Open defecation: risk factors for adverse outcomes in Indonesia

The increasing number of Indonesian population has caused serious issue of open defecation. Indonesia ranks the second large of open defecation prevalence in the world, after India. Human’s excrement was disposed in trench, drain, terrace, grassland, backwoods, forest, river, lake or other open spaces, thus, contaminates the water system. Open defecation can lead to the increasing risk of transmission of water-boene diseases of child morbidity in Indonesia. This study aimed at exploring different socio-economic and demographic factors of Indonesians who practice open defecation. Data were obtained from 49,627 female respondents of the 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey. The data were examined utilizing descriptive and logistic regression. The results reveal that the practice of open defecation is significantly influenced by place of residence, household’s wealth quintile, and household’s water supply. The findings suggest the needs for toilet construction and water supply sustainability in public area as well as in poor neighbourhood to eliminate open defecation in the country.

Diabetes Distal Peripheral Neuropathy: Subtypes and Diagnostic and Screening Technologies

Diabetes distal symmetrical peripheral neuropathy (DSPN) is the most prevalent form of neuropathy in industrialized countries, substantially increasing risk for morbidity and pre-mature mortality. DSPN may manifest with small-fiber disease, large-fiber disease, or a combination of both. This review summarizes: (1) DSPN subtypes (small- and large-fiber disease) with attention to clinical signs and patient symptoms; and (2) technological diagnosis and screening for large- and small-fiber disease with inclusion of a comprehensive literature review of published studies from 2015-present ( N = 66). Review findings, informed by the most up-to-date research, advance critical understanding of DSPN large- and small-fiber screening technologies, including those designed for point-of-care use in primary care and endocrinology practices.

Managing the Current Risks of Companies

The taxation power of governments affects companies' business activities. For this reason, the legal limit of tax law must be known by taxpayers. Uncertainty, frequent changes, and interpretation differences in the tax field and reporting reveal tax risks. Today, companies, especially large ones, accept tax risk as a part of the risk management process. Focusing on tax risk management, this chapter presents the discussions on various definitions of tax risk and on the tax risk categories, factors that affect tax risk. The applicability of tax risk management is evaluated from the following perspectives in the chapter: empirical analyses conducted in different countries, tax control framework, and tax risk management practice in various countries. As a result, tax risks are manageable with the support of cooperative compliance models of revenue administrations in countries, the necessity of corporate governance principles, the situation of legal regulations, and the increasing risk management experience of especially large companies.

Vector Borne Diseases and Climate Change

The incidence of emergence diseases including vector borne diseases, water diseases, and some physiologic impairment is considered sensitive to climate. Malaria, leishmaniasis, dengue, and viral encephalitis are among those diseases most influenced by climate. Variation in the incidence of vector borne diseases is associated with extreme weather events and annual changes in weather conditions. Africa in general and Morocco in particular are designated as an area of significant impact by numerous the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and notably susceptible to such drastic climate-related health consequences. Climatic parameter change would directly affect disease transmission by acting on the vector's geographic range, activity, or reproduction and by reduction the period of pathogen incubation. This chapter will discuss the increasing risk of some vector-borne diseases in hazard-prone localities. It further identifies the severe challenges both of health adaptation to climate change by highlighting Moroccan adaptive capacity to such crises.

An association study of the HSPA8 gene polymorphisms with schizophrenia in a Polish population

Heat shock cognate 70 (HSC70/HSPA8) is considered to be a promising candidate gene for schizophrenia (SCZ) due to its many essential functions and potential neuroprotective properties in the CNS (e.g., HSC70 is involved in the turnover of the synaptic proteins, synaptic vesicle recycling, and neurotransmitter homeostasis). An alteration in the expression of HSPA8 in SCZ has been reported. This implies that the genetic variants of HSPA8 might contribute to schizophrenia pathogenesis. The present study attempted to determine whether HSPA8 polymorphisms are associated with a susceptibility to schizophrenia or whether they have an impact on the clinical parameters of the disease in a Polish population. A total of 1066 participants (406 patients and 660 controls) were recruited for the study. Five SNPs of the HSPA8 gene (rs2236659, rs1136141, rs10892958, rs1461496, and rs4936770) were genotyped using TaqMan assays. There were no differences in the allele or genotype distribution in any of the SNPs in the entire sample. We also did not find any HSPA8 haplotype-specific associations with SCZ. A gender stratification analysis revealed that an increasing risk of schizophrenia was associated with the rs1461496 genotype in females (OR: 1.68, p < 0.05) in the recessive model. In addition, we found novel associations between HSPA8 SNPs (rs1136141, rs1461496, and rs10892958) and the severity of the psychiatric symptoms as measured by the PANSS. Further studies with larger samples from various ethnic groups are necessary to confirm our findings. Furthermore, studies that explore the functional contribution of the HSPA8 variants to schizophrenia pathogenesis are also needed.

