Recent Articles

Patient’s satisfaction is a useful measure to provide an indicator of quality in healthcare services. Concern over the quality of healthcare services in Bangladesh has led to loss of faith in healthcare providers, low utilization of public health facilities, and increasing outflow of Bangladeshi patients to hospitals in abroad. The main barriers to accessing health services are inadequate services and poor quality of existing facilities, shortage of medicine supplies, busyness of doctors due to high patient load, long travel distance to facilities, and long waiting times once facilities were reached, very short consultation time, lack of empathy of the health professionals, their generally callous and casual attitude, aggressive pursuit of monetary gains, poor levels of competence and, occasionally, disregard for the suffering that patients endure without being able to voice their concerns—all of these service failures are reported frequently in the print media. Such failures can play a powerful role in shaping patients’ negative attitudes and dissatisfaction with healthcare service providers and healthcare itself.

Ifá scriptural verses contain a number of herbs for healing different ailments among the Yorùbá of Nigeria. Thus, Ifá is one of the epistemologies of Yorùbá herbal healing system. Considering religious sentiments and secrecy arising from patenting, hermeneutic analysis and validation of Ifá-based herbs (Ewé’fá) is yet to be scientifically engaged. This paper analyses some Ifá verses and identifies Ewe’ fa mentioned in them for validation, focussing reproductive health problems (RHPs). Thirty medicinal plants mentioned in six selected Ifá verses (Èjìogbè, Ògúndábède, Òyèkú-Méjì, Ogbè- Túrúpòn, Ìwòrì- Òfún, and Òtúrá-Méjì) for the treatment and management of RHPs were identified. Ethnographic and ethno-botanical surveys of those herbs were conducted in Bode herbs market in Ibadan, Nigeria. Key informants’ interviews, observation, and semi-structured ethno-botanical questionnaire were used. Interviews focused on sources of Ewé’fá and mode of treatment in RHPs, botanical information on Ewé’fá, knowledge value of identified Ewé’fá, and uses and validation of Ewé’fá in the treatment of RHPs. Nineteen respondents, mainly herb sellers (78.9%) and some traditional medical practitioners (21.1%) were involved in the survey. All the respondents were females, aged 41-60 years (52.6%) and 78.9% of them were Muslims. Herbal preparations are infusion, decoction, tincture, charring, squeezing, concoction, herbal soap and powder. Herb administrations are oral, topical and as baths. Oral therapies are administered mostly three times daily. Most of the herbs are sourced from the tropical rainforest region of south-western Nigeria. Ewe’fa are valuable as blood tonic, anti-infection, fertility herbs, aphrodisiac, womb cleanser, worm expeller and in the treatment of frigidity. Traditional use of most of the Ewé’fá for RHPs is validated. Hermeneutically, curative meaning given to a plant and beliefs associated with their healing potentials as contained in Ifá verses play a significant role in the use and potency of Ewe’fa. The findings provide a good starting point in…

Background: Chronic diseases are more prevalent among older people. These illnesses require seeking continuous medical services which oftentimes have spill-over effects on the financial situation of individuals and households. Objective: To describe the chronic disease profile, health utilization and self-reported financial situation of older people in a rural population. Methods: Cross-sectional data from South Africa Wellbeing and Older People Study (WOPS)-wave 2 was utilized for this study. The survey included 519 respondents and was carried out between April 2013 and August 2013. Descriptive statistics was used to report respondents’ socio-economic characteristics, chronic disease profile, health utilization patterns, hospitalizations and access to medical and non-medical financial aid. Chi square test was conducted to examine the factors associated with chronic diseases and self-reported financial situation at 5% level of confidence. Results: The mean age of respondents was 62 years. Of the respondents, 259 (50%) had hypertension and 122 (24%) had arthritis, twenty-two (4%) had stroke, 43 (8%) had diabetes, 25 (5%) hade asthma, 10 (2%) had heart disease and 6 (1%) had cancer. Following the experience of a health problem, 119 (46.67%) adopted self-medication and 36 (14.12%) consulted traditional healer. Four hundred and fifty-four (97.63%) respondents received no financial aid for buying drugs and paid out-of-pocket. Also, 452 (97.41%) had no access to financial aid to pay for hospital bills. Risk factors like tobacco use (χ2 =6.77, p=0.009) and alcohol consumption (χ2 = 8.90, p= 0.003) were also associated with hypertension. Also, being hospitalized in the last 1 year (χ2 = 8.15, p=0.017) was associated with whether households’ financial condition got better, remained the same or got worse. Having chronic disease (χ2 = 7.68, p= 0.022) was similarly significantly associated with self-reported financial situation. Conclusions: The burden of chronic disease was high among older persons in this study. The study provided evidence…

The purpose of this paper is to test the weak-form market efficiency of the Tunisian stock market using recent developments in time series econometrics. The efficiency hypothesis was tested by using the class of long memory models namely ARFIMA-FIGARCH. For this, we will attempt to examine the long memory behavior in the returns and the volatility series of the Tunisian stock market index namely Tunindex. Our empirical study covers a sample covering the Tunindex during the period: 02/01/1998 to 16/03/2018. Our results show the presence of the long memory property in the return and volatility specified respectively by an ARFIMA and FIGARCH process. This result implies that it is possible to predict future stock prices and an extraordinary gain could be obtained when trading in this market, which displays that the Tunisian stock market is not efficient in its weak-form.

