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Organisational culture (OC) and employee engagement (EE) are the two constructs that form the basis of this research to investigate the effect of OC on EE of government and private sector employees in India and Nigeria on a comparative basis. The study also evaluates the role of myriad demographic factors taken as independent variables on these two dependent variables. The sample of 107 participants was collected through non-probability convenience sampling using a questionnaire. The analysis of raw data was accomplished using Percentages, Simple Means, Standard Deviation, One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Levene Statistics, Pearson Chi-Square Test, Spearman's Correlations, and Cronbach's Alpha as statistical tools. The findings indicated many similarities as well as variances in different types of organizations vis-à-vis the relationship between OC and EE in these two countries, concluding with managerial ramifications discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem worldwide. With the rising incidence of diabetes in India, it becomes particularly relevant to ascertain its prevalence in various ethnic groups. The objective of this study was to find out the presence of diabetes mellitus in the 'Dawoodi Bohra youth community' and also to assess the factors responsible for it. Methods: A house-to-house study was conducted and 2179 subjects were questioned randomly; children below 18 yr of age were excluded. A questionnaire was given to each member and questions were also asked to test their level of awareness regarding diabetes which was graded on a 5-pointer scale where 1 meant 'very poor' and 5-'excellent'. Diabetes was diagnosed using GOD-POD (oxidase-peroxidase) method according to the WHO criteria. Results: Total number of diabetic subjects found was 246 (11.29%) with a mean age of 60.21±10.91 years. The condition was more common in males (58.94%). The highest prevalence was recorded in the age group of 65-69 yr (22.01%) and none had diabetes in the age group 11-24 yr. Pedigree analysis showed that 109 (44.30%) subjects had at least one affected relative and 23 (9.34%) had at least two diabetic family members; 52 were found to have parents with diabetes. On the 5-pointer scale, the overall care in diabetic subjects was 3.76±0.56 as compared to 2.86±0.60 in non-diabetic subjects (p<0.001). Interpretation &conclusions: Our results indicated that the marital alliances, familial aggregation and lifestyle could be the major factors which enhanced the chances of diabetes in this community. This research work also reflected poor awareness among these people regarding their health and diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composition of different medicinal parts of plants for the preparation of ethnomedicine for specific diseases and disorders is gathered by the tribal and forest dwellers in Jharkhand from ambient vegetation of forests or from the floristic diversity. It is very interesting that from a wide range of plant diversity; the selection of plants and preparations of ethnomedicine by making composition over trial on generation to generation is innovation of ethnic people. The floristic composition of Sal forests and association of ethnomedicinal plants with Sal tree (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) in different study sites in tribal tracts and their utilization among various ethnic groups like Santhal, Paharia, Oraon, Munda, Kol, Kharwa, Ho etc. have been observed. The tribal people inhabit in the forest areas of Santhal Pargana and Chhotanagpur region of Jharkhand and they collect potential and effective medicinal plants, utilized by them for meeting their primary health care. The species are arranged disease wise giving information with botanical names, tribal names and part used. The medicinal uses of plants species have been recorded from the tribal medicine men Jangurus, Ojhas, Manjhis etc. during the survey and field studies among them. The data will serve as useful tools to understand the dependence of ethnomedicinal composition on floristic composition and importance of natural association of Sal forests. It has been observed in the present study that the floristic composition or the plants as natural available in nearby forests has been utilized for the preparations of ethnomedicine by the tribal people which is an evident about dependency of floristic composition for ethnomedicinal composition. The study has also a great relevance to understand the efficacy of specific medicinal plants collected from natural Sal forests and the same plants from cultivated or gathered from other than Sal forests. There are need of scientific evaluation and validation of the belief and practices of tribal people about the effectiveness of plants collected from Sal forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to demonstrate a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based study on development of District Disaster Management System for floods for Allahabad Sadar Sub-District (India). Design/methodology/approach - An approach has been designed to explore the scope for the combination of Disaster Management and GIS. The flood-prone areas have been identified and their positions are marked using ArcView 9.1. GIS has been exploited to obtain the spatial information for the effective disaster management for flood-affected areas. Findings - ArcView 9.1 has been used as a tool for storing all types of relevant data for analysis and decision making. The various thematic maps include road network map, drinking water sources map, land use map, population density map, ward boundaries and location of slums. Originality/value - The paper