Farmland Lease Options in the Rural China: Key Determinants and Policy Implications

The study looks at the factors that influence farmland transfer option in Yunnan province, China. To help achieve this objective, 6,007 households were randomly selected from rural communities. The sample includes households who are engaged in lease-out, lease-in, and those who engage in neither lease-out nor lease-in. The data was analysed using multinomial probit model. The results show that farmland certification and knowledge of land tenure policy have positive impact on both lease-in and lease-out decisions relative to the reference category. Farmland size and years of schooling show negative and positive impact on lease-in and lease-out decisions, respectively, relative to the reference category. The net income of the household and crop insurance have positive and negative effect on lease-in and lease-out decisions, respectively, relative to the base category. The results suggest that price per mu has a positive effect on the lease-out decision relative to the base category. The study broadens the scope of analysis on farmland transfer by considering all the options available to a household in farmland transfer decision taking.

Female genital mutilation/cutting in sudan and subsequent pelvic floor dysfunction

Background We aimed to evaluate the socio-demographic characteristics of women with female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and the results of FGM/C due to pelvic floor dysfunction. Results The prevalence of FGM/C was 87.2% in Sudan and Type 3 (50.4%) was the most prevalent, followed by Type 2 (35%) and Type 1 (8.5%). In the multinominal logistic regression analysis performed to show the effect of FGM/C on pelvic organ prolapse (POP), it was observed that FGM/C frequency in POP group 2 was statistically similar when POP group 1 was taken as reference category. In the evaluation for symptomatic POP (POP group 3), risk of developing POP in patients without FGM/C was significantly lower than patients with type 3 FGM/C with a rate of 82.9% (OR(odds ratio): 0.171 (p: 0.002), (Confidence Interval (CI) %95; 0.058–0.511). Risk of developing POP rate in patients with type 1 FGM/C was 75% (OR:0.250 (p: 0.005), CI %95; 0.094–0.666) and in patients with type 2 FGM/C was 78.4% (OR:0.216 (p: 0.0001), CI%95; 0.115–0.406). In the multinominal logistic regression analysis including other variables affecting POP, when group 1 was taken as the reference category, it was found that the possibility of developing mild POP (group 2) decreased in FGM/C type 1 and 2 compared to FGM/C type 3 but it was not statistically significant. However, the evaluation for the symptomatic POP group showed up a significantly lower risk of developing POP in patients with type 2 FGM/C compared to patients with type 3 FGM/C, with a rate of 58.4%. (OR:0.419 (p: 0.016), CI%95; 0.206–0.851) (Table 3). In addition, older age was found to be significant risk factor for increasing symptomatic POP (p: 0.003). Conclusions Type 2 and 3 FGM/C continues to be an important health problem in terms of complications that may develop in advanced ages as well as many short-term complications as a result of mechanical or physiological deterioration of the female genital anatomy.

Socioeconomic Factors and Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence among Ever-Married Women in Uganda: Pathways and Actions for Multicomponent Violence Prevention Strategies

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a severe public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with harmful effects on the physical, psychological, and socioeconomic wellbeing of survivors and their families. In SSA, IPV is associated with mental health disorders, high-risk behaviors, and HIV vulnerability, especially among women. In Uganda, poor socioeconomic status increases women’s vulnerability to IPV. Yet there is limited evidence on the association between socioeconomic factors and IPV severity in Uganda. Our study used population-based data to (a) establish different patterns describing the severity of IPV experiences, (b) explore associations between socioeconomic factors and severity of IPV experiences among Ugandan ever-married women, and (c) examine direct and indirect pathways from socioeconomic factors to severity of IPV experiences. Data were drawn from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey’s sample of 7,536 ever-married women aged 15–49 years. A latent class analysis examined distinct patterns of IPV severity among this sample, yielding a four-class solution: low violence ( n = 5,059; 67.1%); high physical violence, low sexual violence ( n = 1,501; 19.9%); high sexual violence, moderate physical violence ( n = 535; 7.1%); and high sexual and severe physical violence ( n = 441; 5.9%). Using the low violence group as the reference category, we conducted a multinomial logistic regression that found significant associations between secondary education (a OR 2.35, 95% CI: [1.06, 5.24]), poorest on the wealth index (a OR 2.00, 95% CI: [1.13, 3.54]), and severe IPV experiences. Decision-making (a OR 0.81, 95% CI: [0.68, 0.96]) played a protective role against membership in the high sexual and physical violence class compared to the reference category. Using path analysis, we found that labor force participation partially mediated the path from wealth index and education to IPV severity. Findings indicate the need for interventions that aim to keep girls in school and target schools, communities, and media platforms to address gender norms, economic vulnerability, and comprehensive screening for multiple forms of violence.

