Ethnomedicinal Plants Used by Gond Tribe of Bhandara District, Maharashtra in the Treatment of Diarrhoea and Dysentery

This research paper presents the findings of an investigation on traditional remedies of diarrhoea and dysentery among the ethnic group (Gond tribe) in the Bhandara district of Maharashtra state, India. 38 valuable species belonging to 27 families were identified with relevant information and are documented alphabetically in this paper with regard to their botanical name followed by family name, local name, parts used, mode of preparation and medicinal uses

Investigating child deaths- achieving a balanced approach between sensitivity and the investigative mind set

The investigation of child death is a complex and emotionally demanding specialism for investigators. I intend, within this context statement, to try and answer both for myself, and others, how, and why this became my specialism and to follow the journey I made in becoming the national police lead, changing policy and practice

Adolescent dietary patterns in Fiji and their relationships with standardized body mass index

BACKGROUND: Obesity has been increasing in adolescents in Fiji and obesogenic dietary patterns need to be assessed to inform health promotion. The objective of this study was to identify the dietary patterns of adolescents in peri-urban Fiji and determine their relationships with standardized body mass index (BMI-z). METHODS: This study analysed baseline measurements from the Pacific Obesity Prevention In Communities (OPIC) Project. The sample comprised 6,871 adolescents aged 13-18 years from 18 secondary schools on the main island of Viti Levu, Fiji. Adolescents completed a questionnaire that included diet-related variables; height and weight were measured. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between dietary patterns and BMI-z, while controlling for confounders and cluster effect by school. RESULTS: Of the total sample, 24% of adolescents were overweight or obese, with a higher prevalence among Indigenous Fijians and females. Almost all adolescents reported frequent consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) (90%) and low intake of fruit and vegetables (74%). Over 25% of participants were frequent consumers of takeaways for dinner, and either high fat/salt snacks, or confectionery after school. Nearly one quarter reported irregular breakfast (24%) and lunch (24%) consumption on school days, while fewer adolescents (13%) ate fried foods after school. IndoFijians were more likely than Indigenous Fijians to regularly consume breakfast, but had a high unhealthy SSB and snack consumption.Regular breakfast (p<0.05), morning snack (p<0.05) and lunch (p<0.05) consumption were significantly associated with lower BMI-z. Consumption of high fat/salt snacks, fried foods and confectionery was lower among participants with higher BMI-z. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides important information about Fijian adolescents' dietary patterns and associations with BMI-z. Health promotion should target reducing SSB, increasing fruit and vegetables consumption, and increasing regularity of meals among adolescents. Future research is needed to investigate moderator(s) of inverse associations found between BMI-z and consumption of snacks, fried foods and confectionery to assess for potential reverse causality

Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1993

MelanesiaFijiNew CaledoniaPapua New GuineaSolomon IslandsVanuat

Prioritizing hazardous pollutants in two Nigerian water supply schemes: a risk-based approach

Objective To rank pollutants in two Nigerian water supply schemes according to their effect on human health using a risk-based approach. Methods Hazardous pollutants in drinking-water in the study area were identified from a literature search and selected pollutants were monitored from April 2010 to December 2011 in catchments, treatment works and consumer taps. The disease burden due to each pollutant was estimated in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) using data on the pollutant’s concentration, exposure to the pollutant, the severity of its health effects and the consumer population. Findings The pollutants identified were microbial organisms, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc. All were detected in the catchments but only cadmium, cobalt, chromium, manganese and lead exceeded World Health Organization (WHO) guideline values after water treatment. Post-treatment contamination was observed. The estimated disease burden was greatest for chromium in both schemes, followed in decreasing order by cadmium, lead, manganese and cobalt. The total disease burden of all pollutants in the two schemes was 46 000 and 9500 DALYs per year or 0.14 and 0.088 DALYs per person per year, respectively, much higher than the WHO reference level of 1 × 10−6 DALYs per person per year. For each metal, the disease burden exceeded the reference level and was comparable with that due to microbial contamination reported elsewhere in Africa. Conclusion The estimated disease burden of metal contamination of two Nigerian water supply systems was high. It could best be reduced by protection of water catchment and pretreatment by electrocoagulation

