Domestic Access Research Articles

Ten Steps for a Successful Hand Surgery Mission Trip - Experiences from Supporting Paediatric Hand in Vietnam and Honduras.

Domestic and global access to surgical care for paediatric hand and upper limb conditions is challenged by limited resources, increasing direct and indirect costs of care and a growing number of patients who require specialty care. There are numerous barriers for patients from developing countries to receiving medical care in Japan due to the substantial costs, which include travel, uninsured medical expenses and fees imposed by intermediaries. To address this issue, I realised that I needed to take a more direct approach - by travelling to these countries, not only to provide treatment, but also to teach and train local doctors. By emphasising on the education of local clinicians through the sharing of knowledge and skills, it is possible to expand the timely access to paediatric hand surgery and improve outcomes for children in need. Our mission is rooted in the belief that every nation holds its own unique treasures - its culture, food, beauty and joy - that are worth celebrating and preserving. By fostering sustainable relationships built on mutual respect and understanding, we can make a greater impact; engagement with local surgeons will ultimately elevate the level of care that they can provide in their own communities, through improving core competencies of medical knowledge, technical/surgical skills and resource allocation for simple and complex conditions. This work not only reflects my personal commitment, but also my focus on expanding our team of fellows and strengthening organisational support. We aim to actively pursue these efforts throughout Asia, fostering cross-cultural collaboration and, ultimately, helping to heal the hands and futures of children worldwide. The aim of this review article is to share with readers how we started our mission trips to Vietnam and highlight 10 steps that I feel are critical to a successful mission trip.

From “special relationship” to “strategic partnership”: prospects for renewal of Canada-CARICOM relations in a polarizing global political economy

ABSTRACT This paper assesses the prospect for a renewed era of bilateral cooperation amongst Canada and the Caribbean Community. It argues that ongoing efforts to operationalize the Canada-CARICOM Strategic Partnership entail promising preliminary signs, but that substantive renewal requires a new mutual fidelity encompassing credible commitments toward a more equitable political profit-sharing arrangement. For Canada’s part, these include enhancing domestic market access for key CARICOM exporters, explicit recognition of vulnerable CARICOM business sectors, effective legal protections for temporary foreign workers, and a new juridical approach toward naturalized legal offenders. For CARICOM, credibility entails renewed efforts at integrating member-state firms into Canadian value chains alongside a new collective vision for regional development. En lieu of such commitments the new strategic partnership seems destined to perpetuate an increasingly listless bilateral continuum.

The current status and improvement directions of legal rules regarding Chinese national gene banks for farm animal genetic resources.

A gene bank for farm animal genetic resources (FAGR) is an important facility for the diversity conservation of FAGR. The primary purpose of gene banks for FAGR is the reconstruction of those breeds. With the advent of the post-genomic era, gene banks for FAGR have increasingly become an infrastructure for the support of livestock research and animal breeding, and a platform for international research collaboration. China is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of FAGR. Chinese National Gene Banks for FAGR (CNGBFs) have an important legal status and play an important function in the Chinese FAGR protection system. In this paper, we reviewed the current situation of CNGBFs construction, and systematically collected and analyzed legal rules related to CNGBFs. As results, those legal rules were categorized into two types: (a) organization and management, (b) activities. We summarized problems existing in the current legal rules for CNGBFs from three levels: institution, practical operation, and digital development. Improvement directions of legal rules regarding CNGBFs are proposed. They include clarifying the utilization function of CNGBFs and the ownership of FAGR in CNGBFs. Moreover, improving the mechanism of administrative management, rules on domestic and international access and benefit-sharing, and the system of digital sequence information management are also suggested. The improvements in those legal rules will contribute to the appropriate utilization of Chinese FAGR and international collaborations.

Seed morphometrics unravels the evolutionary history of grapevine in France.

