Water insecurity is associated with intimate partner violence among female adolescents and youth but not males in rural Tanzania: A cross-sectional study.

Food insecurity increases intimate partner violence (IPV), but less is known about water insecurity (WI) and IPV. We examined the association between household WI and IPV among adolescents and youth in the Mbeya and Iringa regions of Tanzania. The cross-sectional sample comprised 977 males and females aged 18-23 years living in rural, impoverished households.

Economic vulnerabilities, mental health, and coping strategies among Tanzanian youth during COVID-19.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated struggles for youth living in poor households. Youth in rural Tanzania are particularly vulnerable given widespread poverty, lack of formal sector employment opportunities, and health risks. We examine influences of the pandemic on economic insecurity and mental health and explore the coping strategies employed by youth and their households.

Climate distress, climate-sensitive risk factors, and mental health among Tanzanian youth: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Climate change threatens youth mental health through multiple mechanisms, yet empirical studies typically focus on single pathways. We explored feelings of distress over climate change among Tanzanian youth, considering associations with climate change awareness and climate-sensitive risk factors, and assessed how these factors relate to mental health.

Methods: Tanzanian youth (aged 18-23 years) from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Mbeya and Iringa regions of Tanzania were interviewed between Jan 25, and March 3, 2021, and included in this cross-sectional study.

Impacts of cash transfer and "cash plus" programs on self- perceived stress in Africa: Evidence from Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania.

Poverty and poor mental health are closely linked. Cash transfers have significantly expanded globally. Given their objectives around poverty reduction and improving food security, a major chronic stressor in Africa, cash transfers may affect mental health outcomes.

Effects of Adolescent-Focused Integrated Social Protection on Depression: A Pragmatic Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of Tanzania's Cash Plus Intervention.

We assessed the impacts of Tanzania's adolescent-focused Cash Plus intervention on depression. In this pragmatic cluster-randomized controlled trial, 130 villages were randomly allocated to an intervention or control arm (1:1). Youth aged 14-19 years living in households receiving governmental cash transfers were invited to participate.

The impact of unconditional cash transfers on morbidity and health-seeking behaviour in Africa: evidence from Ghana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Unconditional cash transfers have demonstrated widespread, positive impacts on consumption, food security, productive activities and schooling. However, the evidence to date on cash transfers and health-seeking behaviours and morbidity is not only mixed, but the evidence base is biased towards conditional programmes from Latin America and is more limited in the context of Africa. Given contextual and programmatic design differences between the regions, more evidence from Africa is warranted.

Effects of Government-Implemented Cash Plus Model on Violence Experiences and Perpetration Among Adolescents in Tanzania, 2018‒2019.

To examine the impacts of a government-implemented cash plus program on violence experiences and perpetration among Tanzanian adolescents. We used data from a cluster randomized controlled trial (n = 130 communities) conducted in the Mbeya and Iringa regions of Tanzania to isolate impacts of the "plus" components of the cash plus intervention. The panel sample comprised 904 adolescents aged 14 to 19 years living in households receiving a government cash transfer.

Do Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Mental Health? Evidence From Tanzania's Governmental Social Protection Program.

Purpose: Cash transfer interventions broadly improve the lives of the vulnerable, making them exceedingly popular. However, evidence of impacts on mental health is limited, particularly for conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs. We examined the impacts of Tanzania's government-run CCT program on depressive symptoms of youth aged 14-28.

Exploring multilevel social determinants of depressive symptoms for Tanzanian adolescents: evidence from a cross-sectional study.

Background: Depression has substantial and enduring impacts for adolescents, particularly those living in poverty. Yet, evidence on its determinants in low-income countries remains scarce. We examined the social determinants of depressive symptoms for Tanzanian adolescents.

Impacts of a Cash Plus Intervention on Gender Attitudes Among Tanzanian Adolescents.

Purpose: Inequitable attitudes toward men's and women's roles, rights, and responsibilities are associated with poor health-related outcomes, particularly for girls and women. Yet, we know relatively little about what interventions work to improve gender-equitable attitudes among adolescents in low-income countries. This study examines the impact of a government-implemented "cash plus" intervention on gender-equitable attitudes among adolescents in Tanzania.

Perspectives of adolescent and young adults on poverty-related stressors: a qualitative study in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania.

Objectives: To define key stressors experienced and coping behaviours within poor agrarian communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Design: Descriptive qualitative study incorporating inductive thematic analysis.

Participants: 81 participants purposely sampled, stratified by age (adolescents and young adults) and sex SETTING: The study was conducted in villages in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania.

Examination of performance of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Short Form 10 among African youth in poor, rural households.

