Women's Participation in Cardiovascular Clinical Trials From 2010 to 2017

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women worldwide, yet, women have historically been underrepresented in cardiovascular trials. Methods: We systematically assessed the participation of women in completed cardiovascular trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov between 2010 and 2017, and extracted publicly available information including disease type, sponsor type, country, trial size, intervention type, and the demographic characteristics of trial participants. We calculated the female-to-male ratio for each trial and determined the prevalence-adjusted estimates for participation of women by dividing the percentage of women among trial participants by the percentage of women in the disease population (participation prevalence ratio; a ratio of 0.8 to 1.2 suggests comparable prevalence and good representation). Results: We identified 740 completed cardiovascular trials including a total of 862 652 adults, of whom 38.2% were women. The median female-to-male ratio of each trial was 0.51 (25th quartile, 0.32; 75th quartile, 0.90) overall and varied by age group (1.02 in ≤55 year old group versus 0.40 in the 61- to 65-year-old group), type of intervention (0.44 for procedural trials versus 0.78 for lifestyle intervention trials), disease type (0.34 for acute coronary syndrome versus 3.20 for pulmonary hypertension), region (0.45 for Western Pacific versus 0.55 for the Americas), funding/sponsor type (0.14 for government-funded versus 0.73 for multiple sponsors), and trial size (0.56 for smaller [n≤47] versus 0.49 for larger [n≥399] trials). Relative to their prevalence in the disease population, participation prevalence ratio was higher than 0.8 for hypertension, pulmonary arterial hypertension and lower (participation prevalence ratio 0.48 to 0.78) for arrhythmia, coronary heart disease, acute coronary syndrome, and heart failure trials. The most recent time period (2013 to 2017) saw significant increases in participation prevalence ratios for stroke (P=0.007) and heart failure (P=0.01) trials compared with previous periods. Conclusions: Among cardiovascular trials in the current decade, men still predominate overall, but the representation of women varies with disease and trial characteristics, and has improved in stroke and heart failure trials

An economic evaluation of a primary care-based technology-enabled intervention for stroke secondary prevention and management in rural China : a study protocol

Introduction: Secondary prevention of stroke is a leading challenge globally and only a few strategies have been tested to be effective in supporting stroke survivors. The system-integrated and technology-enabled model of care (SINEMA) intervention, a primary care-based and technology-enabled model of care, has been proven effective in strengthening the secondary prevention of stroke in rural China. The aim of this protocol is to outline the methods for the cost-effectiveness evaluation of the SINEMA intervention to better understand its potential economic benefits. Methods: The economic evaluation will be a nested study based on the SINEMA trial; a cluster-randomized controlled trial implemented in 50 villages in rural China. The effectiveness of the intervention will be estimated using quality-adjusted life years for the cost-utility analysis and reduction in systolic blood pressure for the cost-effectiveness analysis. Health resource and service use and program costs will be identified, measured, and valued at the individual level based on medication use, hospital visits, and inpatients' records. The economic evaluation will be conducted from the perspective of the healthcare system. Conclusion: The economic evaluation will be used to establish the value of the SINEMA intervention in the Chinese rural setting, which has great potential to be adapted and implemented in other resource-limited settings

Metabolomics reveals the response of hydroprimed maize to mitigate the impact of soil salinization

Soil salinization is a major environmental stressor hindering global crop production. Hydropriming has emerged as a promising approach to reduce salt stress and enhance crop yields on salinized land. However, a better mechanisitic understanding is required to improve salt stress tolerance. We used a biochemical and metabolomics approach to study the effect of salt stress of hydroprimed maize to identify the types and variation of differentially accumulated metabolites. Here we show that hydropriming significantly increased catalase (CAT) activity, soluble sugar and proline content, decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and peroxide (H2O2) content. Conversely, hydropriming had no significant effect on POD activity, soluble protein and MDA content under salt stress. The Metabolite analysis indicated that salt stress significantly increased the content of 1278 metabolites and decreased the content of 1044 metabolites. Ethisterone (progesterone) was the most important metabolite produced in the roots of unprimed samples in response to salt s tress. Pathway enrichment analysis indicated that flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, which relate to scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), was the most significant metabolic pathway related to salt stress. Hydropriming significantly increased the content of 873 metabolites and significantly decreased the content of 1313 metabolites. 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate, a methyl donor for methionine, was the most important metabolite produced in the roots of hydroprimed samples in response to salt stress. Plant growth regulator, such as melatonin, gibberellin A8, estrone, abscisic acid and brassinolide involved in both treatment. Our results not only verify the roles of key metabolites in resisting salt stress, but also further evidence that flavone and flavonol biosynthesis and plant growth regulator relate to salt tolerance

Metabolomics reveals the response of hydroprimed maize to mitigate the impact of soil salinization

