Board Structure and Performance of Government-Linked and Non-Government-Linked Companies: A Comparative Study of Selected Listed Companies' in Malaysia, India and Singapore

This study examines the relationship between board structure (proxied by non-executive directors, CEO duality, board size and independent directors) and company performance from the perspectives of profitability, liquidity and gearing amongst selected listed companies in Malaysia, India and Singapore. The study also determines the extent of similarities and divergences in the abovementioned relationships amongst the three countries. The results indicate that both Malaysia and India share similarities in most relationships but the reverse is documented for Singapore. It is conjectured that mere existence of governance may not be sufficient but its proper execution needs to be seriously considered by policy makers. This will ensure enhanced company performance and long-term survival and sustainability of companies. Keywords: Board structure, governance, performance, GLCs, non-GLCs, Malaysia, India and Singapore. JEL Classifications: G3, G3

Escherichia coli in hospitalised patients

Background Extended spectrum betalactamase (ESBL)-producing organisms are a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. ESBL-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) have been recovered from the hospital environment. These drug-resistant organisms have also been found to be present in humans as commensals. The present investigation intended to isolate ESBL-producing E. coli from the gut of already infected patients; to date, only a few studies have shown evidence of the gut microflora as a major source of infection. Aims This study aimed to detect the presence of ESBL genes in E.coli that are isolated from the gut of patients who have already been infected with the same organism. Methods A total of 70 nonrepetitive faecal samples were collected from in-patients of our hospital. These in-patients were clinically diagnosed and were culture-positive for ESBL-producing E. coli either from blood, urine, or pus. Standard microbiological methods were used to detect ESBL from clinical and gut isolates. Genes coding for major betalactamase enzymes such as blaCTX-M, blaTEM, and blaSHV were investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results ESBL-producing E. coli was isolated from 15 (21 per cent) faecal samples of the 70 samples that were cultured. PCR revealed that out of these 15 isolates, the blaCTX-M gene was found in 13 (86.6 per cent) isolates, the blaTEM was present in 11 (73.3 per cent) isolates, and blaSHV only in eight (53.3 per cent) isolates. All 15 clinical and gut isolates had similar phenotypic characters and eight of the 15 patients had similar pattern of genes (blaTEM, blaCTX-M, and blaSHV) in their clinical and gut isolates. Conclusion Strains with multiple betalactamase genes that colonise the gut of hospitalised patients are a potential threat and it may be a potential source of infection

Lid abscess: An unusual presentation of melioidosis

Melioidosis caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei (B. pseudomallei), is an emerging infection in India. Clinical manifestation of melioidosis is variable ranging from localized benign infection to fulminant septicemia. Ocular presentation of melioidosis is rare. However, cases of endophthalmitis, keratitis and orbital infections have been reported. We report the isolation of B. pseudomallei in a 40 year old male, presenting with fever and lid abscess. The patient was treated with meropenem during the acute phase and switched to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole for eradication phase

<i>In Vitro</i> Activity of Two Cefepime-Based Novel Combinations, Cefepime/Taniborbactam and Cefepime/Zidebactam, against Carbapenemase-Expressing <i>Enterobacterales </i>Collected in India