The cultivation of grapevines has spanned millennia, leading to thousands of varieties through exchanges, mutations, and crosses between genotypes, as well probably as gene flow from wild populations. These varieties are typically categorized by regional origin and primary use, either for wine production or fruit consumption. France, within the Western European group, hosts many of the world's renowned wine grape varieties. However, the historical development of cultivated grapevines in France and in the world remains poorly understood. This study applies morphometry on 19,377 charred and waterlogged archaeological grape pips to investigate the evolutionary history of grapevine in France over the last 10,000 years. The study compares seed outlines and lengths, corrected for taphonomic distortions, with a reference collection of 80 wild and 466 modern domestic grapevine accessions. Findings reveal a shift from wild grapevine exploitation to the expansion of domestic varieties around 600-500 BCE, coinciding with Mediterranean cultural influences and the introduction of eastern grape types. The identification of the East-Table group, a group of varieties of eastern origin for fruit consumption, indicates that grapes were also grown for food, especially in Mediterranean regions and near urban areas, alongside wine production. Early French viticulture featured a notable presence of Western European wine-type grapevines. The abundance of pips with wild-like morphology suggests early cultivation involved plants at an initial domestication stage and gene flow between introduced and wild grapevines. As viticulture spread northward, wild and Eastern morphotypes declined, leading to the dominance of Western European wine types in inner France during the Middle Ages.

Comparative Metagenomic Analysis of Seed Endobiome of Domesticated and Wild Finger Millet Species (Eleusine spp.): Unveiling Microbial Diversity and Composition.

Domestication, which involves selective breeding, modern agricultural practices, and specific growing conditions, can influence the microbial and endophytic communities in crop plants. In this study, we examined the microbial diversity and community composition in the seeds of wild and domesticated finger millet species. We employed a metagenomic approach to investigate the seed microbial diversity and community composition of wild (Eleusine africana) and domesticated finger millet species (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) grown in the same habitat. While our findings indicated no significant change in seed endobiome diversity due to domestication, there were differences in microbial community composition between wild and domesticated species. Seeds of domesticated species had higher relative abundance of certain bacterial genera including Helicobacter, Akkermansia, Streptococcus, Bacteroides, and Pseudomonas, whereas seeds of wild species had higher relative abundance of unclassified Streptophyta. The seed-associated microbiota also varied among domesticated finger millet accessions. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed a strong relationship between bacteria and fungi in domesticated compared to wild species. We discuss the results obtained in the larger context of the importance of seed endobiome and how domestication processes in crop plants may have impacted the seed endobiome diversity, composition, and function compared to their wild counterparts.

Karyotypic and phenotypic condensation in allotetraploid wheats accompanied with reproductive strategy transformation: from natural evolution to domestication.

Allotetraploid wheat reflects evolutionary divergence and domestication convergence in the karyotypic and phenotypic evolution, accompanied with the transformation from r- strategy to K- strategy in reproductive fitness. Allotetraploid wheat, the progenitor of hexaploidy bread wheat, has undergone 300,000years of natural evolution and 10,000years of domestication. The variations in karyotype and phenotype as well as fertility fitness have not been systematically linked. Here, by combining fluorescent in situ hybridization with the quantification of phenotypic and reproductive traits, we compared the karyotype, vegetative growth phenotype and reproductive fitness among synthesized, wild and domesticated accessions of allotetraploid wheat. We detected that the wild accessions showed dramatically high frequencies of homologous recombination and copy number variations of simple sequence repeats (SSR) comparing with synthetic and domesticated accessions. The phenotypic traits reflected significant differences among the populations shaped by distinct evolutionary processes. The diversity observed in wild accessions was significantly greater than that in domesticated ones, particularly in traits associated with vegetative growth and spike morphology. We found that the active pollen of domesticated accessions exhibited greater potential of germination, despite a lower rate of active pollen compared with the wild accessions, indicating a transformation in reproductive fitness strategy for pollen development in domesticated accessions compared to the wild accessions, from r-strategy to K-strategy. Our results demonstrate the condensation of karyotype and phenotype from natural wild accessions to domesticated accessions in allotetraploid wheats. Ecological strategy transformation should be seriously considered from evolution to domestication in polyploid plants, especially crops, which may provide a perspective on the adaptive evolution of polyploid plants.

Genetic erosion in domesticated barley and a hypothesis of a North African centre of diversity.

