Serum Vitamin Concentrations are Associated with Metabolic Syndrome and Insulin Resistance in US Children

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a concern in the US. Association between vitamin D status and metabolic syndrome (MetS), insulin resistance (IR), and inflammation is unclear in children. Objective: The relationship between serum vitamin D and MetS, C-reactive protein (CRP), and Homeostatic Model Assessment-IR (HOMA-IR) was investigated. Design: Data from 3 cycles of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001-2006 for 3700 (1820, boys; 1880, girls) children and adolescents, aged 12-17 y were used to assess prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (\u3c20 ng\u3e/mL) and association between serum vitamin D and prevalence of MetS, various components of MetS, CRP, and HOMA-IR using multivariate regression models. Results: Overall, prevalences of MetS and vitamin D deficiency were 6.1% and 30.5%, respectively. Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was higher in girls (52%), blacks (74%), non-supplement users (50%), persons who were examined in winter (56%), and persons in the low poverty income ratio group (57%) compared to their counterparts. Serum vitamin D was inversely associated with waist circumference (P\u3c0.001), systolic blood pressure (P=0.009), and HOMA-IR (P=0.003) and positively associated with HDL-cholesterol (P\u3c0.001). Children with lowest serum vitamin D are at increased risk for MetS (P=0.04; OR 2.26; 95% CI: 1.11, 4.61). Serum vitamin D was not related to CRP (P\u3c0.10). Conclusions: Children with poor vitamin D status are at increased risk for MetS and IR. Because of negative health outcomes associated with MetS and poor vitamin D status when existed individually or in combination, early detection and intervention of these conditions are paramount, especially in children

Gall Stones in Pediatric Population

Gall stones is a known entity in adults, but are considered uncommon in pediatric population, however in the recent years, mainly with wide spread use of ultrasonography, cholelithiasis in children is being frequently reported. Etiology of gall stones in children is not similar to adults. Pigment stones are the most frequently seen in children with hemolytic disease as the most common cause, however with the increase in obesity in children there is also rise in cholesterol stones. Many other causes like drugs, congenital hepatobiliary malformation and genetic causes are to be kept during evaluation of gall stones. Management of gall stones need a proper and timely work up for the causes of cholelithiasis is necessary in children. Surgical management with laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the treatment of choice in most of the cases however the timing of surgery should be optimized case to case basis

Stock Market Dynamics in Pakistan: What Do Political Events and Budget Announcements Disclose?

The purpose of this study is to capture Pakistani stock market dynamics in response to political -and budget events. The study of political events and budget announcements together is quite reasonable in that: swift transformations of governments are likely to change annual budget policies, so both political -and budget events go side by side and influence the stock market performance. Moreover, we want to check: whether budget is one possible channel to off- set or somehow reduce the damage occurred due to political instability? We employ event study methodology over the sample period 1998-2016 of KSE-100 index daily returns to test the investor’s reaction to political -and budget news and, investigated whether stock market behaviour is consistent with efficient market hypothesis or over-and underreaction hypothesis or uncertain information hypothesis. We find evidence that Pakistani stock market exhibits weak form of the EMH for expected political -and budget events. The results of unexpected political events report that investors overreact to good political news while underreact to bad political news, indicate that results are consistent to UIH. The study may suggest that budget policies may not be very useful to offset the negative impact of political instability for a longer time period. So, the developing nations, especially, with more exposure towards political risk may use this suggestion as a strategic tool and, focus on some other channels to compensate the harmful effects of political instability on stock market performance. Keywords: Pakistan, KSE-100 index, Political events, Budget events, Event Stud

IMPACT OF R&D INVESTMENT ON FIRM PERFORMANCE AND FIRM VALUE: EVIDENCE FROM DEVELOPED NATIONS (G-7)

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact of R&D investment on firm performance and firm value among G-7 countries. To testify such relationship we use firm level and country level data collected from firms’ financial statement, countries stock exchanges and World Bank databases. Based on data structure (country level, industry level and firm level) we use HLM regression analysis technique along with robust standard error. By using diverse range of control variables (firm size, age, leverage, GDP growth, interest rate and financial crises dummy), results suggest that same year R&D investment has negative impact on firm performance and positive impact on firm value. However one year lagged period R&D investment has positive relationship with both firm performance and firm value. Nevertheless two year lagged period R&D investment has not effect on both firm performance and value

