Asia-Pacific journal of public health
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Asia Pac J Public Health · Nov 2016
Community-Based Study of the Relationship Between Social Capital and Cognitive Function in Wuhan, China.
The present study aimed to detect the association between social capital and cognitive function in elderly residents with/without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Wuhan, China. A cross-sectional study was conducted for data collection in 2014. A sample of 1156 participants entered the study. ⋯ The results indicated that participants without MCI had higher social capital scores (45.2 ± 8.3) than those with MCI (37.0 ± 6.3; P < .001). With adjustments for relevant confounders, the multiple logistic regression model showed that participants with a bonding social capital score that ranged from 17 to 24 had an odds ratio (OR) for MCI of 0.38 (95% CI = 0.04-0.79); those with a score that ranged from 25 to 32 had an OR for MCI of 0.36 (95% CI = 0.04-0.70); and those with scores ≥33 had an OR for MCI of 0.25 (95% CI = 0.03-0.53). In conclusion, we found a statistically significant inverse association between bonding social capital and MCI, which suggests that shortage of social resource from homogeneous social networks might be associated with cognitive decline.
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Asia Pac J Public Health · Nov 2016
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Intellectual Property Protection, and Access to Medicines.
The inclusion of elevated standards of intellectual property (IP) protection in the recently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement has raised serious public health concerns regarding access to medicines. A lesser-known trade agreement under negotiation in the Asia-Pacific region is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Framed as an attempt to reassert ASEAN's position in response to the United States-led TPP, RCEP includes key players China and India as well as several low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). ⋯ This article identifies TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement)-Plus provisions in leaked negotiating texts and examines their implications for LMICs that are not also parties to the TPP: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, China, and India. We find that higher levels of IP protection delay the market entry of generic medicines, giving rise to increased costs to governments and reduced access to essential medicines. The article concludes that the public health community should recognize risks inherent in trade agreements that promote expansions of IP rights and engage with governments to ensure that public health is adequately and explicitly protected in trade and investment negotiations.