Barley is one of the founder crops of the Neolithic transition in West Asia. While recent advances in genomics have provided a rather detailed picture of barley domestication, there are contradictory views on how the domestication process affected genetic diversity. We set out to revisit this question by integrating public DNA sequencing data from ancient barley and wide collections of extant wild and domesticated accessions. Using two previously overlooked approaches - analyses of chloroplast genomes and genome-wide proportions of private variants - we found that the barley cultivated six millennia ago was genetically unique and more diverse when compared to extant landraces and cultivars. Moreover, the chloroplast genomes revealed a link between the ancient barley, an obscure wild genotype from north-eastern Libya, and a distinct population of barley cultivated in Ethiopia/Eritrea. Based on these results, we hypothesize past existence of a wider North African population that included both wild and cultivated types and suffered from genetic erosion in the past six millennia, likely due to a rapid desertification that ended the Holocene African humid period. Besides providing clues about the origin of Ethiopian landraces, the hypothesis explains the post-domestication loss of diversity observed in barley. Analyses of additional samples will be necessary to resolve the history of African barley and its contribution to the extant cultivated gene pool.

Prediction of suitable regions of wild tomato provides insights on domesticated tomato cultivation in China

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges to the world at present. Tomato is also suffered from devastating yield loss due to climate change. The domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is presumed to be originated from the wild tomato (S. pimpinellifolium). In this study, we compared the climate data of S. pimpinellifollium with the domesticated tomato, predicted the suitable regions of S. pimpinellifollium in China using MaxEnt model and assessed their tolerance to drought stress. We found that the predicted suitable regions of wild tomato are highly consistent with the current cultivated regions of domesticated tomato, suggesting that the habitat demand of domesticated tomato descended largely from its ancestor, hence the habitat information of wild tomato could provide a reference for tomato cultivation. We further predicted suitable regions of wild tomato in the future in China. Finally, we found that while average drought tolerance between wild and domesticated tomato accessions shows no difference, tolerance levels among wild tomato accessions exhibit higher variation, which could be used for future breeding to improve drought resistance. To summarize, our study shows that suitable regions of wild tomato provide insights into domesticated tomato cultivation in China.

Dalit Feminism: Historical Context And Impact

Dalit feminism aims to dismantle the prevailing narratives that uphold their oppression by empowering Dalit women to express their agency and reclaim their stories. Notwithstanding casteist violence and persecution, Dalit women have always been important voices for their rights and dignity. Prominent individuals such as Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, and Ramabai Ambedkar have played a pivotal role in the anticaste and anti-untouchability campaigns in India, championing the cause of women's empowerment and education rights. Organizations like the Dalit Mahila Samiti and the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) sought to address problems including domestic abuse, healthcare access, and sexual exploitation of Dalit women in the 20th century. Dalit feminism also criticizes mainstream feminism for failing to represent the experiences of women from lower castes and for being dominated by upper-class viewpoints. It aims to elevate Dalit women in the feminist conversation and promotes unity with other oppressed groups, such as LGBTQIA+ people and males of lower castes.

Disentangling hydroxynitrile glucoside biosynthesis in a barley (Hordeum vulgare) metabolon provides access to elite malting barleys for ethyl carbamate-free whisky production.

Barley produces several specialized metabolites, including five α-, β-, and γ-hydroxynitrile glucosides (HNGs). In malting barley, presence of the α-HNG epiheterodendrin gives rise to undesired formation of ethyl carbamate in the beverage production, especially after distilling. Metabolite-GWAS identified QTLs and underlying gene candidates possibly involved in the control of the relative and absolute content of HNGs, including an undescribed MATE transporter. By screening 325 genetically diverse barley accessions, we discovered three H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum (wild barley) lines with drastic changes in the relative ratios of the five HNGs. Knock-out (KO)-lines, isolated from the barley FIND-IT resource and each lacking one of the functional HNG biosynthetic genes (CYP79A12, CYP71C103, CYP71C113, CYP71U5, UGT85F22 and UGT85F23) showed unprecedented changes in HNG ratios enabling assignment of specific and mutually dependent catalytic functions to the biosynthetic enzymes involved. The highly similar relative ratios between the five HNGs found across wild and domesticated barley accessions indicate assembly of the HNG biosynthetic enzymes in a metabolon, the functional output of which was reconfigured in the absence of a single protein component. The absence or altered ratios of the five HNGs in the KO-lines did not change susceptibility to the fungal phytopathogen Pyrenophora teres causing net blotch. The study provides a deeper understanding of the organization of HNG biosynthesis in barley and identifies a novel, single gene HNG-0 line in an elite spring barley background for direct use in breeding of malting barley, eliminating HNGs as a source of ethyl carbamate formation in whisky production.

