Responsive regulation and application of grading systems in the food safety regulatory regimes of developing countries

The traditional tit-for-tat philosophy in the food safety regulatory regime in most developing countries has been proven ineffective in most cases. Rather, starting with persuasion, advice, and then escalating to more severe punishments for the continuing non-compliance as suggested in the responsive regulation by Ayres and Braithwaite has been proved more effective in the food safety regulatory regime of some jurisdictions. Responsive regulation aims to increase responsibility among corporations. So, if a corporation shows responsibility, it should be rewarded, and if a corporation shows irresponsibility, it should be reprimanded (if necessary). There is no logic in seeing and treating every manufacturer the same, considering their regular compliance or regular non-compliance with regulation. Furthermore, in a free market economy, food manufacturers have to compete everyday with their counterparts in regard to safety and standards. Considering these situations, current research suggests that the grading system can be introduced into the food safety regulatory regime of developing countries. Once the food manufacturers are rewarded for their compliance by upgrading their current grade, they can use this reward for advertising, which will help their business flourish. Conversely, if any manufacturer shows irresponsibility and continuously produces unsafe and low quality food, it can be degraded from an upper to lower grade. However, even the lowest graded manufacturer will have to maintain the minimum standard of safety required by the state regulations. This concept can be called responsibility ensures upgrading, irresponsibility risks downgrading . In short, this article suggests that the responsive regulation can be applied by moderating with grading system in the food safety regulatory regime of the developing countries. A qualitative research method has been used in this research, and extensive literature has been analysed

Food safety and public health issues in Bangladesh: a regulatory

In Bangladesh, most of the foodstuffs, be they manufactured or processed, are unsafe for consumption or adulterated to varying degrees. This problem persists at every level of the food chain from preparation to consumption. Food manufacturers, processors, restaurants, fast food outlets and so forth are all involved in one way or another in this corrupt practice of adulteration. Foods are adulterated by using various harmful chemicals and toxic artificial colours, on the one hand, and rotten perishables turned to poisonous foods are stored, sold and served to consumers in an unhygienic atmosphere, on the other. The unhygienic and unsafe treatment of food is seriously impacting public health by causing numerous chronic and non-chronic diseases. Despite different reasons for the unsafe treatment and adulteration of foodstuffs in Bangladesh, this study will concentrate on the regulatory failures to combat the current food safety problems persisting in Bangladesh

Examining the effect of NOX2 NADPH oxidase inhibition on vascular repair and regeneration in insulin resistance

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an established cause of increased mortality. Most deaths linked to DM are attributable to cardiovascular disease, and hyperglycaemia alone is not sufficient to explain the increased cardiovascular risk associated with DM. It is accepted that insulin resistance, the principal underlying cause of the most common form of DM, is independently linked to CVD. Prior research demonstrates insulin resistance is associated with excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), in part via the enzyme NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2). We hypothesised that reduction of NOX2-derived ROS represents a translationally promising strategy to improve the diminished vascular repair and regeneration observed in insulin resistance. This project explores the effect of NOX2 inhibition on angiogenesis and vascular repair in murine models of whole-body and endothelial-specific insulin resistance. Mice with haploinsufficiency of the insulin receptor (IRKO), and those expressing a kinase dead human insulin receptor transgene in the endothelium (ESMIRO), were bred with NOX2 deficient mice. NOX2 knockdown was associated with significant improvement in vascular repair following arterial injury in ESMIRO mice. Subsequent work provided two potential explanations: improved endothelial cell migration, and an increased abundance of circulating progenitor cells. Pharmacological NOX2 inhibition partly recapitulated these findings in vitro, as treatment of insulin resistant human umbilical vein endothelial cells with the NOX2 inhibitor GP91-ds tat was associated with improved cell migration. Whilst this project yielded a number of promising findings, it also highlighted pitfalls associated with manipulation of ROS. We corroborated two existing concerns relating to NOX2 inhibition: the potential to compromise immune function, and the risk of inciting a pro-inflammatory state. Although NOX2 remains a potentially suitable target for therapeutic intervention, greater understanding of NOX2 biology is required. We hope the work carried out in this project can be built upon to facilitate that understanding, ultimately generating novel therapeutic agents