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Sudan and Subsequent Pelvic Floor Dysfunction.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the socio-demographic characteristics of women with female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and the results of FGM/C due to pelvic floor dysfunction.Results: The prevalence of FGM/C was 87,2% in Sudan and Type 3 (50.4%) was the most prevalent. Type 3 (50.4%) was the most prevalent, followed by Type 2 (35%) and Type 1 (8.5%). In the multinominal logistic regression analysis performed for the effect of FGM/C alone on pelvic organ prolapse, it was observed that FGM/C in group 2 was not statistically different when the reference category was taken as group 1. In the evaluation for symptomatic POP (group 3), compared to type 3 FGM/C, there was a significantly less risk of developing POP in patients without FGM/C at a rate of 82.9% (OR(odds ratio): 0,171 (p:0,002), (Confidence Interval (CI) %95; 0,058-0,511), in patients with type 1 FGM/C at a rate of 75% (OR:0,250 (p:0,005), CI %95; 0,094-0,666) and in patients with type 2 FGM / C at a rate of 78.4% (OR:0,216 (p:0,0001), CI%95; 0,115-0,406). In the multinominal logistic regression analysis performed by including other variables affecting POP when group 1 was taken as the reference category, we found that the possibility of developing mild POP (group 2) decreased in FGM/C type 1 and 2 compared to FGM/C type 3 but it was not statistically significant. However, the evaluation for symptomatic POP showed up a significantly lower risk of developing POP in patients with type 2 FGM/C at a rate of 58.4%, compared to type 3 FGM/C (OR:0,416 (p:0,016), CI%95; 0,205-0,847). In addition, older age and being unemployed were found to be significant risk factors for increasing symptomatic POP (p:0,004, p:0,045; respectively).Conclusions: Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) defined by the World Health Organization and consists of all procedures that involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or another injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or other non-medical reasons. Especially type 2 and 3 FGM/C continues to be an important health problem in terms of complications that may develop in advanced ages as well as many short-term complications as a result of mechanical or physiological deterioration of the female genital anatomy.

Meanings within meanings: Skilled readers activate irrelevant meanings of radicals in Chinese

Many characters in written Chinese incorporate components (radicals) that provide cues to meaning. The cues are often partial, and some are misleading because they are unrelated to the character’s meaning. Previous studies have shown that radicals influence the processing of the characters in which they occur (e.g., Feldman & Siok, 1999). We investigated whether readers automatically activate the semantics associated with a radical even when it is irrelevant to the character’s meaning, using a modified version of the Van Orden (1987) task. Fifty-one Mandarin speakers participated in the study. On each trial they were shown a reference category such as “animal” prior to seeing a target character then indicated whether the target character was a member of that category. Decisions were slower and less accurate when a target that is not a member of the target category contained a radical that is. For example, if the category is “found in the kitchen,” the answer for the target 券 (ticket) is no; however the character contains the misleading radical 刀 (knife). These patterns suggest that readers process the semantics of the radical even when it is not relevant to the meaning of the character. The results present challenges for theories in which whole characters are the units of processing in reading Chinese. They also raise questions as to whether repetitions of this experience may result in some of the irrelevant semantics influencing the meaning of the character.

Interpregnancy intervals and child development at age 5: a population data linkage study

ObjectiveTo investigate the associations between interpregnancy intervals (IPIs) and developmental vulnerability in children’s first year of full-time school (age 5).DesignRetrospective cohort study using logistic regression. ORs were estimated for associations with IPIs with adjustment for child, parent and community sociodemographic variables.SettingWestern Australia (WA), 2002–2015.Participants34 574 WA born singletons with a 2009, 2012 or 2015 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) record.Main outcome measureThe AEDC measures child development across five domains; Physical Health and Wellbeing, Social Competence, Emotional Maturity, Language and Cognitive Skills (school-based) and Communication Skills and General Knowledge. Children with scores <10th percentile were classified as developmentally vulnerable on, one or more domains (DV1), or two or more domains (DV2).Results22.8% and 11.5% of children were classified as DV1 and DV2, respectively. In the adjusted models (relative to the reference category, IPIs of 18–23 months), IPIs of <6 months were associated with an increased risk of children being classified as DV1 (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.17, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.34), DV2 (aOR 1.31, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.54) and an increased risk of developmental vulnerability for the domains of Physical Health and Wellbeing (aOR 1.25, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.48) and Emotional Maturity (aOR 1.36, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.66). All IPIs longer than the reference category were associated with and increased risk of children being classified as DV1 and DV2 (aOR >1.15). IPIs of 60–119 months and ≥120 months, were associated with an increased risk of developmental vulnerability on each of the five AEDC domains, with greater odds for each domain for the longer IPI category.ConclusionsIPIs showed independent J-shaped relationships with developmental vulnerability, with short (<6 months) and longer (≥24 months) associated with increased risks of developmental vulnerability.

