The sanitation arc: an alternative examination of WASH behavior change

A primary goal of the WASH sector is to facilitate transitions from open defecation to improved sanitation. Many residents of low-income countries desire improved sanitation but lack the resources to obtain or maintain access to toilets. For such persons, describing the goal as ‘behavior change’ implies a deficiency in mindset, failing to capture contextual factors affecting sanitation access. Furthermore, household circumstances affect movement both up and down the sanitation ladder, a phenomenon that the sector tends to overlook. This study, based on interviews with 308 former subscribers to Haitian container-based-sanitation service EkoLakay, tracks household sanitation access at four points in time: prior to subscribing, during the subscription period, immediately upon unsubscribing, and at the time of interview. We describe this movement through time as the ‘sanitation arc’. Prior to subscribing, households were more likely to practice open defecation or rely on non-household sanitation, and less likely to have private improved sanitation than the average urban Haitian. This distribution is reversed among former subscribers. Nearly half of former subscribers, however, could not afford continuous access to EkoLakay; 80% of involuntary terminations resulted in loss of access to private improved sanitation, and over one-third of these households reverted to open defecation.

COVID-19 Infection in An HIV-Positive Patient

The COVID-19 pandemic affects all age groups but follows a more mortal trajectory in patients with preexisting conditions such as immune deficiency, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular problems. Hence, HIV-positive patients with immune deficiency are at risk, therefore, these patients need to have continuous access to treatment during the pandemic. The number of defined COVID-19 positive HIV patients is very limited even though there are approximately 37.9 million HIV-positive patients globally. Therefore, we decided to publish this study reporting an HIV patient treated for COVID-19 in our clinic.

Effects of Housing Locations on Feather Damages of Laying Hens in a Free-Range Housing System

This study was made to evaluate the effects of different locations of a free range housing system on feather damages of laying hens. The experimental house consisted of three different locations as closed indoor plastic slats, closed indoor litter and outdoor range area. The birds were able to move freely between the locations of the experimental house and they had continuous access to outdoor range during the day. The feather damages of the birds was evaluated with a distance scoring system at 64 weeks of age. Five area in each location of the experimental house were determined at first and then feather damages of five body parts of ten birds in each location were scored to measure plumage quality. Total feather score was defined as the sum of the scores of five body parts of the birds. Best plumage quality was measured in neck in all housing locations (P<0.01, P<0.05 and P<0.01) and total feather score of the birds was significantly greatest (worst) in slats (P<0.05).

A blockchain based Trusted Persistent Identifier system for Big Data in Science

A stable reference of Internet resources is crucial not only to identify a resource in a trustworthy and certified way but also to guarantee continuous access to it over time. The current practice in scientific publication as the use of a Persistent Identifier (PID) like a DOI or Handle, is becoming attractive also for the datasets. In fact, in the era of Big Data, the aspects of replicability and verification of the scientific result are paramount. In this paper we verify the functional feasibility of permissioned blockchain technology as a tool to implement a Trustworthy Persistent Identifier (T-PID) system for datasets in the scientific domain.

Nonlinear relationship between early life stress exposure and subsequent resilience in monkeys

Retrospective correlational studies of humans suggest that moderate but not minimal or substantial early life stress exposure promotes the development of stress inoculation-induced resilience. Here we test for a nonlinear relationship between early life stress and resilience by comparing varying “doses” of early life stress. Juvenile squirrel monkeys underwent one of five treatment conditions between 17–27 weeks of age: Stress inoculation (SI) with continuous access to mother (SI + Mom; one stress element), SI without continuous access to mother (SI; two stress elements), SI without continuous access to mother and with alprazolam injection pretreatments (SI + Alz; three stress elements), SI without continuous access to mother and with vehicle injection pretreatments (SI + Veh; three stress elements), or standard housing (No SI; zero stress elements). Alprazolam was used to test whether anxiolytic medication diminished SI effects. Subjects exposed to one or two early life stressors subsequently responded with fewer indications of anxiety (e.g., decreased maternal clinging, increased object exploration, smaller cortisol increases) compared to No SI subjects. Subjects exposed to three early life stressors did not differ on most measures from one another or from No SI subjects. These findings provide empirical support for a nonlinear J-shaped relationship between early life stress exposure and subsequent resilience.