International competitiveness power and human development of countries

Human development should be the ultimate objective of human activity and its aim should be healthier, longer, and fuller lives. It is expected that if the competitiveness of a country is suitably managed, human welfare will be enhanced as a consequence. The research described here seeks to explore the relationship between the competitiveness of a country and its use for human development. For this purpose, 45 countries were evaluated using data envelopment analysis, where the global competitiveness indicators are taken as input variables and the human development index indicators as output variables. A detailed analysis is also conducted for the emerging economies

Exfoliative Cheilitis in Childhood: A Successful Treatment with Tacrolimus

Exfoliative cheilitis is a hardly diagnosed disease by pediatricians. We have presented this report to draw the attention of clinicians because the child is the youngest patient with complete relief from using tacrolimus ointment in the literature. We present the three-year-old child with scaled, crusted, and sensitive upper and lower lips. He was admitted to different centers from the beginning of the complaints without any relief despite different treatments. The clinicians may encounter exfoliative cheilitis in different age groups. There are some approaches to management and therapy of the disease. But consensus has not yet occurred on definitive treatment, especially in childhood

A decision support system to evaluate the competitiveness of nations

The measurement of competitiveness and strategy development is an important issue for policy makers. The aim of this paper is to explore methodological transparency as a viable solution to problems created by existing aggregated indices as well as to conduct a detailed analysis on the ongoing performance of nations’ competitiveness. For this purpose, a methodology composed of three steps is used. To start, a combined clustering analysis methodology is used to assign countries to appropriate clusters. In current methods, country clustering is generally based on GDP. However, we suggest that GDP alone is insufficient to define the stage of competitiveness a country belongs. In the proposed methodology, 135 criteria are used for a proper classification of the countries. Relationships between the criteria and classification of the countries are determined using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). ANN provides an objective method for determining the attribute/criteria weights, which are, for the most part, subjectively specified in existing methods. Finally, in the third step, the countries of interest are ranked based on weights generated in the previous step. Beyond the ranking of countries, the proposed methodology can also be used to identify those attributes that a given country should focus on in order to improve its position relative to other countries, i.e., to transition from its current cluster to the next higher one. As a final analysis, the dynamic change of the rank of the countries over years has also been investigated

Pediatric Emergency Department Visits Related to Home Accident in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction:The Coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic has been caused several physical, mental and psychosocial problems alongside being a respiratory system infection. During pandemic, children were forced to stay at home as a preventative measure. Thus, we aimed to assess the number and characteristics of home accident-related visits in a pediatric emergency department during the pandemic.Methods:This cross-sectional study included all children aged under 18 years who admitted with home accident in two curfew periods and the corresponding periods of previous year. Demographic and clinical data was consisted of age, gender, admission time, time elapsed between accident and pediatric emergency department admission, type of home accident, medical and surgical interventions, length of stay in pediatric emergency department, hospitalization, or intensive care unit admission and mortality. The data of curfew periods was compared with its control periods by using Mann- Whitney U test, t-test or chi-square. The statistical significance was defined as p≤0.05.Results:We enrolled 744 patients. There was no significant difference in age, gender, time elapsed from the accident, ratio of hospitalization between curfew and control periods. The proportions of home accidents among all admissions were higher in two curfew periods (p=0.001 and p<0.001). The ratio of poisoning and foreign body ingestions was increased during both two curfew periods (0.7% vs. 0.3%, p=0.001 and 0.7% vs. 0.1%, p<0.001 for poisoning; 0.4% vs. 0.1%, p<0.001 and 0.8% vs. 0.1%, p<0.001 for foreign body ingestion) and the ratio of trauma was increased in the curfew-2 period (1.2% vs. 0.3%, p<0.001).Conclusion:We suggested a higher ratio of home accidents especially poisoning and foreign body ingestions in curfew period. Thus, in case of global disasters such as pandemic the authorities should improve preventative and healthcare strategies to establish a safe environment for children and adolescents

