Finance Companies, Central Bank of Nigeria and Economic Development

This paper is an empirical study of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulatory activities , finance house activities and economic development, within the period 1992-2010, using gross domestic product GDP(dependent) as a  measure of economic  development, while Activities of Finance houses proxy by domestic credit and total assets, CBN activities proxy by the shareholders fund and minimum paid up capital, estimation of regression models and subsequent analysis of results using micro fit 4.1 econometric, statistical analytical  tool. The findings indicate that significant relationships existed between Finance house activities and economic development, and CBN regulatory activities in finance house has no significant relationship. Therefore, this calls for policy options that would favor the encouragement of existing finance houses and licensing of new ones to adequately carter for the needs of the overall economy.. Keywords: Economic development, Finance houses/companies, Money market, CBN, and GDP.

The Role of Internal Audit in Effective Management in Public Sector.

This study is an empirical analysis of the role of Internal audit (IA) in an effective management control in public sector. It examine if  effective management can be achieve in local government, IA effectiveness does  play a role in ensuring effective management in public sector, and  If IA effectiveness does  affect management control in public sector in Edo State using Z –test   statistical tool. The Z-test results shows that effective management can be achieve in local government, IA effectiveness play role  in  ensuring effective management in public sector, while  IA effectiveness does not   affect management control in public sector in Edo state. Keywords: Internal auditing; Public sector; management control  and effectivenes

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Displacement response of a concrete arch dam to seasonal temperature fluctuations and reservoir level rise during the first filling period: evidence from geodetic data

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. The present study evaluates the dynamic behaviour of the Ermenek Dam, the second highest dam in Turkey, based on conventional geodetic measurements and Finite Element Model (FEM) analyses during its first filling period. In total, eight periods of measured deformation are considered from the end of construction until the reservoir reached its full capacity. The displacement response of the dam to the reservoir level and to seasonal temperature variations is examined in detail. Time series of apparent total displacements at the middle of the crest of the dam exhibits periodicity and linear trends. Correlation analysis revealed that periodic and linear displacement responses of the dam are related to variations of seasonal temperature and linearly increased reservoir level, respectively, indicating a relation between temperature, water load and dam deformation. It is also concluded that measured deformations based on geodetic data show good agreement with the predicted deformation obtained by the FEM analysis

A Nationwide Analysis of Preoperative Planning on Operative Times and Postoperative Complications in Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Compared with nonelective total knee arthroplasties (TKAs), elective procedures have more time for preoperative planning, which allows for potentially improved patient optimization, risk factor modification, and patient education. The purpose of this study was to (1) determine nationwide trends in operative times and (2) evaluate associations between surgery type, elective or nonelective, with respect to (a) operative times, (b) length of stay (LOS), (c) discharge dispositions, (d) 30-day postoperative complications, (e) reoperations, and (f) readmissions. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database was queried for all primary TKAs performed between 2011 and 2016. This yielded 209,178 cases which were stratified into elective and nonelective cases. Elective cases were those in which patients were brought from their normal living environment for scheduled procedures. One-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) was used to evaluate associations between operative times and year of surgery. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models adjusted for surgery year and patient factors (age, sex, BMI [body mass index], and ASA [American Society of Anesthesiologists] score) were used to evaluate associations of surgery type with peri- and postoperative outcomes. A significant inverse correlation between operative times and operative year was observed (p \u3c 0.001). Mean operative times and LOS were significantly shorter in elective cases compared with nonelective cases (93 vs. 112 minutes, p \u3c 0.005; 3 vs. 5 days, p \u3c 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed these associations remained significant even after adjusting for potential confounders (p \u3c 0.001). Compared with the nonelective cohort, patients in the elective cohort were more likely to be discharged home (74 vs. 69%, p \u3c 0.001). Nonelective patients had higher rates of pneumonia (0.7 vs. 0.3%, p = 0.005), organ-space surgical site infections (SSI; 0.4 vs. 0.2%, p = 0.004), transfusions (10.9 vs. 6.5%, p \u3c 0.001), sepsis (0.6 vs. 0.2%, p = 0.001), and septic shock (0.2 vs. 0.1%, p = 0.005) compared with elective patients. These associations remained significant with multivariate logistic regression. This study demonstrated that preoperative planning can help shorten operative times and LOS as well as reduce complication and reoperation rates. Alongside the direct advantages identified in this study, potential greater effects include superior patient outcomes and reduced health care costs

Benefits of ct scanning for the manage-ment of hip arthritis and arthroplasty

© 2020 Surgical Technology International™. Introduction: Imaging studies for preoperative planning of total hip arthroplasty (THA) are typically obtained by two-dimensional (2D) anteroposterior radiographs. However, CT imaging has proven to be a valuable tool that may be more accurate than standard radiographs. The purpose of this review was to report on the current literature to assess the utility of CT imaging for preoperative planning of THA. Specifically, we assessed its utility in the evaluation of: 1) hip arthritis; 2) femoral head osteonecrosis; 3) implant size predic-tion; 4) component alignment; 5) limb length evaluation; and 6) radiation exposure. Materials and Methods: A literature search was performed using search terms “computed tomography”, “radiograph”, “joint” “alignment”, “hip,” and “arthroplasty”. Our initial search returned a total of 562 results. After applying our criteria, 26 studies were included. Results: CT scans were found to be more accurate than radiographs in predicting implant size and alignment preoperatively and provide improved visualization of extraarticular deformities that may be essential to consider when planning a THA. Although radiation is a potential concern, newer imaging protocols have minimized the radiation to levels comparable to x-ray. Conclusion: The current literature suggests that CT has several advantages over radiographs for preoperative planning of THA including more accurate planning of implant size, component alignment, and postoperative leg length. It is also superior to x-ray in identifying extraarticular hip deformities using the minimum effective dose for CT and the minimum scan length required by templating software. The radiation can be reduced to values similar to radiography