Health policy in Asia and the Pacific: navigating local needs and global challenges

Abstract: Asia and the Pacific is undergoing a remarkable economic transformation, which is occurring at an exceptional pace. There is clear evidence of an equally rapid epidemiological transition in the region. This article sets out the policy challenges of building healthy societies in the context of rapid economic change. The region’s location at the cross roads of contemporary globalisation, resulting in intensified population mobility, large-scale trade and investment, and pressures to take collective action on shared problems, adds to the complexity of this task. The article argues that health is integral to building stable and sustainable societies, and that there are opportunities to develop more holistic approaches that bring together hitherto separate policy spheres

Bottlenecks and benevolence: how the World Bank is helping communities to ‘cope’ with HIV/AIDS

© 2015, SAGE

Rethinking global governance to address zoonotic disease risks: Connecting the dots

Large-scale changes in human behaviour are urgently needed to prevent future pandemics involving zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. However, this will not happen to the required degree, and with sufficient speed, without a major shift in how humanity collectively governs itself. Alongside a shift in focus from individual behaviours to the structural conditions underpinning the world economy that shape human behaviours, effective global governance presses us to connect more dots than ever before. The One Health approach is an important starting point but we need to go much further

Revealing power in truth Comment on “Knowledge, moral claims and the exercise of power in global health”

Jeremy Shiffman’s editorial appropriately calls on making all forms of power more apparent and accountable, notably productive power derived from expertise and claims to moral authority. This commentary argues that relationships based on productive power can be especially difficult to reveal in global health policy because of embedded notions about the nature of power and politics. Yet, it is essential to recognize that global health is shot through with power relationships, that they can take many forms, and that their explicit acknowledgement should be part of, rather than factored out of, any reform of global health governance

Tables: To Facilitate the Calculation of Partial Coefficients of Correlation and Regression Equations

Mode of access: Internet

When 'knowing what' is not enough: Role of organised simulations for developing effective practice

A decade on from the Rethinking Project Management (PM) network, concerns about the relevance gap continue with a number of multinationals looking explicitly to alternative strategies and forms of PM staff development. The literature is light on how project simulations can help the development of experienced managers as reflective experts. Few have examined the link between intended learning outcomes and real-time performance. Posing the question of “how easily is knowledge developed in the classroom transformed into effective practice?” the paper presents a chronological account of a 3-day simulated project by 25 experienced managers. Despite their prior experience and learning from shared problem-solving and structured reflections, participants struggled to deliver their projects as planned. Analysis referencing the knowledge epistemology and ambidexterity literatures yielded a number of design improvement opportunities and the insight that closing the knowing-doing gap requires courses to incorporate the ‘soft’ perceptual and attitudinal aspects underlying why people fail to convert their learning into effective practice

Structural and Regulatory Studies on Rabbit Muscle Phosphofructokinase.

Rabbit muscle phosphofructokinase (EC 2.7.1.11; PFK) undergoes a time dependent lag in activity before attaining maximal catalytic velocity. This phenomenon, termed hysteresis, is evident when the enzymatic reaction is initiated with one of the substrates, fructose 6-phosphate (F 6-P). The lag is not manifested with initiation of the reaction by the other substrate, ATP, or with the enzyme. The length of the lag was found to be dependent upon enzyme concentration, pH, concentration of F 6-P, and the presence of inhibitors or activators in the incubation medium. A model is proposed which ascribes this phenomenon to a bisphosphate induced conformational change of the enzyme to a more active state. Results with locked, isosteric analogues of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (F 1,6-P(,2)) suggest that there are two distinct phases in the hysteretic process in PFK--reduction of the lag and actual enhancement of catalytic velocity. The former appears to show no anomeric preference, while the latter appears to be modulated by the (alpha)-anomer of F 1,6-P(,2). A series of straight chain bisphosphate compounds were synthesized and studied as models for fructose 2,6-bisphosphate (F 2,6-P(,2)), a potent activator of PFK. 1,4-Butanediol bisphosphate, which approximates the spacing across the PO-C(,6)-C(,5)-O-C(,2)-OP portion of the F 2,6-P(,2) molecule, was found to be quite effective in activating PFK. The activation constant for 1,4-butanediol bisphosphate was determined to be 6.6 x 10(\u27-6) M, compared to 1.2 x 10(\u27-7) M for F 2,6-P(,2). The data suggest that the allosteric bisphosphate binding site of PFK requires the distance between the two phosphate groups of the activator be in the range of 9.0-10.2 (ANGSTROM). 1,4-Butanediol bisphosphate was also found to protect the enzyme against inhibition by citrate. Treatment of PFK with the arginine specific reagent, phenylglyoxal, led to inactivation of the enzyme. Amino acid analysis determined that a least four arginyl residues were modified. Complete loss of activity was correlated with modification of six arginyl residues. F 6-P and F 1,6-P(,2) protected against inactivation, with two less arginyl residues being modified. While ATP, ADP, and AMP also protected against inactivation; neither was able to decrease the number of arginyl residues modified. These data indicate that arginyl residues are essential for binding at the active site of PFK

Photoluminescence from In0.5Ga0.5As/GaP quantum dots coupled to photonic crystal cavities

We demonstrate room temperature visible wavelength photoluminescence from In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots embedded in a GaP membrane. Time-resolved above band photoluminescence measurements of quantum dot emission show a biexpontential decay with lifetimes of ~200 ps. We fabricate photonic crystal cavities which provide enhanced outcoupling of quantum dot emission, allowing the observation of narrow lines indicative of single quantum dot emission. This materials system is compatible with monolithic integration on Si, and is promising for high efficiency detection of single quantum dot emission as well as optoelectronic devices emitting at visible wavelengths

Later School Start Times in Adolescence: Time for a Change

This briefing paper summarizes the latest research on the subject of chronic sleep deprivation on education and health in adolescents, explores policy options to address this education and public health issue, and sets forth the recommendation that education start times be adjusted appropriately for U.S adolescents