The Effect of Working Capital Management on Firms Performance (The Case Study on Retail Companies Listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange Period 2016-2021)

This study aims to analyze the effect of average days of receivable, average days of inventory, average days of payable on firms’ performance. This study uses a quantitative approach whose population is retail companies listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange for the period 2016-2021. Sample selection was done by purposive sampling method which was selected according to predetermined criteria. The samples obtained were 15 companies. The data used is secondary data in the form of financial statements taken from the official website of the Indonesian Stock Exchange and their respective companies. Methods of data collection was done by literature study and documentation. The analytical methods used include descriptive statistical test, classical assumption test, panel data regression analysis test, regression model test (F test and Adjusted R-Squared test), and hypothesis test (t test). Based on the results of the study and data analysis using EViews 12, the results obtained that average days of receivable has negative and significant effect on firms’ performance, average days of inventory has positive and significant effect on firms’ performance, average days of payable has negative and significant effect on firms’ performance. Leverage as the control variable has negative and significant effect on firms’ performance. The implication of this research is that there are several things that can be considered for the management of the firm in improving firms’ performance and for the investors who wants to invest in a company. The thing that needs to be considered is the retail companies who have lower average days of receivable, higher average days of inventory and lower average days of payable have better firms’ performance

The Effect of Working Capital Management on Firms’ Performance (The Case Study on Retail Companies Listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange Period 2016-2021)

This study is aimed to analyze the effect of working capital management ratio such as average days of receivable, average days of inventory and average days of payable on firms’ performance as measured by return on asset. The population of the study is retail companies listed on the IDX for the period 2016- 2021. The sample selection was done by purposive sampling method and obtained 15 companies. The data used was secondary data in the form of financial statements from official website of IDX and each company. Methods of data collection were done by literature study and documentation. This study used a quantitative approach. The analytical methods used include descriptive statistical test, classical assumption test, panel data regression analysis. Based on the result of the study and data analysis using Eviews 12, the results obtained that average days of receivable has negative and significant effect on firms’ performance, average days of inventory has positive and significant effect on firms’ performance, average days of payable has negative and significant effect on firms’ performance. Leverage as the control variable has negative and significant effect on firms’ performance.Keywords: Return on Asset, Average Days of Receivable, Average Days of Inventory, Average Days of Payabl

The emerging face of the HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: A volume of quality HIV data has materialized recently in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This review provides a thematic narrative of the patterns of HIV infection transmission in this region in light of these data. RECENT FINDINGS: Tens of integrated bio-behavioral surveillance surveys among hard-to-reach key populations at higher risk have been conducted in MENA in the recent years. Many of the studies reported appreciable and growing HIV prevalence. A few studies found alarming prevalence of as much as 87.2% HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs in Tripoli, Libya. The discovery of these hitherto hidden epidemics was unsettling to some authorities after years in which the importance of a focus on HIV prevention among key populations was not recognized. SUMMARY: The new data from MENA indicate growing HIV epidemics among key populations across the region. There is heterogeneity, however, as to which key populations are affected and in what proportions in different countries. In a few countries, HIV appears to affect only one key population and often there is substantial geographical heterogeneity in HIV transmission. Data are indicative of a growing HIV disease burden in this part of the globe, in contrast with the declining epidemics in most other regions

Effect of consanguinity on birth weight for gestational age in a developing country.

Consanguinity, the marriage between relatives, has been associated with adverse child health outcomes because it increases homozygosity of recessive alleles. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of consanguinity on the birth weight of newborns in Greater Beirut, Lebanon. Cross-sectional data were collected on 10,289 consecutive liveborn singleton newborns admitted to eight hospitals belonging to the National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network during the years 2000 and 2001. Birth weight was modeled by use of the fetal growth ratio, defined as the ratio of the observed birth weight to the median birth weight for gestational age. A mixed-effect multiple linear regression model was used to predict the net effect of first- and second-cousin marriage on the birth weight for gestational age, accounting for within-hospital clustering of data. After controlling for medical and sociodemographic covariates, the authors found a statistically significant negative association between consanguinity and birth weight at each gestational age. No significant difference was observed in the decrease in birth weight between the first- and second-cousin marriages. Overall, consanguinity was associated with a decrease in birth weight for gestational age by 1.8% (beta = -0.018, 95% confidence interval: -0.027, -0.008). The largest effects on fetal growth were seen with lower parity and smoking during pregnancy

Characterising the progress in HIV/AIDS research in the Middle East and North Africa.

