Examining women's career progression barriers

It is been half a century women’s progression in professional career has been in a debate. Yet today, only scant percent of women are able to make their way at leadership and decision making positions at higher education institutions across the globe. However, women career in higher education has been of little concern to researchers. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between gender stereotype, work-family conflict, social-cultural beliefs, individual characteristics and organizational support with women’s career progression barriers among female staffs in a public university in Malaysia. This quantitative approach research has collected data from 264 female staffs of a public university using questionnaire survey. The study analyzes collected data utilizing Pearson correlation and multiple regression model to identify the relationship and test the hypothesis. The findings of the study reveal that gender stereotype, work-family conflict, and organizational support significantly influence the career progression barriers of female staffs. On the other hand, social-cultural beliefs and individual characteristics found to have an insignificant association, thus it does not affect career progression barriers of women staffs. This finding is believed to be logical in the context of Malaysia since it is a very inclusive and liberal nation. Finally, the study suggests that parental care leaves, childhood lessons and security (both social and physical) could be considered in analyzing in the future study

Model proposition of women employees career progression barriers

Purpose - Women can be found working in almost all types of works assigned to men and in some cases are preferred compared to men, for examples, the front line in the tourism and hospitality sector. Yet, according to Ezzedeen, Budworth, and Baker (2015), women employees experience glass ceiling as unsurpassable barriers in their career progression.Malaysia is one of the most visited country in the world received 26.8 million visitors in 2016 that indicates 4 percent growth than the previous year (Tourism Malaysia, 2017). Therefore, the tourism industry of Malaysia has a significant contribution in job creation and has a diverse group of employees to keep the sector stable and ideal scope of this study. However, women employees in the sector are the key and the front line of the industry alike the rest of the world.At present, it is an established fact that women employees hold the front-line in the tourism and hospitality industry. However, they are largely presented in clerical and service level jobs, but barely found at professional levels (UNWTO, 2010), which indicates male are more likely associated with the role of managers in this industry (Wood, 2008). As a result, in the tourism and hospitality industry, where women employees are significant contributors, investigating on barriers that restrict women to progress in their career bears a great significance in the industry.Consequently, a conceptual framework of women’s career advancement plays a significant role to underline the reason of female employees’ slower and uneven career progress.Hence, this paper aims to propose a conceptual model to identify plausible barriers to career progression for women employees

Mifepristone alone versus mifepristone-misoprostol combination regimen for management of intrauterine fetal death

Background: Early pregnancy failure is a common complication of pregnancy. If women do not abort spontaneously, they will undergo medical or surgical treatment in order to remove the products of conception from the uterus. Curettage, although highly effective, is associated with a risk of complications; medical treatment with misoprostol is a safe and less expensive alternative. Unfortunately, after 1 week of expectant management in case of EPF, medical treatment with misoprostol has a complete evacuation rate of approximately 50%. Misoprostol treatment results may be improved by pre-treatment with mifepristone; its effectiveness has already been proven for other indications of pregnancy termination. The study objective was to compare the outcome of Mifepristone alone with the Mifepristone- Misoprostol combination regimen for the management of IUFD.Methods: This was a Prospective clinical trial at the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Chittagong. From March 2016 (Actual patient enrolment started after obtaining ethical clearance i.e. March 2018) to September 2018.Results: A subjects delivered earlier than group B and the mean induction delivery interval in Group A is significantly less in comparison to Group B (p=<0.001). Out of 50 women, 2(4%) and 10(20%) women in Groups A and B required oxytocin infusion to establish good contractions, and completion of termination who regarded as a failure. In the mifepristone alone group, the success rate is significantly higher than in the combination group.Conclusions: The efficacy of mifepristone alone was found superior to that of the mifepristone misoprostol combination regimen in the present study.