THE UNDERUSE OF SPIROMETERY IN ROUTINE MEDICAL PRACTICE FOR DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) PATIENTS IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Introduction: Spirometry is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet it is a common clinical observation that it is underused though the extent is unclear. This survey aims to examine the use of spirometry in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients in districts of, Karachi. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional survey involving four clinic settings: hospital-based respiratory specialist clinic, hospital-based mixed medical specialist clinic, general outpatient clinic (primary care), and tuberculosis and chest clinic. Thirty physician-diagnosed COPD patients were randomly selected from each of the four clinic groups. All of them had a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio less than 0.70 and had been followed up at the participating clinic for at least 6 months for COPD treatment. Results: Of the 120 COPD patients, there were 111 males and mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 46.2% predicted. Only 22 patients (18.3%) had spirometry done during diagnostic workup, and 64 patients (53.3%) had spirometry done ever. Conclusion: We conclude that spirometry is underused in general but especially by non-respiratory physicians and family physicians in the management of COPD patients. More effort at educating the medical community is urgently needed. KEYWORDS: Pulmonary function tests; Specialist; Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1); Forced vital capacity (FVC)

THE UNDERUSE OF SPIROMETERY IN ROUTINE MEDICAL PRACTICE FOR DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) PATIENTS IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Introduction: Spirometry is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet it is a common clinical observation that it is underused though the extent is unclear. This survey aims to examine the use of spirometry in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients in districts of, Karachi. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional survey involving four clinic settings: hospital-based respiratory specialist clinic, hospital-based mixed medical specialist clinic, general outpatient clinic (primary care), and tuberculosis and chest clinic. Thirty physician-diagnosed COPD patients were randomly selected from each of the four clinic groups. All of them had a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio less than 0.70 and had been followed up at the participating clinic for at least 6 months for COPD treatment. Results: Of the 120 COPD patients, there were 111 males and mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 46.2% predicted. Only 22 patients (18.3%) had spirometry done during diagnostic workup, and 64 patients (53.3%) had spirometry done ever. Conclusion: We conclude that spirometry is underused in general but especially by non-respiratory physicians and family physicians in the management of COPD patients. More effort at educating the medical community is urgently needed. KEYWORDS: Pulmonary function tests; Specialist; Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1); Forced vital capacity (FVC)

Epidural Hematoma in Different Ages Due to Road Traffic Accidents on Computed Tomography Scan Brain

OBJECTIVES: In developing countries, road traffic accidents are common and primarily affect middle-aged men. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of epidural hematoma in people of various ages owing to road traffic incidents on computed tomography scan brain. METHODOLOGY: From February 2018 to January 2021, a cross-sectional descriptive study was done in the Department of Neurosurgery. A total of 460 individuals were chosen from emergency room visits due to traffic accidents. Individuals who had suffered a head injury and had an epidural hematoma on a computed tomography scan were included in the study. The frequency of epidural hematoma in different ages was determined. RESULTS: A total of 460 patients were enrolled in the trial, with 196 (42.60%) having epidural hematomas and 264 having no epidural hematomas (57.39%). Males accounted for 152 (77.55%) of the 196 epidural hematoma cases, while females accounted for 44 (22.45%), with an average age of 19 years and a range of 2-55±9.59 years. All the people who had a head injury were divided into three groups. The prevalence of epidural hematoma varied by age, with 75.51% (15-44 years), 20.40% (14 years), and 4.08% (>45 years) being the most common. CONCLUSION: It was concluded from this study that epidural hematoma determined by computed tomography scan brain is more frequent in middle age

Investigating machine learning techniques for detection of depression using structural MRI volumetric features

Structural MRI offers anatomical details and high sensitivity to pathological changes. It can demonstrate certain patterns of brain changes present at a structural level. Research to date has shown that volumetric analysis of brain regions has importance in depression detection. However, such analysis has had very minimal use in depression detection studies at individual level. Optimally combining various brain volumetric features/attributes, and summarizing the data into a distinctive set of variables remain difficult. This study investigates machine learning algorithms that automatically identify relevant data attributes for depression detection. Different machine learning techniques are studied for depression classification based on attributes extracted from structural MRI (sMRI) data. The attributes include volume calculated from whole brain, white matter, grey matter and hippocampus. Attributes subset selection is performed aiming to remove redundant attributes using three filtering methods and one hybrid method, in combination with ranker search algorithms. The highest average classification accuracy, obtained by using a combination of both SVM-EM and IG-Random Tree algorithms, is 85.23%. The classification approach implemented in this study can achieve higher accuracy than most reported studies using sMRI data, specifically for detection of depression