Does malaria during pregnancy affect the newborn?

Objective: To investigate the effect of malarial infection during pregnancy on the newborn.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi, using in-patient hospital records over an 11-year period from 1988 to 1999. The incidence of preterm delivery, low birth weight (LBW) and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in 29 pregnant women with malaria, was compared with that in 66 selected pregnant women without malaria, who delivered at the AKUH during the same time period.Results: Pregnant women with malaria had a 3.1 times greater risk of preterm labor (p=0.14). They were more likely to be anaemic compared to women without malaria (RR=2.9, 95% CI=1.6-5.4) and had a significantly lower mean haemoglobin level (p=0.0001). Maternal malaria was significantly associated with LBW babies (p=0.001). The mean birth weight of infants born to pregnant women with malaria was 461 g less (p=0.0005). No significant association was, however, found between malarial infection during pregnancy and IUGR (p=0.33).CONCLUSION: Malarial infection during pregnancy is associated with poor maternal and fetal outcome. It is significantly associated with maternal anaemia and LBW infants. Appropriate measures must, therefore, be taken to prevent malaria during pregnancy, especially in endemic areas

How Does Managerial Ability cherish Dividend Payout decision during Economic Policy Uncertainty?

Dividend decisions are the road map of investment and hence, carry huge weightage for investors. During periods of economic policy uncertainty dividend cut is devastating and brutal. As previously suggested that EPU leads to decreased or no dividends offered by the firms. Current study established the argument that relationship between EPU and dividend payout changes through moderating role of managerial ability. It was hypothesized that a capable and challenging manager fights EPU disasters through his skills, ability to forecast and efficiency and builds a sustained relationship between EPU and dividend payout. An extensive data set from 2006-2015 was taken from 1,153 non-financial listed firms of China. Results supported the hypothesis robustly. &nbsp

The role of the boards' financial expertise in the investment dynamics of businesses in emerging markets

This study examines the impact of the financial expertise of the board of directors (BOD's) on the investment decisions of firms by integrating Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) regulations. The study has taken into account two emerging markets China and Pakistan from 2009-2020 with 8000 and 1120 firm-year observations respectively. The study has used fixed effect, random effect, and generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques. The findings of the study are twofold. Firstly, BFE is positively related to firm investment and shows that financial experts on the board help firms to access financial resources for the firms. Secondly, the sub-sample results show the impact of BFE on investment is more profound for the firms that are large, financially unconstrained, with a strong balance sheet position, and faceless competition. This study introduces BFE as a contributing factor in the investment decisions of the firm. To the researchers' best knowledge, no previous study has focused on BFE as a contributing factor in firms' investment. The findings of the study are following the resource-based view