OBJECTIVES: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is perceived to have limited HIV data. The objective of this study was to quantitatively characterise the progress in HIV research in this region since the discovery of the epidemic. METHODS: Four indices were defined and implemented to measure the progress of HIV research using the PubMed, Embase, MENA HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Synthesis Project and US Census Bureau HIV/AIDS Surveillance databases. The four indices provide complementary measures to characterise different aspects of the progress of HIV research. RESULTS: A total of 2118, 2352, 683 and 4889 records were identified through the PubMed, the Embase, the Synthesis Project and the HIV Prevalence indices, respectively. The proportion of the total global HIV records that relate to MENA is 1.2%. Overall, the indices show steady progress in the number of new records every year, with an accelerated pace in the last few years. The rate of progress in MENA was also higher than the rate of progress in HIV records globally. There is no evidence so far of stabilisation or a peak in the number of new records year by year. About half of the records were produced after the year 2005. The number of records shows large heterogeneity across countries. CONCLUSIONS: MENA has witnessed a rapid growth in HIV research over the last decade. However, there are still large gaps in HIV scientific evidence in the region, and the progress is far from being uniform across countries. Ongoing and future research needs to be geared towards academic standard and production of scientific publications

Using hepatitis C prevalence to estimate HIV epidemic potential among people who inject drugs in the Middle East and North Africa.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to understand the association between HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and to estimate HIV epidemic potential among PWIDs using HCV prevalence. DESIGN/METHODS: Using data from a systematic review of HIV and HCV among PWID in MENA, we conducted two analyses, stratified by HIV epidemic state: a meta-analysis of the risk ratio of HCV to HIV prevalence (RRHCV/HIV) using DerSimonian-Laird random-effects models, and multivariable linear regression predicting log HIV prevalence. The HCV-HIV association from both analyses was used to estimate HIV prevalence at endemic equilibrium. We compared predicted with current HIV prevalence to classify HIV epidemic potential at country-level as low, medium or high, using predefined criteria. RESULTS: The review identified 88 HCV prevalence measures among PWID in MENA, of which 54 had a paired HIV prevalence measure. The pooled RRHCV/HIV were 16, 4 and 3 in low-level, emerging and established HIV epidemics, respectively. There was a significant linear relationship between HCV and HIV at endemic equilibrium (P = 0.002). The predicted endemic HIV prevalence ranged between 8% (Tunisia) and 22% (Pakistan). Of the nine countries with data, five have high and three medium HIV epidemic potential. Only one country, Pakistan, appears to have reached saturation. CONCLUSION: HCV prevalence could be a predictor of future endemic HIV prevalence. In MENA, we predict that there will be further HIV epidemic growth among PWID. The proposed methodology can identify PWID populations that should be prioritized for HIV prevention interventions

Predictors of breast-feeding in a developing country: results of a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: Data on the prevalence and predictors of breast-feeding remain scarce in Lebanon. Moreover, no study has previously addressed the effect of the paediatrician's sex on breast-feeding. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and predictors of breast-feeding at 1 and 4 months of infant age while exploring the potential role of the sex of the paediatrician. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. Predictors of breast-feeding significant at the bivariate level were tested at 1 and 4 months through two stepwise regression models. SETTING: Infants were enrolled through the clinics and dispensaries of 117 paediatricians located in Beirut, Lebanon, and its suburbs. SUBJECTS: A total of 1,320 healthy newborn infants born between August 2001 and February 2002 were prospectively followed during the first year. FINDINGS: Breast-feeding rates at 1 and 4 months were 56.3 % and 24.7 %, respectively. Early discharge, high parity and religion were significantly associated with higher breast-feeding rates at 1 and 4 months of age. Maternal age proved significant only at 1 month, while maternal working status and sex of the paediatrician were significant at 4 months. A novel finding of our study was the positive effect of female paediatricians on breast-feeding continuation until 4 months of age (OR = 1.49; 95 % CI 1.03, 2.15). CONCLUSIONS: Breast-feeding rates are low at 1 and 4 months of infant age in Beirut. Further research to investigate the interactions between female physicians and lactating mothers in maintaining breast-feeding in other populations is warranted. The results constitute the basis for designing interventions targeting policy makers, health professionals and mothers

