How do international student returnees contribute to the development of their home countries? A systematic mapping and thematic synthesis

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This study investigates the significant yet under-examined role of international student returnees in catalysing societal development in their home countries. Through systematic mapping and thematic synthesis of 53 articles selected from an initial pool of 1515, this review delineates the literature’s portrayal of returnees’ impacts across various domains, including firm growth, industrial innovation, higher education, research, social diversity, equity, inclusion, democracy, and civic engagement. While highlighting the skills, knowledge, and resilience students garner abroad—facilitating innovative problem-solving and engagement in their countries—the study concurrently points out the emerging nature and methodological limitations of the extant literature. This review identifies critical gaps in the literature on international student returnees. It notes a lack of global evidence and an overemphasis on certain geographical contexts which questions the generalisability of the findings. Furthermore, there is a narrow focus on economic and political impacts, overlooking crucial areas like poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. Equally important is the absence of comparative studies between returnees and local counterparts. This lack of comparative studies highlights the need to distinguish the unique effects of international versus domestic higher education. This review not only advances academic understanding by systematically mapping the underexplored nexus between international student mobility and societal development but also offers implications for policy. By delineating the transformative potential of returnees and highlighting the importance of conducive environments, it underscores the necessity of informed, strategic interventions to maximise returnees’ societal contributions. In doing so, the study acknowledges existing gaps and methodological limitations within the literature, advocating for a more nuanced and evidence-based approach to leveraging international education for sustainable development.Peer reviewe

Neurologic Factors in Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction

Sexual dysfunction affects both men and women, involving organic disorders, psychological problems, or both. Overall, the state of our knowledge is less advanced regarding female sexual physiology in comparison with male sexual function. Female sexual dysfunction has received little clinical and basic research attention and remains a largely untapped field in medicine. The epidemiology of female sexual dysfunction is poorly understood because relatively few studies have been done in community settings. In the United States, female sexual dysfunction has been estimated to affect 40% of women in the general population. Among the elderly, however, it has been reported that up to 87% of women complain of sexual dissatisfaction. Several studies have shown that the prevalence of female sexual arousal disorders correlates significantly with increasing age. These studies have shown that sexual arousal and frequency of coitus in the female decreases with increasing age. The pathophysiology of female sexual dysfunction appears more complex than that of males, involving multidimensional hormonal, neurological, vascular, psychological, and interpersonal aspects. Organic female sexual disorders may include a wide variety of vascular, neural, or neurovascular factors that lead to problems with libido, lubrication, and orgasm. However, the precise etiology and mechanistic pathways of age-related female sexual arousal disorders are yet to be determined. In the past two decades, some advances have been made in exploring the basic hemodynamics and neuroregulation of female sexual function and dysfunction in both animal models and in human studies. In this review, we summarize neural regulation of sexual function and neurological causes of sexual dysfunction in women