Perceived social support, coping, and stigma on the quality of life of people living with HIV in Nepal: a moderated mediation analysis

Perceived social support, coping strategy, and internalized stigma have been linked with the quality of life (QOL) among people living with HIV (PLHIV). However, little is known about how these psychosocial factors interact with each other and affect QOL. This study incorporated a moderated mediation model to investigate whether coping strategy mediates the relationship between perceived social support and QOL, and to examine whether this mediating effect varies with the level of internalized stigma among PLHIV. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 599 PLHIV in Nepal. The multidimensional scale of perceived social support, World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF, Brief COPE, and AIDS-related stigma scales were used to measure perceived social support, QOL, coping strategy, and internalized stigma, respectively. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, and moderated mediation analysis was conducted with multi-group approach. The relationship between perceived social support and QOL was significantly and partially mediated by problem-focused coping strategy. Internalized stigma significantly moderated the mediating effect of coping strategies on the association between perceived social support and QOL. For high internalized stigma group (total stigma score > 2), the effects of perceived social support on QOL were indirect (β = 1.48; 61.0% of total effects) through the mediating effect of coping strategy, especially problem-focused coping one. For low internalized stigma group (total stigma score ≤ 2), problem-focused coping strategy did not significantly affect the QOL, and most of the effects of perceived social support were direct (β = 1.24; 99.2% of total effects). Internalized stigma was found to moderate the mediating effect of problem-focused coping on the relationship between perceived social support and QOL. Enhancing the problem-focused coping and social support may be helpful to improve QOL among PLHIV reporting high stigma.

Potential effects of diurnal temperature oscillations on potato late blight with special reference to climate change

Global climate change will have effects on diurnal temperature oscillations as well as on average temperatures. Studies on potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans) development have not considered daily temperature oscillations. We hypothesize that growth and development rates of P. infestans would be less influenced by change in average temperature as the magnitude of fluctuations in daily temperatures increases. We investigated the effects of seven constant (10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 23, and 27°C) and diurnally oscillating (±5 and ±10°C) temperatures around the same means on number of lesions, incubation period, latent period, radial lesion growth rate, and sporulation intensity on detached potato leaves inoculated with two P. infestans isolates from clonal lineages US-8 and US-23. A four-parameter thermodynamic model was used to describe relationships between temperature and disease development measurements. Incubation and latency progression accelerated with increasing oscillations at low mean temperatures but slowed down with increasing oscillations at high mean temperatures (P < 0.005), as hypothesized. Infection efficiency, lesion growth rate, and sporulation increased under small temperature oscillations compared with constant temperatures but decreased when temperature oscillations were large. Thus, diurnal amplitude in temperature should be considered in models of potato late blight, particularly when predicting effects of global climate change on disease development.

Design of a low-cost bamboo well

Bamboo wells are an economical alternative for water supply wells in developing countries. The design of the bamboo well described in this article was developed based on field tests. Following field experiments, the screen in the bamboo well was fabricated with seven 3-m-long bamboo strips, each 2 cm wide and 1 cm thick. The strips were bolted on 1-cm-wide mild steel rings spaced 30 cm along the length of the bamboo strips, with 9-cm-long galvanized iron pipe end pieces. Pipes used in the bamboo well were fabricated by wrapping polythene sheets on the bamboo screens. Excellent performance, low cost, and good service life justify the use of a bamboo well for ground water withdrawal in developing countries.