Dietary aflatoxin exposure and impaired growth in young children from Benin and Togo: cross sectional study

Fetal and early childhood environment, including the nutritional status of the pregnant mother and the infant, are considered critical for growth and risk of disease in later life. Many people in developing coun­ tries are not only malnourished but also chronically exposed to high levels of toxic fungal metabolites (mycotoxins). One family of mycotoxins, the aflatoxins, are carcinogenic and immunotoxic and cause growth retardation in animals. Aflatoxins contaminate staple foods in West Africa, particularly maize and ground­ nuts, as a result of hot, humid storage conditions that promote fungal growth. High exposure to aflatoxins occurs throughout childhood in the region, suggest­ ing that growth and development could be critically affected.We assessed exposure to aflatoxins in relation to anthropometric measures in children in Benin and Togo

Change in soy and nutrition knowledge and perceptions of smallholder South African farmers after attending a single one day soy nutrition training workshop: A pilot study

The main aim of this pilot study was to assess smallholder soy farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of soy immediately before and after participating in a one-day soy nutrition training workshop. A pre-post study design was used among a convenience sample of 78soy smallholder farmers from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (SA). A total of 78 men and five women participated in the training, but  because only five women attended, gender comparison analysis was not carried out. A soy nutrition training workshop, including soy cooking demonstrations, tasting, recipe development, that is based on the Social Cognitive Theory, was implemented for eight  consecutive hours with one break of 30 minutes. Pre- and post-quantitative data measuring,soy knowledge and perceptions werecollected using a modified version of a survey, tested for face and content validity and reliability, and used previously in other research study projects by the same authors among low-resource communities in SA. The data from the pre and post questionnaires indicated that only 41% of the soy smallholder farmers used soy in the household and mainly in meat dishes. The rest of the harvested soy was either sold or used for animal feed. The mean±standard deviation (SD) score of taste preference changed significantly (p=0.002) from 4.60±0.84 before, to 4.93±0.13 after the training (p=0.002) and the majority of the participants perceived it was easy to prepare soy foods; 82.1% and 88.5% before and after the training, respectively (p=0.013). Participants’ soy knowledge improved significantly (p<0.001) from a mean± (SD) score of 26.33±4.06 before to 32.00±9.46 after the intervention, indicating a significant improvement of 5.67±9.11 [13.83%] in the total score. The results from this study indicate that there is a need for nutrition education programs for smallholder farmers. Thus, improvement in both soy knowledge and preference should result in more soy being consumed first for household nutritional needs before giving it to either animals or sell it on the market. Since smallholder farmers’ nutrition education can impact both food insecurity and nutritional status improvement in one setting, more interventions of this kind are needed to further advance the frontier of this niche area of research. Key words: nutrition education, smallholder famers, soy training, South Africa emerging farmers, Knowledge perceptio

Breakfast, midday meals and academic achievement in rural primary schools in Uganda: implications for education and school health policy

Underachievement in schools is a global problem and is especially prevalent in developing countries. Indicators of educational performance show that Uganda has done remarkably well on education access-related targets since the introduction of universal primary education in 1997. However, educational outcomes remain disappointing. The absence of school feeding schemes, one of the leading causes of scholastic underachievement, has not been given attention by the Ugandan authorities. Instead, as a national policy, parents are expected to provide meals even though many, especially in the rural areas, cannot afford to provide even the minimal daily bowl of maize porridge.To assess and demonstrate the effect of breakfast and midday meal consumption on academic achievement of schoolchildren.We assessed household characteristics, feeding patterns and academic achievement of 645 schoolchildren (aged 9–15 years) in Kumi district, eastern Uganda, in 2006–2007, using a modified cluster sampling design which involved only grade 1 schools (34 in total) and pupils of grade four. Household questionnaires and school records were used to collect information on socio-demographic factors, feeding patterns and school attendance. Academic achievement was assessed using unstandardized techniques, specifically designed for this study.Underachievement (the proportion below a score of 120.0 points) was high (68.4%); in addition, significantly higher achievement and better feeding patterns were observed among children from the less poor households (p<0.05). Achievement was significantly associated with consumption of breakfast and a midday meal, particularly for boys (p<0.05), and a greater likelihood of scoring well was observed for better nourished children (all OR values>1.0).We observed that underachievement was relatively high; inadequate patterns of meal consumption, particularly for the most poor, significantly higher scores among children from ‘less poor’ households and a significant association between academic achievement and breakfast and midday meal consumption