proposes evelopment of a GIS-based early response system, and an emergency preparedness plan for the Allahabad Sadar sub-district and also analysis of the impact of flood disasters in the region and its relationship to infrastructure development with a view to identifying how local governing bodies could be helped in addressing these issues. The proposed GIS-based flood mitigation and management program would improve the current practices of disaster management process. If implemented properly, it would result in proper and quick decisions for the rescue and safety of the general public, which in turn would help in minimizing loss of life and property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis is a rare infection primarily affecting patients with co-morbidities like immunosuppression and poorly controlled diabetes. Mucormycosis is increasingly being reported in patients with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). However, reports of coinfection of aspergillosis and mucormycosis involving nose, paranasal sinuses, orbit, and brain are rare in literature. We aimed to evaluate the patient demographics, clinical presentation, and management of cases presenting with mixed infection. We carried out retrospective analysis of 12 patients with confirmed diagnosis of mixed invasive fungal infections post-COVID-19 disease out of 70 cases of COVID-19-associated mucormycosis (CAM) presenting to a tertiary-level hospital in North India from May to June 2021. All patients had diabetes mellitus; the mean age was 48 years. The common presenting features were headache, nasal congestion, palatal ulcer, and vision loss accompanied by facial pain and swelling. Two patients developed cerebral abscess during the course of treatment; three patients had concurrent COVID-19 pneumonia. All patients received systemic liposomal amphotericin B and serial surgical debridements. The overall mortality rate was 16.7%. Our study demonstrates that mucormycosis and aspergillosis are angioinvasive mycoses that are clinically and radiologically identical. KOH direct mount of clinical sample showing septate hyphae should be extensively searched for aseptate hyphae after digestion and clearing of the tissue. A high index of suspicion of mixed infection post-COVID-19 and early initiation of liposomal amphotericin B followed by prompt surgical intervention can reduce the overall morbidity and mortality among patients with this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sluggish progress concerning SDG-9 and SDG 13 has made South Asia an epicentre of household and ambient greenhouse gases emissions. Furthermore, the regional progress concerning attainment of SDG-3 is considerably low. The major research objectives are twofold. First, to explore the impact of GHGs emissions from agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing sector on disaggregated life expectancy. Second, to examine the mitigating impact of renewable energy use, trade integration, and human capital development for practice policy recommendations. These research objectives are realized by employing recently advanced cross-sectional auto regressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) model on panel data of five South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka from 1990 to 2019. The estimation outcome reveals that the emissions from transportation, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors significantly deteriorate healthy life expectancy of male and female healthy life expectancy in South Asia with different intensity. Especially, we find that long-run impact of GHG is more profound on male healthy life expectancy than female life expectancy. The result further shows that renewable energy and human capital substantially improve healthy life expectancy, whereas the effects of trade integration are insignificant. The finding of moderating variables shows that renewable energy, human capital development, and trade integration have high potential to reduce GHGs emissions. The findings of this study urge South Asia for investments in human capital development and renewable energy along with fostering regional integration to decrease GHG and improve healthy life expectancy., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The betterment of environmental conditions is widely recognized as a significant priority for India, which is a critical aspect of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As an emerging economy, pursuing economic expansion is paramount, requiring significant amount of energy and a degree of openness to other nations. Meanwhile, the nation's energy demands are heavily met by the usage of biomass and coal energy sources. Furthermore, the nation is part of the top consumer of biomass and coal energy globally. However, over the last 50 years, the level of ecological footprint in India has surged by about 82%, despite the country's commitment to achieving environmental sustainability, which tends to raise concerns such as: What is the role of India's major energy sources, biomass, and coal energy, towards ecological sustainability? Does economic globalization promote and hinder India's environmental sustainability goals? As a result, this current study offers answers to these concerns by investigating the effect of economic globalization, coal energy, and biomass energy on the ecological footprint in India while controlling economic growth. Using the dynamic ARDL to analyze the dataset from 1970 to 2018, the result suggests that biomass energy and economic globalization improve ecological quality. However, economic growth and coal energy impede ecological quality in India. Furthermore, we adopted the time-varying causality test