Objective: To find any role of optimism and/or resilience mediating emotional distress in infertility. Method: We performed a literature search for 2000–2017 in PubMed, PsycINFO and Elsevier, for original articles and reviews, using keywords “resilience,” “infertility,” “optimism,” “LOT-R,” “in vitro fertilization,” and “assisted reproductive technology.” Additional references were collected from articles located thereby. Results: The evidence reveals a growing trend of promoting people´s positive health assets and indicates significant negative associations of optimism and resilience with anxiety and depression and positive associations with self-esteem and perception of control. It seems optimism and resilience heavily influence physical and mental health and diminishes emotional distress due to infertility. Discussion: This review highlights the importance of the development of therapeutic and preventive interventions increasing optimism and resilience against affective dysregulation and emotional distress caused by infertility.

The tuberous rhizomes of Cyperus esculentus L. have been used as a food by hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies for millennia. Varieties and selections of the plant are cultivated in southern Europe, north Africa and west Africa. There is popular food and beverage uses, and traditional medicinal uses suggest that the “tubers” may have functional food potential. The first standardized extract of Cyperus esculentus, Cyperol, has been developed and commercialized. In order to characterize the central nervous system activity of this extract a series of neurophysiological studies were undertaken in-vitro, in-vivo and in a pilot clinical study. The results of the studies indicate that Cyperol induces changes in brain electrical activity (EEG), demonstrating that bioactive compounds from the extract are absorbed, are bioavailable, and that these compounds or their metabolites cross the blood brain barrier. Taken overall, the results of the reported studies indicate calming activity without sedation. This extract does indeed have functional food potential and could be used to maintain a calm state of mind while dealing with cognitively demanding work. Preliminary indications suggest that the extract may have anxiolytic potential which should be explored in future clinical studies.

With the rapid development of the Internet, personalized recommendation has become an indispensable part of e-commerce system. How to solve the miscellaneous information in e-commerce system through personalized recommendation has become a research hotspot. This paper analyses the development background and significance of personalized recommendation, compares and analyses the relevant algorithms of personalized recommendation through the research of e-commerce system and personalized recommendation, and deeply studies the application of personalized recommendation technology in e-commerce system. The research of personalized recommendation system will contribute to the further development of e-commerce system and make Internet life closer to reality.

Poverty alleviation by industry plays an indispensable role in poverty alleviation, and poverty alleviation by Chinese medicine industry, as one of the industrial development models with local characteristics in recent years, has achieved remarkable results. However, there are also some problems that cannot be ignored. It is of great practical significance to analyze and put forward countermeasures for the healthy development of poverty alleviation industries, promote economic growth in poor areas, increase income of poor households and realize the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

The study is aimed at defining, measuring, analysing and recommending policies pertaining to women and child development in BRICS countries. The developmental initiatives and achievements have been linked with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2030). The four relevant goals pertaining to women and children have been earmarked for further analysis and detailed cross-country comparative data analysis has been performed. Key measurement indicators have been benchmarked as focus areas. The outcome was inspiring due to the sustainable and increasing trend of the development indicators. The historical policy initiatives of the BRICS countries have been evaluated and landmark policies have been identified with its impact on the socio-economic development. The impact and necessity of public policy preparation and intervention in the light of targeted goal orientation has been elaborated in the paper. In the conclusion, we have highlighted the positive impact of Neoclassical Realist policymaking to ensure implementable and feasible policies to meet developmental needs of SDG 2030.

Nitrogen (N) management may need to be different for cotton planted at different dates. The objective of this research was to determine the optimal N application timing for cotton under different planting dates. A field trial was conducted on the University of Tennessee West Tennessee Research and Education Center at Jackson, TN in 2011 and 2012 in a split plot randomized complete block design with four replicates. Three cotton planting dates of early planting, standard planting, and late planting and four N application timings of pre-plant, at-planting, early side-dress, and late side-dress were assigned to the whole plots and subplots, respectively. Although the interactions of planting date by N application timing, year by N application timing, and year by planting date were significant on leaf N at early bloom and late bloom; cotton plants received adequate N nutrition for optimal yield under different N application timings and varying planting dates in both years. No significant difference in lint yield was observed among the four N application timings regardless of planting date in 2011 that was wet in the early season but dry in the late season. In 2012 that was dry in the early season but wet in the late season, however, lint yield was higher with late side-dress of N than pre-plant at standard planting; the yield did not differ among the four N application timings at early planting or late planting. Higher fiber micronaire but lower fiber strength was obtained under early planting and standard planting than late planting. In 2011, the length and uniformity of fiber were not affected by the planting date. In 2012, however, the length and uniformity of fiber were greater at late planting than early planting and standard planting. The fiber length and fiber uniformity were greater with late side-dress of N than…