Background: Youth mental health has emerged as a pressing global issue. However, to advance research gaps in low-income settings, we need valid measures of common mental health disorders. Using primary data collected in five countries (Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), this study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the commonly used 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D 10) scale among poor, disadvantaged youth populations in sub-Saharan African (SSA).

Unconditional Government Social Cash Transfer in Africa Does not Increase Fertility.

Among policymakers, a common perception surrounding the effects of cash transfer programmes, particularly unconditional programmes targeted to households with children, is that they induce increased fertility. We evaluate the Zambian Child Grant Programme, a government unconditional cash transfer targeted to households with a child under the age of five and examine impacts on fertility and household composition. The evaluation was a cluster randomized control trial, with data collected over four years from 2010 to 2014.

Psychophysical and electrophysiological testing in ocular hypertension.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare psychophysical and electrophysiological testings in early optic nerve dysfunction in a group of clinically asymptomatic subjects with suspect ocular hypertension (OHT).

Methods: Forty eyes of 40 patients with suspect OHT and asymmetrical horizontal cup/disc ratio (0.2/0.

GRASP65 and GRASP55 sequentially promote the transport of C-terminal valine-bearing cargos to and through the Golgi complex.

The Golgi matrix proteins GRASP65 and GRASP55 have recognized roles in maintaining the architecture of the Golgi complex, in mitotic progression and in unconventional protein secretion whereas, surprisingly, they have been shown to be dispensable for the transport of commonly used reporter cargo proteins along the secretory pathway. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that many trafficking machineries operate in a cargo-specific manner, thus we have investigated whether GRASPs may control the trafficking of selected classes of cargo. We have taken into consideration the C-terminal valine-bearing receptors CD8alpha and Frizzled4 that we show bind directly to the PSD95-DlgA-zo-1 (PDZ) domains of GRASP65 and GRASP55.

MODULAR ANALYTICS: A New Approach to Automation in the Clinical Laboratory.

MODULAR ANALYTICS (Roche Diagnostics) (MODULAR ANALYTICS, Elecsys and Cobas Integra are trademarks of a member of the Roche Group) represents a new approach to automation for the clinical chemistry laboratory. It consists of a control unit, a core unit with a bidirectional multitrack rack transportation system, and three distinct kinds of analytical modules: an ISE module, a P800 module (44 photometric tests, throughput of up to 800 tests/h), and a D2400 module (16 photometric tests, throughput up to 2400 tests/h). MODULAR ANALYTICS allows customised configurations for various laboratory workloads.

Myocardial necrosis in ICU patients with acute non-cardiac disease: a prospective study.

Objective: To ascertain if, after an episode of hypotension, unnoticed myocardial necrosis could occur in critical care patients with acute non-cardiac illness and to search for signs of cardiac necrosis.

Design: A prospective observational study.

Setting: General intensive care unit (ICU) at a tertiary level hospital.

Accuracy of cholesterol measurements in Italian clinical laboratories. Joint project GISSI prevention--Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry. SIBioC GISSI Prevenzione Group.

We report the results of an external quality assessment scheme for serum total cholesterol measurement involving about 100 Italian laboratories participating in an epidemiological study of post myocardial infarction. Two frozen human serum pools with Abell-Kendall assigned values are distributed quarterly at the laboratories (up to now seven events occurred); the obtained results are evaluated and discussed. In one exercise (# 5) duplicated measurements were repeated on three different days.

A step forward in enzymatic measurement of creatinine.

We describe an improved enzymatic ultraviolet absorbance method for assaying creatinine in serum, plasma, and urine. Creatinine is hydrolyzed by creatinine iminohydrolase (EC 3.5.

Axon clinical chemistry analyzer evaluated according to ECCLS protocol.

We assessed the analytical performance of the Axon system (Bayer Diagnostici), according to the European Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards guidelines, for assay of 12 analytes: cholesterol, creatinine, glucose, total protein, urea, uric acid, alkaline phosphatase, alpha-amylase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, sodium, and potassium. The field evaluation lasted approximately 5 months and involved the collection of approximately 10,000 data points with the Axon. The following results were obtained: The highest CVs for controls and human sera at different concentration/activity values were 2.

Multicentre evaluation of the Boehringer Mannheim/Hitachi 717 analysis system.

We conducted an European multicentre trial to assess the performance of the new Boehringer Mannheim/Hitachi 717 analysis system. The photometer response was linear up to an absorbance of 2.8.

One-step protocol for assays of total and direct bilirubin with stable combined reagents.

We describe an improved colorimetric method for assays of total and direct bilirubin in serum. Bilirubin reacts with diazotized sulfanilic acid in an acidic medium to form a blue azopigment. Total bilirubin is assayed in the presence of reaction accelerators (caffeine, urea, and citric acid), direct bilirubin in their absence.