Exploring Different Assumptions about Outcome-Related Risk Perceptions in Discrete Choice Experiments

Environmental outcomes are often affected by the stochastic nature of the environment and ecosystem, as well as the effectiveness of governmental policy in combination with human activities. Incorporating information about risk in discrete choice experiments has been suggested to enhance survey credibility. Although some studies have incorporated risk in the design and treated it as either the weights of the corresponding environmental outcomes or as a stand-alone factor, little research has discussed the implications of those behavioural assumptions under risk and explored individuals’ outcome-related risk perceptions in a context where environmental outcomes can be either described as improvement or deterioration. This paper investigates outcome-related risk perceptions for environmental outcomes in the gain and loss domains together and examines differences in choices about air quality changes in China using a discrete choice experiment. Results suggest that respondents consider the information of risk in both domains, and their elicited behavioural patterns are best described by direct risk aversion, which states that individuals obtain disutility directly from the increasing risk regardless of the associated environmental outcomes. We discuss the implication of our results and provide recommendations on the choice of model specification when incorporating risk.

Money, Power, and Relationships: Economic Vulnerability in Girls’ Lives and Risk for Partner Violence Among Girls in Ibadan, Nigeria

This study explored the experience of economic vulnerability and its effect on girls’ future aspirations, relationships, and financial reliance on male partners, as well as risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) and related health consequences. Thirteen Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted among 122 female adolescents aged 15–19 years. Participants reported that lack of economic resources limits girls’ ability to be economically independent by reducing opportunities to receive education or enter into a trade. Economic vulnerability decreases girls’ ability to become economically independent, increasing financial reliance on male partners, and in turn, increasing risk for IPV, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy.

Diet and Stress Impair Ovarian Function in Mid-life, Increasing Risk of Chronic Diseases of Aging in Primates

Ovarian dysfunction increases risk for chronic diseases of aging including cardiovascular disease, depression, cognitive impairment, and bone and muscle loss which promote frailty. Psychosocial stress disrupts ovarian function and recent observations suggest that Western diet may also. Determination of causal relationships among diet, psychosocial stress, and ovarian physiology is difficult in humans. Nonhuman primates provide relevant opportunities to investigate diet and psychosocial effects on ovarian physiology and aging because, like humans, they have monthly menstrual cycles and recapitulate many aging-related processes similar to humans. We examined ovarian function in 38 socially housed, middle-aged females fed either a Western or Mediterranean diet for 26 months (~ an 8-year period for humans). During the last 12 months, we examined cycle length, peak progesterone per cycle, and frequency of anovulatory cycles using blood sampling (3/week) and vaginal swabbing (6/week). Repeated measures analysis revealed that like middle-aged women, cycle length increased, and progesterone levels fell over time, suggesting that ovarian dysfunction generally increased in our sample with time. In addition, both Western diet and the stress of low social status reduced progesterone levels, disrupting ovarian function, and increasing risk of chronic diseases of aging. This study demonstrates the additive negative effects of poor diet and psychosocial stress on ovarian physiology in mid-life and lays the groundwork for future investigations to uncover associated metabolic signatures of accelerated aging. The results also suggest that a Mediterranean diet may exert a protective influence against ovarian dysfunction and its pathologic sequelae.

Factors Increasing Risk of Septicemia in Acute Cholycystectomy Patients

Background: Septicemia is defined as systematic inflammatory response syndrome which is formed as a result of an infection. Objective: To identify the factors increasing risk of septicemia in acute cholecystectomy patients. Study Design: Retrospective study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, Sahara Medical College, Narowal from 1st August 2020 to 31st May 2021. Methodology: One hundred and seventy acute cholecystectomy patients were enrolled. The patient’s demographic, clinical history, comorbidities and post-operative complications were listed. All procedures were done through laparoscopic method. Results: There were 54.1% females and 45.9% males. The mean age of patients was 52.17±14.33 years. There were 11.7% cases who developed septicemia. The immune deficient patients were 0.9% and 1.8% had perforated gall bladder. There were 2.7% cases having obesity, cirrhosis or complicated diabetes with 3.6% having chronic kidney disease. Conclusion: The factors of complicated diabetes, cirrhosis, obesity and chronic kidney disease are associated with risk of septicemia in acute cholecystectomy. Key words: Cholecystectomy, Septicemia, Risk factors, Obesity, Chronic kidney disease