Japan International Cooperation Agency

About: Japan International Cooperation Agency is a government organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Public health. The organization has 555 authors who have published 613 publications receiving 9536 citations.

Effects of economic status and education level on the height and weight of community adolescents in Nepal.

Abstract: There is scarce information on the relative importance of socio-economic factors in determining the adolescent anthropometric measurements. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of economic status, education level, and food consumption on the height and weight of community adolescents in Nepal. The study was done in the communities of the Kathmandu Valley area in Nepal. All together 426 unmarried adolescent girls aged 14-19 y were selected. The adolescents were interviewed regarding socioeconomic background (education, occupation and property possessions) and frequency of foods consumption. Height and weight were determined and BMI was calculated. Z-scores of height-for-age and weight-for-age were calculated based on the WHO/NCHS standard to avoid bias by age. The adolescents participating in the survey were categorized into three groups using the various indicators of economic status: Low Economic Status (LES) group, Middle Economic Status (MES) group and High Economic Status (HES) group. The Z-scores of height and weight were significantly lower in the LES group than in the MES and HES groups (p<0.05). The Z-score of height was significantly increased with education level even under the condition of controlling economic level (p<0.05). Since the frequency of milk consumption was significantly related not only with height (p<0.05), but also with economic (chi2=31.6, df=4, p<0.001) and education levels (chi2=22.4, df=6, p<0.01), the increased height in the groups of the better economic status or the better education level was interpreted to be due to the outcome of the higher frequency of milk consumption. This study indicated that education was a more important factor affecting the height of the adolescents via improved food habits even under adverse economic conditions.

The Analytical Study on "Kecap"-An Indonesian Soy Sauce

Abstract: Investigation on compositional characterization of kecap was conducted. Kecap is a major seasoning or condiment in Indonesia which is made from fermented soybean. The commercial products are classified as 'common', 'sweet', 'salty' and 'viscous'. The composition of kecap varieties was characterized by their high sugar contents (40.51-65.45%) except the salty varieties (3.84-19.36%). The sugar contents were mostly sucrose, glucose and fructose and were derived from the sweetening agent added, i.e. palm sugar, cane sugar or molasses. Total nitrogen, formol nitrogen and free amino acids were much lower than those of Japanese soy sauce except one sample of salty kecap. Lower nitrogen contents indicate poor fermentation and excessive dilution of moromi with brine. Addition of large amounts of sugar could be another factor. Ash contents of sweet, common and viscous types of kecap were lower than those of Japanese soy sauce and were composed of minerals derived from soy beans etc. in addtion to sodium chloride. Lactic acid was the dominant organic acid present. However, some of the varieties were also rich in succinic, pyroglutamic or butyric acids.

Visual Analysis of DNA Microarray Data for Accurate Molecular Identification of Non-albicans Candida Isolates from Patients with Candidemia Episodes

Abstract: The performance of a visual slide-based DNA microarray for the identification of non-albicans Candida spp. was evaluated. Among 167 isolates that had previously been identified by Vitek 2, the agreement between DNA microarray and sequencing results was 97.6%. This DNA microarray platform showed excellent performance.