How successful are women\u27s groups in health promotion and disease prevention? A synthesis of the literature and recommendations for developing countries.

There is a general scarcitly of resources for delivery of services to the population in all social welfare and development sectors, with the health sector being no exception. In developing countries, lack of trained manpower, illiteracy and compliance issues make health care interventions even more complex. Various community-based projects have used women as a specific group for delivery of health care interventions. The objective of this paper was to review published studies that evaluated women\u27s groups for the promotion of health and prevention of disease. A total of 8 studies were reviewed. Women\u27s groups have proved to be a convenient and workable option for delivering health care interventions in several developing countries

The Two Carnegie Reports: From the Balkan Expedition of 1913 to the Albanian Trip of 1921

Among the significant features of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) was not only the study of the causes but also of the impacts of the wars on civilian populations. In 1913, the CEIP sent an international commission to the Balkans. The result was the well-known report of 1914, the first widely circulated description on civilians in warfare. Seven years later, d’Estournelles de Constant, president of the CEIP Balkan Commission, sent a representative, Justin Godart to study the borders issues of Albania and to report on the crisis with Greece and Yugoslavia. Godart’s report emphasized the continuity with the one of 1913 and pointed out how Albania was a key element in the stabilization of the Balkans.Drawing from the Carnegie archives, the paper offers an innovative reading of CEIP’s initiatives in the Balkans before and after World War I within the context of the last chapter of the Eastern Question.Although both reports fell short of their objectives as the one of 1914 coincided with the onset of the war and the fragile conditions of the new states post 1918 prevented the success of the second one; the principles of stabilization, integration and economic prosperity were visionary as they are still “on the table” in the Balkans today

Antimicrobial Compliance with CPAP in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: sleeping times with and without apparatus: A pilot study

Background: It has long been understood that Continuous Positive Airway Presssure CPAP adherence is not perfect in most patients, which may impact the long-term therapeutic benefits of treatment. This study aimed to investigate the sleep patterns and compliance with treatment of adults with obstructive sleep apnoea who are using CPAP and how these may affect the disease-modifying effects of CPAP.Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of CPAP compliance in patients with moderate-to-severe OSA. The data of patients visiting regional general practice were collected by a survey.Results: More than half (66%) of the participants recorded partial compliance with CPAP, removing the apparatus and returning to sleep without CPAP once per week or more. Most (83%) participants claimed that they were receiving four or more hours of CPAP therapy per night. For the sub-group with reduced CPAP compliance, the most significant factors which influenced use are mask discomfort (50%) and relief of daytime symptoms (63%).Conclusion: This study demonstrated that CPAP users who met the criteria for adequate adherence to treatment may still have periods of sleep when they were exposed to disease triggering apnoeic episodes. The research in future should compare the long-term benefits of CPAP on morbidity and mortality between groups with perfect and partial compliance with treatment.Keywords: CPAP; Sleep apnoea; Compliance

Nationalisme et terrorisme en Macédoine vers 1900

Vers 1900, la Macédoine était l’un des derniers territoires de la péninsule balkanique qui n’avait pas encore réussi à obtenir l’autonomie ou l’indépendance de la part des Ottomans. Accompagnant le déclin de l’empire ottoman, l’idée de combattre le “joug” du sultan pour construire un État-nation libre et indépendant selon l’un des principes de la révolution de 1848, le droit des peuples à disposer d’eux-mêmes, avait déjà fait son chemin parmi les mentalités balkaniques. Dès cette époque, la M..

Is COVID-19 pushing us to the fifth industrial revolution (Society 5.0)?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may further promote the development of Industry 4.0 leading to the fifth industrial revolution (Society 5.0). Industry 4.0 technology such as Big Data (BD) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) may lead to a personalized system of healthcare in Pakistan. The final bridge between humans and machines is Society 5.0, also known as the super-smart society that employs AI in healthcare manufacturing and logistics. In this communication, we review various Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 technologies including robotics and AI being inspected to control the rate of transmission of COVID-19 globally. We demonstrate the applicability of advanced information technologies including AI, BD, and Information of Technology (IoT) to healthcare. Lastly, we discuss the evolution of Industry 4.0 to Society 5.0 given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with the technological strategies being considered and employed

Exploring the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning to combat COVID-19 and existing opportunities for LMIC: A scoping review