Soil salinization is a major environmental stressor hindering global crop production. Hydropriming has emerged as a promising approach to reduce salt stress and enhance crop yields on salinized land. However, a better mechanisitic understanding is required to improve salt stress tolerance. We used a biochemical and metabolomics approach to study the effect of salt stress of hydroprimed maize to identify the types and variation of differentially accumulated metabolites. Here we show that hydropriming significantly increased catalase (CAT) activity, soluble sugar and proline content, decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and peroxide (H2O2) content. Conversely, hydropriming had no significant effect on POD activity, soluble protein and MDA content under salt stress. The Metabolite analysis indicated that salt stress significantly increased the content of 1278 metabolites and decreased the content of 1044 metabolites. Ethisterone (progesterone) was the most important metabolite produced in the roots of unprimed samples in response to salt s tress. Pathway enrichment analysis indicated that flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, which relate to scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), was the most significant metabolic pathway related to salt stress. Hydropriming significantly increased the content of 873 metabolites and significantly decreased the content of 1313 metabolites. 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate, a methyl donor for methionine, was the most important metabolite produced in the roots of hydroprimed samples in response to salt stress. Plant growth regulator, such as melatonin, gibberellin A8, estrone, abscisic acid and brassinolide involved in both treatment. Our results not only verify the roles of key metabolites in resisting salt stress, but also further evidence that flavone and flavonol biosynthesis and plant growth regulator relate to salt tolerance

Nonprofit háló - Cigány munkavállalókat támogató programok vizsgálata

INST: L_11

3 essays on industrial relations in China

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation includes three essays. I argue in the first essay that given the weak union tradition there, alternative organizational bases for workers' mobilization and solidarity in local contexts have become an important factor for improving labor standards. Using a mixed method, including 54 in-depth interviews and a unique survey of 105 firms and 1,270 workers, this article specifies two findings: 1) despite the ever-increasing top-down regulatory efforts by the state and multinational corporations (MNCs), exploitative labor relations still exist as approximately ten percent of surveyed workers reported the experiences of labor abuses; and 2) native-place networks among migrant workers are a primary source of solidarity and have been crucial to preventing labor abuses; however, an overreliance on native-place networks reduces their salaries, suggesting an inverted U-shaped relationship between solidarity and economic opportunities. The second essay traces the origin of the flexible and densely connected production networks among Taiwanese manufacturers to the 1970s when they entered the global apparel and footwear production. This type of coordinated production network was transplanted to southern China around 1990 and has since been well maintained there. In contrast, the bottom-up mobilization of domestic entrepreneurs in the same city began to explore the domestic market by establishing multi-layered franchisee networks to distribute their own branded apparel. Whose presence as a reference group has provided Taiwanese entrepreneurs constraints, incentives, and mindsets to pursue emerging opportunities in the domestic market. In reaction, Taiwanese entrepreneurs began to utilize another configuration of inter-firm organizations-the Taiwanese Business Association-to share the risk and cost of exploring the domestic market and to increase their bargaining power vis-h-vis local Chinese governments. In the final essay, content analysis of 7,000 articles published in two top Chinese-language social science journals (1985-2011) suggests a lack of a large academic field of industrial relations (IR) in China, despite its rising labor problems. In general, there are two sub-spheres of a broad IR field (Kaufman 1993): human resource management scholars have focused on white-collar employees' psychological well-being, individual performance, and team efficiency; sociologists have contributed to our understanding of manufacturing workers' economic, social, and political disadvantages. An integration of both perspectives is important for the development of an IR field in China, especially given the recent state effort to establish stand-alone academic units devoted to IR research.by Enying Zheng.Ph.D

Non-fatal Road Traffic Crashes and Near Misses among Adolescents Aged 16-18 in Galle, Sri Lanka

<p>Background: Sri Lanka is experiencing an epidemic of road traffic crashes and injuries but little is known about the burden among adolescents and associated risk factors. The objective of this paper is to assess the prevalence of road traffic crashes and injuries among adolescents aged 16-18 years old and to estimate the effect of risk factors, including demographic characteristics, behaviors and built environment characteristics around school, on the occurrence of both crashes and near misses. Methods: First, A survey was anonymously administered to determine demographics, behavior, and experience of road traffic crashes and related injuries among adolescents from 16 public high schools in Galle, Sri Lanka. Second, a built environment observation was also conducted near school surroundings. Descriptive analysis and multivariate regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between built environment and road traffic crashes/near misses by using STATA. The results were displayed in the map by using ArcGIS. Results: Among 1307 students from 16 public high schools aged between 16-18 years old, 206 students self-reported road traffic crash involvement in the past 6 months with 98 students reporting minor injury and 7 students suffering severe injury. In addition, 27.8% of respondents were involved in near misses in the past 6 months. Male students, who demonstrated poor road behaviors, and students who experienced near misses are more likely to be involved in road traffic crashes. Additionally, more than half of the roads around these schools are in poor condition with little infrastructures to separate pedestrians and cyclists from vehicles. The occurrence of road traffic crashes and the severity of road traffic injuries are significantly related to some environmental characteristics, which tend to include road type and road visibility. Conclusions: Adolescents in Galle, Sri Lanka are facing a comparatively high burden of road traffic crashes. Conducting intervention programs among male students and improving built environment on the way to school are potential effective strategies to prevent adolescents from road traffic crashes and injuries.</p>Thesi

Kell egy hely… - Drop-out problémák kezelése a szociális munka eszközeivel

INST: L_11

Why Doesn’t Your Child Go To School? A Study On Homeschooling Motivation and Behaviour in Singapore

Bachelor'sBACHELOR OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (HONOURS