solely to understand the causality analysis, which established that economic globalization, biomass energy, economic growth, and coal energy could forecast the future direction of the ecological footprint., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The benefits of large-scale genetic studies for healthcare of the populations studied are well documented, but these genetic studies have traditionally ignored people from some parts of the world, such as South Asia. Here we describe whole genome sequence (WGS) data from 4806 individuals recruited from the healthcare delivery systems of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, combined with WGS from 927 individuals from isolated South Asian populations. We characterize population structure in South Asia and describe a genotyping array (SARGAM) and imputation reference panel that are optimized for South Asian genomes. We find evidence for high rates of reproductive isolation, endogamy and consanguinity that vary across the subcontinent and that lead to levels of rare homozygotes that reach 100 times that seen in outbred populations. Founder effects increase the power to associate functional variants with disease processes and make South Asia a uniquely powerful place for population-scale genetic studies., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Among the environmental economics research issues, the issue of convergence has received quite a lot of attention, which is also known as stationary analysis. In this research strand, whether shocks to the time series variable are permanent or temporary is tested via the unit root tests. In this study, based on the theory and empirical works of stochastic convergence, we evaluate the convergence for the BASIC member countries, including Brazil, South Africa, India, and China. We use a variety of methodologies to see whether the convergence of ecological footprint holds for these countries or not. We first use the wavelet decomposition technique to decompose the series into the short run, middle run, and long run, and then we run several unit root tests to confirm the stationarity property of the series. The methodologies implemented in this study allow us to apply econometric tests to the original series as well as to the decomposed series. The results of panel CIPS test demonstrate that the null hypothesis of unit root could be rejected for the short run but not for the middle and long run, implying that long-lasting impact might prevail due to any shocks to the ecological footprint in the middle and long run. The results for individual countries varied., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The main objective of this paper is to look at how environmental degradation in the form of climate change and air pollution affect international tourism for five countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) over the years 1990-2019. Other independent variables include information and communication technology (ICT) and democracy. We also look at the role of environmental regulation to see the validity of porter hypothesis in the tourism sector. To achieve this objective, we apply a novel method of moments quantile regression approach as well as a robust causality technique. The result shows that at lower and medium quantile, CO 2 emission has positive impact on tourism while at higher quantile, CO 2 emission has negative but insignificant effect on tourism in BRICS countries. The result for PM2.5 is uniform across all the quantiles, showing the negative effect on tourism. ICT and human capital positively affect the tourism while democracy has negative impact on the tourism sector of the BRICS nations. The result also validated the Porter hypothesis for tourism sector. We conclude that tourism industry stakeholders and the environmental policymakers must work together to integrate tourism policies with BRICS countries' environmental conservation policies as part of the transition to sustainable tourism industry., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in preterm infants and to compare the visual outcomes in babies with and without ROP., Materials and Methods: A consecutive cohort of 812 preterm babies were recruited with gestational age ≤32 weeks and or birth weight ≤1500 g. The outcome was assessed at the end of 15 months by determining fixation behavior, cycloplegic refraction, and vision by Cardiff cards. Incidence of visual outcomes with 95% confidence limits and relative risks were estimated. Chi-squared test and t -test were used as tests of significance., Results: The incidence of ROP was 25%. The incidence of myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism, and strabismus were 15.8% (14.3-17.3), 6% (5.1-7.1), 55.6% (53.6-57.7), and 1.8% (1.4%-2.5%), respectively, in the cohort. The most common refractive error in terms of spherical equivalence was myopia (19.8% in ROP and 14.4% in non-ROP group). The mean visual acuity measured by Cardiff Acuity cards was 0.282 and 0.27 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution units (right eye) and 0.293 and 0.277 (left eye) in patients with and without ROP, respectively. Strabismus was present in 5% of ROP group and 0.8% of non-ROP group babies. Babies with ROP had six times (risk ratio-6.02; 95% confidence interval 2.8-12.8) higher chance of developing strabismus than those without ROP., Conclusions: Ophthalmological morbidities in premature infants such as refractive errors and strabismus are high in addition to complications like ROP. The incidence of these conditions is more in infants with ROP when compared to non-ROP group., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2019 Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology.)

