Wellness Routines with Wearable Activity Trackers: A Systematic Review

With the advent of technological advancements, different types of wearables are built and introduced to individuals to better quantify and monitor their lifestyles. This helps in creating awareness among individuals about their health and wellness, motivating them to make healthy changes in their lifestyles. The young-elderly (aged 60–75) age group constitutes an important segment of the society, which is growing worldwide, but with little or no attention of researchers and practitioners. Wearables offer lots of open research avenues; with a proper integration with new and existing mobile applications it will be possible to build systematic and smart life routines for users. Designing wearables for young elderly is an interesting design challenge with its own set of requirements. We have carried out a systematic review of current literature to get an understanding of how wearables can support wellness routines for individuals. The purpose is to study the current state of art in creating wellness routines with wearables as technological interventions. In doing so we present a categorization of existing approaches and a summarization of different design recommendations that serve different design goals. The review also suggests a clear lack of efforts to address the needs of the young-elderly. We suggest an introduction of action design research to encourage users to be part of a co-creation process that would help to lower adoption barriers for the young elderly

PRETERM LABOUR IN PATIENTS WITH INTERPREGNANCY INTERVAL LESS THAN 6 MONTHS.

Background; The time interval between pregnancies is considered to be an important and modifiable risk factor in terms of adverse perinatal outcomes. Traditionally women with a short inter-pregnancy interval will not have sufficient time to recover and get ready for the subsequent pregnancy. This includes socio-economic, cultural, psychological and physical body preparedness. This study was conducted to document the frequency of preterm labor in women having short interpregnancy interval, as there is no such study done in Pakistan on this topic. Objective: To determine the frequency of preterm labour in patients with interpregnancy interval less than 6 months. Material and methods; Patients were selected from OPD of department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nishtar hospital Multan, according to inclusion and exclusion criteria of this study. Detailed history was taken regarding demographic distribution, parity, BMI  and duration of pregnancy. Duration of gestation was calculated form patient’s last menstrual period (LMP). Examination was done including general physical examination such as per abdominal examination (SFH, uterine contractions and engagement of head) and per vaginal examination (cervical dilation & effacement and leaking per vaginum). Patients were followed till delivery for outcome variable i.e. preterm birth. Data was transferred and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Results; Mean age of our study cases was noted to be 28.00 ± 4.82 years (with minimum age of our study cases was 20 years while maximum age was noted to be 39 years). Our study results have indicated that majority of our study cases i.e. 151 (67.7 %) were aged 20 – 30 years of age. Of these 90 study cases, 125 (56.1%) were from rural areas, 179 (80.3 %) were normal weight 27(12.1%) were overweight and 17 (7.6 %) were obese. One hundred ninety two (86.1 %) were illiterate. Of these 223 study cases, 178 (79.8 %) were having poor socioeconomic status and 45 (20.2%) were having middle income status, 27 (12.1%) were taking steroid therapy. Of these 223, 36(16.1%), 72 (32.3%) were Saraiki, 27 (12.1%) were Urdu speaking, 62 (27.8%) were baloch, 18 (8.1%) were pathan and 8 (3.6%) were having Sindhi ethnicity. Mean body mass index (BMI) of our study cases was noted to be 21.98 ± 2.21 Kg/m2 (with minimum BMI was 18.9 kg/m2 while maximum BMI was 32.1 kg/m2). Mean interpregnancy interval was 4.52 ± 1.03 months (with minimum interpregnancy interval was 2 months while maximum interpregnancy interval was 6 months). Mean gestational age of our study cases was noted to be 36.19 ± 3.68 weeks (with minimum gestational age was 28 weeks while maximum gestational age was 40 weeks). Preterm labor was noted in 63 (28.3 %) our study cases and 170 (76.2%%) of our study cases were having parity more than 3. Conclusion; Short interpregnancy interval less than 6 months leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Very high frequency of preterm labor was noted in our study cases having interpregnancy interval less than 6 months. Short interprgnancy interval was common in poor, uneducated and rural  ladies. Preterm labor was significantly associated with age, residential status, obesity, ethnicity, steroid therapy and parity. Birth spacing is an issue which women should have some control over. Educational interventions, including birth control, should be applied during prenatal visits and following delivery. Keywords; Short interpregnancy Interval, gestational age, preterm labor

Co-creation Model to Design Wearables for Emotional Wellness of Elderly

Ways to influence emotions have always been an area of interest within the scientific community. The objective of this research is to find the role of technology in order to improve emotional wellness for the elderly population. We conducted a qualitative and quantitative study with the help of interviews and a survey. A sample of 24 respondents is selected randomly from the elderly population. The results showed a strong correlation between emotional, psychological and social wellness dimensions and elders comfort with the use of technology. Based on our study, we present a co-creation model to design wearables for monitoring and improving emotional wellness for elderly. There is a need for focused efforts to develop digital interventions for emotional wellness for elderly. It is important to include elders as co-designers to form effective solutions for elderly through a co-creation process

A Study to Investigate the Consumer Behavior and Cultural Dimensions of Engineering Students in Pakistan

The current study compares consumer behavior and Cultural Orientations between engineering and non-engineering students in Pakistan. Engineering students by virtue of their academic background are considered to have more technical know-how, more cognitive skills and can easily learn and adopt a new technology as compared to students from a non-engineering background. Furthermore the researchers were interested to find out that how the thinking skills and choice making of engineering students differ from other students and ultimately effects their consumer behavior and Cultural Dimensions. For this purpose three consumer behavior variables have been selected that are Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and Customer Switching. Cultural Dimensions are measured using the model proposed by Geert Hofstede. Two technologically sophisticated services are used in this study that is Mobile Phone and Debit Cards. The target population of the study consisted of 5000 students of which approximately 500 respondents were from various engineering universities in Pakistan. The comparison of consumer behavior and Cultural Dimensions differences was made through two group?s Discriminant Analysis. Differences in behavior and Cultural Dimensions have been reported among the engineering versus non-engineering students. Mobile Phone services satisfaction and loyalty were high among nonengineering students whereas engineering student?s registered higher satisfaction and loyalty in Debit Card services. Another interesting finding is difference in switching behavior. In case of both the servicesengineering students reported a higher mean score for switching. Score for Cultural Dimensions were also different among the two students type; whereby mean score for Masculinit

Do Socio-Economic factors really Influence risk taking Behavior of individual Investors?