Global status of Building Information Modeling (BIM) - A Review

The adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) has enhanced the construction industry by means of increasing quality of project, accurate quantity take-off, improved planning, scheduling, and visualization, consequently diminishing project contingencies, time and cost. BIM has been adopted by several countries, many researchers and institute have attempted to measure the BIM status across the world for which many quantitative and qualitative surveys have been conducted. The implementation of BIM technology is by no means equal in different countries all over the world. This study involves the finding of awareness and adoption of BIM in different countries in the world, for which 8 different countries were adopted which have large construction market. The survey data is collected from different research documents, Smart Market report, NBM National BIM reports and BIM surveys. The awareness and adoption of BIM in different countries is compared and plotted, it was found that awareness and adoption of BIM in North America is 71% giving highest percentage whereas in India it is at lowest level of awareness and adoption i.e. 22%. This paper explores the status of BIM in percentage users, heard but not using and non-user in different countries in the world

Ketogenic Diet as an Anticancer Therapy

Dear Editor, Cancer is one of the major public health concerns globally. Despite the advances in anticancer therapies, we still lack the approach to enhance its efficacy. Although the gold standard of treatment for most cancers includes a combination of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, many patients still suffer from poor prognosis and alternative effective therapy is required

The SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic a Global Emergency: The Journey from Bats to Humans

Bats are considered as the reservoirs of coronaviruses (CoVs) which resulted in severe disease outbreaks in humans. Zoonotic coronaviruses responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), were originated from bats and remain highly pathogenic to humans during the last two decades. Recently, an acute respiratory disease outbreak which spread in Wuhan, China was caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) also known as 2019-nCoV, received worldwide attention. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19 epidemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 as a public health emergency. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has been considered as the third highly pathogenic epidemic of the 21st century. The SARS-CoV-2 belongs to β-coronavirus group with highly identical genome to bat coronavirus RaTG13, assuming bat as the natural host. According to WHO as of December 21, 2020, approximately 75,479,471 persons were infected with 16,86,267 deaths in 222 countries. Whereas the in Pakistan according to WHO as of December 21, 2020, around 4 57,288 persons were infected with 9, 330 death reported in the country. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; 2019-nCoV; Bats; Human; Epidemic; Pandemic DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/105-07 Publication date: February 28th 202

Strengthening fruit and vegetable supply-chain policies and programmes in India

India currently has one of the highest numbers of malnourished children in the world – 8% stunted, 43% underweight, and 20% overweight and obese. This distressing public health scenario is further exacerbated by a high prevalence of multiple micronutrient deficiencies among these children – such as iron deficiency anaemia and Vitamin A deficiency. Evidence shows linkages between early life malnourishment (either underweight or overweight-obesity) and predisposition to developing chronic diseases in adult life. Consuming 400g/day of fresh fruits and vegetables can help prevent micronutrient deficiencies while promoting overall growth and development. However, national averages indicate that children do not consume even 40% of the daily recommended amounts. Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) undertook a study titled ‘Leveraging fruit and vegetable supply policies to tackle the dual burden of malnutrition in India’ supported by the Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) consortium at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF). The study, discussed in this Brief aimed to analyse the policy environment related with fruit and vegetable (FV) supply in India to identify opportunities for policy to increase access to, and thus intakes of FV, especially among children.Department for International Development (DFID)UKAI

How Can Health, Agriculture and Economic Policy Actors Work Together to Enhance the External Food Environment for Fruit and Vegetables? A Qualitative Policy Analysis in India

The benefits of fruit and vegetables are well established, particularly their role in preventing general micronutrient-deficiencies and chronic diseases. However, global food systems are not delivering diverse and high quality diets: healthy food is unavailable and too expensive for many. Creating food environments that foster consumer access to fruit and vegetables will require coordinated policy action across sectors, mostly outside of the health sector. The aim of this paper is to identify opportunities to strengthen food system policy for nutrition, through an analysis of the policies relevant to the external food environment for fruit and vegetables in India. We conducted interviews based on policy theory with 55 stakeholders from national and state level, from within government, research, private sector and non-government agencies, and from health, agriculture and economic sectors. Specific strategies identified in this study to improve consumers’ external food environment for fruit and vegetables in India were: development of strategic Public-Private Partnerships to increase access to diverse expertise across the supply chain; linking health and economic/agricultural policy agendas; and strengthening surveillance of policy impacts on consumer access to fruit and vegetables. We also found that public health actors can play an important role in advocating for ‘consumer oriented’ fruit and vegetable supply policy. This study demonstrates the usefulness of ‘policy learning’-oriented qualitative policy analysis in identifying ‘points of entry’ for food policy change, and extends understanding of political dynamics in engendering agricultural policy change for nutrition. Improving access to affordable fruit and vegetables is a global priority, and given common global food supply challenges, the findings from this study are also likely to be relevant for other low and middle income countries