Prioritising and planning scale-up research projects targeting non-communicable diseases: a mixed-method study by the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases upscaling working group.

Introduction: Governments must scale-up evidence-based interventions to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Implementation research can help develop contextually appropriate strategies and optimise interventions for scale-up. We aimed to determine the priorities of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) 2019 funding round for scale-up research targeting NCD interventions.

Applying systems thinking to identify enablers and challenges to scale-up interventions for hypertension and diabetes in low-income and middle-income countries: protocol for a longitudinal mixed-methods study.

Introduction: There is an urgent need to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly in low-and middle-income countries, where the greatest burden lies. Yet, there is little research concerning the specific issues involved in scaling up NCD interventions targeting low-resource settings. We propose to examine this gap in up to 27 collaborative projects, which were funded by the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) 2019 Scale Up Call, reflecting a total funding investment of approximately US$50 million.

Obstacles to integrated pest management adoption in developing countries.

Despite its theoretical prominence and sound principles, integrated pest management (IPM) continues to suffer from anemic adoption rates in developing countries. To shed light on the reasons, we surveyed the opinions of a large and diverse pool of IPM professionals and practitioners from 96 countries by using structured concept mapping. The first phase of this method elicited 413 open-ended responses on perceived obstacles to IPM.

Making sense of agrobiodiversity, diet, and intensification of smallholder family farming in the Highland Andes of Ecuador.

Methods are needed for helping researchers and farmers to interactively describe and analyze local practices in search of opportunities for improving health, environment, and economy. The authors worked with smallholder family farmers in five Andean villages in Ecuador to apply participatory four-cell analysis (PFCA) in characterizing agrobiodiversity. Margelef and Shannon indices examined ecological richness and evenness, and a simplified 24-hour dietary recall characterized food consumption.

Assessment and characterization of the diet of an isolated population in the Bolivian Andes.

Objectives: The goal of this research is to characterize the composition and nutrient adequacy of the diets in the northern region of the Department of Potosí, Bolivia. Communities in this semiarid, mountainous region are isolated and impoverished having the highest rates of child malnutrition and under-five mortality in the Americas.

Methods: A total of 2,222 twenty-four-hour dietary recalls were conducted in 30 communities during May and November 2006 and May and November 2007.

Reducing pesticide exposure and associated neurotoxic burden in an Ecuadorian small farm population.

The contribution of community-based interventions, including farmer field schools (FFSs) in integrated pest management (IPM), to reducing pesticide exposures and associated neurotoxic burden among small-farm families in Ecuador was assessed in three Andean farming communities in a co-design of targeted action-research. Baseline questionnaire surveys elicited pesticide-related knowledge, practices, and exposure and neurobehavioral assessments were done using an adapted WHO battery. Pesticide applications on plots farmed by FFS versus non-FFS participants were compared.

Pesticides and health in highland Ecuadorian potato production: assessing impacts and developing responses.

Pesticide use in highland Ecuador is concentrated in the high-risk, commercial production of potatoes. Small farm families experience considerable exposure and adverse health consequences. The authors describe a three-pronged strategy to reduce health impacts: 1) a community-based process of education and provision of personal protective equipment to reduce exposure; 2) farmer field schools to increase agro-ecosystem understanding and to reduce pesticide use; and 3) policy interventions to restructure incentives and to reduce availability of highly toxic insecticides.

Abiotic origin of biopolymers.

A variety of methods have been investigated in different laboratories for the polymerization of amino acids and nucleotides under abiotic conditions. They include (1) thermal polymerization, (2) direct polymerization of certain amino acid nitriles, amides or esters, (3) pi, Tokyo 194, Japan.

Thymine: a possible prebiotic synthesis.

A possible prebiotic synthesis of thymine has been achieved via the methylation of uracil with formaldehyde and hydrazine.