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Revealing Youngsters’ Impulsive Buying Behavior through Hedonic Shopping Motivations

This paper evaluates the relationship between hedonic shopping motivations and impulsive buying behavior of young Chinese buyers. 615 respondents are surveyed using convenience sampling and analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling. The results indicate that adventure seeking, gratification seeking, and idea shopping have a positive effect on impulsive buying, whereas role shopping has a negative effect on impulsive buying. However, social shopping and value shopping are found to be insignificant to impulsive buying. The study contributes to impulsive buying by investigating the hedonic shopping motivations of young Chinese buyers which is so far found to be missing in the existing literature. Keywords: Hedonic shopping; impulsive buying; young consumers; China. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-3-1

Young Buyers: Shopping Enjoyment and Obsessive-Compulsive Buying

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between hedonic shopping motivations and obsessive-compulsive shopping behavior from youngsters’ perspective. The study is based on the survey of 615 young Chinese buyers (mean age=24) and analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings show that adventure seeking, gratification seeking, and idea shopping have a positive effect on obsessive-compulsive buying, whereas role shopping and value shopping have a negative effect on obsessive-compulsive buying. However, social shopping is found to be insignificant to obsessive-compulsive buying. The study has a number of implications. Marketers should display more information about latest trends and fashions, as young buyers are found to shop for ideas and information. Managers should design the layouts with more exciting and impressive features, as these buyers are found to shop for adventure and gratification. Salesmen should take greater care into consideration while offering them to buy products such as gifts, souvenir etc. for their dear ones, as these buyers are less likely to enjoy buying for others. Moreover, business managers should less rely on discount promotions, as this consumer segment is found to be less likely to shop for discounts and bargains. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the relationship between hedonic shopping motivations and obsessive-compulsive buying of young Chinese buyers, which is found to be lacking in the literature so far according to the best of authors’ knowledge. Keywords: Hedonic shopping, Obsessive-compulsive buying, Young consumers, China. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-3-1

Experience of managing acute pancreatitis in a surgical unit of a tertiary care hospital

Objective: To study the etiology, diagnosis, treatment and complications of acute pancreatitis in a tertiary care hospital.  Methodology: Study Design: It was a descriptive study. The study was conducted at Surgical Unit of Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) Rawalpindi from 1st January 2014 to 31 July 2017.  All the patients who presented in emergency with abdominal symptoms and diagnosed as a case of acute pancreatitis were included in the study. All the data of gender, age, serum amylase & lipase, etiology, CT severity index, Ranson’s criteria, complications, mortality and management were noted on a predesigned proforma. Percentages and frequencies were calculated for all the data by SPSS 21 version. Results: Total 161 patients were included in the study, with 60.9% females and 39.1% males. Maximum patients 31% were from age group of 26 to 40  years of age and minimum 1.2% from 71 to 85 years. Gall stones were the major cause of the disease contributing 67% of cases.  At admission Ranson’s score of the maximum patients 32.2% had total score of 1, While only 1.2% had moderate pancreatitis.  After 48 hours of admission 24.2% had 2 score while only 1.2%had severe pancreatitis.  The radiological CT severity index 82.6% patients had mild pancreatitis while1.2% patients had severe disease. 93.1% patients were managed conservatively, 1.9%  patients went Cystogastrostomy, 1.2% patients needed Exploratory laparotomy and  1.2% patients went for Pancreatic Necrosectomy.  On calculating the morbidity 67.7% patients had no significant morbidity. 32.3% had complications including pleural effusion, ascites, pancreatic necrosis, pseudo cyst formation, shock, acute renal failure and multi organ failure.  Overall mortality rate was  3.7%. Conclusion: Acute pancreatitis in our set up is mainly due to gall stones. A multidisciplinary approach, measurement of severity of disease with computerized tomography scan and Ranson’s scoring system is always helpful in disease management and its complications. Key Words : Acute pancreatitis, Gall stones, Ranson’s scoring, Pancreatic necrosis, Pseudocyst

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Effect of Urea, DAP and FYM on Growth and Flowering of Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis)

ABSTRACT Effect of urea, FYM and P 2 O 5 was studied on growth and flowering Dahlia cultivars. Urea, P 2 O 5 and FYM in different combinations showed significant results on plant height, number of branches /plant, early flowering and number of flowers/plant as compared to other doses of fertilizers, while number of leaves were effected by the combination of urea + P 2 O 5 + FYM as compared to single and control. Size of flowers were significantly increased by application of urea with combination of potash and FYM and also by using single P 2 O 5 , while single FYM and urea did not effect size of flowers

