Systemic influence between barriers to the success of small businesses: a perspective from North West Nigeria

Purpose Small businesses are vital economic catalysts in developing nations because of their flexibility and innovative capacity to propel business activities that lead to economic development, especially in nations with significant unemployment rates, low levels of income distribution, and regional and local development challenges. However, small businesses in developing nations such as Nigeria are failing in their quest to achieve success and have an impact on the economy because of certain barriers. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine the influence between barriers to the success of small businesses in North West Nigeria from the perspective of owner-managers. Design The research framework used emanated from a systematic literature review, where forty-one concerns that contribute to the creation of a barrier were identified and used to develop a conceptual framework that grouped the concerns under eight common barriers: infrastructure, education, finance, regional culture, regulatory and corruption, strategic management, entrepreneur lifestyle, and enterprise operation. The framework was empirically investigated using a mixed method, which incorporated the quantitative and qualitative approaches. The mixed method was used to avoid common bias and to provide clarity to the survey from an individual perspective. To provide a detailed understanding of the barriers associated with the success of small businesses from the perspective of owner-managers in North West Nigeria, a survey questionnaire of 518 owner-managers of existing small businesses identified through a registered list from SMEDAN, was used to validate the developed conceptual framework and formulated hypotheses. Following the quantitative phase, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected owner-managers of failed/closed small businesses, through snow balling, to explore their experiences and beliefs with regards to barriers to small business success. Findings and implications The study found that there was a significant negative correlation between all the identified barriers and the success of small businesses. Findings suggests that concerns contributing to the creation of infrastructure, strategic management, regional culture, entrepreneur lifestyle, education, and regulatory & corruption, finance, and enterprise operation barriers, reduce the chances of small business success in North West Nigeria. Additionally, findings shows the ranking of barriers by owner-managers based on their perception of the barrier that has the most influence on the success of their businesses. Additionally, findings shows the level of influence the barriers have on success, which is either low or medium. Based on the findings, the initial conceptual framework was developed into an improved systemic diagram, to show the ranking and influence between the barriers as they reduce the chances of success for small businesses in North West Nigeria. The improved systemic diagram could serve as a guide to inform future decision-making by small business stakeholders towards improving the success of businesses. Particularly, it will improve the understanding of owner-managers that for the business to succeed, they need to understand the barriers and how they can be linked to influence the chances of success. For example, having financial discipline and proper records (enterprise operation) could improve the chances to access credit (finance). Further, findings from this research drew other significant implications that could be used to appreciate the impact of specific policies and measures on other elements, such as government support targeting specific areas for allocation/improving of resources that could improve the chances of small business success. In addition, financial institutions can use the findings to assess the performance of small businesses before extending loans. Originality and value This study is based on empirical evidence and it is the only study to the best of the researcher’s knowledge in the context of Nigeria that explore in a systematic way the barriers to the success of small businesses from the perspective of owner-managers. This study adds to our understanding of the barriers to small businesses by developing an improved systemic diagram showing the influence between barriers to the success of small businesses based on the perspective of owner-managers. The improved systemic diagram could be modelled in other contexts to develop bespoke diagrams and simulation models that would help in examining the barriers hindering the success of businesses

Small Holder Poultry Management Practices and Constraints among Women Poultry Farmers in Kano, Nigeria

The poultry population in Nigeria is estimated at 104.3 million comprising of 72.4 million chickens, 11.8 million ducks, 4.7 million guinea fowls, 15.2 million pigeons and 0.2 million turkeys (FDLPCS, 1992; Ajala et al., 2007). The main sources of animal protein in Nigeria include beef, chicken, mutton, eggs, fish and rabbit. Of all these sources, poultry has the highest contribution to animal protein intake of rural dwellers (Ajala et al., 2007). Women in Africa and Asia make up more than one third of the farm work force, accounting for about 70% of the agricultural workers, 80% of the food producers and 100% of those who process basic foodstuff and 60-90% of those involved in marketing agricultural products (Anon, 1993; Maigida, 2000; Herath, 2008). Yet the role of women in these activities, as economically important as they are, has for many years not been appreciated either because women play very little part in the political activities or the decision making process, until recently (Anon, 1993). Women have important roles to play in animal production (Sanni, 2004; Herath, 2008) although these roles may vary according to the types of animals' being kept, type of production and other economic and cultural constraints (Oladele and Adekoya, 1990; Ogbosuka et al., 2003; Herath, 2005). Ample evidence indicates that many women across Nigeria whether in purdah or not, are engaged in various aspects of animal production (Maigida, 2000). However, as poultry farmers, women in many parts of Africa and Asia experienced or faced problems that tend to undermine their determination to raise income through rearing of animals on daily basis (Anon, 1993; Herath, 2005; Sonaiya, 2007). The integration of women as both agents and beneficiaries of development in the main sectors of the agricultural economy must therefore be a priority objective (Sanni, 2004). Kano is renowned as a centre of commerce and increasing number of people are engaged in rearing livestock particularly poultry. This serves to keep the women engaged and also supplement the income of the family especially among the working class in addition to providing eggs and meat to the family for consumption. Against this background, the objective of the survey was therefore to find out the management practices and associated problems faced by women poultry farmers in Kano.Keywords: Women, Smallholder, Poultry, Management, KanoNigerian Veterinary Journal 32(2) 201

