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Knowing the Path In the direction of Fiscal Well-Being: Evidence Via Asia.
This study aimed to examine the Iranian local communities' readiness stage to engage with childhood obesity prevention programs for late primary school children in districts 2 and 16 of Tehran as the representatives of high and low socio-economic districts, respectively. First, a Delphi approach was conducted to assess the socio-cultural necessity/appropriateness and adequacy of the community readiness model and its dimensions as a planning basis for childhood obesity prevention program(s) in Iran. Then, the community readiness interview guide's translation, modification, content and face validity were performed. Finally, 66 interviews with key informants were conducted and scored to assess community readiness. The socio-cultural necessity/appropriateness and adequacy of community readiness model and its dimensions were confirmed by Delphi participants and two questions were added to the interview guide. Content and face validity of the interview guide were at acceptable levels. Assessment of the community readiness based on the key informants' perspective showed that the overall mean readiness score of targeted local communities was 4.61 ± 0.54 and 4.22 ± 0.26 in high and low socio-economic districts, respectively, corresponded to 'preplanning stage'. The highest score was 5.00 ± 0.48 correspond to the 'preparation stage', which belonged to girls' schools in district 2. Small differences were found in the readiness stage of local communities by sex and socio-economic status of schools. The results highlight the need to increase community awareness, gain their support to recognize childhood obesity as a priority, address cultural misconceptions and improve the obesity prevention programs to achieve a higher level of readiness.Given the growing market for health-enhancing or functional foods in Iran, the consumption rate is low. Identifying and understanding the causes is key for future decisions and interventions in the market. So, the present study was designed to provide this knowledge in Iran. The study was conducted in Tehran, the capital of Iran, between May and September 2014. In total, 105 people participated in this qualitative research, including 40 production/supply/health authority stakeholders and 65 consumer stakeholders (44 housewives and 21 employed women). The sampling strategy was the purposive method with maximum diversity, and snowball sampling was used to identify key stakeholders. The social marketing framework was used for analyzing the participants' views and experiences. To collect data, semi-structured focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted. Data collection and content analysis were performed simultaneously, using MAXQDA® software. Categorization of the findings based on social marketing mix showed that the most important barriers to the consumption of functional dairy products were undesirable sensory and non-sensory characteristics, lack of physical and economic access to the product, the existence of product competitors in the market and inappropriate promotion strategies. Furthermore, personal barriers identified as a new dimension and included lack of knowledge about the product and its benefits, a negative attitude toward the product and personal taste and preference. Understanding these barriers might contribute to design and implement effective and appropriate interventions to increase the consumption of these products among consumers.Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), commonly occurring in the aged population, is a degenerative disease that dilate and weaken infrarenal aorta due to progressive degeneration of aortic wall integrity. Vinpocetine, a derivative of alkaloid vincamine, has long been used for cerebrovascular disorders and cognitive impairment in the aged population. Recent studies have indicated that vinpocetine antagonizes occlusive vascular disorders such as intimal hyperplasia and atherosclerosis. However, its role in vascular degenerative disease AAA remains unexplored. Herein, we determined the effect of vinpocetine on the formation of AAA as well as the intervention of pre-existing moderate AAA. AAA was induced by periaortic elastase application in C57BL/6J mice. Systemic vinpocetine treatment was applied daily via intraperitoneal injection. PF-06650833 purchase We showed that vinpocetine pre-treatment remarkably attenuated aneurysmal dilation assessed by diameter and volume. More importantly, vinpocetine also significantly suppressed the progression of pre-existing moderate AAA in a post-intervention model. Vinpocetine improved multiple cellular and molecular changes associated with AAA, such as elastin degradation, media smooth muscle cell depletion, collagen fibers remodeling and macrophage infiltration in aneurysmal tissues. Vinpocetine potently suppressed tumor necrosis factor-α-induced nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells activation and proinflammatory mediator expression in primary cultured macrophages in vitro, as well as in the aorta wall in vivo, suggesting vinpocetine conferred anti-AAA effect at least partially via the inhibition of inflammation. Taken together, our findings reveal a novel role of vinpocetine in AAA formation, development and progression. Given the excellent safety profile of vinpocetine, the present study suggests vinpocetine may be a novel therapeutic agent for AAA prevention and treatment.The present study aimed to construct a novel signature for indicating the prognostic outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Gene expression profiles were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases. The prognosis-related genes with differential expression were identified with weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), univariate analysis, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). With the stepwise regression analysis, a risk score was constructed based on the expression levels of five genes Risk score = (-0.7736* CCNB2) + (1.0083* DYNC1LI1) + (-0.6755* KIF11) + (0.9588* SPC25) + (1.5237* KIF18A), which can be applied as a signature for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients. The prediction capacity of the risk score for overall survival was validated with both TCGA and ICGC cohorts. The 1-, 3- and 5-year ROC curves were plotted, in which the AUC was 0.842, 0.726 and 0.699 in TCGA cohort and 0.
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