Search

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hypothermia among preterm infants born before 32 weeks of gestation and whether their temperature at admission is associated with neonatal and maternal risk factors and gestational age. Furthermore, the study evaluates the association between admission temperature, neonatal morbidity, and in-hospital mortality. Methods: This study involved an eight-year retrospective analysis of preterm neonates born < 32 weeks of gestation and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at a tertiary hospital in Oman, from 2010 to 2017. Results: The study included 587 preterm infants with a mean gestational age of 28.4 weeks, a mean birth weight of 1154.2 g, and a mean admission temperature of 35.5 °C. Hypothermia (axillary temperature < 36.5 °C) was present in 509 (86.7%) infants. In univariate analysis, only birth weight and neonatal resuscitation were associated with admission temperature (< 36.5 °C). In the multivariate analysis, only intraventricular hemorrhage demonstrated a significant association with the incidence of hypothermia. Conclusions: Most preterm newborns had hypothermia upon admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, which is associated with essential morbidities. More aggressive interventions are warranted to reduce the incidence of hypothermia in preterm infants.

Islamic Banking (IB) still struggles to institutionalise its practices at the wider societal level. The literature, despite having covered the sector from several angles, has overlooked an objective evaluation of the root causes of its restricted institutionalisation so far. This empirical investigation into Pakistan's IB sector fills this void and investigates the sector's apparent limited success in institutionalising its practices despite having been formally accorded legitimate legal status around the world. The paper, bringing the sector's governance to the spotlight, concludes that the social practice's 'site' of development – the Islamic Shari'ah jurisprudence, has too strong a coupling of internal elements to accommodate the sector's current loose adherence to its principles and laws, and thus the sector, rather than its 'site' of its development, needs to adapt and reorient to accomplish unrestricted institutionalisation. The paper also extends Foucault's theoretical constructs in the sector's peculiar context, which stems from a unique cultural, economic, and regulatory environment. The paper aims to add a new dimension to the IB governance literature and help steer future research focus to areas with the highest marginal utility for the sector and its stakeholders.

The microfinance sector’s Paradigm Shift (PS) of the 1990s caused a drastic shift in how Microfinance Organizations (MFOs) ensured their long-term survival and sustainability. The PS required MFOs to adopt a commercial approach in all their operations and pursue profitability and self-sustainability rather than depending on the provision of subsidized funds. Resorting to Schatzki’s (2002) ‘site of the social’ theoretical construct and DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) institutional theory, this empirical paper aims to evaluate the real performance of Pakistan’s microfinance sector, following the PS, in terms of its strict adherence to its founding objectives of eradicating poverty and serving the extreme poor. This qualitative empirical research paper resorts to the Case Study approach to investigate the pre- and the post-Paradigm Shift eras of Pakistan’s microfinance sector for evaluating the sector’s real ‘success’ in accomplishing its founding aim of eradicating poverty at the grass root level. Analysis of the data reveals that the microfinance sector, in its pursuit of profitability and self-sustainability, following the PS, is compromising its founding commitment to its target beneficiaries – the extreme poor. The study contributes a theory, literature and empirical evidence-informed conceptual framework to help guide organizational change initiatives in the peculiar context of a social service/not-for-profit sector and predict the outcome quality of such a change for all stakeholders. The study outcomes apprise policy-makers and practitioners of the possible negative consequences of the microfinance sector’s gradual transition from a ‘social service’ to a ‘commercial’ model for the poor.

Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic initiated in January 2020 that caused 79 million cases and more than 1.7 million deaths worldwide. The causative agent of COVID-19 is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2, a member of Betacoronvirus. COVID-19 patients are classified into asymptomatic, mild symptomatic, and severe symptomatic cases. Objectives: To review the prevalence, therapeutic interventions for the treatment, vaccination, and containment of COVID-19 in four quarters of 2020, emphasizing the advancements in biological studies, and the social, economic, and environmental impact of the pandemic. Methodology: Data of COVID-19 spread, identification, prevention, and control measures was analyzed. The impacts of pandemic on society, economy, and the environment were assessed. Results: Owing to distinct genome of COVID-19, de novo diagnostic tests have been designed, optimized, and carried out in individuals. The specimen for viral detection can be selected from sputum, nasal, and pharyngeal swabs, anal swabs, blood, Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid (BLF), and secretions of lower respiratory tract. Primary treatment includes antiviral therapeutic agents, whereas, supplementary treatment includes corticosteroid therapy, antibiotic treatment, and oxygen therapy with the help of non-invasive and invasive mechanical ventilation. The lack of targeted therapeutics failed to induce a 100% mortality rate as recovered patients’ immune system produces CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses and antibodies against the spike protein of the virus. In order to contain the virus spread and build herd immunity in the masses, protein subunit vaccines, RNA-based vaccines, and VLPs were developed. Conclusion: The social, economic, and environmental impact of COVID-19 has threatened the global community. The novel prevention and control measures offered significant benefits however, an effective treatment will possibly always be required even with the end of pandemic.

The Pipper nigram (P. nigram) leaf extract was used for the biosynthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) and the successful formation of the resultant product was confirmed through several physicochemical techniques. The chemical structure and the elemental composition were analysed through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopies, respectively. The crystalline structure and crystallite size were investigated through an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and a monoclinic crystallite with a size of 40.68 nm was reported. Even-distributed particles with an average particle size of 49.75 nm were seen in the scanning electron micrograph (SEM), whereas the thermal stability was checked during the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The ultra-violet and visible (UV-Visible) spectroscopy was operated to study the light absorbance phenomena and to determine the band gap energy from the absorption edge, which was found to be 1.47 eV. The CuO NPs were used as antibacterial agents against gram-negative bacteria (GNB) and gram-positive bacteria (GPB), and greater inhibition zones were seen against the former one. The antioxidant test was also carried out against 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) free radicals and the antioxidant potential of CuO NPs was found to be higher than ascorbic acid.

Objectives: We sought to determine the prevalence, pattern of causative organisms, and mortality of newborns with culture-proven late-onset sepsis (LOS) and to determine and compare the risk factors linked to late-onset gram-positive and late-onset gram-negative sepsis in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of data obtained between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2014 (eight years) from infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at SQUH. Infants born in SQUH (inborn) and other institutions (outborn) with positive blood cultures were included in the study. Results: The total number of live births and admissions during the study period were 26 289 and 3559, respectively. The total number of infants identified with LOS were 125 of whom 69 (55.2%) were gram-positive, 52 (41.6%) were gram-negative, and four (3.2%) were due to Candida species (spp.). The majority of infants (n = 113, 90.4%) were inborn; 69 (55.2%) were males and 56 (44.8%) were females. The prevalence of LOS among inborn admissions was 4.3 per 1000 live births. Most infections occurred in very low birth weight infants (n = 81, 64.8%). Eleven (8.8%) infants died due to gram-negative sepsis. Klebsiella pneumoniae followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the leading cause of death. Maternal intrapartum antibiotics were the only independent risk factor correlating with gram-negative organisms in multivariate analysis (p = 0.003). Conclusions: LOS poses a burden in the NICU, which could be due to the increasing survival of premature babies. The main contributing organisms to LOS are gram-positive bacteria. Klebsiella spp. is a major cause of mortality in LOS. The use of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis in mothers might explain the positive correlation of maternal antibiotics as a risk factor with gram-negative infections.

Financial and non-financial subsidized resources at the disposal of international donoragencies available for continued support of the microfinance sector are not unlimited. One ofthe strategies resorted to by the donor community to ensure supply of financial resources tothe sector was to make it lucrative to private-sector investment. Thus, for more than a decadenow, the donor community has been emphasizing profitability on the part of microfinanceinstitutions to enable the sector to attract commercial capital. This move on the part of thedonor community led microfinance institutions to adapt both functionally and structurally tobetter cope with donor’s expectations and show them profits. Many microfinance institutionsset example of successful adaptation and reorientation of their tangible and intangibleorganizational elements to enable them to survive under these new conditions. Laughlin’s(1991) Model of Organizational Change provides a theoretical base for understanding such anorganizational change in the light of changing external circumstances. While the Modelplacated all the relevant research questions, it did not fully explain all the trends observed inthe empirical data collected for the study, which lent a room for development in the Model.