Efficacy of the Swede score in prediction of high-grade lesions of cervix

Background: Cervical cancer is a preventable lesion that can be identified by stepwise screening methods. Visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid, Lugol’s iodine, pap smear, and HPV are the primary screening methods. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the Swede score in predicting high-grade lesions of the cervix among patients attending a colposcopy clinic. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was performed in a colposcopy clinic under the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at CMCH. All referral patients to the colposcopy clinic were the study population. Women aged between 25-65 years was the study subject. Results: Majority (47.5%) of the patient’s Swede score was 4 and 20.1of % of patients had scores of 5-6 and only 1.3% of patients had scores ≥7%. 63 (79%) patients had low grade/normal/ cervical intraepithelial lesion (CIN) 1, 16 (20%) patients had high grade/non-invasive cancer/CIN 2 and only 1 patient had high grade/suspected invasive cancer/CIN 3. A score of 6 had a specificity of 100% for CIN 2 with a sensitivity of 30% positive and negative predictive value (PPV=100%; NPV=90.9%). Lowering the score to 5 for predicting CIN 2 improved the sensitivity at the expense of specificity (sensitivity=60%; specificity=90%; PPV= 94%; NPV=46.2%).Conclusions: Swede scoring system is consistent and reproducible, has a simple structure, and thus contributes to preventing cervical cancer. Swede score of 6 or more has 100% specificity; this scoring method is a preferred method for the treatment of high-grade CIN.

Rapid antigen testing by community health workers for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Dhaka, Bangladesh : a cross-sectional study

Peer reviewe

Effectiveness of single-dose rifampicin after BCG vaccination to prevent leprosy in close contacts of patients with newly diagnosed leprosy: A cluster randomized controlled trial

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of single-dose rifampicin (SDR) after bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination in preventing leprosy in contacts. Methods: This was a single-centre, cluster-randomized controlled trial at a leprosy control programme in northwest Bangladesh. Participants were the 14 988 contacts of 1552 new leprosy patients who were randomized into the SDR − arm (n = 7379) and the SDR + arm (n = 7609). In the intervention group, BCG vaccination was followed by SDR 8–12 weeks later. In the control group, BCG vaccination only was given. Follow-up was performed at 1 year and 2 years after intake. The main outcome measure was the occurrence of leprosy. Results: The incidence rate per 10 000 person-years at risk was 44 in the SDR − arm and 31 in the SDR + arm at 1 year; the incidence rate was 34 in the SDR − arm and 41 in the SDR + arm at 2 years. There was a statistically non-significant (p = 0.148; 42%) reduction for paucibacillary (PB) leprosy in the SDR+ arm at 1 year. Of all new cases, 33.6% appeared within 8–12 weeks after BCG vaccination. Conclusions: In the first year, SDR after BCG vaccination reduced the incidence of PB leprosy among contacts by 42%. This was a statistically non-significant reduction due to the limited number of cases after SDR was administered. To what extent SDR suppresses excess leprosy cases after BCG vaccination is difficult to establish because many cases appeared before the SDR intervention. Trial registration: Netherlands Trial Register: NTR3087

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Impact of grip strength recovery on grip force accuracy in chronic stroke, The