Propofol cardioplegia: A single-center, placebo-controlled, randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES: Cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegic arrest is an effective treatment for coronary artery and aortic valve diseases. However, the myocardium sustains reperfusion injury after ischemic cardioplegic arrest. Our objective was to assess the benefits of supplementing cardioplegia solution with the general anesthetic propofol in patients undergoing either coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or aortic valve replacement (AVR). METHODS: A single-center, double-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out to compare cardioplegia solution supplemented with propofol (concentration 6 μg/mL) versus intralipid (placebo). The primary outcome was cardiac troponin T release over the first 48 hours after surgery. RESULTS: We recruited 101 participants (51 in the propofol group, 50 in the intralipid group); 61 underwent CABG and 40 underwent AVR. All participants were followed to 3 months. Cardiac troponin T release was on average 15% lower with propofol supplementation (geometric mean ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-1.01; P = .051). There were no differences for CABG participants but propofol-supplemented participants undergoing AVR had poorer postoperative renal function (geometric mean ratio, 1.071; 95% CI, 1.019-1.125; P = .007), with a trend toward longer intensive care stay (median, 89.5 vs 47.0 hours; hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.31-1.09; P = .09) and fewer with perfect health (based on the EQ-5D health utility index) at 3 months (odds ratio, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.06-1.05; P = .058) compared with the intralipid group. Safety profiles were similar. There were no deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Propofol supplementation in cardioplegia appears to be cardioprotective. Its influence on early clinical outcomes may differ between CABG and AVR surgery. A larger, multicenter study is needed to confirm or refute these suggestions

Isoflurane Preconditioning at Clinically Relevant Doses Induce Protective Effects of Heme Oxygenase-1 on Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Activation of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been proved to reduce damages to the liver in ischemia reperfusion injury. The objective of present study was to determine whether clinic relevant doses of isoflurane treatment could be sufficient to activate HO-1 inducing, which confers protective effect against hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The hepatic artery and portal vein to the left and the median liver lobes of forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were occluded for 60 minutes. Reperfusion was allowed for 4 hours before the animal subjects were sacrificed. Six groups (n = 12) were included in the study. A negative control group received sham operation and positive control group a standard ischemia-reperfusion regimen. The third group was pretreated with isoflurane prior to the ischemia-reperfusion. The fourth group received an HO-1 inhibitor zinc protoporphyrin (Znpp) prior to the isoflurane pretreatment and the ischemia-reperfusion. The fifth group received Znpp alone before ischemia-reperfusion procedure, and the sixth group was administrated with a HO-1 inducer hemin prior to IR. HO-1 in the liver was measured using an enzymatic activity assay, a Western blot analysis, as well as immunohistochemical method. Extent of liver damage was estimated by determination of the serum transaminases, liver lipid peroxidation and hepatic histology. Infiltration of the liver by neutrophils was measured using a myeloperoxidase activity assay. TNFα mRNA in the liver was measured using RT-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Isoflurane pretreatment significantly attenuated the hepatic injuries and inflammatory responses caused by the ischemia reperfusion. Selectively inhibiting HO-1 with ZnPP completed blocked the protective effects of isoflurane. Inducing HO-1 with hemin alone produced protective effects similar in magnitude to that of isoflurane.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Clinic relevant doses of isoflurane attenuate ischemia reperfusion injury in rats by increasing the HO-1 expression and activity.</p

New Measurement of Parity Violation in Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering and Implications for Strange Form Factors

We have measured the parity-violating electroweak asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons from the proton. The result is A = -15.05 +- 0.98(stat) +- 0.56(syst) ppm at the kinematic point theta_lab = 12.3 degrees and Q^2 = 0.477 (GeV/c)^2. The measurement implies that the value for the strange form factor (G_E^s + 0.392 G_M^s) = 0.025 +- 0.020 +- 0.014, where the first error is experimental and the second arises from the uncertainties in electromagnetic form factors. This measurement is the first fixed-target parity violation experiment that used either a `strained' GaAs photocathode to produce highly polarized electrons or a Compton polarimeter to continuously monitor the electron beam polarization.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Tex, elsart.cls; revised version as accepted for Phys. Lett.

Endothelial glycocalyx is damaged in diabetic cardiomyopathy: angiopoietin 1 restores glycocalyx and improves diastolic function in mice

