Does living in an urban environment confer advantages for childhood nutritional status? Analysis of disparities in nutritional status by wealth and residence in Angola, Central African Republic and Senegal

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between childhood undernutrition and poverty in urban and rural areas. DESIGN: Anthropometric and socio-economic data from Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys in Angola-Secured Territory (Angola ST), Central African Republic and Senegal were used in this analysis. The population considered in this study is children 0-59 months, whose records include complete anthropometric data on height, weight, age, gender, socio-economic level and urban or rural area of residence. In addition to simple urban/rural comparisons, the population was stratified using a wealth index based on living conditions and asset ownership to compare the prevalence, mean Z-score and odds ratios for stunting and wasting. RESULTS: In all cases, when using a simple urban/rural comparison, the prevalence of stunting was significantly higher in rural areas. However, when the urban and rural populations were stratified using a measure of wealth, the differences in prevalence of stunting and underweight in urban and rural areas of Angola ST, Central African Republic and Senegal disappeared. Poor children in these urban areas were just as likely to be stunted or underweight as poor children living in rural areas. The odds ratio of stunting in the poorest compared with the richest quintile was 3.4, 3.2 and 1.5 in Angola ST, Senegal and Central African Republic, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This paper demonstrates that simple urban/rural comparisons mask wide disparities in subgroups according to wealth. There is a strong relationship between poverty and chronic undernutrition in both urban and rural areas; this relationship does not change simply by living in an urban environment. However, urban and rural living conditions and lifestyles differ, and it is important to consider these differences when designing programmes and policies to address undernutrition.     

Isolation and characterization of a thermally extracted yeast cell wall fraction potentially useful for improving the foaming properties of sparkling wines

Two different yeast cell wall extracts were obtained using enzymatic digestion and thermal treatment. The effects of the extracts obtained on the foaming properties of a model wine and two sparkling wines were studied. The model wine and sparkling wines, supplemented with the thermal extract, presented better foaming properties than did the samples supplemented with the enzymatic extract. The fractioning (Con A chromatography) and characterization (SDS-PAGE, SEC, GC, and RP-HPLC) of both extracts showed that the fraction responsible for the foaming properties is constituted by mannoproteins with a relative molecular weight between 10 and 30 kDa, presenting an equilibrated composition of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic protein domains. This thermal extract did not modify the protein stability in both the model wine and the sparkling wines. These results demonstrate that the enrichment of a sparkling wine with mannoproteins extracted by mild heat procedures will contribute to improving its foaming properties.     

Economic Impacts of Zebra Chip in Idaho,Oregon, and Washington

Zebra Chip disease vectored by the potato psyllid Bactericera cockerelli (?ulc) was first reported in Idaho and the Columbia Basin of Oregon and Washington in 2011. Since then growers have incurred significant costs for managing the disease. Thus, we conducted an expert opinion survey to estimate expenditure on insecticides dedicated to controlling potato psyllids in the largest potato producing regions of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Results highlight a total of about 9 million US dollars spent on active ingredients targeted at psyllid control. When application costs are added to the cost of insecticides, expenditures total about 11 million US dollars.     

Evaluation of a long‐acting injectable formulation of omeprazole in healthy dogs

BackgroundTo evaluate the efficacy of a single intramuscular adminsitration of long‐acting omeprazole (LA‐OMEP) in increasing gastric pH in dogs.HypothesisWe hypothesized that LA‐OMEP would meet in healthy dogs the clinical goals defined for human patients for treatment of gastroduodenal ulceration.AnimalsNine healthy research dogs.MethodsProspective experimental study. Dogs were given a 4 mg/kg intramuscular injection of LA‐OMEP. Intragastric pH was continuously recorded on treatment days 0 to 7. Daily mean pH and mean percentage time (MPT) intragastric pH was ≥3 or ≥4 were determined.ResultsThe mean onset of action for the LA‐OMEP was 98.11 min (SD 46.39). The mean number of days the dogs'' pH met established goals for MPT pH ≥3 was 5.5 days (range, 3‐7) and 5.25 days for MPT pH ≥4 (range, 3‐7). Long‐acting omeprazole met the human clinical goals pH ≥3 for 72 hours in 8/8 of the dogs and MPT pH ≥4 for 96 hours in 7/8 of dogs.Conclusions and Clinical ImportanceThe LA‐OMEP formulation produced gastric acid suppression in healthy dogs for an average of 5 days and up to 7 days, after a single intramuscular injection. No major adverse effects were observed.