Abstrac

Sustaining family bakeries in Pakistan: The role of internal marketing and entrepreneurship

Nowadays, climatic change challenges, consumer expectations, and concerns toward sustainability lead firms to consider responsible strategies for internal marketing and entrepreneurial orientation that contribute to competitive advantage and economic and environmental performance. This paper analyses the direct impact of internal marketing and entrepreneurial orientation on innovation and sustainability within the context of family businesses in the manufacturing sector in bakeries in Sindh Province in Pakistan. Information and data were obtained from 404 questionnaires applied in these firms during 2023. The methods include Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling to evaluate the measurement, structural models, and respective variables. Results confirm a significant direct influence of internal marketing on entrepreneurial orientation and innovation towards the sustainability of bakeries firms and emphasise the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation toward sustainability. Despite that, the firms haven’t improved significantly sustainable production practices during the last three years. On the other hand, the unit cost of bakery production hasn’t decreased during this period due to the reduction of energy or water use. Other results also confirm a significant concern with the customer’s needs, but without putting in practice more quality in the production process or reducing the relative production costs (at constant prices). However, bakeries firms must directly address sustainability in all production and customer sales processes, namely reducing energy inputs and meeting consumers’ needs concerning sustainable needs and goals. This study’s significance lies in its contribution to the existing body of literature by illuminating the intricate pathway of relationships between internal marketing, entrepreneurial orientation toward sustainability, and innovation and sustainability. A future direction involves extending this model’s applicability by examining its validity in other industries and service sectors, enriching the breadth of understanding beyond manufacturing industries

Comparison of end tidal carbon monoxide (eCO) levels in shisha (water pipe) and cigarette smokers

Background Measuring eCo is rapid, non-invasive and inexpensive tool and correlate correctly with carboxyhemoglobin levels in blood. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the increase in end tidal carbon monoxide (eCO) levels in exhaled breath of passive smokers and healthy smokers after cigarette and shisha smoking. Methods In a cross sectional study eCO levels were measured in 70 subjects (24 cigarette smokers, 20 shisha smoker, 26 passive smokers) by use of portable device. Smokers were asked to smoke shisha for 30 mins in shisha cafe or to smoke 5 cigarettes in 30 mins in a restaurant. eCo levels were measured at baseline (30 mins), 35 mins, 60 mins and 90 mins in all groups after entry to the venue. The baseline mean eCO level among cigarette smokers was 3.5 +/- 0.6 ppm (part per million), passive cigarette smokers 3.7+/-1.0 ppm, shisha smokers 27.7+/-4.9 ppm and passive shisha smokers 18.3+/-8.4 ppm .The mean increase in eCO after 90 min among smokers was 9.4+/-4.6 (p < 0.005), passive cigarette smokers 3.5+/-2.5 (p < 0.05), shisha smokers 57.9+/-27.4 (p <0.005) and passive shisha smokers 13.3+/-4.6 (p = 0.03). Conclusions Exposure to shisha smoke is a cause of elevated eCO in smokers and passive smokers and due to in-door pollution, sitting in shisha bar causes significant increase in eCO levels

Customer satisfaction & loyalty and organizational complaint handling: economic aspects of business operation of airline industry

The undertaken study examines economic aspects of business operations of the airline industry vis-à-vis organizational complaint handling and customer loyalty. For this purpose, we used a structured questionnaire to collect sample data of 200 respondents from university students and households of Pakistan who are the customers of the airline industry. We employed five independent variables, namely, response time, complaint resolution perfection, executives’ attitude, brand image and responsiveness to complaints. We used the descriptive analysis and SEM-based approaches; namely, confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis for estimation purposes. The findings of the undertaken study demonstrated that the resolution of complaints, timely response, and responsiveness to complaints had a significant and positive influence on satisfaction of customers and loyalty of clients using international airline services, and this leads to the economic prospects of business operation in the airline industry. However, customer relationship, executives’ attitude and brand loyalty do not have significant influence on the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Thus, it is concluded that the immediate response to customer complaint handling enhances the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty that increases the economic aspects of business operation in the airline industryVadybos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Special considerations for the treatment of multiple myeloma according to advanced age, comorbidities, frailty and organ dysfunction.

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is primarily a disease of old age with a median age of sixty-nine years at diagnosis. The development of novel therapies for induction and use of autologous stem cell transplantation has resulted in improved clinical outcomes and better quality of life for MM patients. Elderly patients, comprising the majority of MM population, have a higher incidence of age-related comorbidities, frailty and organ dysfunction which complicates the coordination of treatment and limits the selection of therapies. Even in the era of multiple chemotherapeutic options, the clinical heterogeneity of the myeloma patients\u27 demands personalized treatments which often require dose-adjustments or dose delays. The use of reduced-dose regimens and various comorbidity indices has improved clinical outcome and regimen tolerability in MM patients with renal, neurological and bone abnormalities. We focus on advancements in the treatment of multiple myeloma with the goal to guide clinicians towards patient-specific management