In recent times, discovery efforts for novel antibiotics have mostly targeted carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative organisms. Two different combination approaches are pertinent: b-lactam-b-lactamase inhibitor (BL/BLI) or b-lactam-b-lactam enhancer (BL/ BLE). Cefepime combined with a BLI, taniborbactam, or with a BLE, zidebactam, has been shown to be promising. In this study, we determined the in vitro activity of both these agents along with comparators against multicentric carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE). Nonduplicate CPE isolates of Escherichia coli (n = 270) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 300), collected from nine different tertiary-care hospitals across India during 2019 to 2021, were included in the study. Carbapenemases in these isolates were detected by PCR. E. coli isolates were also screened for the presence of the 4-Amino-Acid insert in penicillin binding protein 3 (PBP3). MICs were determined by reference broth microdilution. Higher MICs of cefepime/taniborbactam (.8 mg/L) were linked to NDM, both in K. pneumoniae and in E. coli. In particular, such higher MICs were observed in 88 to 90% of E. coli isolates producing NDM and OXA-48-like or NDM alone. On the other hand, OXA-48-like-producing E. coli or K. pneumoniae isolates were nearly 100% susceptible to cefepime/taniborbactam. Regardless of the carbapenemase types and the pathogens, cefepime/ zidebactam showed potent activity (.99% inhibited at#8mg/L). It seems that the 4-amino-Acid insert in PBP3 (present universally in the study E. coli isolates) along with NDM adversely impact the activity of cefepime/taniborbactam. Thus, the limitations of the BL/BLI approach in tackling the complex interplay of enzymatic and nonenzymatic resistance mechanisms were better revealed in whole-cell studies where the activity observed was a net effect of b-lactamase inhibition, cellular uptake, and target affinity of the combination. IMPORTANCE The study revealed the differential ability of cefepime/taniborbactam and cefepime/zidebactam in tackling carbapenemase-producing Indian clinical isolates that also harbored additional mechanisms of resistance. NDM-expressing E. coli with 4-Amino-Acid insert in PBP3 are predominately resistant to cefepime/taniborbactam, while the b-lactam enhancer mechanism-based cefepime/zidebactam showed consistent activity against single-or dual-carbapenemase-producing isolates including E. coli with PBP3 inserts.</p

Factors That Influences the Intention of Middle-Aged Adults' in Johor to Move Into A Retirement Village

Malaysia is in the fifth place for world’s top ten retirement havens. In light to the combination of medical and the growth of old aged community in Malaysia, a few developers are experimenting with the concept of retirement village. The current study aimed to explore and gain a better understanding of the factors that will influence the intention of the middle aged adults in Johor to move into a retirement village. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study found that Attitude and Subjective Norm has a positive and significant impact on the intention. Perceived Behavioural Control may be statistically significant but has not accurately predict the intention because of the absence of past behaviour or knowledge. The results indicated that those with tertiary education and who earns more that RM10,000 have intention to move in to the retirement village. The study itself have plausible explanation of the results and paved more opportunities for future research

Time-varying hedging using the state-space model in the Malaysian equity market

Theoretical and practice of financial hedging have expanded over the last 25 years. Research in this area is numerous and one of them is identifying the time-varying optimal hedge ratio. In this study, the time-varying hedge ratio is analysed using the State Space model (Kalman Filter) on daily Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) and Kuala Lumpur Future Index (KLFI) from April 2005 to March 2008. Comparison between the static and time-varying hedge ratio and forecast performance is done to analyse the efficiency of the time-varying estimates. Our results show that for forecasting purposes the State Space model has the ability to forecast better when 30 days of forecast horizon are used. The volatility of the time varying hedge ratio is relatively low, but the static estimate of the hedge ratio overestimates the amount of the KLFI futures contract needed to hedge the KLCI. This may prove to be an unnecessary cost for fund managers in hedging using KLF

Globalization and Indian Economy

The role of globalization in alleviating poverty has been subject to intense and recurrent debate while the pro-globalization (Globalism) movement propound that it has helped many countries such as India and China to reduce poverty , the alter-globalist have denounced globalization as an unfair development that has increased poverty and widen inequality between the rich and the poor. Globalization in India is generally taken as integrating the economy of the country with the rest of the world. This in turn implies that opening up the economy to foreign direct investment by providing facilities to foreign companies to invest in different fields of economic activities in India; removing constraints and obstacles to the entry of MNCs; allowing Indian companies to enter into foreign collaborations in India and also encouraging them to set up joint ventures abroad; carrying out massive import liberalization programmes by switching over from quantitative restrictions to tariffs in the first place, and then bringing down the level of import duties considerably; and instead of plethora of export incentives opting for exchange rate adjustment for promoting exports. Whether seeds of globalization sown in pre-reform period as many concessions were granted to foreign capital, MNCs were allowed to enter a number of crucial sectors to which their entry was previously restricted and banned. The study is purely based on secondary data. It will have a discussion on negative and positive impacts of globalization on Indian economy