Aims/hypothesis: Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a serious and under-recognised complication of diabetes. The first sign is diastolic dysfunction, which progresses to heart failure. The pathophysiology of DCM is incompletely understood but microcirculatory changes are important. Endothelial glycocalyx (eGlx) plays multiple vital roles in the microcirculation, including in the regulation of vascular permeability, and is compromised in diabetes but has not previously been studied in the coronary microcirculation in diabetes. We hypothesised that eGlx damage in the coronary microcirculation contributes to increased microvascular permeability and hence to cardiac dysfunction. Methods: We investigated eGlx damage and cardiomyopathy in mouse models of type 1 (streptozotocin-induced) and type 2 (db/db) diabetes. Cardiac dysfunction was determined by echocardiography. We obtained eGlx depth and coverage by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on mouse hearts perfusion-fixed with glutaraldehyde and Alcian Blue. Perivascular oedema was assessed from TEM images by measuring the perivascular space area. Lectin-based fluorescence was developed to study eGlx in paraformaldehyde-fixed mouse and human tissues. The eGlx of human conditionally immortalised coronary microvascular endothelial cells (CMVECs) in culture was removed with eGlx-degrading enzymes before measurement of protein passage across the cell monolayer. The mechanism of eGlx damage in the diabetic heart was investigated by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR array and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity assay. To directly demonstrate that eGlx damage disturbs cardiac function, isolated rat hearts were treated with enzymes in a Langendorff preparation. Angiopoietin 1 (Ang1) is known to restore eGlx and so was used to investigate whether eGlx restoration reverses diastolic dysfunction in mice with type 1 diabetes. Results: In a mouse model of type 1 diabetes, diastolic dysfunction (confirmed by echocardiography) was associated with loss of eGlx from CMVECs and the development of perivascular oedema, suggesting increased microvascular permeability. We confirmed in vitro that eGlx removal increases CMVEC monolayer permeability. We identified increased MMP activity as a potential mechanism of eGlx damage and we observed loss of syndecan 4 consistent with MMP activity. In a mouse model of type 2 diabetes we found a similar loss of eGlx preceding the development of diastolic dysfunction. We used isolated rat hearts to demonstrate that eGlx damage (induced by enzymes) is sufficient to disturb cardiac function. Ang1 restored eGlx and this was associated with reduced perivascular oedema and amelioration of the diastolic dysfunction seen in mice with type 1 diabetes. Conclusions/interpretation: The association of CMVEC glycocalyx damage with diastolic dysfunction in two diabetes models suggests that it may play a pathophysiological role and the enzyme studies confirm that eGlx damage is sufficient to impair cardiac function. Ang1 rapidly restores the CMVEC glycocalyx and improves diastolic function. Our work identifies CMVEC glycocalyx damage as a potential contributor to the development of DCM and therefore as a therapeutic target

Healthcare in schizophrenia: effectiveness and progress of a redesigned care network

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was designed to investigate the care-effectiveness of different healthcare models for schizophrenic patients and the impact of it on caregivers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sample cases were randomly selected from southern Taiwan, 257 patients in redesigned care network, including a general hospital, a chronic ward, 10 outpatient clinics, and multialternative community programs, was compared to 247 patients in other traditional healthcare provider that were utilized as the control group. The quality of life (QOL) questionnaire and the Chinese health questionnaire (CHQ) were used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The controls had longer duration of illness (<it>p </it>= 0.001) and were older (<it>p </it>= 0.004). The average resource utilization in the study group (US$2737/year, per case) was higher than the control group (US$ 2041) (<it>t </it>= 7.91, <it>p </it>< 0.001). For the study group, the average length of stay was shorter, but the admission rate was higher. The QOL of the patients in the study group was better than that of the controls (<it>p </it>= 0.01). The family burden of the study group was lower (<it>p </it>= 0.035) and the score of general health questionnaire higher (<it>p </it>= 0.019).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We found that patients in the redesigned care network had a better QOL, lower family burden, decreased days of hospital stay, higher medical resource utilization and less frequent admission to a hospital, and the caregivers had better mental health. Although the costs were higher, the continued care network was more helpful in providing comprehensive mental illness services.</p

Rationale and design of a proof-of-concept trial investigating the effect of uninterrupted perioperative (par)enteral nutrition on amino acid profile, cardiomyocytes structure, and cardiac perfusion and metabolism of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malnutrition is very common in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Malnutrition can change myocardial substrate utilization which can induce adverse effects on myocardial metabolism and function. We aim to investigate the hypothesis that there is a disturbed amino acids profile in the cardiac surgical patient which can be normalized by (par)enteral nutrition before, during and after surgery, subsequently improving cardiomyocyte structure, cardiac perfusion and glucose metabolism.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This randomized controlled intervention study investigates the effect of uninterrupted perioperative (par)enteral nutrition on cardiac function in 48 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Patients are given enteral nutrition (n = 16) or parenteral nutrition (n = 16), at least two days before, during, and two days after coronary artery bypass grafting, or are treated according to the standard guidelines (control) (n = 16). We will illustrate the effect of (par)enteral nutrition on differences in concentrations of amino acids and asymmetric dimethylarginine and in activity of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase and arginase in cardiac tissue and blood plasma. In addition, cardiomyocyte structure by histological, immuno-histochemical and ultrastructural analysis will be compared between the (par)enteral and control group. Furthermore, differences in cardiac perfusion and global left ventricular function and glucose metabolism, and their changes after coronary artery bypass grafting are evaluated by electrocardiography-gated myocardial perfusion scintigraphy and ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxy-glucose positron emission tomography respectively. Finally, fat free mass is measured before and after intervention with bioelectrical impedance spectrometry in order to evaluate nutritional status.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Netherlands Trial Register (NTR): <a href="http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=2183">NTR2183</a></p