Does CSR create shareholder wealth?

Only with good marketing, and for initiatives that benefit key stakeholders, write Saurabh Mishra and Sachin Mod

Neurological manifestations in speech after snake bite: a rare case

The patient was admitted after reporting a snake bite from which he later developed neurological signs and symptoms among which a flaccid dysarthria. The patient underwent speech therapy and showed significant improvement over a short period of time. The favorable outcome of the present study highlights the role of speech therapy in such a case, where it often remains un-emphasized

Comparative study of vacuum-assisted closure therapy versus vacuum-assisted closure therapy supplemented with vitamin C in compound wound healing

Background: It is imperative for early and precise management of the compound wound for preventing further complication and delaying definitive management. As we all know superiority of vacuum assisted closure (VAC) therapy in wound management over any other method, but adding vitamin C has been shown to accelerate wound healing, reducing hospital stay, and cost of management and prevention of delaying definitive management of wound due to some conspicuous property of vitamin C that serve as superior adjuvant in wound healing. Methods: A case series of 40 patients who have been inflicted with compound wounds with most following road traffic accidents. We then categorised patients and tried to observe any difference in rate of satisfactorily healing of wound with 20 patients put on VAC therapy alone and other 20 patients put on VAC therapy supplemented with vit C. Results: Patients who were undergoing VAC dressing and supplemented with vitamin C, not only portrayed a better result of wound healing but also reduced the amount of vacuum dressing sittings. Conclusions: It was observed that, in general, patients who were undergoing VAC dressing and supplemented with vitamin C, not only portrayed a better result of wound healing but also reduced amount of vacuum dressing sittings, improved rate of granulation tissue, reduced hospital stay, early definitive fixation of associated fracture and skin grafting and showed superior outcomes in terms of better tissue recovery

Inter-fragmentary compression using cannulated cancellous screws augmented with modified tension band wiring in transverse patella fractures

The classical Kirschner wires and tension band wiring technique, described by the AO foundation, has been the most widely used method for transverse patella fractures. In this study, we have adopted what we perceive to be an improved technique, the cannulated cancellous screws with modified tension band wiring. 20 patients with transverse patella fractures were included in our prospective single-blinded randomized control study with a duration of 3 years. All patients were operated on with modified tension band wiring with a 4 mm cannulated cancellous screw. Functional evaluation was made using the Tegner lysholm knee scoring scale. Roentgenograms were taken in AP and Lateral views to look for signs of radiological union and interfragmentary gap. The post-operative interfragmentary gap between fracture fragments with 65% of patients having a 0 mm gap, 25% of patients having a 1 mm gap, 5% of patients having a 2 mm gap, and 5% of patients having a 3 mm gap. The mean duration for the radiological union was 10 weeks. Mean Tegner lysholm score at 6 months was 88±4.7. We concluded that modified tension band wiring with cannulated cancellous screw is a safe, reliable, and better alternative method of fixation for transverse patella fractures with excellent union rate, range of motion, and functional outcome

A prospective study of the functional outcome of 3 stitch technique in a compound humerus shaft fracture

Background: Intramedullary nailing of compound shaft humerus fractures has been an innovative and surgically friendly technique to deal with extensive soft tissue injury that impedes open reduction and internal fixation. The purpose of this article is to highlight the minimally invasive technique of intramedullary humerus nailing to prevent the perioperative and postoperative complications encountered. A 1 year follow up of all the patients have shown functionally excellent results and good surgical outcome. Methods: We have conducted this prospective study from Jan 2020 to Jan 2022 at DR. D.Y. Patil medical college and hospital. Informed consent from each patient was taken explaining the methods of study and probable complications.  By this 3-stitch technique we have treated 25 adult patients sustaining post traumatic compound humerus shaft fractures by Antegrade humerus nailing. We have included compound injury upto type 3A (Gustilo-Anderson classification). Results: Out of the 25 patients, 23 patients showed functionally excellent outcomes with good compliance to rehabilitation protocol but 2 patients had delayed wound healing of which 1 patient had undergone VAC therapy, which later healed well after a period of 2-3 weeks with sequential dry dressings. None have gone into nonunion. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the 3-stitch technique is a good alternative method compared to external fixators and other various surgical techniques and yields good results with lesser complications and better cosmetic outcomes in compound injuries