Emulation based uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for complex building performance simulation

Uncertainties in building performance simulation arise from the propagation of both epistemic (e.g. due to poorly or un- observed input parameters) and aleatory (e.g. due to occupants' stochastic interactions) uncertainties. A good framework for the quantification and decomposition of uncertainties in dynamic building performance simulation should: (i) simulate the principle deterministic processes influencing heat flows in buildings and the stochastic perturbations to them, (ii) quantify and decompose the total uncertainty into its respective sources, and the interactions between them, and (iii) achieve this in a computationally efficient manner. In this thesis, a new framework, named as Emulation based Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis (EmUSA) framework, is introduced which does just that. Two case studies, a monozone office building for the frameworks' proof of principle and the other multizone residential building for it's extension are being investigated to perform Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis for the Complex case of Building Performance Simulation (BPS) i.e. the Stochastic BPS (S-BPS). The detailed development of this new framework for emulating both the mean and the variance in the response of a stochastic building performance simulator (EnergyPlus co-simulated with a multi-agent stochastic simulator called No-MASS) is presented, for heating and cooling load predictions. The effectiveness of these emulators, applied to a monozone office building, has been demonstrated and evaluated to quantify and decompose prediction uncertainties. With a range of 25-50 kWh/m2, the epistemic uncertainty due to envelope parameters dominates over aleatory uncertainty relating to occupants' interactions, which ranges from 6-8 kWh/m2, for heating load predictions. However, the converse is observed for cooling loads, which vary by just 3 kWh/m2 for envelope parameters, compared with 8-22 kWh/m2 for their aleatory counterparts. This is due to the correspondingly larger stimuli provoking occupants' interactions. Sensitivity indices corroborate this result, with wall insulation thickness (0.97) and occupants' behaviours (0.83) having the highest impacts on heating and cooling load predictions respectively. This new emulator framework (including training and subsequent deployment), for the case of monozone office, achieves a factor of c.30 reduction in the total computational budget, whilst overwhelmingly maintaining predictions within a 95% confidence interval, and successfully decomposing prediction uncertainties. The second case of a multizone residential building demonstrates the applicability and readiness of this new framework for the uncertainty problems (pertaining to the building scale) of increasing scope and complexity. An increased scope is analysed by investigating the impact of uncertainties in detailed thermophysical (e.g. conductivity, density, solar transmittance, etc.) properties of opaque and transparent building envelope materials, along with the mostly inexact infiltration rate. For the increased complexity, a greater degree of stochastic occupants' interaction freedom (e.g. use of lights) along with the stochastic phenomena of occupants' behaviours (e.g. presence, windows and shades interactions) was enabled. To this end, the framework has shown a ready extensibility and applicability by incorporating a parameter screening step as a pre-step to the Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) workflow for the purpose of segregating the most influential input parameters from the non-influential ones. For the extended case, the framework is now overall (training and subsequent deployment) moderately computationally efficient as compared to the proof of principle case with the costs reduced to a low fraction (0.25) of its equivalent classical counterpart, with predictivity coefficient Q2 > 0.95. As the occupants' behaviours are relatively constrained during heating season, the effects of uncertainties in wall insulation conductivity (sensitivity index = 0.8428) and thickness (0.0771) dominate the heating load predictions than the stochasticity due to occupants' interactions (0.0010). The similar insignificance of stochastic phenomena (0.0130) as compared to brickwork solar absorptance (0.5032) and wall insulation conductivity (0.3714) has been observed during cooling season, due to the acceleration of short- and long-wave radiation phenomena which then dampens the occupants' interaction to restore their thermal comfort

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on the draft regulation ‘Advertising and Promotion of Unhealthy Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children Regulation’ in Fiji

This report details the process and recommendations from a health impact assessment (HIA) on the draft regulation on marketing of food and non-alcoholic beverages in Fiji

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on the draft regulation ‘Advertising and Promotion of Unhealthy Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children Regulation’ in Fiji

This report details the process and recommendations from a health impact assessment (HIA) on the draft regulation on marketing of food and non-alcoholic beverages in Fiji