A sub-national economic complexity analysis of Australia's states and territories. Regional Studies. This paper applies economic complexity analysis to the Australian sub-national economy (nine ...regions with 506 exported goods and services). Using a 2009 Australian multi-regional input-output table for base data, we determine the number of export goods or services in which each state and territory has a revealed comparative advantage, and visualize the complexity of Australia's interstate and international exports. We find that small differences in industrial capability and knowledge are crucial to relative complexity. The majority of states (especially Western Australia) export primarily resource-intensive goods, yet interstate trade has many complex products that are not currently internationally exported.
Background: The decoding of human genome helped to design pharmacological agents like Biologicals and Biosimilars which can target the affected etiological aberrations. Biological agents are large ...complex molecules produced by recombinant techniques in a living system for therapeutic or diagnostic uses and have revolutionized treatment of many diseases. Patent expiry of Biologicals has led to the development of Biosimilars which are similar in efficacy & safety and have no clinically meaningful differences, but are not identical to Biologicals and undergo fewer clinical trials than their reference biologicals. Clinicians’ in- depth knowledge of these agents is important to optimize the use of cost-effective & easily accessible options.
Methods: This is a cross sectional observational study conducted between Feb-March 2020 in Radiotherapy/ Chemotherapy Oncology Department of Dr B.R.A.M. Hospital & Pt. J. N. M. Medical College, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, using a self-administered, structured questionnaire consisting of 15-question among 30 clinicians prescribing Biologicals and Biosimilars.
Results: 83.3% of clinicians were familiar with the term ‘Biologicals’ & ‘Biosimilars’. 60% believed that Biosimilars are same as Generic Medicines and have the same potency as Biologicals. 53% assumed that Biologicals & Biosimilars can be switched. 50% were able to explain the difference or similarity between Biologicals and Biosimilars.
Conclusion: The findings reveal that the clinicians had good knowledge about Biologicals and Biosimilars but lacked application of this knowledge in clinical practice. This highlights a need for regular educational initiative to reduce the knowledge deficit & its application in clinical practice. Further, there must be a National Treatment Guidelines on use of Biologicals and Biosimilars.
Abstract
Introduction
Surgical site infection (SSI) is the commonest preventable health care–associated infection among postoperative cases. Several guidelines are available for surgical ...antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) and other measures which prevent SSI. National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), India, has also provided a guideline for prevention of SSI in 2016. In this study we have compared the NCDC, India, guideline with WHO (World health organization) and American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) guidelines. The timing of antimicrobial agent administration is the only parameter which is included in all the three guidelines. As per NCDC and ASHP it should be within 60 minutes of incision while as per WHO it is within 120 minutes of incision.
Materials and Methods
This was a prospective observational study—104 patients undergoing surgery in general surgical ward between January 2016 and June 2017 were included in this study. The NCDC guideline was compared with WHO and ASHP guidelines. Real data comparison was done for those parameters which were included in all the three guidelines.
Statistical Analysis
Data were analyzed using descriptive methods and chi-square test.
Results
None of the patients in our study received SAP within 60 minutes of incision. In 70% cases it was administered within 2 hours of incision and in the remaining 30% it was administered after more than 2 hours. There was no significant difference in the incidence of SSI among these two groups.
Conclusion
NCDC SAP guideline helps in rational use of antimicrobials. Increasing the duration for SAP may be added in the NCDC guidelines. Inclusion of certain additional parameters like weight-based doses and consideration for other comorbidities will help in patient- and procedure-specific SAP. Antimicrobial stewardship should be encouraged in all the hospitals and should follow local antimicrobial resistance pattern. This will assist in therapy decision, policy making, and evidence-based treatment.
Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the ...traveler, to provide funds for ecological censervation, to directly benifit the economic development, and political empowerment of local communities. Ecotourism has come up as an important conservation strategy in the tropical areas where diversity of species and habitats are threatened because of the traditional forms of development. This study deals with a non-linear mathematical model with a novel idea for sustainable development of biomass with ecotourism which is imperative in the present scenario. Stability and bifurcation analysis of the model is done and it is observed from our study that the system predicts unstability and exhibits bifurcation if ecotourism goes beyond a threshold value.
We postulate that reasonable notions of sustainability must include a time-scale synchronization of both the processes of human development and those of the natural environment. We perform our ...analysis within a simple system of five differential equations where non-renewable and renewable resources are coupled with production capacities, abatement and human capital as functions of time. A 'sustainability screw' phenomenon is demonstrated describing a spiral like trajectory of three key variables-the non-renewable resources, the renewable resources and the production capital. This spiral may tend to an undesirable steady state, however, by adjusting a ratio of intensity parameters, time scales of production and natural recovery processes can be altered to produce more sustainable trajectories.