HIV incidence among people who inject drugs in the Middle East and North Africa: mathematical modelling analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Emerging HIV epidemics have been documented among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This study estimates the HIV incidence among PWID due to sharing needles/syringes in MENA. It also delineates injecting drug use role as a driver of the epidemic in the population, and estimates impact of interventions. METHODS: A mathematical model of HIV transmission among PWID was applied in seven MENA countries with sufficient and recent epidemiological data and HIV prevalence ≥1% among PWID. Estimations of incident and/or prevalent infections among PWID, ex-PWID and sexual partners of infected current and ex-PWID were conducted. RESULTS: The estimated HIV incidence rate for 2017 among PWID ranged between 0.7% per person-year (ppy) in Tunisia and 7.8% ppy in Pakistan, with Libya being an outlier (24.8% ppy). The estimated number of annual new infections was lowest in Tunisia (n = 79) and Morocco (n = 99), and highest in Iran and Pakistan (approximately n = 6700 each). In addition, 20 to 2208 and 5 to 837 new annual infections were estimated across the different countries among sexual partners of PWID and ex-PWID respectively. Since epidemic emergence, the number of total ever acquired incident infections across countries was 706 to 90,015 among PWID, 99 to 18,244 among sexual partners of PWID, and 16 to 4360 among sexual partners of ex-PWID. The estimated number of prevalent infections across countries was 341 to 23,279 among PWID, 119 to 16,540 among ex-PWID, 67 to 10,752 among sexual partners of PWID, and 12 to 2863 among sexual partners of ex-PWID. Increasing antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage to the global target of 81% - factoring in ART adherence and current coverage - would avert about half of new infections among PWID and their sexual partners. Combining ART with harm reduction could avert over 90% and 70% of new infections among PWID and their sexual partners respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable HIV incidence among PWID in MENA. Of all new infections ultimately due to injecting drug use, about 75% are among PWID and the rest among sexual partners. Of all prevalent infections ultimately attributed to injecting drug use as epidemic driver, about half are among PWID, 30% among ex-PWID and 20% among sexual partners of PWID and ex-PWID. These findings call for scale-up of services for PWID, including harm reduction as well as testing and treatment services

Global population-level association between herpes simplex virus 2 prevalence and HIV prevalence.

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to assess the population-level association between herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) and HIV prevalence. METHODS: Reports of HSV-2 and HIV prevalence were systematically reviewed and synthesized following PRISMA guidelines. Spearman rank correlation ((Equation is included in full-text article.)) was used to assess correlations. Risk ratios (RRHSV-2/HIV) and odds ratios (ORHSV-2/HIV) were used to assess HSV-2/HIV epidemiologic overlap. DerSimonian-Laird random-effects meta-analyses were conducted. RESULTS: In total, 939 matched HSV-2/HIV prevalence measures were identified from 77 countries. HSV-2 prevalence was consistently higher than HIV prevalence. Strong HSV-2/HIV prevalence association was found for all data ((Equation is included in full-text article.) = 0.6, P < 0.001), all data excluding people who inject drugs (PWID) and children ((Equation is included in full-text article.) = 0.7, P < 0.001), female sex workers ((Equation is included in full-text article.) = 0.5, P < 0.001), and MSM ((Equation is included in full-text article.) = 0.7, P < 0.001). No association was found for PWID ((Equation is included in full-text article.) = 0.2, P = 0.222) and children ((Equation is included in full-text article.) = 0.3, P = 0.082). A threshold effect was apparent where HIV prevalence was limited at HSV-2 prevalence less than 20%, but grew steadily with HSV-2 prevalence for HSV-2 prevalence greater than 20%. The overall pooled mean RRHSV-2/HIV was 5.0 (95% CI 4.7-5.3) and ORHSV-2/HIV was 9.0 (95% CI 8.4-9.7). The RRHSV-2/HIV and ORHSV-2/HIV showed similar patterns that conveyed inferences about HSV-2 and HIV epidemiology. CONCLUSION: HSV-2 and HIV prevalence are strongly associated. HSV-2 prevalence can be used as a proxy 'biomarker' of HIV epidemic potential, acting as a 'temperature scale' of the intensity of sexual risk behavior that drive HIV transmission. HSV-2 prevalence can be used to identify populations and/or sexual networks at high-risk of future HIV expansion, and help prioritization, optimization, and resource allocation of cost-effective prevention interventions