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Starch biosynthesis in plants involves a network of enzymes of which adenosine-5’-diphosphoglucose (ADP-glucose) pyrophosphorylase (AGPase, E.C. 2.7.7.27), and soluble and granule bound starch synthases (SSS and GBSS, E.C. 2.4.1.21) play central roles. Here, we outline the protocol for extraction and assay of these enzymes in developing grains of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The principle of the assays outlined is based on a coupling enzymatic reactions where the product of the initial reaction is used as a substrate for subsequent reactions in order to generate NADPH, which can be measured easily by spectrophotometer. This protocol does not need expensive labelled chemicals and can be carried out using equipment commonly found in a biochemical laboratory. We applied this protocol to study the dynamics of AGPase, SSS and GBSS activity in developing wheat grains at different time points after anthesis.

Background: It is widely recognized that maternal deaths in low-resource countries are attributed to deprived access to maternal health services. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess barriers to healthcare access among reproductive age women in extremely high and very high maternal mortality countries., Methods: A community based cross sectional surveys were conducted among 181,472 reproductive age women. Stata version 17.0 was used to analyze the data. Mixed effect binary logistic regression model was analyzed. Odds ratio along with 95% CI was generated to identify factors associated with barriers to healthcare access. A p-value less than 0.05 was declared as statistical significance., Results: A total of 64.3% (95% CI: 64.06, 64.54) reproductive age women faced barriers to healthcare access. Young age, no formal education, poor wealth index, no media exposure, multiparty, no health insurance coverage, and rural residence were significantly associated with barriers to healthcare access., Conclusion: More than six in ten reproductive age women had barriers to healthcare access in extremely high and very high maternal mortality countries. Increasing extensive health education, minimizing financial hardship by expanding health insurance may minimize barriers to healthcare access with attention to rural resident reproductive age women., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright: © 2024 Negash et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and protecting populations from health-related financial hardship remain challenging goals. Subsequently, community-based health insurance (CBHI) has gained interest in low and middle-income countries, such as Ethiopia. However, the rural-urban disparity in CBHI enrollment has not been properly investigated using multivariate decomposition analysis. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the rural-urban disparity of CBHI enrollment in Ethiopia using the Ethiopian Mini Demographic Health Survey 2019 (EMDHS 2019)., Methods: This study used the latest EMDHS 2019 dataset. STATA version 17.0 software was used for analyses. The chi-square test was used to assess the association between CBHI enrollment and the explanatory variables. The rural-urban disparity of CBHI enrollment was assessed using the logit-based multivariate decomposition analysis. A p -value of <0.05 with a 95% confidence interval was used to determine the statistical significance., Results: The study found that there was a significant disparity in CBHI enrollment between urban and rural households ( p  < 0.001). Approximately 36.98% of CBHI enrollment disparities were attributed to the compositional (endowment) differences of household characteristics between urban and rural households, and 63.02% of the disparities were due to the effect of these characteristics (coefficients). The study identified that the age and education of the household head, family size, number of under-five children, administrative regions, and wealth status were significant contributing factors for the disparities due to compositional differences between urban and rural households. The region was the significant factor that contributed to the rural-urban disparity of CBHI enrollment due to the effect of household characteristics., Conclusion: There were significant urban-rural disparities in CBHI enrollment in Ethiopia. Factors such as age and education of the household head, family size, number of under-five children, region of the household, and wealth status of the household contributed to the disparities attributed to the endowment, and region of the household was the contributing factor for the disparities due to the effect of household characteristics. Therefore, the concerned body should design strategies to enhance equitable CBHI enrollment in urban and rural households., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Tsega, Alemu, Geberu, Hagos, Jejaw, Abera, Tiruneh, Demissie, Asmare, Endawkie, Negash, Workie, Yohannes, Getnet, Worku and Belay.)

Background: Addressing health inequity is a top priority for achieving sustainable development goals. The existing evidences in Ethiopia have shown that there are substantial inequalities in the use of health services among various socioeconomic strata. Therefore, the present study aimed to measure socioeconomic inequalities and the contributing factors in postnatal health checks for newborns in Ethiopia., Methods: We used a secondary data from the recent 2019 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey dataset. The study includes a weighted sample of 2,105 women who gave birth in the 2 years preceding to the survey. The study participants were selected using two stage cluster sampling techniques. The socioeconomic inequality in postnatal health checks for newborns was measured using the Erreygers Normalized Concentration Index (ECI) and illustrated by the concentration curve. A decomposition analysis was done to identify factors contributing to the socioeconomic related inequality in postnatal health checks for newborns in Ethiopia., Results: The concentration curve of postnatal health checks for newborns lay below the line of equality, and the Erreygers normalized concentration index was 0.133, with a standard error = 0.0333, and a p value <0.001; indicating that the postnatal health check for newborns was disproportionately concentrated among newborns with higher socioeconomic status. The decomposition analysis reported that antenatal care (ANC) visit (59.22%), household wealth index (34.43%), and educational level of the mother (8.58%) were the major contributors to the pro-rich socioeconomic inequalities in postnatal health checks for newborns., Conclusion: The finding revealed that there is a pro-rich inequality in postnatal health checks for newborns in Ethiopia. To reduce the observed socioeconomic health inequality, the government needs to improve ANC visits, implement strategies to access health service for economically disadvantaged groups, and increase educational attainment among women., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Hagos, Tiruneh, Abera, Tsega, Endawkie, Negash, Workie, Yohannes, Getnet, Worku, Belay, Asmare, Alemu, Geberu, Demissie and Jejaw.)