In the financial year 2011–2012, wind farms supplied 26 % of South Australia’s electricity demand according to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s report. This contribution has risen from zero in ...2003. The operation of the electricity grid depends heavily on knowledge of the variability of supply. Wind farm output displays similar conditional volatility as financial market variables. In this paper, a new method of estimating wind farm output volatility on a 5-min time scale is developed through the use of higher-frequency wind farm output data. First, an autoregressive model for the high-frequency data is developed, and it is used to derive a volatility measure for 5-min data. The results are also true in certain general situations when the high-frequency data follow an autoregressive moving average process or exhibits long memory features. The methods described here are analogous to realised volatility measures used in financial series, except that wind farm output data are measured at uniform intervals, unlike random trading times for financial transactions.
This study examined the relationship between music preferences (MP), listening styles (LS), functions of music (FoM), perceived rasa (music) and personality traits (PT - Big Five Factors). A sample ...of 77 young adults (M = 39; F = 38; M = 22.7 years) completed measures of the above constructs and data were analysed via correlations, one-way ANOVA, post hoc tests, and T-tests. Significant correlations were found between LS and PT; MP and PT; FoM and PT; FoM and emotion; and LS and FoM. Findings indicated stronger preferences for genres namely Romantic songs, Soft songs and Filmy (Sad) songs. Gender difference existed in terms of MP, perceived emotions and LS. Music listening mainly served as a 'source of pleasure and enjoyment' and which 'calms, motivates, or reminds of past events'. Musical genres inducing santoṣa rasa were perceived significantly higher in female participants. Based on the findings, a 'music engagement model for Young Adults' describing their music behaviour, have been proposed.
Menopause refers to the cessation of menstruation. Menopause brings about a deficiency of estrogen and a period of bone loss that extends till the end of life and is responsible for development of ...osteoporotic fractures in women. Prevention of vertebral fractures, non-vertebral fractures and hip fractures in post-menopausal women can be effectively done by Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) as it prevents bone loss following menopause and can delay development of osteoporosis as seen on DEXA scan. HRT use however is associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, genito-urinary problems, breast, endometrial and ovarian cancer and the risk of venous thromboembolism. However in selected postmenopausal women with early menopause or with postmenopausal symptoms short-term use of HRT/Raloxifene/Tibolone is currently permitted to alleviate symptoms.
► We use Fourier series to deseason global solar radiation. ► We introduce two models for forecasting deseasoned global solar radiation which are AR(2) and Lucheroni model. ► We combine the AR(2) and ...Lucheroni models to enhance the forecast. ► We add a new component, which we call the fixed component, to further improve the forecasting ability. ► We compare the new model with other popular solar radiation forecasting models and show advantages of our model.
The trends of solar radiation are not easy to capture and become especially hard to predict when weather conditions change dramatically, such as with clouds blocking the sun. At present, the better performing methods to forecast solar radiation are time series methods, artificial neural networks and stochastic models. This paper will describe a new and efficient method capable of forecasting 1-h ahead solar radiation during cloudy days. The method combines an autoregressive (AR) model with a dynamical system model. In addition, the difference of solar radiation values at present and lag one time step is used as a correction to a predicted value, improving the forecasting accuracy by 30% compared to models without this correction.
Pharmacogenomics is a growing field of science that explores the genetic contributions in an individual's response to the drug, so as to choose the right drug in the right doses tailored to a ...patient's genetic makeup. Although pharmacogenomics information is incorporated in chapters discussing relevant drugs, it has not been materialized into clinical practice yet and still, it remains a challenge due to limited knowledge and accessibility of the pharmacogenomic tests to diagnose these polymorphisms. With this background, the objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and perception of pharmacogenomics among second-year MBBS students and to sensitize them regarding pharmacogenomics.
A cross-sectional study was done in which 138 medical students responded to a preformed semi-structured assessment tool. It comprised two main components (1) knowledge and (2) relevance of pharmacogenomics in medical education and clinical practice.
Ninety-five percent students defined pharmacogenomics correctly, but only 54% were aware of genetic variations in drug targets, metabolizing enzymes, and transporters affecting drug therapy. Only 15% knew about the availability of pharmacogenomics tests in India. Eighty-four percent of students felt that incorporating pharmacogenomics education in the MBBS curriculum is a must for precision medicine.
Second-year MBBS students had good knowledge of pharmacogenomics, but knowledge about the application in clinical practice and interpretation of pharmacogenomics was limited. Therefore, we recommend (1) basic pharmacogenomic education at all levels of medical curricula, (2) development of case-based knowledge application modules, (3) regular continuing medical education to update about available screening tools/biomarkers, and (4) patient and public awareness programs so that they receive personalized/precision medicine with optimum efficacy and reduced side effects and health-care costs.
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