2020 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Decreased grip force accuracy and grip strength are two well-documented grip impairments that impede upper extremity function after stroke. Grip force accuracy is essential to perform precise motor actions in everyday life. Further, grip strength represents the ability to produce maximal grip force in a short duration of time and constitutes as a hallmark of upper extremity recovery in chronic stroke. Adequate grip strength and grip force accuracy are both important for regaining motor function after stroke. Despite this, no study has investigated whether the recovery of grip strength influences improvements in force accuracy. Purpose: Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of grip strength recovery on grip force accuracy in chronic stroke patients. Methods: We recruited two distinct stroke groups with low (less than 60%) and high (60% or more) grip strength recovery. The grip strength recovery was computed as the percent of paretic grip strength relative to nonparetic grip. A total of thirty-three participants, eleven in low strength recovery group (age 64 ±14.8 years; 6 females and 5 males), eleven in high strength recovery group (age 65.9 ± 9.9 years, 7 females and 4 males) and eleven age matched controls (age 69.6 ± 9.8 years, 4 females and 7 males) participated in the study. To examine the impact of grip strength recovery on grip force accuracy, all participants performed two tasks; 1) maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) and 2) dynamic force tracking task, using each hand. We quantified grip strength as the maximum force produced in the MVC task. Further, we assessed force accuracy by measuring root mean square error relative to the absolute target force. Result: The grip strength recovery in low strength recovery stroke group (27.1 ± 17.7)% was lower compared to the high strength recovery group (92.4 ± 24.9)% and controls (94.9 ±18.9)%. A significant main effect of Group [F (2, 30) = 34.53, p 0.05). A significant interaction between Group×Hand, [F (2, 30) = 7.21, p < 0.05, partial ղ2 = 0.33] demonstrated that the relative RMSE of paretic hand was significantly increased in low strength recovery stroke group compared to the high strength recovery (p < 0.05). Importantly, the relative RMSE of paretic hand in high strength recovery group was significantly greater than the control group's non-dominant hand (p < 0.05). Overall, a significant negative relationship between grip strength recovery and paretic relative RMSE (r = -0.598, p = 0.003) was found when investigating correlations in both groups together. In low strength recovery group, we found a negative association between the grip strength recovery and paretic relative RMSE, (r = -0.552, p = 0.078). However, in high strength recovery group, we found no association between the grip strength recovery (r = 0.308, p = 0.357). Conclusion: Grip strength recovery and force accuracy follow differential patterns of improvement for low and high strength recovery stroke groups. In chronic stroke survivors with strength recovery less than 60%, grip strength recovery is associated with grip force accuracy. However, in chronic stroke survivors with strength recovery more than 60%, the grip force accuracy may still be impaired despite near-normal grip strength recovery. After substantial gain in grip strength recovery, interventions that enhance grip force accuracy may be needed to improve the upper-extremity function. Our study results suggest, after improvement in strength, patients need additional interventions such as exergaming that will train force accuracy, to help them use this regained strength more meaningfully

Bimanual control differs between force generation and force release

Background: Everyday bimanual activities require increasing and decreasing forces to manipulate objects, for example, buttoning a shirt or tying a shoelace. Optimal coordination of increasing and decreasing bimanual forces is quintessential to achieve the overall goal of the bimanual task. However, little is known about differences in force control in bimanual force increment and decrement. Purpose: The purpose of our study was to 1) investigate whether bimanual task performance and force coordination differ in force increment versus force decrement and 2) identify the contribution of force coordination in bimanual task performance while increasing and decreasing forces. Methods: Seventeen right-handed young adults (24.10±3.09 years) performed following tasks involving isometric index finger flexion: 1) maximum voluntary contractions and 2) visually guided force tracking involving gradual force increment and force decrement. Each task was performed in unimanual with the right hand only i.e., control condition and bimanual with both hands together i.e., experimental condition. The force tracking task involved controlled force increment and decrement while tracking a trapezoid trajectory as accurately as possible. We quantified task performance with accuracy and variability of the total force in increment and decrement phases. We measured force coordination of the two forces by computing the time-series cross-correlation coefficient and amplitude of coherence in 0-1Hz. Results: We found reduced accuracy and increased the variability of the total force in force decrement compared with force increment. Further, the peak correlation and coherence amplitude was greater during force decrement than force increment. Finally, the peak correlation coefficient and coherence in 0.5-1Hz predicted total force accuracy and variability across the two phases. Conclusions: We provide evidence that performance (force accuracy and steadiness) in bimanual force decrement is reduced compared with force increment, highlighting that force release is more challenging than force generation in bimanual tasks. Overall, improved bimanual task performance is contributed by reduced coordination of two forces indicating that reduced constraint between the hands facilitates error compensation. However, the implicit strategy is to produce highly coordinated forces while executing controlled force release, impacting the task performance. Clinical implications: Considering the significance of increasing and decreasing forces to manipulate objects, our study provides insight into the fundamental differences in bimanual task performance and force coordination during dynamic force manipulation requiring increasing and decreasing forces. These findings can form the basis to understand how aging and neurological conditions impact bimanual function. Future endeavors should be targeted to evaluate more deep understanding of upper limb motor control and invent protocols for the rehabilitation