Gender Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from Pakistan

Gender diversity and firm performance, is among the new but challenging topics of research in management sciences. Many researchers have studied the role of gender diversity in enhancing firms’ performance in developed economies (see for example, Dwyer et. al, 2003; and Kang et al, 2010). Existing literature on this subject is rare in emerging economies and to the best of author’s knowledge; this is the first study on relationship of gender diversity and firm’s performance in Pakistani context. Present study focuses on the impact of presence of female directors on corporate performance using a sample of 395 listed nonfinancial companies of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Pakistan from 2004 to 2009. Estimated results indicate that ratio of female directors is negatively related with firm performance

Exploring self-care and cervical cancer prevention attitudes and practices among Moroccan and Pakistani immigrant women in Catalonia, Spain: a comparative qualitative study

BackgroundSelf-care and preventive health strategies may trigger health inequities when individuals' cultural values and health beliefs are not fully understood and considered. In the case of cervical cancer (CC) screening programs immigrant women have shown lower attendance compared with native women, which increases the risk of late diagnosis and, consequently, a lower probability of survival. HPV self-sampling for CC screening has been recently added to the World Health Organization's (WHO) list of self-care interventions as a promising tool to reduce this disparity and improve screening coverage. In Catalonia, Spain, the introduction of HPV self-sampling as a part of the new population-based CC screening program, is a significant step. However, there is a lack of research addressing self-care and prevention among immigrant populations in this region. This study aims to fill this gap exploring self-care and prevention attitudes and practices among Moroccan and Pakistani women.MethodsWe conducted focus groups and individual interviews with 36 Moroccan and 37 Pakistani women in Barcelona, Spain. The topic guide of the focus groups included case vignettes to stimulate the discussion and a semi-structured questionnaire was used for the interviews.ResultsOur findings show that most Moroccan and Pakistani women do not prioritize self-care and prevention. They seek care for symptom treatment rather than disease prevention. In this sense, they reported not having the habit of doing regular check-ups and their self-care and prevention attitudes and practices seemed to be conditioned by cultural values. The implementation of an effective call and recall system could enhance the engagement of these populations with CC screening services.ConclusionThis study provides evidence on how universal concepts of self-care and prevention may not aligned with more collectivist societies, emphasizing the limited applicability and motivation of global self-care interventions guidelines for individuals with different cultural backgrounds and values. Therefore, the successful implementation of CC screening programs or any other self-care intervention requires the adoption of culturally appropriate strategies

Meta-Analysis of miRNAs and Their Involvement as Biomarkers in Oral Cancers

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Recent studies have highlighted the role of miRNA in disease pathology, indicating its potential use as an early diagnostic marker. Dysregulated expression of miRNAs is known to affect cell growth, and these may function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes in various cancers. The main objective of this study was to characterize the extracellular miRNAs involved in oral cancer (OC) that can potentially be used as biomarkers of OC. A total of 318 miRNAs involved in oral carcinoma were shortlisted. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of oral carcinoma from reported experiments were identified. Common genes between lists of DEGs of OC of each miRNA were identified. These common genes are the targets of specific miRNA, which may be used as biomarkers of OC. A list of significant biomarkers for cancer was generated like CDH2 and CDK7, and functional enrichment analysis identified the role of miRNAs in major pathways like cell adhesion molecules pathway affected by cancer. We observed that at least 25 genes like ABCF3, ALDH2, CD163L1, and so forth are regulated by a maximum number of miRNAs; thereby, they can be used as biomarkers of OC