Detection of toxigenic colonization in patients admitted to the hospital for chemotherapy or haematopoietic cell transplantation.

Increasing evidence suggests that asymptomatic carriers are an important source of healthcare-associated infection. However, it is not known which test for the detection of colonization is most sensitive in patients with haematological malignancies. We performed a prospective cohort study of 101 patients with haematological malignancies who had been admitted to the hospital for scheduled chemotherapy or haematopoietic cell transplantation.

Tools to improve planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of complementary feeding programmes.

Adequate nutrient intake is a prerequisite for achieving good nutrition status. Suboptimal complementary feeding practices are a main risk factor for stunting. The need for systematic and user-friendly tools to guide the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of dietary interventions for children aged 6-23 months has been recognized.

Cost of the Diet: a method and software to calculate the lowest cost of meeting recommended intakes of energy and nutrients from local foods.

Background: When food is available, the main obstacle to access is usually economic: people may not be able to afford a nutritious diet, even if they know what foods to eat. The Cost of the Diet method and software was developed to apply linear programming to better understand the extent to which poverty may affect people's ability to meet their nutritional specifications. This paper describes the principles of the method; the mathematics underlying the linear programming; the parameters and assumptions on which the calculations are based; and then illustrates the output of the software using examples taken from assessments.