Spiritual Growth and Social Entrepreneurship: Understanding the integration of spirituality and social entrepreneurial process

The business world today is moving from capitalism to social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurs view a social mission as an explicit and central one than following the path of individual wealth creation. Seizing opportunities and utilizing resources are the key factors that influencing entrepreneurial process. Entrepreneur’s belief system is shaped or process of interpretation that makes entrepreneurs pursue solutions to social problems. Transcends from wealth creators to social warriors may be explained by focusing on their spiritual orientation (Ganzin, Islam, & Suddaby, 2020). The objective of the study is to explore the connection of spirituality development to social entrepreneurial process of social entrepreneurs. The paper offers a new theoretical conceptualization in relation to understanding how spiritual growth influences social entrepreneurs. Thus, the paper tries to build up the relationship between spiritual growth and social entrepreneurial process. As such, our paper strengthen the existing social entrepreneurship theory by introducing the spirituality dimension to the cognitive process and highlights the trigger points related to social entrepreneurial behavior that transcendence individual wealth creation. Furthermore, the linkage between the attributes of social entrepreneurial process and spiritual development phases is an eye opening to both spiritual and entrepreneurial studies. Keywords: Social entrepreneurship, Spiritual growth, Entrepreneurial proces

The ProPrems trial: investigating the effects of probiotics on late onset sepsis in very preterm infants

BACKGROUND: Late onset sepsis is a frequent complication of prematurity associated with increased mortality and morbidity. The commensal bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract play a key role in the development of healthy immune responses. Healthy term infants acquire these commensal organisms rapidly after birth. However, colonisation in preterm infants is adversely affected by delivery mode, antibiotic treatment and the intensive care environment. Altered microbiota composition may lead to increased colonisation with pathogenic bacteria, poor immune development and susceptibility to sepsis in the preterm infant.Probiotics are live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts confer health benefits on the host. Amongst numerous bacteriocidal and nutritional roles, they may also favourably modulate host immune responses in local and remote tissues. Meta-analyses of probiotic supplementation in preterm infants report a reduction in mortality and necrotising enterocolitis. Studies with sepsis as an outcome have reported mixed results to date.Allergic diseases are increasing in incidence in "westernised" countries. There is evidence that probiotics may reduce the incidence of these diseases by altering the intestinal microbiota to influence immune function. METHODS/DESIGN: This is a multi-centre, randomised, double blinded, placebo controlled trial investigating supplementing preterm infants born at < 32 weeks' gestation weighing < 1500 g, with a probiotic combination (Bifidobacterium infantis, Streptococcus thermophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis). A total of 1,100 subjects are being recruited in Australia and New Zealand. Infants commence the allocated intervention from soon after the start of feeds until discharge home or term corrected age. The primary outcome is the incidence of at least one episode of definite (blood culture positive) late onset sepsis before 40 weeks corrected age or discharge home. Secondary outcomes include: Necrotising enterocolitis, mortality, antibiotic usage, time to establish full enteral feeds, duration of hospital stay, growth measurements at 6 and 12 months' corrected age and evidence of atopic conditions at 12 months' corrected age. DISCUSSION: Results from previous studies on the use of probiotics to prevent diseases in preterm infants are promising. However, a large clinical trial is required to address outstanding issues regarding safety and efficacy in this vulnerable population. This study will address these important issues. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR): ACTRN012607000144415The product "ABC Dophilus Probiotic Powder for Infants®", Solgar, USA has its 3 probiotics strains registered with the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSMZ--German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures) as BB-12 15954, B-02 96579, Th-4 15957

NeOProM: Neonatal Oxygenation Prospective Meta-analysis Collaboration study protocol

Background: The appropriate level of oxygenation for extremely preterm neonates ( 90%) have been reported to have greater rates of morbidity including retinopathy of prematurity and chronic lung disease. In order to answer this clinical dilemma reliably, large scale trial evidence is needed.Methods/Design: To detect a small but important 4% increase in death or severe disability in survivors, over 5000 neonates would need to be recruited. As extreme prematurity affects 1% of births, such a project undertaken by one trial group would be prohibitively lengthy and expensive. Hence, the Neonatal Oxygenation Prospective Meta-analysis (NeOProM) Collaboration has been formed. A prospective meta-analysis (PMA) is one where studies are identified, evaluated, and determined to be eligible before the results of any included studies are known or published, thereby avoiding some of the potential biases inherent in standard, retrospective meta-analyses. This methodology provides the same strengths as a single large-scale multicentre randomised study whilst allowing greater pragmatic flexibility. The NeOProM Collaboration protocol (NCT01124331) has been agreed prior to the results of individual trials being available. This includes pre-specifying the hypotheses, inclusion criteria and outcome measures to be used. Each trial will first publish their respective results as they become available and the combined meta-analytic results, using individual patient data, will be published when all trials are complete. The primary outcome to be assessed is a composite outcome of death or major disability at 18 months - 2 years corrected age. Secondary outcomes include several measures of neonatal morbidity. The size of the combined dataset will allow the effect of the interventions to be explored more reliably with respect to pre-specified patient- and intervention-level characteristics.Discussion: Results should be available by 2014

