The inexplicable nature of food insecurity in parts of Uganda and worldwide necessitated an investigation into the nature, extent, and differentials of household food security. The main objective of this study was to examine the food security dynamics and model household food insecurity. The Rasch modelling approach was employed on a dataset from a sample of 1175 (Tororo = 577; Busia = 598) randomly selected households in the year 2010. All households provided responses to the food security questions and none was omitted from the analysis. At 5 percent level of significance the analysis indicated that Tororo district average food security assessment (0.137 ± 0.181) was lower than that for Busia district (0.768 ± 0.177). All the mean square fit statistics were in the range of 0.5 to 1.5, and none of them showed any signs of distortion, degradation, or less productivity for measurement. This confirmed that items used in this study were very productive for measurement of food security in the study area. The study recommends further analysis where item responses are ordered polytomous rather than the dichotomous item response functions used. Furthermore, consideration should be given to fit models that allow for different latent distributions for households with children and those without children and possibly other subgroups of respondents.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/121269 | DOI Listing |
Mycotoxin Res
January 2025
Department of Human, Biological, and Translational Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
Mycotoxin exposure from contaminated food is a significant global health issue, particularly among vulnerable children. Given limited data on mycotoxin exposure among Namibian children, this study investigated mycotoxin types and levels in foods, evaluated dietary mycotoxin exposure from processed cereal foods in children under age five from rural households in Oshana region, Namibia. Mycotoxins in cereal-based food samples (n = 162) (mahangu flour (n = 35), sorghum flour (n = 13), mahangu thin/thick porridge (n = 54), oshikundu (n = 56), and omungome (n = 4)) were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetab Brain Dis
January 2025
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé 1, P.O. Box 812, Yaounde, Cameroon.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with cognitive impairments which are linked to a deficit in cholinergic function. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of TeMac™ to prevent memory impairment in scopolamine-rats model of Alzheimer's disease and by in silico approaches to identify molecules in TeMac™ inhibiting acetylcholinesterase. The cholinergic cognitive dysfunction was induced by intraperitoneal injection of scopolamine (1 mg/kg daily) in male Wistar rats for seven consecutive days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Plant Microbe Interact
January 2025
University of Florida, Microbiology and Cell Science, Gainesville, Florida, United States;
Plant pathogens pose significant threats to global cereal crop production, particularly for essential crops like rice and wheat, which are fundamental to global food security and provide nearly 40% of the global caloric intake. As the global population continues to rise, increasing agricultural production to meet food demands becomes even more critical. However, the production of these vital crops is constantly threatened by phytopathological diseases, especially those caused by fungal pathogens such as , the causative agent of rice blast disease, , responsible for head blight (FHB) in wheat, and , the source of Septoria tritici blotch (STB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Rev Camb Philos Soc
January 2025
Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação, Departamento de Engenharia Ambiental, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Av. Cel. Francisco H. dos Santos 100, Curitiba, 81531-980, Brazil.
Non-native species can be major drivers of ecosystem alteration, especially through changes in trophic interactions. Successful non-native species have been predicted to have greater resource use efficiency relative to trophically analogous native species (the Resource Consumption Hypothesis), but rigorous evidence remains equivocal. Here, we tested this proposition quantitatively in a global meta-analysis of comparative functional response studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeliyon
January 2025
Center for Food Security Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Agriculture has been recognized as a key sector to leverage for improved food security. Yet, the evidence on agriculture-gender linkages to food security is still scarce and winding. This study investigates the impact of women empowerment in agriculture on efficiency and food security of households and individuals.
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