Reconsidering the Reference Category

Social scientists often present modeling results from categorical explanatory variables, such as gender, race, and marital status, as coefficients representing contrasts to a “reference” group. Although choosing the reference category may seem arbitrary, we argue it is an intrinsically meaningful act that affects the interpretability of results. Reference category selection foregrounds some contrasts over others. Also, selecting a culturally dominant group as the reference can subtly reify the notion that dominant groups are the most “normal.” We find that three out of four recently published tables in Demography and American Sociological Review that include race or gender explanatory variables use dominant groups (i.e. male or White) as the reference group. Furthermore, the tables rarely state what the reference is: only half of tables with race variables and one-fifth of tables with gender variables explicitly specify the reference category, while the rest leave it up to the reader to check the methods section or simply guess. As an alternative to this apparently-standard practice, we suggest guidelines for intentionally and responsibly choosing a reference category. We then discuss alternative ways to convey results from categorical explanatory variables that avoid the problems of reference categories entirely.

Reconsidering the Reference Category

Social scientists often present modeling results from categorical explanatory variables, such as gender, race, and marital status, as coefficients representing contrasts to a “reference” group. Although choosing the reference category may seem arbitrary, the authors argue that it is an intrinsically meaningful act that affects the interpretability of results. Reference category selection foregrounds some contrasts over others. Also, selecting a culturally dominant group as the reference can subtly reify the notion that dominant groups are the most “normal.” The authors find that three of four recently published tables in Demography and American Sociological Review that include race or gender explanatory variables use dominant groups (i.e., male or white) as the reference group. Furthermore, the tables rarely state what the reference is: only half of tables with race variables and one-fifth of tables with gender variables explicitly specify the reference category; the rest leave it up to the reader to check the methods section or simply guess. As an alternative to this apparently standard practice, the authors suggest guidelines for intentionally and responsibly choosing a reference category. The authors then discuss alternative ways to convey results from categorical explanatory variables that avoid the problems of reference categories entirely.

Binary contrasts for unordered polytomous regressors

In observational studies, regression coefficients for categorical regressors are overwhelmingly presented in terms of contrasts with a reference category. For unordered regressors with many categories, however, this approach often focuses on contrasting different pairs of categories with one another with little substantive rationale for foregrounding those comparisons. Mean contrasts, which compare categories to the overall mean, provide an alternative to the reference category, but the magnitude of mean contrasts is conflated with the relative sizes of the categories. Instead, binary contrasts compare a category to all the other categories, allowing the familiar interpretation for dichotomous regressors. We provide a Stata package that computes binary contrasts.

Healthcare trajectories and costs in the last year of life: a retrospective primary care and hospital analysis

ObjectivesTo analyse healthcare utilisation and costs in the last year of life in England, and to study variation by cause of death, region of patient residence and socioeconomic status.MethodsThis is a retrospective cohort study. Individuals aged 60 years and over (N=108 510) who died in England between 2010 and 2017 were included in the study.ResultsHealthcare utilisation and costs in the last year of life increased with proximity to death, particularly in the last month of life. The mean total costs were higher among males (£8089) compared with females (£6898) and declined with age at death (£9164 at age 60–69 to £5228 at age 90+) with inpatient care accounting for over 60% of total costs. Costs decline with age at death (0.92, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.95, p<0.0001 for age group 90+ compared with to the reference category age group 60–69) and were lower among females (0.91, 95% CI 0.90 to 0.92, p<0.0001 compared with males). Costs were higher (1.09, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.14, p<0.0001) in London compared with other regions.ConclusionsHealthcare utilisation and costs in the last year of life increase with proximity to death, particularly in the last month of life. Finer geographical data and information on healthcare supply would allow further investigating whether people receiving more planned care by primary care and or specialist palliative care towards the end of life require less acute care.