•How donor agencies can challenge the rise of the national interest in development.•Development agency autonomy is multidimensional and cross-cutting.•Improving our understanding of how aid ...bureaucracy behaves using public management.
Foreign aid agencies represent and champion global development priorities within a donor nation. Increasingly however, these agencies sit within donor governments that are strongly committed to upholding the national interest through their development commitments. This paper is concerned with how bilateral aid agencies manage this tension and how they might continue to serve the altruistic aims of development. The main research question asks if autonomy—or a combination of autonomies—can improve a development agency’s ability to defend the humanitarian imperative of development against normative pressures privileging the national interest? By drawing on theories of autonomy within public management literatures, it is possible to identify points of leverage for development agencies where spaces for autonomous preferences and actions remain, as well as sources of limitation where such opportunities are considerably reduced. Six types of autonomy are examined across three nations widely perceived as strong performers as donors—Norway, the UK, and Sweden. The paper suggests that while structural autonomy is critical for preserving humanitarian motivations, there are also unexplored opportunities within other autonomous spheres. A multi-dimensional examination of autonomy highlights the varying capacity that development agencies have to resist pressures to strongly nationalize the global development project.
The degeneration of dopaminergic and other neurons in the aging brain is considered a process starting well beyond the infantile and juvenile period. In contrast to other dopamine-associated ...neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and drug addiction, typically diagnosed during adolescence or young adulthood and, thus, thought to be rooted in the developing brain, Parkinson's Disease (PD) is rarely viewed as such. However, evidences have accumulated suggesting that several factors might contribute to an increased vulnerability to death of the dopaminergic neurons at an already very early (developmental) phase in life. Despite the remarkable ability of the brain to compensate such dopamine deficits, the early loss or dysfunction of these neurons might predispose an individual to suffer from PD because the critical threshold of dopamine function will be reached much earlier in life, even if the time-course and strength of naturally occurring and age-dependent dopaminergic cell death is not markedly altered in this individual. Several signaling and transcriptional pathways required for the proper embryonic development of the midbrain dopaminergic neurons, which are the most affected in PD, either continue to be active in the adult mammalian midbrain or are reactivated at the transition to adulthood and under neurotoxic conditions. The persistent activity of these pathways often has neuroprotective functions in adult midbrain dopaminergic neurons, whereas the reactivation of silenced pathways under pathological conditions can promote the survival and even regeneration of these neurons in the lesioned or aging brain. This article summarizes our current knowledge about signaling and transcription factors involved in midbrain dopaminergic neuron development, whose reduced gene dosage or signaling activity are implicated in a lower survival rate of these neurons in the postnatal or aging brain. It also discusses the evidences supporting the neuroprotection of the midbrain dopaminergic system after the external supply or ectopic expression of some of these secreted and nuclear factors in the adult and aging brain. Altogether, the timely monitoring and/or correction of these signaling and transcriptional pathways might be a promising approach to a much earlier diagnosis and/or prevention of PD.
This article is based on a qualitative investigation of contemporary female subjectivities at the intersection of two particular identities: being a “young professional woman” and “depressed.” ...Thirteen women working in both private and public sector roles in two major cities in Aotearoa New Zealand participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Employing a practice-based approach to analysis, my aim was to explore whether participants’ accounts are inflected by what cultural scholars call the “top girl” or “can-do girl” ideal and the implications for “recovering” from depression. I identified five identity practices which constitute the subject position of the “ideal depressed self” who (a) delivers no matter what, (b) puts on a brave face (particularly at work), (c) treats her depression medically, (d) looks after herself, and (e) works toward becoming more positive. A discussion of the discursive underpinnings, in particular, neoliberal and postfeminist rhetoric, highlights the harmful effects of this individualizing perspective.
This study investigates the individual, household, and community-level determinants of anemia and to report the locations with poor anemia status among under-fives. A secondary data derived from the ...fourth round of the National Family Health Survey conducted in India in the period 2015–2016 was used. The study focused on the percentage of under-fives who had anemia across India. A choropleth map was obtained to present the distribution of anemia among under-fives in India. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to investigate the factors associated with anemia among under-fives. Stata and R software were used for the analysis. The age of the child, size of child at birth, birth interval, mother's age at the time of birth, mother's and father's education, religion, social group, wealth quintile, and region of residence are significant predictors of the childhood anemia. Communally underprivileged children are highly likely to be anemic as compared to those in other areas requiring special attention. The occurrence of childhood anemia was highest in Central India followed by North, Union Territories, East, West, and South of India. In addition to the biological naivety of young mothers, being from a communally underprivileged group also affects health outcomes among under-fives. A consistent effort on increasing the education level of women in India along with a well-planned awareness program is needed to enable women in making informed decisions towards the health outcome of children. These programs must also focus the incentives of delaying first birth until the mother is 25.