Domestic access to water in a decentralized truck-to-cistern system: a case study in the Northern Village of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik (Canada).

Municipal water supply through truck-to-cistern systems is common in northern Canada. Household satisfaction and concerns about water services likely impact user preferences and practices. This case study explores household perspectives and challenges with regard to domestic access to water in a decentralized truck-to-cistern system. A case study was conducted in the Northern Village of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik (Quebec, Canada). A paper-based questionnaire was completed by 65 households (one quarter of the population). Many households (37%) reported not drinking tap water from the truck-to-cistern system. Chlorine taste was a frequently reported concern, with those households being significantly less likely to drink water directly from the tap (p = 0.002). Similarly, households that reported a water shortage in the previous week (i.e., no water from the tap at least once) (33%) were more likely to express dissatisfaction with delivered water quantity (rs = 0.395, p = 0.004). Interestingly, 77% of households preferred using alternative drinking water sources for drinking purposes, such as public tap at the water treatment plant, natural sources or bottled water. The study underscores the importance of considering household perspectives to mitigate the risks associated with service disruptions and the use of alternative sources for drinking purposes.

Prevalence and factors associated with Leishmania spp. and Toxoplasma gondii infections in apparently healthy horses in Eastern Spain

Leishmaniasis and toxoplasmosis are two of the most common parasitic zoonoses. Leishmaniasis is endemic to 98 countries around the world, whereas toxoplasmosis is widely distributed throughout the world, causing significant health expenditure. Horses can play a relevant role in the transmission of the disease, being a silent reservoir, as clinical signs are not common. Serum samples from 166 horses living in eastern Spain (Mediterranean basin) were analysed to determine the presence of antibodies against Leishmania spp. and T. gondii by ELISA (Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay.) The risk factors evaluated were the geographical area and the relative humidity and average temperature, and epidemiological factors such as sex, reproductive status, age, breed, morphotype, living with other domestic animals, use and access to the outdoors. Seroprevalence of Leishmania spp. and T. gondii infection was found 28.92%, and 16.27% respectively, whereas co-infection of the two parasites was found only in two males. Leishmania seroprevalence was high in castrated males and several mesodolichomorphic equine breeds used for teaching, as well as in outdoor animals. The most elevated seroprevalence was found in winter with higher levels of rainfall, whereas high seroprevalence of T. gondii was found in crossbreeding animals and those used for breeding. High seroprevalence of Leishmania spp. and T. gondii was found in horses of the Mediterranean basin. These data suggest that horses can act as a silent reservoir and that this species has high potential for transmission to humans, outdoor animals and in geographical areas with high average rainfall.

Haplotype-resolved T2T reference genomes for wild and domesticated accessions shed new insights into the domestication of jujube

Abstract Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is one of the most important deciduous tree fruits in China, with substantial economic and nutritional value. Jujube was domesticated from its wild progenitor, wild jujube (Z. jujuba var. spinosa), and both have high medicinal value. Here we report the 767.81- and 759.24-Mb haplotype-resolved assemblies of a dry-eating ‘Junzao’ jujube (JZ) and a wild jujube accession (SZ), using a combination of multiple sequencing strategies. Each assembly yielded two complete haplotype-resolved genomes at the telomere-to-telomere (T2T) level, and ~81.60 and 69.07 Mb of structural variations were found between the two haplotypes within JZ and SZ, respectively. Comparative genomic analysis revealed a large inversion on each of chromosomes 3 and 4 between JZ and SZ, and numerous genes were affected by structural variations, some of which were associated with starch and sucrose metabolism. A large-scale population analysis of 672 accessions revealed that wild jujube originated from the lower reaches of the Yellow River and was initially domesticated at local sites. It spread widely and was then independently domesticated at the Shanxi–Shaanxi Gorge of the middle Yellow River. In addition, we identified some new selection signals regions on genomes, which are involved in the tissue development, pollination, and other aspects of jujube tree morphology and fertilization domestication. In conclusion, our study provides high-quality reference genomes of jujube and wild jujube and new insights into the domestication history of jujube.