The Development of a Novel Tumor -Specific MRI Contrast Agent Targeting the High Affinity Folate Receptor: In Vitro and in Vivo Specificity, Toxicity, and Biodistribution

154 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002.The need to develop target-specific MRI contrast agents to aid in disease characterization remains highly essential. Here, we present a generation four polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer conjugated to folic acid that specifically targets the high affinity folate receptor (hFR) overexpressed on more than 80% of ovarian tumors. We tested the hypothesis that folate-dendrimers can specifically image tumors expressing the hFR with MRI. Conjugating folate to dendrimers results in specific binding of these macromolecules to cells expressing the hFR and enables specific imaging of hFR expression by tumors in vivo. Tumor cells expressing the hFR showed a 650% increase in mean fluorescence characterized by a rapid rise to 325%, followed by a slow increase to 650%, and a 2709% increase in uptake of 153Gd(III). This required both the expression of the hFR and the attachment of folic acid to the dendrimer. Excess free folic acid inhibited both the increases in fluorescence and radioactivity uptake of hFR-positive cells. The folate-dendrimer increased the in vitro longitudinal relaxation rate of hFR-positive cells by 110% at 1.2T, and was inhibited by free folic acid. In vivo treatment of hFR-positive ovarian tumor xenografts with the folate-dendrimer chelate resulted in a 33% contrast enhancement after 24 hours and was significantly different compared to results with a nonspecific agent. This contrast enhancement was absent in hFR-negative tumors and was inhibited by free folic acid. The internalization of the linear diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) chelate kills some tumor cells expressing the hFR in vitro. Toxicity results show that the ovarian tumor cells exhibited a lower percent viability, 68.3%, compared to control cells, 83.4%. Treatment with free folic acid resulted in a statistically similar percent viability as the control cells. Tumor cell toxicity is consistent with internalization of the folate-dendrimer, which could result in either the release of gadolinium within endosomes or anti-folate activity of the folate-dendrimer. The biodistribution of the radiolabeled 153Gd-folate-dendrimer is favorable. The agent accumulates significantly more within hFR-positive tumors (3.64% injected dose/g) than hFR-negative tumors (at or below background) following 24 hours. Folate-conjugated dendrimer-based MRI contrast agents are a promising approach to target-specific diagnosis.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

A study of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in patients with pyoderma

Background: Health care–associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(HA-MRSA) are resistant to multiple antibiotics, therefore infections caused by them are difficult to treat resulting in high morbidity and mortality. While most of the research activities and public health initiatives are focused on HA-MRSA, the newly emerging pathogen, community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(CA-MRSA) is gaining in significance in respect to patient morbidity. There is a significant paucity of data regarding CA-MRSA in the developing parts of the world. Aim: To study the proportions of HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA infections among patients with culture-proven S. aureus infection and to find out how many of these patients showed presence of MRSA in nasal cultures of healthy contacts. Materials and Methods: Clinical details of 227 patients were recorded in the study, such as the duration and recurrence of the infection, history of antibiotic intake, and the presence of other medical illnesses. A pus swab was taken from each lesion and sent for culture and sensitivity. If the culture grew S. aureus, they were screened for methicillin resistance. A swab from the anterior nares of the healthy contact of each patient, whenever available, was collected and it was screened for MRSA. Results: Furunculosis was most common among the primary pyodermas (53/134; 39. 5%). Out of 239 pus culture samples obtained from 227 patients, 192 (84.58%) grew S. aureus; of these 150 (78.12%) were methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), whereas 42 (21.98%) were MRSA. Out of the 42 MRSA isolated, 33 turned out to be CA-MRSA (78%) and 9 (22%) were HA-MRSA. Nasal swabs of healthy contacts of 34 MRSA patients were cultured. Out of them, two grew MRSA in the culture. Conclusion: The isolation rate of S. aureus was high in our study. Furthermore, our study, although hospital based, clearly indicated the substantial magnitude of the CA-MRSA problem in the local population