean urinary AFM₁ levels of males and females, and among children, adolescents and adults. This study indicates high aflatoxin exposure to the extent of public health concerns in the studied populations. Thus, more efforts are required for aflatoxin exposure monitoring and control in high-risk regions.