Entrepreneurial orientation of rural business holders (micro and small): Evidence from industrialized suburbs of an emerging economy

Micro and small-scale ventures are known to be vital vectors for eradication of poverty and uplifting the livelihood of the community. Entrepreneurial orientation in three dimensions – proactiveness, innovativeness and risk-taking ability – provide insights into the entrepreneurial behaviour of business operators. The present research is focused on the entrepreneurial orientation of business owners in a turbulent environment in regard to their business performance. The quantitative research was carried out with 92 businesses in the industrialised zone of Sri Lanka. The findings revealed that, in a changing environment, the most vigilant EO dimension is risk-taking ability. In-depth analysis of risk-taking ability indicated that micro and small entrepreneurs on highly competitive platforms do not tend to pursue highrisk projects. Thus, it can be concluded that entrepreneurs in turbulent environments take calculated risks to thrive in their businesses.Keywords: Entrepreneurial orientation, rural business, risk-taking ability, Sri Lank

A unique single nucleotide polymorphism in Agouti Signalling Protein (ASIP) gene changes coat colour of Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) to dark black.

The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is an endangered subspecies restricted to isolated and fragmented populations in Sri Lanka. Among them, melanistic leopards have been recorded on a few occasions. Literature suggests the evolution of melanism several times in the Felidae family, with three species having distinct mutations. Nevertheless, the mutations or other variations in the remaining species, including Sri Lankan melanistic leopard, are unknown. We used reference-based assembled nuclear genomes of Sri Lankan wild type and melanistic leopards and de novo assembled mitogenomes of the same to investigate the genetic basis, adaptive significance, and evolutionary history of the Sri Lankan melanistic leopard. Interestingly, we identified a single nucleotide polymorphism in exon-4 Sri Lankan melanistic leopard, which may completely ablate Agouti Signalling Protein (ASIP) function. The wild type leopards in Sri Lanka did not carry this mutation, suggesting the cause for the occurrence of melanistic leopords in the population. Comparative analysis of existing genomic data in the literature suggests it as a P. p. kotiya specific mutation and a novel mutation in the ASIP-gene of the Felidae family, contributing to naturally occurring colour polymorphism. Our data suggested the coalescence time of Sri Lankan leopards at ~0.5 million years, sisters to the Panthera pardus lineage. The genetic diversity was low in Sri Lankan leopards. Further, the P. p. kotiya melanistic leopard is a different morphotype of the P. p. kotiya wildtype leopard resulting from the mutation in the ASIP-gene. The ability of black leopards to camouflage, along with the likelihood of recurrence and transfer to future generations, suggests that this rare mutation could be environment-adaptable

Effect of increasing protein content of human milk fortifier on growth in preterm infants born at <31 wk gestation: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Preterm human milk-fed infants often experience suboptimal growth despite the use of human milk fortifier (HMF). The extra protein supplied in fortifiers may be inadequate to meet dietary protein requirements for preterm infants. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the effect of human milk fortified with a higher-protein HMF on growth in preterm infants. DESIGN: This is a randomized controlled trial in 92 preterm infants born at <31 wk gestation who received maternal breast milk that was fortified with HMF containing 1.4 g protein/100 mL (higher-protein group) or 1.0 g protein/100 mL (current practice) until discharge or estimated due date, whichever came first. The HMFs used were isocaloric and differed only in the amount of protein or carbohydrate. Length, weight, and head-circumference gains were assessed over the study duration. RESULTS: Length gains did not differ between the higher- and standard-protein groups (mean difference: 0.06 cm/wk; 95% CI: -0.01, 0.12 cm/wk; P = 0.08). Infants in the higher-protein group achieved a greater weight at study end (mean difference: 220 g; 95% CI: 23, 419 g; P = 0.03). Secondary analyses showed a significant reduction in the proportion of infants who were less than the 10th percentile for length at the study end in the higher-protein group (risk difference: 0.186; 95% CI: 0.370, 0.003; P = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS: A higher protein intake results in less growth faltering in human milk-fed preterm infants. It is possible that a higher-protein fortifier than used in this study is needed. This trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (http://www.anzctr.org.au/) as ACTRN12606000525583.Jacqueline Miller, Maria Makrides, Robert A Gibson, Andrew J McPhee, Tyman E Stanford, Scott Morris, Philip Ryan, and Carmel T Collin