Background: In the face of the current time-sensitive COVID-19 pandemic, the limited capacity of healthcare systems resulted in an emerging need to develop newer methods to control the spread of the pandemic. Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) have a vast potential to exponentially optimize health care research. The use of AI-driven tools in LMIC can help in eradicating health inequalities and decrease the burden on health systems.Methods: The literature search for this Scoping review was conducted through the PubMed database using keywords: COVID-19, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Low Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). Forty-three articles were identified and screened for eligibility and 13 were included in the final review. All the items of this Scoping review are reported using guidelines for PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR).Results: Results were synthesized and reported under 4 themes. (a) The need of AI during this pandemic: AI can assist to increase the speed and accuracy of identification of cases and through data mining to deal with the health crisis efficiently, (b) Utility of AI in COVID-19 screening, contact tracing, and diagnosis: Efficacy for virus detection can a be increased by deploying the smart city data network using terminal tracking system along-with prediction of future outbreaks, (c) Use of AI in COVID-19 patient monitoring and drug development: A Deep learning system provides valuable information regarding protein structures associated with COVID-19 which could be utilized for vaccine formulation, and (d) AI beyond COVID-19 and opportunities for Low-Middle Income Countries (LMIC): There is a lack of financial, material, and human resources in LMIC, AI can minimize the workload on human labor and help in analyzing vast medical data, potentiating predictive and preventive healthcare.Conclusion: AI-based tools can be a game-changer for diagnosis, treatment, and management of COVID-19 patients with the potential to reshape the future of healthcare in LMIC

Dynamic Compression Plate: A useful procedure for sub-trochanteric femur fracture with osteopetrosis.

Introduction: Osteopetrosis is an un common disease. It is of infantile and adult type. With adult type osteopetrosis, bones are vulnerable to fracture even with minimal injury. As there is increased bone density and small medullary canal, therefore, these fractures are challenging for orthopedic surgeons.Objective: To evaluate the results of Dynamic Compression Plate (DCP) for the fixation of sub-trochanteric fractures of femur with osteopetrosis in term of union malunion, non-union and post-operative infection.Methodology: This prospective study was conducted in the department of Orthopedic surgery at Muhammad Medical College Mirpur Khas from March 2015 to February 2017. Patients, with sub-trochanteric fractures of femur having osteopetrosis, between the age of 20-60 years of either gender were included in this study. All fractures were fixed with DCP. Post-operatively patients were mobilized with crutches in 1st week, followed by partial weight bearing in 3rd week and full weight bearing in 6 weeks.Results: Union of fractures occur in 98 %patients. Mal union in one patient and nonunion in one patient. Post-operative infection was observed in one patient.Conclusion: This study shows management of sub trochanteric fractures of femur in patients with osteopetrosis are best treated with DCP with little or no complications.Key words: Osteopetrosis, sub trochanteric fractures, DCP

Experimental Analysis on Tensile Behavior of Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) using Polypropylene Fiber

The high demand of tensile strength in concrete is always a critical issue for engineers, as 10% of the compressive strength is not sufficient to withstand higher loadings. Lesser ductility and strain capacity is another major issue of normal concrete. In the queue of modern researches, this paper is an attempt to study Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) from research of Professor Victor Li, the University of Michigan. ECC is an ultra-ductile cementitious composite which is highly crack resistant, with a high tensile strain capacity over that of normal concrete. The composite replaces coarse aggregates and fine aggregates by sand and fly ash respectively. ECC is made up of OPC, sand (passing from 250 µm and retained on 150µm), Fly Ash (Class F) with addition of Polypropylene fiber on different percentages i.e. 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1.0% were studied. Tensile Strength of ECC was measured by casting & testing cylinders of 4”x 8” in Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The experimental results revealed that 111.40% increment in tensile strength was found at 0.5% PP fiber at ECC 1:1:1 and an increment of 74.74% was observed at ECC 1:0.8:1.2 at 1% PP fiber. The study concludes that this composite could substitute the normal concrete where high tension is the ultimate requirement with higher strain capacity

Assessment of Change Orders Attributes in Preconstruction and Construction Phase

Construction projects are very complex in nature. Each activity involves multiple varying tasks. Construction industry is the main source of economic growth. When change order occur performance of projects momentously affected.  Change orders often have a serious impact on the quality, time and cost. Eventually it results in disputes, delays, and dissatisfactions among stakeholders and ultimately results in failures of projects. In past several studies have been done to evaluate the causes of change order and its effects. Attempts have been made to quantify these impacts by many researchers, but the aim of this study is to identify the causes of change order in two different phases i.e. preconstruction and construction stage. Views were taken from relevant experts over included factors after in-depth literature review from past researches. A questionnaire was made and floated with different construction players from clients, consultants and contractors side. The data was analyzed by SPSS using average index technique. The analysis of data showed that, Mistakes in specifications, Mistakes in design and Lack of experience in selecting construction team by client are the most critical factors during preconstruction phase. Whereas, Design modification by owner, change in scope at later stage and Delays in payment by client are most critical factors of construction phase, responsible for change order. The extensive discussion of these factors revealed various parameters related to Pakistan construction. This study will enable the clients, consultants and contractors to be aware of factors which causes changes in orders and their consequences on project completion. By the identification of possible reasons, the right decisions can be made to mark the project successful