Linking family planning market census data with consumer experiences in three countries: the Consumer’s Market for Family Planning study protocol and data

Background: The Consumer’s Market for Family Planning (CM4FP) project was designed to address limitations of existing family planning (FP) data sources that prevent a full understanding of the total FP market. CM4FP data provide a picture of the complete supply environment and how consumers experience it. Study objectives were to 1) test a ring-fenced census approach consisting of an outlet census in a defined geographical area and a household survey in a smaller inner ring, to comprehensively map the total FP market in a local geography; 2) explore FP supply market dynamism through longitudinal data collection from contraceptive outlets; and 3) test a methodology for directly linking household and outlet data to measure the relationship between contraceptive demand and supply. Methods: Data were collected from study sites in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda from 2019 to 2020. Longitudinal outlet census data and repeated cross-sectional household survey data from women ages 18-49 were collected at three quarterly time points. Outlets were located in an outer ring geography to encompass locations likely visited by women sampled from a smaller inner ring. Data from women who received a contraceptive method in the past 12 months were linked to data for the outlet from which they received the method. Results: Datasets include product audits for 22,380 individual FP products, collected from a total of 1,836 outlets across 12 study sites. The datasets also contain data from 11,536 female respondents, of whom 1,975 were successfully matched to the outlet where they most recently obtained their method. Conclusions: CM4FP data are available at www.cm4fp.org. This unique dataset enables in-depth exploration of the family planning supply market in addition to interactions between the market and consumer perspectives and behaviors within each study site. The data can also be used to explore novel methodologies to inform future study designs.

Understanding “Internet Plus Healthcare” in China: Policy Text Analysis

Background The combination of the internet and healthcare has excellent benefits and far-reaching positive effects in improving service efficiency and promoting social equity. The role of the “internet plus healthcare” (IPHC) has been recognized, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This new healthcare model is also familiar to people and shows a bright prospect. Objective This article seeks to accurately understand and fully grasp the characteristics of IPHC policies that can enlighten the formulation of future policies. Methods The content analysis method was used to analyze China’s IPHC policies collected from the Beida Fabao database and several official websites. Results We found that the development of IPHC policy has gone through 4 stages and is currently entering a phase of rapid development. IPHC policymakers are primarily health administrative departments. In addition, policy instruments are classified into either supply, environment, or demand, and policy themes can be summarized into 4 categories: facilities, technology, service, and management. Conclusions China’s IPHC policy has good prospects from the perspective of development trends. The health administrative departments mainly lead the development of China’s IPHC policy. It is suggested that these departments involve other stakeholders (ie, medical workers, medical industries, and technology sectors) in formulating policies. Policies prefer to use supply-based and environment-based policy instruments. The policy themes emphasize improving infrastructure construction and high-quality diagnostic and treatment services, strengthening the supporting role of information technology, and ensuring all stakeholders understand their responsibilities.

Assessment of Producing Abilities of Farmland in a Limited Water Supply Environment of Uzbekistan

This article is investigated the calculation of the natural soil productivity of agricultural land plots in the current conditions of limited water supply in the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is considered one of the developing countries of Central Asia, i. e., it studies both theoretical and methodological aspects of determining the soil assessment and issues of economic land assessment based on it. That is why the rational and efficient use of irrigation water in today’s restricted distribution is one of the most important issues for any economy, and it is important to consider the evaluation of soils and economic evaluation of irrigated land, a land assessment, the positive solution of a number of economic issues.

Understanding “Internet Plus Healthcare” in China: Policy Text Analysis (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The combination of the internet and healthcare has excellent benefits and far-reaching positive effects in improving service efficiency and promoting social equity. The role of the “internet plus healthcare” (IPHC) has been recognized, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This new healthcare model is also familiar to people and shows a bright prospect. OBJECTIVE This article seeks to accurately understand and fully grasp the characteristics of IPHC policies that can enlighten the formulation of future policies. METHODS The content analysis method was used to analyze China’s IPHC policies collected from the Beida Fabao database and several official websites. RESULTS We found that the development of IPHC policy has gone through 4 stages and is currently entering a phase of rapid development. IPHC policymakers are primarily health administrative departments. In addition, policy instruments are classified into either supply, environment, or demand, and policy themes can be summarized into 4 categories: facilities, technology, service, and management. CONCLUSIONS China’s IPHC policy has good prospects from the perspective of development trends. The health administrative departments mainly lead the development of China’s IPHC policy. It is suggested that these departments involve other stakeholders (ie, medical workers, medical industries, and technology sectors) in formulating policies. Policies prefer to use supply-based and environment-based policy instruments. The policy themes emphasize improving infrastructure construction and high-quality diagnostic and treatment services, strengthening the supporting role of information technology, and ensuring all stakeholders understand their responsibilities.

Polymerization of Lactide to Polylactic Acid by using Homogenous and Heterogenous Catalysts

Replacing non-biodegradable to degradable polymers are very much in concern due to reduction of petroleum supply, environment and economical related to waste disposal. Polylactic acid (PLA) shows a promising alternative to produce biodegradable plastic. The polymerization happened in homogenous phase where the catalyst, mostly used tin octoate, and the lactide are mixed in liquid phase to form PLA. However, this method become problematic for the product because the catalysts remain with the PLA and the degradation of catalyst occurred. Therefore, this study aims to convert the homogeneous catalyst to heterogeneous using ceramic waste as the support and to characterize the PLA produced by using Ultraviolet Visible (UV-Vis) Spectrometer and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The experiment was carried out at different temperatures which were 110℃, 120℃ and 130℃. From the results obtained, the highest concentration of PLA produced is at temperature of 130℃ by using heterogenous catalyst. Therefore, it can be concluded that heterogeneous catalyst can be a new method of producing PLA.

UGCG influences glutamine metabolism of breast cancer cells

UDP-glucose ceramide glucosyltransferase (UGCG) is the key enzyme in glycosphingolipid (GSL) metabolism by being the only enzyme that generates glucosylceramide (GlcCer) de novo. Increased UGCG synthesis is associated with pro-cancerous processes such as increased proliferation and multidrug resistance in several cancer types. We investigated the influence of UGCG overexpression on glutamine metabolism in breast cancer cells. We observed adapted glucose and glutamine uptake in a limited energy supply environment following UGCG overexpression. Glutamine is used for reinforced oxidative stress response shown by increased mRNA expression of glutamine metabolizing proteins such as glutathione-disulfide reductase (GSR) resulting in increased reduced glutathione (GSH) level. Augmented glutamine uptake is also used for fueling the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle to maintain the proliferative advantage of UGCG overexpressing cells. Our data reveal a link between GSL and glutamine metabolism in breast cancer cells, which is to our knowledge a novel correlation in the field of sphingolipid research.