Objective: To determine the effect of neuromuscular training on functional throwing performance and speed among asymptomatic cricket players., Design: Single-subject A-B-A design., Method: Forty-three male asymptomatic sub-elite cricket players were recruited from Karnataka Institute of Cricket, Bangalore, India, with a mean age of 20.4 ± 2.03 years. Throwing accuracy and throwing speed were measured using Functional Throwing Performance Index (FTPI) and radar gun respectively, at zero, 12, 24 and 30 weeks in accordance with the A-B-A single-subject design. The neuromuscular training of the throwing arm was performed for 12 weeks, two days a week of supervised training including rhythmic stabilization drills were performed. A non-supervised training session including shoulder strengthening programme was conducted three days a week., Result: Participants demonstrated significant improvement in throwing accuracy (p < 0.001) and speed (p < 0.001) after 12 weeks of neuromuscular training. Six weeks post-withdrawal of the neuromuscular training on throwing accuracy was not significant (p = 0.117), However, speed was sustained (p = 0.013)., Conclusion: Neuromuscular training showed an improved efficiency in throwing performance following 12 weeks of training in sub-elite cricket players. The sustained effect was not observed following 6 weeks of withdrawal of training., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness and the second most common cause of all blindness after cataracts. This study investigates the association of polymorphism in the CYP46A1 and PPARγ2 genes and primary open angle glaucoma (POAG)., Materials and Methods: This study evaluated 122 POAG cases (POAG group) and 112 cases of nonglaucomatous patients (control group). Polymorphisms of the CYP46A1 gene and PPARγ2 gene were evaluated with the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method in both groups., Results: The mean ages were 49.88 ± 12.34 years and 53.74 ± 11.87 years for the POAG group and control group, respectively. The CYP46A1 gene CC, CT, TT genotype frequencies were 13.93%, 58.2%, 27.87% in the POAG group and 19.6%, 40.19%, 40.19% in the control group, respectively. The PPARγ2 gene CC, CG, GG genotype frequencies were 16.83%, 54.45%, 28.71% in cases and 3.92%, 28.43%, 67.64% in the control group, respectively. Statistically, significant differences in the frequencies of CYP46A1 CC, CT, TT and PPARγ2 CC, CG, GG (P < 0.05) genotype were found between groups (P < 0.05, all comparisons)., Conclusion: Findings of this study suggest that CYP46A1 gene and PPARγ2 gene polymorphisms can be a predictive marker for early identification of population at risk of POAG, although a larger sample size is required to determine the role of these polymorphisms in the pathogenesis and course of POAG.

Background: The present study was carried out to investigate the association of GST and FTO gene polymorphisms with cataract cases and controls., Materials and Methods: The study included 131 cases and 126 controls. GST and FTO gene polymorphisms were evaluated by PCR-RFLP., Results: The frequency of the GSTM1-positive and GSTT1-positive in cataract cases were 62.13% and 86.40% while in the controls it was 46.39% and 95.87% with odds ratios of 1.9 (95% CI, 1.08-3.32; p value 0.025) and 0.27 (95% CI, 0.09-0.86; p value, 0.019) respectively. There was a statistically significant association between the GSTM1 null genotype and the risk of cataract development with an odds ratio of 0.43 (95% CI, 0.24-0.76; p value, 0.003). Significant differences were obtained in the frequencies of FTO AA and TT genotype (p = 0.023 and 0.023) between cases and controls., Conclusion: The present study suggested that GSTM1, GSTT1 and FTO gene polymorphisms are associated with increased risk for cataract in North Indian populations. Due to the limited sample size, the finding on GST and FTO gene polymorphisms need further investigation.

Background: Hypertension has a multi-factorial background based on genetic and environmental interactive factors. ACE, FABP2 and GST genes have been suggested to be involved in the development of hypertension. However, the results have been inconsistent., Aim: The present study was carried out to investigate the association of ACE (rs4646994), FABP2 (rs1799883) and GST (GSTM1 null or positive genotype and GSTT1 null or positive genotype) genes polymorphism with essential HTN cases and controls., Subjects and Methods: This study includes 138 essential hypertension (HTN) patients and 116 age-, sex- and ethnicity-matched control subjects. GST (GSTM1 null or positive genotype and GSTT1 null or positive genotype) genes polymorphisms were evaluated by multiplex PCR, ACE (rs4646994) gene polymorphisms by PCR and FABP2 (rs1799883) gene polymorphisms by PCR-RFLP method., Results: Significant differences were obtained in the frequencies of ACE DD, II genotype (p = 0.006, 0.003), GSTT1 null, GSTM1 positive genotype (p = 0.048, 0.010) and FABP2 Ala54/Ala54 genotype (p = 0.049) between essential HTN cases and controls., Conclusion: It is concluded that ACE (rs 4646994), FABP2 (rs1799883) and GST (GSTM1 null or positive genotype and GSTT1 null or positive genotype) genes polymorphism are associated with HTN. Further investigation with a larger sample size may be required to validate this study.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is growing in an epidemic manner across the world with an expected doubling of the incidence to millions of affected individuals in the last decades. At present, adequate data are not available regarding the ACE and FABP2 polymorphisms and their susceptibility with T2DM cases in the North Indian population. Thus we conceived the need for further study of ACE (I/D) and FABP2 (Ala54Thr) genes polymorphism and its susceptibility to T2DM in the North Indian population., Materials and Methods: In this study, a total of 300 subjects (including 190 T2DM cases and 110 controls) participated. ACE and FABP2 gene polymorphisms in the cases and controls were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism., Results: The frequencies of ACE I/I, I/D and D/D genotypes in T2DM cases and controls were 28.73%, 55.17%, 16.09% and 13.63%, 57.95%, 28.40%, respectively. The frequencies of FABP2 Ala54Ala, Ala54Thr and Thr54Thr in T2DM cases were 18.39%, 66.66%, 14.94% and 22.72%, 61.36%, 15.90% in controls, respectively. ACE I/I genotype was significantly more frequent in cases as compared to controls (p = 0.003, χ(2) = 9.13)., Conclusion: It appears that the ACE I/I genotype frequency was significantly higher in the T2DM cases as compared to the controls., (© The Author(s) 2013.)

