Comparative Content Analysis of Asian and U.S. News Magazine Advertising

This study is concerned with a comparative content analysis of Asian and U.S. news magazine advertising. The primary objective is to determine the similarities and differences in the advertising elements between Asian and u.s. print advertisements. Four advertising elements are studied, namely,: product variable, appeal variable, layout variable, and placement variable.Mass Communication

Mencius and Xunzi: On moral agency and the concept of Neng

Master'sMASTER OF ART

Stamping out animal culling : from anthropocentrism to one health ethics

Research Areas: AgricultureSocial Sciences - Other Topics. Environmental Sciences ; Ecology History ; Philosophy of ScienceCulling is used in traditional public health policies to control animal populations. These policies aim primarily to protect human interests but often fail to provide sci‑ entifc evidence of efectiveness. In this article, we defend the need to move from a strictly anthropocentric approach to disease control towards a One Health ethics, using culling practices as an example. We focus on the recent badger culls in the UK, claiming that, based on data provided by the English Government, these culls may be unjustifed, all thing considered. We highlight the relevance of ethical reasoning rooted in One Health for this discussion, and make several suggestions including a moratorium on culling until data are provided to support the efectiveness of culling; to conduct a randomized trial to compare proactive culling with alternative methods; to apply deliberative democratic methods to assess public opinion towards the culls, and to fnd in Brexit an opportunity for aiming for more efective control measures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Adolescent HPV vaccination: empowerment, equity and ethics.

Despite the great promise offered by human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to reduce disease burden and promote socioeconomic and gender equality, their implementation into national programmes has been slow. The vaccination of adolescents against a disease that may have serious consequences much later in life requires special consideration to the principles and processes of informed consent. Accumulating experiences from implementations in many countries indicate a need to examine ethical considerations related to adolescent vaccination. However, frameworks that integrate legal, development- and rights-based considerations in adolescent vaccination policies, while taking into account practical realities of HPV vaccination programmes, are currently lacking. We argue that principles of autonomy, social justice and gender equality have impacts on adolescent immunization that go beyond mere acceptance of vaccination and place greater demands on what constitutes meaningful informed consent, with implications for the provision of age- and context-appropriate information, vaccine financing and gender-based vaccination policies. Independent of cost-effectiveness considerations, we find a strong case to support universal HPV vaccination of girls that is free at the point of use and, where feasible, to extend vaccination to boys under the same financing schemes. ABBREVIATIONS: HPV: Human papillomavirus; STI: Sexually transmitted infections; WHO: World Health Organization

Sucrose density gradient centrifugation and cross-flow filtration methods for the production of arbovirus antigens inactivated by binary ethylenimine

BACKGROUND: Sucrose density gradient centrifugation and cross-flow filtration methods have been developed and standardised for the safe and reproducible production of inactivated arbovirus antigens which are appropriate for use in diagnostic serological applications. METHODS: To optimise the maximum titre of growth during the propagation of arboviruses, the multiplicity of infection and choice of cell line were investigated using stocks of Ross River virus and Barmah Forest virus grown in both mosquito and mammalian cell lines. To standardise and improve the efficacy of the inactivation of arboviral suspensions, stocks of Ross River virus, Barmah Forest virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, Murray Valley encephalitis virus and Alfuy virus were chemically inactivated using binary ethylenimine at a final concentration of 3 mM. Aliquots were then taken at hourly intervals and crude inactivation rates were determined for each virus using a plaque assay. To ensure complete inactivation, the same aliquots were each passaged 3 times in Aedes albopictus C6/36 cells and the presence of viral growth was detected using an immunofluorescent assay. For larger quantities of viral suspensions, centrifugation on an isopycnic sucrose density gradient or cross-flow filtration was used to produce concentrated, pure antigens or partially concentrated, semi-purified antigens respectively. RESULTS: The results of the propagation experiments suggested that the maximum viral titres obtained for both Ross River virus and Barmah Forest virus were affected by the incubation period and choice of cell line, rather than the use of different multiplicity of infection values. Results of the binary ethylenimine inactivation trial suggested that standardised periods of 5 or 8 hours would be suitable to ensure effective and complete inactivation for a number of different arboviral antigens. CONCLUSION: Two methods used to prepare inactivated arbovirus antigens have been standardised to minimise production failure and expenditure and to provide reagents that conform to the highest quality and safety requirements of a diagnostic serology laboratory. The antigens are suitable for use in either enzyme linked immunosorbent assays or haemagglutination inhibition assays and the optimised protocols can be directly applied to produce antigens from new or emerging arboviral pathogens

Current clinical status and vascular complications among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus at tertiary hospitals in Malaysia

