Human Development and Government Expenditure in Asian Countries: An Empirical Study

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This study examines the impact of public spending on human development in Asian countries, considering both investment and current spending. The empirical method is a system-GMM, using a dataset of 35 Asian countries collected from 2005 to 2014 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The findings indicated that government spending, both investment and current spending, had effects on the human development index, but these effects are not linear. Depending on the type of expenditure, the detected threshold effect is U-shape or inverted U-shape. According to this study, government spending could adversely impact human growth if the optimal expenditure thresholds are broken. These findings have significant implications for enhancing the effectiveness of public expenditure to improve the human development index. This study also provides meaningful lessons that are especially pertinent for Asian countries, including Vietnam.

An Approach to the Anthropology of Clothing: The case of the Chopcca Nation

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This article aims to propose some preliminary ideas about the origin of the Chopcca people, from the Huancavelica region. This research used the ethnographic method, due to its purpose was exploratory, with a descriptive design. To collect the information, an observation sheet, a bibliographic review sheet and an interview form were used. The results obtained were processed and translated from the Quechua language into Spanish for a better understanding, in the same way, they showed that the  origin of the “Chopcca Nation” could go back to the eighteenth century of our era and have a syncretic nuance which would evoke a fusion between European fashion and its adaptation to the Andean scenario, a conclusion that we reach thanks to an anthropological perspective of clothing, which, until now, has not been studied. Finally, we point out that this initial approach will allow to generate a new methodological approach to approach the history of this “nation” from another angle.

Packaging Materials Dual-Sourcing as Business Contingency Plan to Mitigate Operational Production Disruption

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PT XYZ is one of the leading fast-moving consumer goods companies producing packaged mineral water in Indonesia. Water is a daily necessity and one of life’s most basic needs. Therefore, providing healthy hydration through safe and ready-to-consume drinking water aligned with the company’s mission to deliver health through food to as many Indonesian consumers as possible through sustainable operational production.

Operational production is one key enabler in delivering these objectives. Dual-sourcing of validated packaging materials could catalyse sustainable production operations through supply risk mitigation, whose root causes come from internal and external factors. This paper uses quantitative, PDCA, and decision tree methods to analyse the supply and demand of packaging materials in short to mid-length timeframes to ensure capacity availability and redundancy, trial, and validation processes.

Prioritization through risk assessment of potential net sales loss and probability leads to several implementation phases, periodic monitoring to track initiatives and ensure they stay on course, the timely escalation of solutions, and visibility of acceptable calculated risk.

Improving Care in Accident and Emergency Departments in Pakistan

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Introduction: Emergency departments (EDs) are perceived as 24/7 portals where a rapid and efficient diagnosis, urgent attention, primary care, and inpatient admission is provided for stabilizing seriously ill and wounded patients.

Objectives: The main objective of the study is to analysed the improving care in accident and emergency departments.

Material and methods: This analytical study was conducted in DHQ hospital, Sahiwal during 2020 to 2021. For this 5 hospitals were selected for the determination of improving care in accident and EDs. All hospitals were visited one by one and collect the data for the determination of mode of clinics and improving care. Number of patients and number of doctors were also counted. Results: Analysis of results was performed by comparing the data of hospitals with international standards. Patient case notes were checked for compliance with RCP 12 point generic medical record keeping standards on 5 point scale to stratify the level of compliance. Hospitals where case notes fulfilled all the 12 standards were placed at point 5. EDs safety scores were measured on 4 point scale and different hospitals were categorized according to grades A, B, C, D and F.

Conclusion: It is concluded that the emergency service would be provided largely by doctors in middle grade or career grade posts supported by nurse practitioners, general practitioners, and senior house officers working under much closer supervision than at present.

Association between Antiphospholipid Antibodies (APLA) and Preeclampsia (PE) in Females Presenting for Antenatal Check-Up

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Introduction: APLA have been associated with a number of obstetric complications however their  role  in  the  pathogenesis  of  preeclampsia  has  remained  an  issue  of controversy. There is a lack of information on APLA in pre-eclamptic women.

Objective: To assess the association between antiphospholipid antibodies (APLA) and preeclampsia (PE) in females presenting for antenatal check-up.

Materials and Methods: This Case Control study was conducted in Services Institute of Lahore. After approval from hospital ethical committee, 200 females, fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study from OPD of Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Informed consent was obtained. Demographic information was also recorded. The females were divided in two groups on the basis of presence or absence of PE i.e. cases and controls.

Results: The mean age of the patients among cases was 27.60±4.96 years the minimum age was 20 years and maximum was 35 years whereas among controls the mean age of the patients was  27.94±4.13 years the minimum age was 20 years and maximum was 35 years .The mean gestational age among cases was 27.46± 4.72 weeks the minimum gestational age was 20 weeks and maximum was 35 weeks on the other side the mean gestational age among controls was 27.25± 4.74 weeks the minimum gestational age was 20 weeks the maximum was 35 weeks. There was significant association between preeclampsia and APLA as the p-value was significant (p-value=0.007).

Conclusion: Results of this study showed a significant association and significant risk between APLA and preeclampsia. Therefore a routine assay of APLA in women at  risk  of  preeclampsia should be done. However  APLA  testing  should  be  considered  in  women  with  early  onset  severe  preeclampsia,  especially  when  additional  clinical features of APS are present.