Excluded workers and exempted employers: A qualitative study on domestic workers' access to social protection in the Netherlands

AbstractIn the Netherlands, many part‐time domestic workers fall within the scope of a particular type of labour law, that gives them fewer social protection rights and that renders private actors (households and workers) responsible for exercising those rights. Over the years, this policy has been criticised for institutionalising the differential treatment of domestic workers, which goes against ideas propagated in international initiatives, like the European Pillar of Social Rights. This contribution explores Dutch domestic workers' access to social protection in greater detail. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews with 30 domestic workers, we show that the actual access to social protection greatly varies over different workers and over different employment relationships of individual workers, but generally falls below par. Our findings indicate that this is partly due to the fact that the Dutch policy option underestimates domestic workers' wariness of placing demands on the households they work for, which raises questions over the desirability of non‐mediated employment relationships in the sector. We conclude with a brief discussion and suggestions for future policy directions.

Just a Place or a Just Place: Domestic Violence, Urban-Rural Differences, and Access to Justice

Just a Place or a Just Place: Domestic Violence, Urban-Rural Differences, and Access to Justice

Effects of Electricity Demand on Economic Growth in Nigeria

The study examined the effects of electricity demand on economic growth over a period of year 2000 to 2022. The objective is to examine the extent to which electricity demand has positively impacted the economic growth. The study utilized the covariance, multi-regression error correction model and Durbin-watson test. The study concluded that there is positive impact of electricity demand on economic growth in Nigeria. The results also show long and short run positive and significant correlation between electricity demand and real gross domestic production, electricity access and RGDP, electricity production from oil, gas and coal and RGDP. This study therefore recommends investment at private and public levels should be encouraged to increase electricity supply to meet with the customers’ rising electricity demands. Finally, government should enforce law directing private operators in distribution electricity to provide prepaid metering system to public institutions, private institutions and the remaining households of the country. Keywords: Economic growth, Electric power Consumption, Electricity access, Electricity demand, Electricity production

Research on Access and Benefit-Sharing Regimes for Agricultural Genetic Resources in India

India is one of the richest providers of genetic resources in the world and it advocates that the sovereignty of genetic resources belongs to the state to realize the equitable sharing of the benefits of genetic resources. The study shows that India has built a relatively complete legal system for access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing. This system revolves around three major laws and regulations, with clear management regulations for domestic and foreign access to genetic resources, a definite form and proportion of benefit-sharing, and a clear management method for the distribution of benefits after acquisition. India’s achievements in institutional construction can act as a great reference for the management of access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing in China.

Hearing Loss Prevalence, Years Lived With Disability, and Hearing Aid Use in the United States From 1990 to 2019: Findings From the Global Burden of Disease Study.