Objective: To assess the prevalence of diabetic vascular complications and cardiovascular risk factors control in type 2 diabetic patients at tertiary settings. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 313 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at two tertiary referral hospitals in Malaysia. Data regarding socio-demographics, macro- and microvascular complications, family health history, blood pressure, anthropometric indices, glycaemic control, and lipid profile were obtained from medical records, face-to-face interview and physical examination. Results: The mean age of patients was 55.7±9.2 years, mean diabetes duration was 10.1±8.1 years, and 52.1% were females. Approximately 36.1% patients had cardiovascular disease (CVD). There were high prevalence of established coronary artery disease (30.7%), cerebrovascular disease (10.2%), and peripheral vascular disease (5.1%). Peripheral neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy were present in 41.5%, 17.6% and 15.0% patients respectively. Only 14.1% of the patients reached optimal HbA1c level and 21.1% patients achieved target fasting plasma glucose. The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia was 89.1%, hypertension was 80.2%, and obesity was 35.9% (BMI) and 86.5% (waist-to-hip ratio). Conclusions: Diabetic vascular complications were highly prevalent among the type 2 diabetic patients. Cardiovascular risk factors control was suboptimal. Both awareness and application of recommended guidelines need to be reinforced

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetic patients: a comparative study using WHO, NCEP ATP III, IDF and Harmonized definitions

To determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Malaysian type 2 diabetic patients using WHO, NCEP ATP III, IDF and the new Harmonized definitions, and the concordance between these definitions. This study involved 313 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at two Malaysian tertiary hospitals. Socio-demographic data were assessed using a pre-tested interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were carried out according to standard protocols. Clinical and laboratory characteristics were examined. Kappa (k) statistics were used for the agreement between the four MetS definitions. The overall prevalence rates of MetS (95% CI) were 95.8% (93.6-98.1), 96.1% (94.0-98.3), 84.8% (80.8-88.9) and 97.7% (96.1-99.4) according to the WHO, NCEP ATP III, IDF and the Harmonized definitions, respectively. The Kappa statistics demonstrated a slight to substantial agreement between the definitions (k = 0.179-0.875, p < 0.001), where the WHO criteria revealed the highest concordance with the NCEP ATP III definition (k = 0.875, p < 0.001). The WHO against NCEP ATP III criteria evinced the highest sensitivity (99.66%) whereas Harmonized criteria against all the other three definitions showed the highest specificity (100%) in identifying MetS. In conclusion, the new Harmonized criteria established the highest prevalence of MetS among the four definitions applied. There was a very good concordance between the WHO and NCEP ATP III criteria. The extremely high prevalence of MetS observed in type 2 diabetic patients indicates an impending pandemic of CVD risk in Malaysia. Aggressive treatment of MetS components is required to reduce cardiovascular risk in T2DM

Predictors of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Aims: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Although patients with T2DM and CVD share common risk factors, the link between these diseases remains unclear. This study intends to identify the predicting risk factors of CVD in Malaysian T2DM patients. Methods: We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study on 313 patients diagnosed withT2DM at selected tertiary hospitals upon prior ethical approvals. Systematic random sampling method was applied in patient selection. Socio-demographic data was assessed using a pre-tested interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. Diet (by 24-hour dietary recall), physical activity level [via International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)], smoking andalcohol consumption status were ascertained. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were performed according to standard procedures. Clinical and laboratory characteristics on cardiovascular risk factors (medical history, treatments, glycaemic control,and lipid profile) were collected from medical records, clinical examination and face-to-face interview. All statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS Statistics Version 21.0. Results: The mean age of study subjects was 55.7±9.2 years, with a mean diabetes duration of 10.1±8.1 years (CVD patients 11.5±8.7 years, non-CVD patients 9.2±7.6 years); 52.1%subjects were females; and 47.0% were Malays. Approximately one third (36.1%) of thesubjects were suffering from CVD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed age(B=0.056, adjusted OR 95% CI=1.058, p=0.004), lower HDL-C level (B=-1.466, adjusted OR 95% CI =0.231, p=0.003), working status of self-employment (B=1.381, adjusted OR 95% CI=3.978, p=0.002) in comparison to retirement, low (B=1.164, adjusted OR 95% CI=3.203, p<0.001) andmoderate physical activity levels (B=1.172, adjusted OR 95% CI=3.227, p<0.001) compared tohigh physical activity level were significantly associated with higher CVD risk, uponadjustment for potential covariates. Conclusion: Increased age, lower HDL-C, low and moderate physical activity levels, andworking status appeared to be significant predictive factors of CVD among the T2DM patients studied

Impedance Matching and Power Division Algorithm Considering Cross Coupling for Wireless Power Transfer via Magnetic Resonance

Abstract-Wireless power transfer via magnetic resonant coupling has been extensively researched for various applications. Impedance matching is implemented so that the transfer system is resilient to positional changed and load changed. Recently powering multiple loads simultaneously is becoming the focus in wireless power transfer researches and designs. Apart from maintaining high efficiency, controllable power division is also an important feature in multi-receiver system. This is due to ratio of power division depends not only on the load but also on the gap of each receiver to the transmitter. On the other hand, cross coupling exists when receivers are placed relatively near to each other. In this paper, novel algorithm is proposed for impedance matching and power division considering cross coupling in between two receivers. The wireless power transfer system is first represented by equivalent circuit and the algorithm for impedance matching and power division is derived. The new method is then verified using simulations