The Participation Model of Kampung KB in Prevention of COVID-19 in Banyumas Regency, Indonesia

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Family Panning Village, known as “Kampung KB”, is a social institution at the Neighborhood Council level in villages formed by the Government in 2017. The purpose of this institution is to improve the quality of families living in those areas, including the health aspect. The managers were social workers in those areas. This research aims to investigate the participation of this institution in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic in Banyumas Regency, which cases are pretty high. The research informants included 82 participants from family planning village core administrators in 8 villages and one subdistrict in 4 districts of Banyumas Regency, Indonesia.  The data were collected using online interviews through WhatsApp groups belonging to informants in each village/subdistrict, followed by in-depth interviews conducted in those groups. The qualitative data were then analyzed using an interactive model.  Results of this study show that some villagers in three family planning villages identified with positive COVID-19, yet not all village core administrators knew about those cases. Most family planning villages had no special preventive programs. However, in those family planning villages and the surrounding areas with some villagers identified with positive COVID-19, the core village administrators will perform some preventive efforts more intensively in the forms of news socialization related to COVID-19 through Whatsapp groups of family welfare empowerment, neighborhood association, and neighborhood council groups. In addition, some family planning village core administrators organized the local villagers to help one elderly whose child was intensively treated at a hospital because of identified with positive COVID-19. It shows that the family planning villages may be optimized to improve the local family conditions and strengthen social solidarity.

 

The Strategic Management of Mosque-Based Education

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As in the early days of Islam, mosques are not only places of worship but also places of empowerment and Islamic education for Muslims. As an Islamic educational institution, fostering personality attitudes, and the center of civilization for the people, mosques should be managed with modern, professional and accountable organizational management, following the management stages, in order to facilitate the service function for mosque congregations. Among these stages is to develop a good plan, which contains the formulation of actions to achieve the results according to the goals set, namely a decision on what to do in the future. This study uses a descriptive method with the aim of describing various phenomena that exist in the research location. The data collection techniques are through observation, interviews and documentation studies. The results showed that the planning of strategic management for mosque-based education used several strategies to develop, prosper the mosque, with the formulation starting with the development of the vision and mission, identifying various opportunities and threats as well as strengths and weaknesses faced by the al-Mukarromah mosque, determining the good goals for the mosque in short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, and determine alternative strategies and specific strategies to achieve.

Finding the Therapeutic Role of miRNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become the second most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, with approximately 782,500 new cases and 745,500 deaths occurring in the global during 2012. The main objective of the study is to find the therapeutic role of miRNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). This study was conducted using a systematic search on Google scholar, Pubmed and Web of science published until 20th June 2020. The cited references of retrieved articles and previous reviews were also manually checked to identify any additional eligible studies. MiRNAs perform their tumor suppressor functions through downregulating oncogene expression. Increasing evidence suggests that miRNAs are essential for the regulation of liver development, regeneration, and metabolic functions. It is concluded that deregulation of miRNAs significantly contributes to the development of HCC. miRNAs mainly functions to down regulate the expression of targeted genes. However, they may have other yet unknown functions including the activation of gene transcription.

 

Adherence to Contraceptive Use Guidelines and Preconception Advice in a Diabetes Clinic

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Background: Women with diabetes have more complications during pregnancy. Contraceptive advice to prevent unplanned pregnancy is of utmost importance for them. Maintenance of strict glycaemic control is essential to have a positive outcome in pregnancy and proper care. Preconception care and counselling to help pregnancy planning is thus essential.

Aim: To assess whether proper education regarding importance of contraceptive use, preconception care and advice is being imparted to female diabetics according to NICE guidelines

Method: This is a proposed monocentric retrospective clinical audit to evaluate adherence of a diabetes clinic to NICE guidelines regarding education and advice on contraceptive use and preconception care. The three criteria being assessed include documentation of patient’s intentions regarding contraceptive use and pregnancy at each visit with the diabetes care team; offering patients intending to get pregnant a structured education programme as soon as possible; and preconception care and advice being imparted to patients wanting to try for pregnancy before discontinuing contraception. Two patient cohorts, each consisting of 50 patients who meet the inclusion and exclusion parameters for the respective criteria will be made. Data collection will be done by the diabetologist, the diabetes specialist nurse and the practice nurse at St. June’s Diabetes Clinic. Data will be collected by accessing previous records of patients from 01 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. Data will be compiled as a percentage and compared with the standard.

Conclusion: Improved patient-staff communication is the key point to improve compliance with NICE guidelines regarding these standards.

Exploring the Significance of Elevated Antinuclear Antibodies in Medically Critically Ill Patients

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Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and a type of antibodies that are produced against macromolecules in cell nuclei or the cytoplasm. Indirect immunofluorescence is the most widely method to detect ANA with additional solid phase assays also being available. All the patient admitted to the ICU and had their ANA levels drawn at the SMDC within the past three years (Jan 2017 to Dec 2019) were included in the study.  In patient with multiple hospitalizations, the most recent one was considered for the study. ANA levels were detected using immunofluorescence assay technique. Between Jan 2017 and Dec 2019, 600 patients had their ANA levels drawn, out of which 78 were positive and 522 were negative. Out of the ANA positive patients, 14 (17 percent) had the values to 1:40, 29 (35 percent) had values to 1:80, 14 (17 percent) had values to 1:160, 8 (9.7 percent) had values to 1: 320, 11 (13.2 percent) had values to 1:640, 4 (4.8 percent) had values to 1:1280, 2 (2.4 percent) had values greater than >1:1280. It is concluded that in patients with RA, important differences exist between those who are ANA‐positive and ANA‐negative in terms of time to fulfillment of RA criteria and time to DMARD initiation as well as choice of initial pharmacotherapy.