Helping ourselves: the role of self-help groups in poverty alleviation through aquaculture

Self-help groups (SHGs) are ways for farmers and fishers, especially those who are poor, to come together and work together. They can be a useful entry point for outsiders, promote a supportive local environment, strengthen voices in decision-making and in negotiations with more powerful forces, increase the effectiveness of local actions, and provide easier access to micro-credit and other resources and services. This case study describes a rural aquaculture development context, in India, the development of SHGs and the concept of a ‘one-stop aqua shop’, set up and run by a federation of self-help groups in Kaipara village, West Bengal (a pilot state along with Jharkhand and Orissa). It outlines testing new ways to share information, as part of a series of revised procedures and institutional arrangements for service delivery recommended by farmers and fishers and prioritized by government, with support from the Department of International Development, London (DFID) Natural Resources Support Programme (NRSP) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) to the Support to Regional Aquatic Resources Management (STREAM) Initiative (10 p.)

Ancient DNA from Hunter-Gatherer and Farmer Groups from Northern Spain Supports a Random Dispersion Model for the Neolithic Expansion into Europe

10 p.

Candida albicans Increases Tumor Cell Adhesion to Endothelial Cells In Vitro: Intraspecific Differences and Importance of the Mannose Receptor

The dimorphic fungus Candida albicans is able to trigger a cytokine-mediated pro-inflammatory response that increases tumor cell adhesion to hepatic endothelium and metastasis. To check the intraspecific differences in this effect, we used an in vitro murine model of hepatic response against C. albicans, which made clear that tumor cells adhered more to endothelium incubated with blastoconidia, both live and killed, than germ tubes. This finding was related to the higher carbohydrate/protein ratio found in blastoconidia. In fact, destruction of mannose ligand residues on the cell surface by metaperiodate treatment significantly reduced tumor cell adhesion induced. Moreover, we also noticed that the effect of clinical strains was greater than that of the reference one. This finding could not be explained by the carbohydrate/protein data, but to explain these differences between strains, we analyzed the expression level of ten genes (ADH1, APE3, IDH2, ENO1, FBA1, ILV5, PDI1, PGK1, QCR2 and TUF1) that code for the proteins identified previously in a mannoprotein-enriched pro-metastatic fraction of C. albicans. The results corroborated that their expression was higher in clinical strains than the reference one. To confirm the importance of the mannoprotein fraction, we also demonstrate that blocking the mannose receptor decreases the effect of C. albicans and its mannoproteins, inhibiting IL-18 synthesis and tumor cell adhesion increase by around 60%. These findings could be the first step towards a new treatment for solid organ cancers based on the role of the mannose receptor in C. albicans-induced tumor progression and metastasis.

The Kaipara story: a closer look at the benefits of working together, the evolution of a federation of aquaculture self-help groups and a one-stop aqua shop in rural West Bengal

What is special about Kaipara is that most recently, they have founded a federation of Self-Help Groups that work together to develop their own support network and to draw in the support of others. This is a sophisticated ‘home-grown’ support infrastructure that is the subject of this story. (Pdf contains 8 pages).

Self-Help Groups

“‘Self-Help Groups’ are … “... A way to start working that helps to build up the social connections which people find useful in support of their livelihoods objectives” “... Helping people to agree things and to speak together, giving people a stronger voice in decision-making and in negotiating with more powerful forces” “... A way of increasing the effectiveness of local actions” “... Providing easier access to micro-credit and other resources and services” (Pdf contains 4 pages).