The Relationship between Direct to Consumer Marketing and the Self-Perception of Gerd Symptoms in the Young Adult Population

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms in a young adult population of university students and to examine the relationship between direct-to-consumer marketing and the self-perception of GERD symptoms. GERD is defined as the spectrum of disease usually producing symptoms of heartburn and acid regurgitation. Previous studies have varied prevalences in the adult population ranging from 5% to 45%, depending on the method of diagnosis. However, very little is known about the prevalence of GERD in the young adult population. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are widely utilized to control GERD symptoms, and have been available without a prescription since 2003. During this time period, the use of direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing of prescription medications was permitted in the United States. The prevalence of GERD in the young adult population, as well as the impact of DTC advertising on the self-reporting of GERD symptoms, is largely unknown. A group-administered questionnaire of 168 graduate and undergraduate students at Yale University was performed between September 2006 and December 2006. The mean age of respondents was 22.26 years. 68.64% of respondents were female. When using a diagnostic qualification of mild symptoms at least one day a week, 3.57% of the subject population reported heartburn symptoms, 8.92% reported regurgitation symptoms, and 1.79% reported both heartburn and regurgitation symptoms. 92.3% of respondents reported exposure to DTC ads, with 89.83% of respondents exposed to PPI advertisements. There was no correlation between exposure to advertisements for heartburn/reflux medications and the self-reporting of GERD symptoms. The prevalence of GERD symptoms in this young adult population is lower than that reported in adult populations. Direct-to-consumer marketing does not appear to influence the way this population perceives GERD symptoms

Pd(II), Pt(II), Rh(III), Ir(III) and Ru(III) Complexes of some Nitrogen-Oxygen Donor Ligands

Pd(II), Pt(II), Rh(III), Ir (III) and Ru(III) complexes of propiophenone and butyrophenone semicarbazones (abbreviated PSC and BSC, respectively) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic moments and IR and electronic spectral studies. The complexes were found to have the composition of M(PSC/BSChC12 (M= Pd or Pt) and M(PSC/BSChC13 (M= Rh, Ir and Ru). All the complexes are diamagnetic except Ru(PSC/BSC)3C13, which is paramagnetic, Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes are of square planar geometry. Rh(III), Ru(HI) and Ir(III) complexes are six-coordinate octahedral. Various ligand field parameters have been calculated and discussed

Understanding Effective Venues of Women Representation in Latin America: An Empirical Study of Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5

Recent research concerning women and politics focuses on identifying what factors cause and stimulate women participation in politics. This thesis uses the indicators for Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5 as a measurement basis for an empirical study to determine if certain factors effect women participation in Latin American politics. Data for these goals, to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women and Improve Maternal Health, were collected for various Latin American countries across a 2000-2015 time series. Along with this data collection, this thesis focuses on testing two specific factors to determine their effectiveness on women representation in Latin America. These two factors are “women participation in parliament” and “women participation in social movement.” For the first factor, this thesis records each country’s number of women in parliament, the existence of any gender quotas in that country, and the existence of female heads of states in any of those countries from 2000-2015. The second factor is constructed from various sources that indicate social movement presence in each country from 2000-2015. This thesis argues that the presence of these two factors increases success for the indicators of MDGs 3 and 5. This thesis begins with a review of literature surveying existing trends of women studies and politics along with providing arguments and support for the two factors tested in this thesis. After this literature review is an analysis of the descriptive statistics of MDGs 3 and 5 followed by a variable analysis of the aforementioned factors. Finally, this thesis concludes that “women in parliament” is an important factor resulting in positive outcomes for the indicators of MDGs 3 and 5

Understanding Effective Venues of Women Representation in Latin America: An Empirical Study of Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5

Recent research concerning women and politics focuses on identifying what factors cause and stimulate women participation in politics. This thesis uses the indicators for Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5 as a measurement basis for an empirical study to determine if certain factors effect women participation in Latin American politics. Data for these goals, to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women and Improve Maternal Health, were collected for various Latin American countries across a 2000-2015 time series. Along with this data collection, this thesis focuses on testing two specific factors to determine their effectiveness on women representation in Latin America. These two factors are “women participation in parliament” and “women participation in social movement.” For the first factor, this thesis records each country’s number of women in parliament, the existence of any gender quotas in that country, and the existence of female heads of states in any of those countries from 2000-2015. The second factor is constructed from various sources that indicate social movement presence in each country from 2000-2015. This thesis argues that the presence of these two factors increases success for the indicators of MDGs 3 and 5. This thesis begins with a review of literature surveying existing trends of women studies and politics along with providing arguments and support for the two factors tested in this thesis. After this literature review is an analysis of the descriptive statistics of MDGs 3 and 5 followed by a variable analysis of the aforementioned factors. Finally, this thesis concludes that “women in parliament” is an important factor resulting in positive outcomes for the indicators of MDGs 3 and 5

