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The paper is aimed at assessing the impact of capital flows from commercial banks and FDI on sustainable economic growth in ASEAN countries. The study has conducted quantitative secondary analysis on data collected from 1980 to 2018 for Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Descriptive statistics, correlation and ARDL are applied to measure the impact of each variable on sustainable economic growth. The study has shown a significant long-run relationship of short-term debt, long-term debt, technology, capital flows and savings and investment on sustainable economic growth. Short-term debt is found to have a negative impact in the long run. The short-run relationship between long-term debt, short-term and sustainable economic growth is significant while insignificant for all other variables. The study is useful for countries that are aiming for sustainable economic growth since all the factors are helpful to consider. Future researchers can use other regions to empirically examine the same model. The study is focused on only 3 countries from ASEAN countries and is only focused on one region. As economic and political scenarios different, results might not be same in other parts of the world.

The process of venipuncture is a necessity for obtaining intravenous access for intravenous therapy or blood sampling of venous blood. Therefore, a vein finder system is an effective solution not only to make venipuncture safe and accurate but also to reduce anxiety and stress of patients and to improve donation comfort and efficiency. Vein visualization technology utilizes noninvasive infrared technology in capturing the real-time venous image on the patient’s skin and making it observable. In the procedure executed by this system, the sample’s skin is exposed to the near-infrared (NIR) light transmitted from an 850 nm 12 W 6-LED array. Following this, Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, connected with NoIR Camera Board, is utilized as an image acquisition equipment to capture the NIR illuminated skin area. Next, the raw data will be transferred to the computer to perform the filtering and processing technique before being displayed on the monitor. The system is examined on 24 volunteers with various age and gender groups. The output venous image is also imported to a pico-projector (Texas Instrument Inc.) for the attempt of back-projection onto the patient’s hand. In overall, the experimental results are capable of distinguishing the differences in the contrast and brightness between the veins and the surrounding tissues on the wrists of the samples. It is anticipated that, with further investigation and experiments, a verification method for accurate and real-time projection of the enhanced imaged onto the human skin can be developed.

This study analyzes the factors affecting the persistence in innovation of enterprises in electronics industry in Ho Chi Minh City using DPM (Dynamic Probit Model) with MLE (Maximum Likelihood Estimation) and CML (Conditional Maximum Likelihood) estimation method. Data are collected from annual enterprise surveys in the period between 2007 and 2013 by GSO. The results show that firm size and foreign ownership affect the persistent innovation of the electronic enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City. This indicates that enterprises in the electronic industry in the upcoming time need to strengthen and enhance size, attract foreign investment to facilitate this innovation performance for the stable and sustainable development

Background High birth weight (BW), 4000 g or larger, is an established risk factor for childhood leukemia. However, its association with central nervous system (CNS) tumor risk is yet unclear. The present study examined it, analyzing data obtained from a case-control study conducted among three states from the US. The association with childhood leukemia risk was also further examined. Methods In this study, a data set provided by the Comprehensive Epidemiologic Data Resource was analyzed with an official permission. The original case-control study was conducted to examine the association between paternal preconception exposure to ionizing radiation and childhood cancer risk. Cases with childhood cancer were mainly ascertained from local hospitals, and controls were selected, matched with birth year (1-year category), county of residence, sex, ethnicity and maternal age (+/−2 years). Since the ID numbers were unavailable, conventional logistic analyses were conducted adjusting for those matching variables except for the county of residence. In addition to those variables, gestational age, age at diagnosis and study sites as covariables were included in the logistic models. Results Analyzed subjects were 72 CNS tumor cases, 124 leukemia cases and 822 controls born from 1945 to 1989. The odds ratios (ORs) of CNS tumor risk for children with low BWs (4000 g) were 2.0 (95% confidence interval [CI]) = 0.7, 5.9) and 2.5 (95%CI = 1.2, 5.2)], respectively. When high-BW children were restricted to those who were large for gestational age (LGA), the OR for high-BW children remained similar (OR = 2.7; 95%CI = 1.1, 6.2). On the other hand, the ORs of leukemia risk for children with low and high BWs were 0.8 (95%CI = 0.2, 3.0) and 1.4 (95%CI = 0.7, 2.6), respectively. In the normal range of BW (2500–4000 g), higher BW was positively associated with CNS tumor risk (beta = 0.0011, p for trend = 0.012). However, the association with leukemia risk was not significant (beta = −0.0002, p for trend = 0.475). Conclusion High-BW and LGA children had an elevated childhood CNS tumor risk. In the normal BW range, the BW itself was positively related to CNS tumor risk. No significant association between BW and childhood leukemia risk was observed in this study. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-017-3681-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background The association of waterpipe tobacco (WPT) smoking with gastric cancer (GC) risk was suggested. Methods A hospital-based case-control study was conducted to examine the association of WPT with GC risk among Vietnamese men, in Hanoi city, during the period of 2003–2011. Newly-diagnosed GC cases (n = 454) and control patients (n = 628) were matched by age (+/- 5 years) and the year of hospitalization. Information on smoking and alcohol drinking habits and diet including salty food intake and fruits/vegetables consumption were obtained by the interview. Maximum likelihood estimates of odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (Cis) were obtained using conditional logistic regression models. Results The group with the highest consumption of citrus fruits showed a significantly low GC risk (OR = 0.6, 95%CI = 0.4–0.8, P for trend = 0.002). However, there was no association of raw vegetable consumption with GC risk. Referring to never smokers, GC risk was significantly higher in current WPT smokers (OR = 1.8, 95%CI = 1.3–2.4), and it was more evident in exclusively WPT smokers (OR = 2.7, 95%CI = 1.2–6.5). GC risk tended to be higher with daily frequency and longer duration of WPT smoking but these trends were not statistically significant (P for trend: 0.144 and 0.154, respectively). GC risk of those who started smoking WPT before the age of 25 was also significantly high (OR = 3.7, 95%CI = 1.2–11.3). Neither cigarette smoking nor alcohol drinking was related to GC risk. Conclusion The present findings revealed that WPT smoking was positively associated with GC risk in Vietnamese men.