بررسی اشعار شاعران قرن ششم هجری در حیطه گیاه دارویی خشخاش

Background and Aim: The sixth century poems are usually considered as "technical poems". The poets of this era put aside simplicity and fluency of the poetry of the previous periods and used similes and metaphors in poetry to describe scientific information of that era such as astronomy, mysticism, music, medicine and especially herbal medicines, in a manner that one cannot comprehend the meaning and concept of poetry without having knowledge of these sciences. Medical information and common healing properties of plants have a wide reflection in poetry of this period. One of these medicinal herbs (herbal medicines) is poppy, whose active ingredients have been known to people and used by them through centuries under different names such as poppy, coke, opium and... The poets of this era attempted to create themes for medicinal and sleep inducing characteristics of the extract of this plant and used its taste, color and properties as the bases of advice, lyric, praise and mysticism. Methods: The present library based research study is undertaken to utilize descriptive and analytical approaches to extract medicinal reflections of opium from Khaghani, Sanai, Anvri and Khamsa Nizami divans, and then make an exploratory and investigative analysis based on the therapeutic properties listed in scientific articles, authentic traditional medicine books as well as books on modern medicinal plants. Ethical Considerations: In this research, the ethical aspects of library study, including the authenticity of texts, honesty and trustworthiness, have been observed. Results: The sedative, hypnotic and antidote medicinal properties of poppy correspond to its current usage. Conclusion: Opium was used therapeutically in the 6th century and was obtained from two plants of "poppy" and "wild lettuce". Poppy opium was referred to as "poppy" and lettuce opium was called "koke". Nowadays, there is not any "koke" opium, but wild lettuce is still used as a hypnotic agent in traditional medicine and herbal medicine books confirm its hypnotic properties. Please cite this article as: Mesbah M, Poordargahi E, Farzi HR, Pasbaneslam B. Scrutinizing the Poems of the Sixth Century (AH) Poets in the Area of the Herbal Medicines; Poppy. Tārīkh-i pizishkī, i.e., Medical History. 2022; 14(47): e28.زمینه و هدف: شعر قرن ششم، «شعر فنی» است. شاعران این دوره سادگی و روانی شعر دوره‌های قبل را کنار گذاشته و اطلاعات علمی رایج در آن دوره، از قبیل نجوم، کلام، عرفان، موسیقی، طب و به ویژه گیاهان دارویی را در قالب تشبیه و استعاره‌های دیر‌یاب وارد شعر کرده‌اند، به نوعی ‌که بدون آشنایی با این علوم نمی‌توان مفهوم شعر را درک کرد. اطلاعات طبی و خواص درمانیِ رایج گیاهان، بازتاب ‌گسترده‌ای در شعر این دوره دارد. یکی از این ‌گیاهان دارویی، خشخاش است که از مواد مؤثره آن در طیّ قرون با نام‌های مختلف مانند کوکنار، کوک، افیون و تریاک یاد و استفاده شده ‌است. شاعران این دوره، از خاصیّت ‌دارویی و خواب‌آوری عصاره این گیاه، مضمون‌آفرینی‌کرده و طعم و رنگ و خواص ‌آن را دستمایه پند، مدح، تغزّل و عرفان ساخته‌اند. روش: این پژوهش‌کتابخانه‌ای بر آن است‌ که با استفاده از روش توصیفی ـ تحلیلی بازتاب دارویی افیون و تریاک را از دیوان ‌خاقانی، سنایی، انوری و خمسه نظامی استخراج کند و بر اساس خواص درمانی مندرج در مقالات ‌علمی، کتب معتبر طب سنتی و همچنین کتاب‌های ‌گیاهان دارویی امروزی، به بررسی و تحلیل بپردازد. ملاحظات اخلاقی: در این تحقیق جنبه‌های اخلاقی مطالعه کتابخانه‌ای شامل اصالت متون، صداقت و امانتداری رعایت شده است. یافته‌ها: خواص ‌داروییِ مسکّن، منوّم و پادزهری خشخاش با کاربرد امروزی ‌آن مطابقت دارد. نتیجه‌گیری: افیون در قرن ششم کاربرد درمانی داشته و از دو گیاهِ «خشخاش» و «کاهوی ‌وحشی» به ‌دست می‌آمده ‌است. افیون خشخاش را «کوکنار» و به افیون کاهو «کوک» می‌گفتند. امروزه خبری از افیون کوک نیست، با این حال کاهو هنوز هم در طب سنتی و کتاب‌های گیاهان دارویی به عنوان خواب‌آور شناخته می‌شود. لفظ «تریاک» نیز در شعر قرن ششم به طور مطلق در معنی پادزهر به کار رفته است