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Chronic diseases, which are often referred to as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), are conditions that worsen over time gradually due to a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental, and behavioral factors. In the Philippine context, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which collectively include diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, are accountable for all fatalities of Filipino people. Several articles have stated that 38.6% have been hospitalized with hypertension, 3.9 million cases of diabetes, and 27.7% of Filipinos suffered from Asthma-COPD in the Philippines. However, with these diseases indicated, there are several treatments, prevention strategies, and risk factors that have been developed throughout the years. People of all ages, living in all regions and nations are affected by NCDs. Poor diet, inactivity, exposure to tobacco smoke, problematic alcohol use, environmental factors (including air pollution), and other risk factors for NCDs can affect children, adults, and seniors. Finding and treating these problems is essential for controlling NCDs. The economy of countries, especially those with low and moderate incomes, are significantly impacted by the co-occurrence of health burdens in populations going through transition, particularly in certain socioeconomic and cultural contexts. Methods, programs, and regulatory policies significantly relevant to NCDs in the Philippines are reviewed in the article. The paper also discusses facilitating factors that contribute to the NCDs situation in the country, which may become matters of interest in developing and updating the NCDs management approach of the healthcare system. This review aims to focus on and understand the different treatment, prevention strategies, and risk factors of NCD across the Philippines.

The study investigated the difficulties encountered by Grade 11 teachers in teaching Senior High School General Mathematics, the reasons for the problems, and the strategies employed by teachers in overcoming the challenges with an end view of developing training design. The sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used in the study with the aid of a questionnaire checklist and an interview to validate the answers generated by the questionnaires. The study revealed that the challenges in teaching emerged due to time constraints and mastery issues of contents. Though teachers were pedagogically and technologically equipped to teach the course, however, some have poor time management and link to peers to share the best strategies to cope with the problems. Hence, training, as well as seminars and workshops for the unmastered competencies/contents and the competencies with no strategies applied to deal with the difficulties in teaching, are to be provided to Grade 11 General Mathematics teachers by implementing the training design developed by the researchers. Keywords: Difficulties, reasons, strategies, training design

The entanglement of charge density wave (CDW), superconductivity, and topologically nontrivial electronic structure has recently been discovered in the kagome metal $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ ($A$ = K, Rb, Cs) family. With high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we study the electronic properties of CDW and superconductivity in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. The spectra around $\bar{K}$ is found to exhibit a peak-dip-hump structure associated with two separate branches of dispersion, demonstrating the isotropic CDW gap opening below $E_{\rm F}$. The peak-dip-hump lineshape is contributed by linearly dispersive Dirac bands in the lower branch and a dispersionless flat band close to $E_{\rm F}$ in the upper branch. The electronic instability via Fermi surface nesting could play a role in determining these CDW-related features. The superconducting gap of $\sim$0.4 meV is observed on both the electron band around $\bar{\Gamma}$ and the flat band around $\bar{K}$, implying the multiband superconductivity. The finite density of states (DOS) at $E_{\rm F}$ in the CDW phase are most likely in favor of the emergence of multiband superconductivity, particularly the enhanced DOS associated with the flat band. Our results not only shed light on the controversial origin of the CDW, but also offer insights into the relationship between CDW and superconductivity., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, PRL in press

We analyze the inverse problem to reconstruct the shape of a three dimensional homogeneous dielectric obstacle from the knowledge of noisy far field data. The forward problem is solved by a system of second kind boundary integral equations. For the numerical solution of these coupled integral equations we propose a fast spectral algorithm by transporting these equations onto the unit sphere. We review the differentiability properties of the boundary to far field operator and give a characterization of the adjoint operator of the first Fr��chet derivative. Using these results we discuss the implementation of the iteratively regularized Gauss-Newton method for the numerical solution of the inverse problem and give numerical results for star-shaped obstacles., 22 pages

Presentation of poster 569B at TAGC 2020 Online. Files include a PDF of the poster (lou_tagc_poster.pdf), a 10-minute video walkthrough of the poster material (lou_tagc_video.mp4), and an audio-only version of the walkthrough (lou_tagc_audio.m4a).

Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CP) is one of the most common congenital malformations. Ultrasonographers involved in the routine 20-wk ultrasound screening could encounter these malformations. The face and palate develop in a very characteristic way. For ultrasonographers involved in screening these patients it is crucial to have a thorough understanding of the embryology of the face. This could help them to make a more accurate diagnosis and save time during the ultrasound. Subsequently, the current postnatal classification will be discussed to facilitate the communication with the CP teams.

