Feature Article

Agricultural use of antimicrobials in subtherapeutic concentrations is increasing in response to the rising demand for food animal products worldwide. In India, the use of antimicrobials in food animal production is unregulated. Research suggests that many clinically important antimicrobials are used indiscriminately. This is the largest study to date in India that surveys poultry production to test for antimicrobial resistance and the occurrence of extended-spectrum b-lactamases (ESBLs) modulated by farming and managerial practices.

This paper investigates the adoption of discourses on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) across different national contexts. It draws on institutional theories to develop and test a number of hypotheses on the role of shared beliefs and politico-economic institutions in determining the discursive choices of policy actors. The results show that win–win ecological modernization discourse, embraced by powerful government agencies and international actors, dominates national REDD+ policy arenas.

Over the past few decades, substantial funding has been directed toward improving scientific understanding and management of impacts of climate change in the marine environment. Following concerns that the key messages from these studies were not reaching the public, a comprehensive opinion poll of 10,000 European citizens in 10 countries was conducted to establish levels of awareness, concern, and trust among different demographic groups (by age, gender, proximity to the coast) and nationalities. Citizens exhibited varying levels of self-declared “informedness” and concern.

Medicinal plants mentioned in Ayurveda can be used as food or medicine due to their impact on human health and disease prevention. For example, Guduchi has been used as an immunomodulator for its ability to enhance the immune response. In the present study, fresh juice extracts of Brahmi and Guduchi was evaluated for its immunomodulatory and antioxidant activity. Fresh juice of Brahmi and Guduchi was prepared and lyophilized.

The objective of the study was to assess compliance with infection prevention and control practices in primary health care in Kenya. The researchers used an observational, patient-tracking tool to assess compliance with infection prevention and control practices by 1680 health-care workers during outpatient interactions with 14 328 patients at 935 health-care facilities in 2015. Compliance was assessed in five domains: hand hygiene; protective glove use; injections and blood sampling; disinfection of reusable equipment; and waste segregation.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of a performance-based financing scheme on maternal and neonatal health service quality in Malawi.

Original Source

In the present investigation photocatalytic degradation of an antibiotic rifabutin in aqueous solution with TiO2 as photocatalyst has been investigated under UV irradiation. The efficiency of degradation was quantified by several parameters such as effect of initial concentration, catalyst loading, pH and addition of H2O2 as a co-oxidant. The effect of operational parameters on the decolourisation and degradation under UV irradiation in TiO2 suspension has been investigated to find out the optimum conditions.

Local knowledge and practices can help people in drought prediction and extreme weather management. The study was carried out to elicit and document local knowledge use in drought prediction and weather extremes management. Focus group discussions were used for this study. The appearance of certain insects, birds, animals and indication of weather are all seen as important signals of change with respect to timing and seasonality of natural phenomena that are well understood in traditional knowledge systems.

A large proportion of resource poor rural households in southern African communal areas are dependent on wild edible fruits to meet part of their daily nutritional needs. For many people and ethnic groups, the use of wild edible fruits is a source of cultural identity, reflecting a deep and important body of knowledge about the environment, survival, harvesting, preservation and other forms of management. This study was aimed at documenting the role of wild edible fruits in the livelihoods of people in Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The acidic glycoprotein chromogranin A (CHGA) is co-stored/co-secreted with catecholamines and crucial for secretory vesicle biogenesis in neuronal/neuroendocrine cells. CHGA is dysregulated in several cardiovascular diseases, but the underlying mechanisms are not well established. Here, we sought to identify common polymorphisms in the CHGA promoter and to explore the mechanistic basis of their plausible contribution to regulating CHGA protein levels in circulation.