Trends in the HIV related hospital admissions in the HAART era in Barbados, 2004–2006

BACKGROUND: To investigate the reasons for hospitalizations and its outcome in the era of HAART in Barbados. This report also describes the profile of the HIV infected persons who are hospitalized in the HAART era. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of HIV related admissions in this country. We examined the admission case notes of all the adult admissions to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where one of the discharge diagnosis was HIV infection during the April 2004 through March 2006. Data collected included patients' profile, including the date of diagnosis of HIV infection, outcome of the current admission in term of discharge or death and the final diagnosis at the time of discharge or death. RESULTS: Over the 24 months period there were 431 adult admissions to the medical wards of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where one of the discharge diagnosis was HIV infection and this accounted for 5.9% of all medical admissions. 258(60%) admissions were in persons who were known to be HIV infected prior to the current admission, where as diagnosis of HIV infection was made for the first time during the current admission in case of remaining 76(47.5%) cases. Nearly half of those hospitalized, had a CD 4 cell counts of < 200/μL. Over all, opportunistic infection was the commonest (35%) discharge diagnosis, followed by serious bacterial infections, anemia and HIV nephropathy. The outcome of these admissions was death in 30 (14.2%) cases where as patient was discharged out in the remaining 181 (85.8%) cases. Of the medical admissions with HIV as one of the discharge diagnosis during the period April 04 through March 05, 43% were newly diagnosed HIV infection and the corresponding figure for the period April 05 through March 06 was 35% (P = 0.54). During the April 05 through March 04 significantly higher proportion of HIV infected adults had Anemia with a Hemoglobin less than 10 g/dL (P = 0.044), HIV related nephropathy (P = 0.0003), HAART toxicity (P = < 0.0001) and a Non-AIDS related conditions (P = 0.043) as one of the final discharge diagnosis. CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of patients admitted with HIV infection were the newly diagnosed and severely immuno-supressed. An opportunistic infection continues to be the commonest discharge diagnosis, although there was a growing trend in the proportion of the discharge diagnosis being HAART toxicity and Non-AIDS related conditions. Over all hospitalization of HIV infected persons still carries a significant risk of mortality

Priority Based Workflow Task Scheduling In Cloud Computing Environments

Cloud Computing delivers computing resources as a service over a network (Internet) to the customers. The tasks or jobs of the users would require to be executed in a particular order to complete the whole task. Workflow scheduling manages the execution of the inter-dependent tasks on the distributed resources. Workflow scheduling algorithms are used to allocate the resources to workflow tasks in a manner that preserves the dependency constraints. At the same time, the tasks must be scheduled efficiently in order to minimize the execution time as well as cost incurred in using the heterogeneous resources of the cloud. This paper proposes a multiple criteria decision making model for scheduling tasks based on priority and cost. This paper extends our earlier work on Artificial Bee Colony algorithm to schedule workflow job based on assigned priority while optimizing the cost and execution time

Polycystic ovary syndrome, blood group & diet: A correlative study in South Indian females

Aim: To find out the co-relation between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with blood group & diet in South Indian females, between the age-group of (20-30) years. Objectives: Correlative analysis of ABO & Rh system, dietary habits & alcohol consumption with PCOS. Materials & Methods: 100 patients between (20-30) years, diagnosed with PCOS were selected. A standard PCOS questionnaire was given. Blood group & dietary status data were collected. Patients were grouped according to ABO & Rh system considering their diet & alcohol intake (p≤0.05 significant). Result: Our data revealed that the highest risk of PCOS was observed in females with blood group ‘O’ positive followed by ‘B’ positive who were on mixed diet & used to consume alcohol. Our study also suggests that Rh negative individuals didn’t show any association with PCOS. Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that ‘O’ positive females, are more prone to PCOS. Though the relative frequency of B positive individuals are more in India, females with blood group O positive are more susceptible to PCOS, contributing factors being mixed diet & alcohol intake. So, early screening of ‘O’ positive &‘B’ positive females of reproductive age-group in South-India, could be used as a measure for timely diagnosis of PCOS, better management &also prevention of complications. However, further research should be done to investigate the multifaceted mechanisms triggering these effects