Evolve and resequence (E&R) experiments, in which artificial selection is imposed on organisms in a controlled environment, are becoming an increasingly accessible tool for studying the genetic basis of adaptation. Previous work has assessed how different experimental design parameters affect the power to detect the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that underlie adaptive responses in such experiments, but so far there has been little exploration of how this power varies with the genetic architecture of the evolving traits. In this study, we use forward simulation to build a realistic model of an E&R experiment in which a quantitative polygenic trait experiences a short, but strong, episode of truncation selection. We study the expected power for QTL detection in such an experiment and how this power is influenced by different aspects of trait architecture, including the number of QTLs affecting the trait, their starting frequencies, effect sizes, clustering along a chromosome, dominance, and epistasis patterns. We show that all of the above parameters can affect allele frequency dynamics at the QTLs and linked loci in complex and often unintuitive ways, and thus influence our power to detect them. One consequence of this is that existing detection methods based on models of independent selective sweeps at individual QTLs often have lower detection power than a simple measurement of allele frequency differences before and after selection. Our findings highlight the importance of taking trait architecture into account in designing studies of molecular adaptation with temporal data. We provide a customizable modeling framework that will enable researchers to easily simulate E&R experiments with different trait architectures and parameters tuned to their specific study system, allowing for assessment of expected detection power and optimization of experimental design.

Since the promulgation of the Philippine Halal Export and Promotion Act in 2016, there has been no formal research conducted to assess its impact on the industry’s development. This study aimed to assess the status of the Philippine Halal Industry, identify opportunities and challenges, and formulate recommendations to further enhance and sustain growth of the Philippine Halal Industry instrumental to the creation of a national development plan. Following a qualitative research design, thematic, pattern and content analyses were applied. Findings from virtual focus group discussions with Halal exporters highlighted the current emerging state of the Halal Industry in the Philippines in terms of industry structure, changes in the nature of innovation and determinants of survival. The global demand for Halal products continued to prove promising even if confronted by significant challenges in terms of certification, quality assurance and inability to synchronize with the prevailing international standards. Government support infrastructure is necessary to sustain the industry’s development. Technological research and development with respect to quality assurance and traceability are necessary for the Philippine Food Halal Industry to prosper both in the domestic and export market.

This study aimed to identify the determinants of survival strategies of non-working individualas well as the development of a framework utilizing an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) technique. The study was conducted in Davao Region with 110non-working individuals from different areas in the region as sample respondents. A questionnaire was the research instrument in the gathering of data and was presented to an examiner for content validity.Rotated component matrix discarded 17 items out of 30 and categorized the 13 remaining items into five dimensions. The determinants of survival strategies of non-working individuals revealed fivedifferent factors which include strengthen interpersonal attachment, availment of outreach programs, involvement on community celebration, supplication from public and adaptive to harsh or unpleasant environment.A framework of survival strategy was developed

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer worldwide. Previously, we reported that cadherin-17 (CDH17) and its related CDH17/-catenin axis may be responsible for inducing HCC in a subset of patients exhibiting CDH17 over-expression. Here we aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the CDH17-related HCC biology and to obtain further indications for the design of targeted therapies in CDH17 over-expressing HCC patients. Results: We found that SPINK1 acts as a downstream effector of the CDH17/-catenin axis in HCC. In addition, we found that SPINK1 expression exhibited a positive correlation with CDH17 expression in human HCCs and was over-expressed in up to 70% of the tumors. We identified SPINK1 as a downstream effector of the CDH17/-catenin axis using a spectrum of in vitro assays, including gene expression modulation and inhibitor assays, bioinformatics analyses and luciferase reporter assays. These in vitro results were validated in primary human HCCs, including the observation that alteration in -catenin expression (a core component of the CDH17/-catenin axis) in tumors affects SPINK1 serum levels in HCC patients. Similar to CDH17, SPINK1 expression in HCC cells was found to be associated with specific tumor-related properties via activating the c-Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. Conclusions: Our current data substantiate our knowledge on the role of CDH17 in the biology of HCC and suggest that components of the CDH17/-catenin axis may serve as therapeutic targets in CDH17 over-expressing HCC patients.