This article describes key data sources and methods used to estimate hearing loss in the United States, in the Global Burden of Disease study. Then, trends in hearing loss are described for 2019, including temporal trends from 1990 to 2019, changing prevalence over age, severity patterns, and utilization of hearing aids. We utilized population-representative surveys from the United States to estimate hearing loss prevalence for the Global Burden of Disease study. A key input data source in modeled estimates are the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), years 1988 to 2010. We ran hierarchical severity-specific models to estimate hearing loss prevalence. We then scaled severity-specific models to sum to total hearing impairment prevalence, adjusted estimates for hearing aid coverage, and split estimates by etiology and tinnitus status. We computed years lived with disability (YLDs), which quantifies the amount of health loss associated with a condition depending on severity and creates a common metric to compare the burden of disparate diseases. This was done by multiplying the prevalence of severity-specific hearing loss by corresponding disability weights, with additional weighting for tinnitus comorbidity. An estimated 72.88 million (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 68.53 to 77.30) people in the United States had hearing loss in 2019, accounting for 22.2% (20.9 to 23.6) of the total population. Hearing loss was responsible for 2.24 million (1.56 to 3.11) YLDs (3.6% (2.8 to 4.7) of total US YLDs). Age-standardized prevalence was higher in males (17.7% [16.7 to 18.8]) compared with females (11.9%, [11.2 to 12.5]). While most cases of hearing loss were mild (64.3%, 95% UI 61.0 to 67.6), disability was concentrated in cases that were moderate or more severe. The all-age prevalence of hearing loss in the United States was 28.1% (25.7 to 30.8) higher in 2019 than in 1990, despite stable age-standardized prevalence. An estimated 9.7% (8.6 to 11.0) of individuals with mild to profound hearing loss utilized a hearing aid, while 32.5% (31.9 to 33.2) of individuals with hearing loss experienced tinnitus. Occupational noise exposure was responsible for 11.2% (10.2 to 12.4) of hearing loss YLDs. Results indicate large burden of hearing loss in the United States, with an estimated 1 in 5 people experiencing this condition. While many cases of hearing loss in the United States were mild, growing prevalence, low usage of hearing aids, and aging populations indicate the rising impact of this condition in future years and the increasing importance of domestic access to hearing healthcare services. Large-scale audiometric surveys such as NHANES are needed to regularly assess hearing loss burden and access to healthcare, improving our understanding of who is impacted by hearing loss and what groups are most amenable to intervention.

Pakistan’s Opioid Squeeze: Impacts of Taliban Edicts, Indian Synthetics and Chinese Regulations

This study examines how the Taliban’s opium poppy eradication edict and the westward shift in illicit fentanyl production from China to India potentiates an opioid squeeze on Pakistan from its east-west flanks, influencing Pakistan’s opioid production, distribution and use. As opioid output sputters in Afghanistan, while Indian chemists increasingly normalise illicit fentanyl production in South Asia, opportunistic Pakistani chemists will be incentivised to supply synthetic opioids to high-demand international markets, just as Pakistani farmers supply opium and heroin to international clients. This convergence has ramifications for Pakistani law, drug enforcement and public health, as domestic production increases domestic access to synthetic opioids. The article conducts an empirical examination of current trends in South Asian opioid production, distribution and use, along with an exegesis of the legal and regulatory systems in Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. This study also details how the Pakistani government should respond to this challenge legislatively, foremost through blanket ban of fentanyl and its precursors. Pakistan can reduce domestic use through evidence-based treatment programmes, including discrete and confidential treatment administered by females to female users, opioid substitution therapy, safe needle exchange programmes, culturally sensitive drug awareness campaigns, and increased data collection to detect geographic hotspot locations of opioid use and overdoses.

‘I felt I had no-one to depend on but myself’: Examining how women with insecure migration status respond to domestic and family violence in Australia

Feminist research that takes an intersectional approach has highlighted how a woman's migration status can influence their ability to disclose domestic and family violence (DFV) and access formal support in the countries where they live, work and study. In recent years, research in Western multicultural societies such as Australia has shed light on the ways that restrictive state policies work against victim-survivors and can result in women delaying formal help-seeking, withstanding violence for longer periods and presenting at frontline services at a point of crisis. While important findings have been generated, very few Australian studies have documented responses to violence among women with insecure migration status, including the strategies they rely on to resist different forms of control and to keep themselves safe during a relationship with a violent partner.This article draws on data from a study with 18 victim-survivors who experienced DFV when they were living in Victoria, Australia, and their migration status was ‘insecure’, and 23 professional stakeholders. It explores how women drew on personal strategies to resist, cope with, put a stop to and survive DFV. The article uses ‘citizenship’ as a lens to interpret women's experiences and in doing so draws attention to the ways that women's options for responding to DFV were impacted by the conditional nature of their migration status. It also highlights women's expressions of agency and explores the actions victim-survivors took, which influenced their lived experiences in different ways in the weeks, months and years following their move to the country. The article seeks to contribute to scholarship that challenges assumptions of passivity in research on DFV with migrant women and draws attention to the ways that women worked to ensure their safety and survival despite the limited recognition of their experiences in state policies that address gendered violence.