Technical Design Report EuroGammaS proposal for the ELI-NP Gamma beam System

The machine described in this document is an advanced Source of up to 20 MeV Gamma Rays based on Compton back-scattering, i.e. collision of an intense high power laser beam and a high brightness electron beam with maximum kinetic energy of about 720 MeV. Fully equipped with collimation and characterization systems, in order to generate, form and fully measure the physical characteristics of the produced Gamma Ray beam. The quality, i.e. phase space density, of the two colliding beams will be such that the emitted Gamma ray beam is characterized by energy tunability, spectral density, bandwidth, polarization, divergence and brilliance compatible with the requested performances of the ELI-NP user facility, to be built in Romania as the Nuclear Physics oriented Pillar of the European Extreme Light Infrastructure. This document illustrates the Technical Design finally produced by the EuroGammaS Collaboration, after a thorough investigation of the machine expected performances within the constraints imposed by the ELI-NP tender for the Gamma Beam System (ELI-NP-GBS), in terms of available budget, deadlines for machine completion and performance achievement, compatibility with lay-out and characteristics of the planned civil engineering

Aflatoxin B1 levels in groundnut products from local markets in Zambia

In Zambia, groundnut products (milled groundnut powder, groundnut kernels) are mostly sold in under-regulated markets. Coupled with the lack of quality enforcement in such markets, consumers may be at risk to aflatoxin exposure. However, the level of aflatoxin contamination in these products is not known. Compared to groundnut kernels, milled groundnut powder obscures visual indicators of aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts such as moldiness, discoloration, insect damage or kernel damage. A survey was therefore conducted from 2012 to 2014, to estimate and compare aflatoxin levels in these products (n = 202), purchased from markets in important groundnut growing districts and in urban areas. Samples of whole groundnut kernels (n = 163) and milled groundnut powder (n = 39) were analysed for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). Results showed substantial AFB1 contamination levels in both types of groundnut products with maximum AFB1 levels of 11,100 μg/kg (groundnut kernels) and 3000 μg/kg (milled groundnut powder). However, paired t test analysis showed that AFB1 contamination levels in milled groundnut powder were not always significantly higher (P > 0.05) than those in groundnut kernels. Even for products from the same vendor, AFB1 levels were not consistently higher in milled groundnut powder than in whole groundnut kernels. This suggests that vendors do not systematically sort out whole groundnut kernels of visually poor quality for milling. However, the overall contamination levels of groundnut products with AFB1 were found to be alarmingly high in all years and locations. Therefore, solutions are needed to reduce aflatoxin levels in such under-regulated markets

American Society for Enhanced Recovery (ASER) and Perioperative Quality Initiative (POQI) joint consensus statement on perioperative fluid management within an enhanced recovery pathway for colorectal surgery

BACKGROUND: Enhanced recovery may be viewed as a comprehensive approach to improving meaningful outcomes in patients undergoing major surgery. Evidence to support enhanced recovery pathways (ERPs) is strong in patients undergoing colorectal surgery. There is some controversy about the adoption of specific elements in enhanced recovery "bundles" because the relative importance of different components of ERPs is hard to discern (a consequence of multiple simultaneous changes in clinical practice when ERPs are initiated). There is evidence that specific approaches to fluid management are better than alternatives in patients undergoing colorectal surgery; however, several specific questions remain. METHODS: In the "Perioperative Quality Initiative (POQI) Fluids" workgroup, we developed a framework broadly applicable to the perioperative management of intravenous fluid therapy in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery within an ERP. DISCUSSION: We discussed aspects of ERPs that impact fluid management and made recommendations or suggestions on topics such as bowel preparation; preoperative oral hydration; intraoperative fluid therapy with and without devices for goal-directed fluid therapy; and type of fluid

International agricultural research to reduce food risks: case studies on aflatoxins

Despite massive expansion of human and livestock populations, fuelled by agricultural innovations, nearly one billion people are hungry and 2 billion are sickened each year from the food they eat. Agricultural and food systems are intimately connected to health outcomes, but health policy and programs often stop at the clinic door. A consensus is growing that the disconnection between agriculture, health and nutrition is at least partly responsible for the disease burden associated with food and farming. Mycotoxins produced by fungi are one of the most serious food safety problems affecting staple crops (especially maize and groundnuts). Aflatoxins, the best studied of these mycotoxins, cause around 90,000 cases of liver cancer each year and are strongly associated with stunting and immune suppression in children. Mycotoxins also cause major economic disruptions through their impacts on trade and livestock production. In this paper we use the case of fungal toxins to explore how agricultural research can produce innovations, understand incentives and enable institutions to improve, simultaneously, food safety, food accessibility for poor consumers and access to markets for smallholder farmers, thus making the case for research investors to support research into agricultural approaches for enhancing food safety in value chains. We first discuss the evolution of food safety research within the CGIAR. Then we show how taking an epidemiological and economic perspective on aflatoxin research connects health and nutrition outcomes. Finally, we present three case studies illustrating the traditional strengths of CGIAR research: breeding better varieties and developing new technologies