A new perspective on the competitiveness of nations

The capability of firms to survive and to have a competitive advantage in global markets depends on, amongst other things, the efficiency of public institutions, the excellence of educational, health and communications infrastructures, as well as on the political and economic stability of their home country. The measurement of competitiveness and strategy development is thus an important issue for policy-makers. Despite many attempts to provide objectivity in the development of measures of national competitiveness, there are inherently subjective judgments that involve, for example, how data sets are aggregated and importance weights are applied. Generally, either equal weighting is assumed in calculating a final index, or subjective weights are specified. The same problem also occurs in the subjective assignment of countries to different clusters. Developed as such, the value of these type indices may be questioned by users. The aim of this paper is to explore methodological transparency as a viable solution to problems created by existing aggregated indices. For this purpose, a methodology composed of three steps is proposed. To start, a hierarchical clustering analysis is used to assign countries to appropriate clusters. In current methods, country clustering is generally based on GDP. However, we suggest that GDP alone is insufficient for purposes of country clustering. In the proposed methodology, 178 criteria are used for this purpose. Next, relationships between the criteria and classification of the countries are determined using artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANN provides an objective method for determining the attribute/criteria weights, which are, for the most part, subjectively specified in existing methods. Finally, in our third step, the countries of interest are ranked based on weights generated in the previous step. Beyond the ranking of countries, the proposed methodology can also be used to identify those attributes that a given country should focus on in order to improve its position relative to other countries, i.e., to transition from its current cluster to the next higher one

Unexpected Complication of Blunt Trauma: Evisceration

Traumatic abdominal wall hernia with evisceration is an uncommon injury secondary to blunt abdominal trauma in all age groups. Bicycle handlebar injuries among children are significant causes of blunt abdominal trauma such as penetrating trauma. We present a case of evisceration in a 14-year-old child after blunt injury with handle bar. We assume that early management and prompt abdominal exploration and surgical repair provide good clinical outcome without complication

Does Providing Clinical Care for Trauma Patients have a Positive Effect on Physicians’ Perspective on Child Passenger Safety?

Introduction: Motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of the mortality in the pediatric population. Preventive strategies are the best approach to reduce mortality and morbidity due to motor vehicle crashes. Since parents mostly refer to them for guidance, doctors should have a high level of knowledge and awareness to increase the usage of car safety seats. We thought that providing care for trauma patients could have a positive effect on the physicians’ awareness and knowledge level. Based on this, we aimed to assess the awareness and knowledge of pediatricians and emergency physicians and trauma doctors. Methods: An electronic survey consisting of 23 questions was prepared. Demographic features, awareness and knowledge level of the physicians were assessed on three sections. Five suggestions in the guideline of the American Academy of Pediatrics were used to assess physicians’ knowledge level. The respondents were grouped as those providing clinical care for trauma patients and those do not. Results: The questionnaires were sent to 641 physicians and 323 who completed the questionnaire were included in the study. One hundred and fourteen (35.3%) of the respondents were providing clinical care for trauma patients. One hundred ninety (59.2%) respondents had children. Majority of the physicians had a satisfactory level of knowledge about car safety seat (CSS). The number of respondents reported having adequate self-awareness was found statistically significantly higher in the groups of doctors who have children and provide clinical care for trauma patients (p0.05). Interestingly, the knowledge level in physicians who had children was statistically significantly lower than in those with no children (p<0.01). Conclusion: Our survey revealed that physicians who provide clinical care for trauma patients think they have a high level of knowledge about CSS. Unfortunately, their knowledge level was low as other physicians in the study group

Assessment of the requisites of microbiology based infectious disease training under the pressure of consultation needs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Training of infectious disease (ID) specialists is structured on classical clinical microbiology training in Turkey and ID specialists work as clinical microbiologists at the same time. Hence, this study aimed to determine the clinical skills and knowledge required by clinical microbiologists.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was carried out between June 1, 2010 and September 15, 2010 in 32 ID departments in Turkey. Only patients hospitalized and followed up in the ID departments between January-June 2010 who required consultation with other disciplines were included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 605 patients undergoing 1343 consultations were included, with pulmonology, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, dermatology, haematology, and endocrinology being the most frequent consultation specialties. The consultation patterns were quite similar and were not affected by either the nature of infections or the critical clinical status of ID patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of our study show that certain internal medicine subdisciplines such as pulmonology, neurology and dermatology appear to be the principal clinical requisites in the training of ID specialists, rather than internal medicine as a whole.</p