Fishing grounds footprint and economic freedom indexes: Evidence from Asia-Pacific.

Environmental challenges are as wide as the universe so that its different dimensions can be the subject of diverse studies. In this research, using 17 data from Asia-Pacific during the period 2000 to 2017, an attempt has been made to investigate the economic factors responsible for the ecological footprint in the fishing sector. The main contribution of the present study is to investigate the effects of nine economic freedom indicators along with other control variables on environmental pressure on the status of fishery resources. Based on the results, the Kuznets curve hypothesis was confirmed in the fishing grounds footprint, so that the growth of GDP per capita shows a positive and significant effect, while its squared form coefficient is negative. Other control variables including natural resource rents, urbanization, and energy intensity, do not show significant effects on the fishing footprint. The different components of economic freedom show different effects, while their cumulative effects in the form of the total economic freedom index have a positive effect on the footprint of fishing and lead to increased extraction from fishing resources. The results show that the Government Integrity, Tax Burden, Business Freedom, Monetary Freedom indices increase the fishing footprint, while the indices of trade freedom and investment freedom, by revealing the negative effects on the fishing footprint, have beneficial environmental effects in reducing the pressure on the aquatic resources of countries. The results of the present study reveal the need to examine how the various dimensions of economic freedom affect to provide the proper management of fishery resources.

The asymmetric dilemma of renewable energy, financial development, and economic growth: fresh evidence from Pakistan.

According to economists, rapid economic growth depends on the active energy system of any country. Through financial development, the latest trend of globalization applies pressure on energy consumption, which eventually validates growth in the economy. Therefore, the role of financial development and renewable energy consumption on economic growth is still being questioned. This paper contributes to this issue by raising concerns about the possible asymmetric links among financial development, renewable energy, and economic growth along with capital and labor. Applying a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model, our paper demonstrates that neglecting the involvement of nonlinearities leads to confusing conclusions. Results show that variables of interest have asymmetric impacts in short- and long-runs. Our analysis shows that short- and long-run impacts of renewable energy consumption and financial development on growth vary significantly. Notably, this study finds that renewable energy consumption has a positive and significant impact on economic growth in the short- and long-runs, and financial development has a strong, asymmetric, and positive effect on economic growth in the short and negative effects in long-run. The findings also have important implications for policymakers as well as investors in Pakistan's energy sector.

Delivering the Thinking Healthy Programme for perinatal depression through volunteer peers: a cluster randomised controlled trial in Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: The Thinking Healthy Programme (THP), which is endorsed by WHO, is an evidence-based intervention for perinatal depression. We adapted THP for delivery by volunteer peers (laywomen from the community) to address the human resource needs in bridging the treatment gap, and we aimed to assess its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. METHODS: In this cluster randomised controlled trial, we randomly assigned 40 village clusters (1:1) to provide either THP peer-delivered (THPP) and enhanced usual care (EUC; intervention group) or EUC only (control group) to the participants within clusters. These villages were randomly selected from eligible villages by an independent researcher. The participants were pregnant women aged 18 years or older who had scored at least 10 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), who we recruited from households within communities in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The research teams who were responsible for recruiting trial participants were masked to treatment allocations. Participants attended follow-up visits at 3 and 6 months after childbirth. The primary outcomes were the severity of depressive symptoms (assessed by PHQ-9 score) and the prevalence of remission (defined as a PHQ-9 score of less than 5) in participants with available data 6 months after childbirth, which was assessed by researchers who were masked to treatment allocations. We analysed outcomes by intention to treat, adjusting for covariates that were defined a priori or that showed imbalance at baseline. The trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02111915. FINDINGS: Between April 15 and July 30, 2014, we randomly selected 40 of 46 eligible village clusters for assessment, as per sample size calculations. Between Oct 15, 2014, and Feb 25, 2016, we identified and screened 971 women from 20 village clusters that had been randomly assigned to the THPP and EUC group and 939 women from 20 village clusters that had been randomly assigned to the EUC only group. In the intervention group, 79 women were ineligible for inclusion, 11 women refused screening, 597 women screened negative on the PHQ-9, and one woman did not consent to participate. In the control group, 75 women were ineligible for inclusion, 14 women refused screening, 562 women screened negative on the PHQ-9, and one woman did not consent to participate. We enrolled 283 (29%) women in the intervention group and 287 (31%) women in the control group. At 6 months after childbirth, 227 (80%) women in the THPP and EUC group and 226 (79%) women in the EUC only group were assessed for the primary outcome. The severity of depression (assessed by PHQ-9 scores; standardised mean difference -0·13, 95% CI -0·31 to 0·06; p=0·07) and prevalence of remission (49% in the intervention group vs 45% in the control group; prevalence ratio 1·12, 95% CI 0·95 to 1·29; p=0·14) did not significantly differ between the groups 6 months after childbirth. There was no evidence of significant differences in serious adverse events between the groups. INTERPRETATION: THPP had no effect on symptom severity or remission from perinatal depression at 6 months after childbirth, but we found that it was beneficial on some other metrics of severity and disability and that it was cost-effective. THPP could be a step towards use of an unused human resource to address the treatment gap in perinatal depression. FUNDING: National Institute of Mental Health (USA).

Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing: Analytical performance assessment according to CLSI protocols for HbA1c quantification.

HbA1c is used for monitoring diabetic balance. In this paper we report an assessment of the analytical performances of Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing (C2FP) for HbA1c measurement using CE (Capillary Electrophoresis). CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute) protocols are used for the evaluation of apparatus performances: precision, linearity, method comparison, trueness and common interferences. HbA1c CVs average in intra-assay was 1.6% between run imprecision CV ranged from 0.1 to 1.8%. The linearity was demonstrated between 4.7 and 15.0%. The comparison study revealed that Bland Altman plot mean difference was equal to -0.03 (CI 95% (-0.05 to -0.0003)) and Passing-Bablok regression intercept was -0.05, CI95%(-0.13 -  -0.05); slope: 1.00, CI95%[1.00-1.01]. A strong correlation (r > 0.99) was proved. No significant effects of hemoglobin variants were seen with CE on HbA1c measurement. No problem related to sample-to-sample carry over was noted. No interferences of LA1c and cHb were observed. CE allowed quantification of HbA1c even at low level of total hemoglobin (40 g/L) in contrast to HPLC. Furthermore, this analyzer offered the opportunity of quantifying the HbA2 simultaneously with HbA1c . This evaluation showed that C2FP is a convenient system for the control of diabetes and the detection of hemoglobinopathies.