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a non-autoimmune, complex, heterogeneous and polygenic metabolic disease condition characterized by persistent elevated blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia). India as said to be the diabetic capital of the world is likely to experience the largest increase in T2DM and a greater number of diabetic individuals in the world by the year 2030. Identification of specific genetic variations in a particular ethnic group has a critical role in understanding the risk of developing T2DM in a much efficient way in future. These genetic variations include numerous types of polymorphisms among which single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is the most frequent. SNPs are basically located within the regulatory elements of several gene sequences. There are scores of genes interacting with various environmental factors affecting various pathways and sometimes even the whole signalling network that cause diseases like T2DM. This review discusses the biomarkers for early risk prediction of T2DM. Such predictions could be used in order to understand the pathogenesis of T2DM and to better diagnostics, treatment, and eventually prevention.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a multifactorial and polygenic disease, which is considered as a major life threatening problem all over the world. There has been a worldwide effort in the identification of susceptibility genes for type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications. At present, adequate data is not available dealing with MTHFR (rs1801133) and PPARγ2 (rs1801282) gene polymorphisms and its association with type 2 diabetes mellitus cases among north Indian populations. Thus, we conceived the need for further studies to investigate MTHFR and PPARγ2 gene polymorphisms and their susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus in north Indian population., Materials and Methods: In this study, a total 175 subjects including 87 type 2 diabetes mellitus cases and 88 controls were enrolled. MTHFR and PPARγ2 gene polymorphisms in the cases and controls were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)., Results: The MTHFR gene CC, CT, TT genotype frequencies obtained were 40%, 43%, and 17% in type 2 diabetes mellitus cases and 56%, 29%, and 15% in healthy controls respectively. The OR for CC was 0.54 (95%CI 0.29-0.98, P=0.041, χ(2)=4.18, power=0.98), for CT 1.76 (95%CI 0.94-3.30, P=0.07, χ(2)=3.2, power=0.96), and for TT 1.2 (95%CI 0.53-2.70, P=0.66, χ(2)=0.198, power=0.76). The PPARγ2 gene GG CG, CC genotype frequencies obtained were 28%, 41%, and 31% in cases and 40%, 39%, and 21% in healthy controls respectively. OR for GG was 0.58 (95%CI 0.30-1.09, P=0.08, χ(2)=2.9, power=0.96), for CG 1.12 (95%CI 0.61-2.05, P=0.71, χ(2)=0.137, power=0.778), and for CC 1.63 (95%CI 0.82-3.23, P=0.156, χ(2)=2.01, power=0.92)., Conclusion: It might be recommended that MTHFR CC genotype seems to be a good marker for the early identification of population at risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. While we have detected significant difference in allelic frequencies of PPARγ2 C (Proline) and G (Alanine), but at genotypic level significant difference was not detected in this case-control study. Further study with larger groups may be required to validate the study., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: It is believed that cultural changes such as urbanization and westernization can lead to increasing rates of eating disorders (EDs). A survey was conducted among psychiatrists in Bangalore, India to assess whether they were seeing more cases of ED in the last year., Method: Contact details of all psychiatrists in urban Bangalore were obtained from the directory of the local psychiatric society. These psychiatrists were contacted by telephone, email, or in person. A brief proforma was used to record information about the number and nature of eating disorders they had seen in their practice in the last one year., Results: Sixty-six psychiatrists took part in the study. Thirty-eight (56%) were in private practice and 28 (42%) in teaching hospitals. 45 (67%), reported having seen patients with eating disorders in the last year. The total number of cases seen was 74. Of these, 32 were diagnosed as anorexia nervosa (AN), 12 as bulimia nervosa (BN), and 30 as eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS). Sixteen (23.5%) respondents were of the opinion that EDs were increasing in Bangalore, 18 (26.5%) felt the rates were stable and 28 (42%) were not sure., Discussion: Two-thirds of psychiatrists reported seeing at least one case of ED indicating that EDs are not uncommon in urban India. Epidemiological studies of EDs in India are needed to provide better estimates of their prevalence., (Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)