Interaction of Household Wealth and Women’s Working Status on Child Malnutrition: Evidence from PDHS-2013

Theoretically, it is supposed that women’s working status and household wealth independently contribute towards the children’s dietary status. The working women of the inferior socio-economic class are generally engaged in the informal sector or low paid work. It may be argued that such kinds of service cannot contribute to the nutritious prestige in children. To solve this puzzle whether woman's working status in all socio-economic setups is contributing to children’s nutritional status or not? This is the main focus of the research. A sample data of 1169 households from PDHS (2012-13) are used to explore the influencing factors of child malnutrition. The study employed the binary logistic regression which observes the likelihood of malnutrition in the children. Malnutrition is measured through CIAF. The interaction terms of the woman’s working status and five quintiles of wealth index have been created. The results disclose that working women belonging to the household of the first two quintiles of the wealth index and the fourth quintile of the wealth index are not contributing to the nutritious prestige of the children. Furthermore, in the third quintiles, the working status of women contributes to the nutritional prestige of children. It may be inferred that the socioeconomic status of the household is important for the nutritional welfare of the children, not the woman's employment. However, it may be concluded that women’s employment should be of the level that can support the socio-economic status of the household.

Assessment of Pollution Parameters in Water and Their Impact on Meat Quality of Rohu Labeo Rohita Inhabiting River Indus at Dg Khan, South Punjab, Pakistan

Heavy metals are natural components of geological structures with their productive role in agriculture, cement and plastic industry. This industrial progress is playing role in the emission of various pollutants in biological systems; hence their levels have been increased from minor to major in terms of pollution. This pollution has influence on the physicochemical features of water along with biological component by deterring the meat quality of fish. Fish is a readily available source of protein for the consumption of human beings. Heavy metals e.g. Nickle, cadmium, chromium, Manganese, lead, iron and zinc are fatal pollutants due to their bio accumulative nature in body tissues. This bioaccumulation of heavy metals leads to health illness of fish and its consumers. These pollutants can influence the normal hematological and serological parameters along with the induction of pathological changes in muscles. Hence, Fish can be used as a bio-indictor in the monitoring of metals pollution as they engaged various trophic levels in a food chain. This research was designed to investigate the heavy metal concentration in River Indus at Dera Ghazi Khan along with their histopathological impact on proximate quality of meat and blood profile of Labeo rohita. Sampling was performed from three different sites of River Indusduring the period from July 2017 to February 2018. These heavy metals in water and fish meat were determined e.g. Cr, Pb, Cu, Zinc, Mn, Iron, Pb, Ni and Cd by using Polarized Zeeman (Z-8230) atomic absorption spectrophotometer at Environmental Science Lab, UVAS Lahore. In water samples, macro minerals concentration as Ca, Mg, Na and K were also analyzed by using spectrophotometer along with various physico-chemical parameters of water like BOD, COD, TDS, TSS, DO, EC, Ph and temperature. In Rohu meat, mean metal concentration (mg/l), was found to be high at Manka Drain site (2) due to dumping of municipal, agricultural and brick kilns untreated waste, as following, Pb (4.6275?9.305), Cd (0.105?0.105), Mn (26.4325?1.357), Ni (0.87375?0.129), Cu (9.86875?1.255), Cr (6.3525?3.068), Zn (12.67625?1.995) and Fe (73.315?2.766). This study confirms that bio-accumulation of metals took place over time. The purpose of conductedresearch was to investigate the impact of heavy metal content of water on proximate composition ofLabeo rohitaand its blood profile from consumer?s health point of view. The research results predict alterations in muscle quality in terms of its intact structure via histopathological observations and protein content via proximate estimation. These results strongly recommend that the permanent evaluation of this aquatic ecosystem should be implemented at study area because; population is on increasing tendency due to which consumption of water with establishment of industries is flourishing at a rapid rate resulting in more effluent production. Furthermore, Installation of effluent treatment plants must be planned to properly dispose-off industrial and sewerage waste to avoid contamination of fresh water reservoir.