Effects of Changes in Public Policy on Efficiency and Productivity of General Hospitals in Vietnam

The health sector reform programme which began in Vietnam in 1989 in order to improve the efficiency of the health system has altered the way in which Vietnamese hospitals operate. The programme put the spotlight on input savings. This study aims to examine the relative efficiency of hospitals during the health reform process and assess - by looking at the relative efficiency of hospitals - the effects of the regulatory changes. The study employs the DEA two-stage approach referring to data from 101 general public hospitals over the period 1998-2006. The study revealed that there was evidence of improvement in the productivity of Vietnamese hospitals over the period 1998-2006, with a progress in total factor productivity of 1.4% per year. Furthermore, the differences in hospital efficiency can be attributed to both the regulatory changes and hospital-specific characteristics. The user fees and autonomy measures were found to increase technical efficiency. Provincial hospitals were revealed to be more technically efficient than their central counterparts and hospitals located in the North East, South East and Mekong River Delta regions performed better that hospitals from other regions

The Headscarf Controversy in Turkey

This article is based on a monographic field study, which was conducted in October 2007. In addition, the results of other studies on the headscarf issue conducted at different times between 2003 and 2007 have also been used to follow the development over the course of time. The study found that the headscarf prohibition has no strong social basis. As it would be a mistake to see the headscarf prohibition as an element of the secularism project, defining an ideology on the basis of the headscarf, an important religious symbol in Turkey, presents a risk to the progress of democracy, and only serves to increase political polarization. Formulating public policies on the basis of the headscarf prohibition will only help destroy social peace. Social engineering projects which aim to change or destroy political, religious and ethnic positions of citizens are not permitted in Western-type contemporary democracies. There is no headscarf problem in Turkey in a sociological sense, the real problem lies in the totalitarian/authoritarian approach which stems from groundless fears and/or ideological choices of the social elite or economic power centers.Headscarf, hijab, Islamic fundamentalism

EFFECTS OF CHROMIUM PICOLINATE ON OXIDATIVE STRESS AND HYPERGLYCEMIA IN EXPERIMENTAL TYPE 2 DIABETIC RATS

Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of chromium picolinate (CrPic) on diabetes, one of the most common and fatal diseases in the world, and its associated oxidative damages.Methods: CrPic (100 μg/kg) and metformin (1000 mg/kg) were orally administered for 21 days in rats with nicotinamide + streptozotocin-induced Type 2 diabetes.Results: Significant decreases in fasting blood glucose levels were observed 14 days after initial administration in both CrPic (p<0.01) and metformin (p<0.001) groups compared with a diabetic control group (DC). Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of all tissues were significantly higher in the DC group than in a normoglycemic control group (p<0.001). MDA levels of the CrPic group significantly decreased in heart (p<0.05) and liver (p<0.01) tissues. Glutathione (GSH) and catalase (CAT) levels in heart, kidney, and liver tissues increased in CrPic group (GSH p<0.001, p<0.05, and p<0.01; CAT p<0.001, p<0.001, and p<0.05, respectively). Superoxide dismutase enzyme levels significantly increased in CrPic group in the liver tissue (p>0.001), but no such changes were observed in heart and kidney tissues (p>0.05).Conclusion: The results obtained from this study indicate that CrPic may be effective in alleviating hyperglycemia and its consequent oxidative damage in experimental Type 2 diabetes

Changes in apoptosis and adipokine biomarkers in the heart tissue of rats with experimental hyperthyroidism

Background and purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of hyperthyroidism on heart tissue through adipokines and apoptotic signalling pathways. Materials and Methods: A total of 14 Sprague-Dawley male rats were assigned to 2 groups, a control and a hyperthyroid group. The control group received 0.9% NaCl, while the hyperthyroid group received 1 mg/kg levothyroxine dissolved in 0.9% NaCl throughout the study. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels in serum samples, whereas fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5), adiponectin, B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and tumour protein 53 (p53) levels in heart tissue were determined by ELISA method. Results: Serum TSH level decreased (p<0.01) while the level of FT4 significantly (p<0.01) increased in the hyperthyroid group compared to the control group. The level of adiponectin in the cardiac tissue of levothyroxinetreated rats was found to be significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.01). Additionally, compared to the control group, the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 level increased (p<0.05) while the proapoptotic p53 level decreased in the hyperthyroid group (p<0.01). Conclusions: In this study, the effects of hyperthyroidism on hormone levels, which are important regulators of energy and metabolic homeostasis, and changes in apoptosis markers were revealed in heart tissue. We consider that apoptosis was potentially prevented by activating mechanisms in order to protect cardiac functions in the beginning, but this scene may be reversed in progressive hyperthyroidism cases. Therefore, their pathways need to be supported by more detailed and time-compared studies