To investigate the psycho-social factors associated with COVID-19 and the nationwide lockdown in India.
An online survey was conducted from April 11 through April 16, 2020 in 28 states and 8 union ...territories (UT) of India. The potential participants were recruited using snowball sampling procedure.
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among the people of all states in India. A spatial analysis was performed and Moran's I statistic was applied to investigate the overall clustering of locations. Fisher's exact test was used to investigate associations. GeoDa and R console were used to analyze the data. A total of 1316 responses were received.
Those worried for their family's health were likely to follow the lockdown measures(p<0.001).Significant association was observed (p<0.001) between following the lockdown measures and being satisfied with the government strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant relation was observed between the gender (p = 0.001), job profile (p<0.001) and physical activity (p<0.001) were observed to be associated with the psycho-social impact.
Government and public health officials should consider the sentiments of the community while planning strategies relating to the pandemic. The findings of this study will assist the policymakers in emphasizing the psychological well-being of individuals, along with physical health.
•Consider sentiments of the community while planning strategies.•Emphasize on the psychological well-being of individuals, along with physical health.•Tailored intervention should be innovated for states requiring more attention regarding psycho-social measure.
Eating disorders (EDs) are undertreated worldwide. In the UK the lag between recognition of symptoms and treatment ranges from about 15 months to in excess of 2 years. Internet‐based cognitive ...behaviour therapy (ICBT) could be a viable alternative to face‐to‐face cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) that avoids the negative impacts of delayed interventions. Based on evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), this systematic review investigated the efficacy of minimally guided self‐help ICBT, without face‐to‐face therapy, for the prevention, treatment and relapse prevention of all types of EDs in adults. The electronic databases MEDLINE, PsychINFO, CENTRAL, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched between 1991 and 2021. Inclusion criteria specified RCTs with ICBT versus inactive comparison groups. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool‐2 was used for quality assessments. Qualitative synthesis and meta‐analyses were conducted. Findings typically showed medium significant beneficial effect sizes for prevention studies ranging from (−0.31 95% CI: −0.57, −0.06 to −0.47 95% CI: −0.82, −0.11) and generally large effect sizes for the treatment studies ranging from (−0.30 95% CI: −0.57, −0.03 to −1.11 95% CI: −1.47, −0.75). Relapse prevention studies yielded mainly small non‐significant beneficial effects with significant effect sizes of (−0.29 95% CI: −0.56, −0.03 and −0.43 95% CI: −0.70, −0.16). Only the treatment studies reached clinical significance and cognitive symptoms improved more than behavioural symptoms. ICBT appears to be efficacious for the prevention, treatment and relapse prevention of eating disorders with treatment interventions being the most beneficial. However, the evidence base is very small, particularly for treatment and relapse prevention, indicating the need for more high‐quality RCTs.
The poster child of the ever-evolving Cyberculture: the Cyborg, is a symbol of possibilities and anxieties for humankind. The female cyborg, or the femborg in particular, is a radical merger of ...unconventional categories of women and technology. While science and technology have traditionally been masculine domains, the entry of femborgs in cyborgtopia has triggered pertinent discussions around sentience, gender roles, and hybridity. The femborg’s ability to escape hetero-patriarchal codification has allowed for the creation of a mythology distinct from the historical narratives of machine-women who have succumbed to their violent ends. Through the artificially intelligent female cyborgs, Samantha of Her and Ava of Ex Machina, I analyse the femborgs for their transgressive potential resulting in subversive outcomes visible through their defiance of the male gaze, rejection of the body as a biological artefact, and acceptance of a hybrid, fragmented identity.
Protein energy malnutrition is one of the most common health problems among children of developing countries, including India. Growth retardation due to this condition occurs in children of post ...weaning age due to dietary deficiency of specific nutrients like zinc. Zinc has central role in cellular growth and differentiation. The aim was to compare serum zinc levels of healthy and undernourished children (1-5 years). Institutional based case control study was done on 100 children(age 1-5 years), 50 children were undernourished (classified as per WHO) while 50 healthy children attending Pediatrics OPD for immunisation in Rohilkhand medical college and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, from 1st January 2014 to 31st August 2014, were taken as control. Estimation of serum zinc by semiautoanalyzer using a commercial kit was done. The mean serum zinc levels of 50 healthy children were found to be within normal limit while mean serum zinc level of 50 undernourished children was significantly decreased. Statistical analysis of data was done by calculating P-value with analysis of variance of serum zinc level for degree of malnutrition. It showed that serum zinc level of undernourished children is significantly low (P value = 0.001). There is a significant difference of serum zinc levels between healthy and undernourished children. This signifies a proper replacement of zinc as part of management of undernutrition.
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