SemEval 2023 Task 6: LegalEval -- Understanding Legal Texts

In populous countries, pending legal cases have been growing exponentially. There is a need for developing NLP-based techniques for processing and automatically understanding legal documents. To promote research in the area of Legal NLP we organized the shared task LegalEval - Understanding Legal Texts at SemEval 2023. LegalEval task has three sub-tasks: Task-A (Rhetorical Roles Labeling) is about automatically structuring legal documents into semantically coherent units, Task-B (Legal Named Entity Recognition) deals with identifying relevant entities in a legal document and Task-C (Court Judgement Prediction with Explanation) explores the possibility of automatically predicting the outcome of a legal case along with providing an explanation for the prediction. In total 26 teams (approx. 100 participants spread across the world) submitted systems paper. In each of the sub-tasks, the proposed systems outperformed the baselines; however, there is a lot of scope for improvement. This paper describes the tasks, and analyzes techniques proposed by various teams.Comment: 13 Pages (9 Pages + References), Accepted at SemEval 202

How Coopetition Influences Environmental Performance: Role of Financial Slack, Leverage, and Leanness

Focal firms are struggling to improve their environmental performance for several reasons, including a scarcity of internal and external environmental resources. This study suggests that coopetition provides a boost to a focal firm’s environmental performance. In particular, this research theorizes that a coopetitor firm’s environmental performance has a spillover effect on a focal firm’s environmental performance. This study also investigates the moderating role of a focal firm’s financial slack, financial leverage, and inventory leanness on this relationship. The empirical analysis indicates that coopetitor firms’ environmental performance significantly influences a focal firm’s environmental performance. This relationship is weaker for firms with higher financial slack, and stronger for firms that have lower financial leverage and higher leanness. Collectively, these findings provide important managerial and research implications regarding the consequences of coopetition on a focal firm’s environmental performance.This accepted article is published as Modi, S.B., Cantor, D.E., How Coopetition Influences Environmental Performance: Role of Financial Slack, Leverage, and Leanness. Prod Oper Manag. (2020), doi:/10.1111/poms.13344. Posted with permission. </p

Health insurance in its way to combat financial crisis in breast cancer treatment

Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women, along with its diagnosis it brings disarray and economic burden on family. Its treatment is costliest compared to any other cancers. Health policies and health insurances are introduced to bridge the gap between patients and quality cancer care. We aim to understand the level to which health insurance help the breast cancer patients in reducing economic burden due to cancer Methodology: Cross sectional study done in Justice K.S Hegde Hospital in month June, 2018 to August, 2018 with participants being patients with breast cancer. Patients were contacted over the phone and a questionnaire was introduced to those willing to talk on their economic expenditure. Results: 73% of people had insurance to treat breast cancer of which 52% had advantage of Vajpayee Arogya Shree. 24% of people had insurance paid fully for treatment and 34% received partially, it reduced their burden by 51-75%. 46% of people had the cost &gt;1 lakh for treatment which could be burden for 27% who didn’t have insurance, and this was among patients from neighboring state for treatment. Conclusions: Insurance reducing the burden is ensured; but choice of hospital for treatment is not with the patient, which is a burden

Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE) with optisphere: A prospective study of a new, spherical, resorbable embolic agent

INTRODUCTION: Optisphere (Teleflex, Wayne, PA, USA, currently distributed by Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA) is a new, resorbable, calibrated spherical embolic agent. We aimed to evaluate its clinical safety and effectiveness for fibroid embolization through a prospective case series.METHOD: This prospective case series studied patients treated with fibroid embolization using Optisphere between July 2017 and June 2018. The primary outcomes were device-related adverse event assessments and MRI-determined percentage infarct of the dominant fibroid (DF %) and infarct of all fibroids (AF %) at 3 months post-embolization. Secondary outcomes included symptom improvement with the validated Uterine Fibroid Symptom Score and Quality of Life questionnaire (UFS-SS and UFS-QOL) at 3 months and 12 months post-embolization. Statistical analysis was through the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for nonparametric paired data.RESULTS: Twenty-three consecutive patients were treated with Optisphere (median age 44.0, uterine volume 484.0 ml, dominant fibroid volume 167.0 ml). The complete dominant fibroid infarction (DF %) rate was 91.3% (21/23 patients), and the complete all fibroid infarction rate (AF %) was 82.6% (19/23). No adverse device-related safety events were encountered. Significant improvement was demonstrated in 3-month UFS-SS (56 vs 19, p &lt; 0.0001), UFS-QOL (40 vs 88, p = 0.0008), uterine volume (484 ml vs 246 ml, p &lt; 0.0001) and dominant fibroid volume (167 vs 64 ml, p &lt; 0.0001). Symptomatic improvement continued to 12 months (UFS-SS 56 vs 11, p = 0.0008, UFS-QOL 40 vs 98.7, p = 0.0008).CONCLUSION: Optisphere is an effective embolic agent for fibroid embolization with good symptomatic response and percentage fibroid infarct.</p