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We exploit the difference in means of postnatal hospital stays between beneficiary mothers of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and control mothers to estimate causal effects of postnatal hospital stay on postdischarge complications of a mother and her newborn. We argue that JSY increases the demand for institutional deliveries in those hospitals, which are assigned by the government to provide such services to the JSY recipients. Given the limited supply of beds, health professionals and other facilities, an excess demand for institutional deliveries in those hospitals forces JSY recipients to stay for a shorter time after birth compared with nonrecipients of JSY who are free to deliver in any hospital. Thus, the dummy for JSY becomes a suitable instrument for postnatal hospital stay. Using instrumental variables (IV) regressions, we find that postnatal hospital stay has statistically significant negative causal effects on half of the available postdischarge complications in the data, including abdominal pain, vaginal discharge, convulsion and severe headache of a mother and fever or cold of the newborn.

Background: Shoulder pain is a common musculoskeletal condition and high frequency ultrasonography is an accurate non-invasive imaging technique for evaluating patients with painful shoulder. This study was designed to determine the ultrasonographic findings in patients with shoulder pain and to compare the clinical diagnosis established by physical examination to high frequency ultrasonographic findings. Methods: Thirty patients with shoulder pain were included in the study between the period from December 2017 to April 2018 in BIRDEM General Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. All had a physical examination performed by a physician. Ultrasonographic examination was carried out within three days of the physical examination by two sinologists, who had no knowledge of the clinical findings. Results: Total patients were 30 with mean age 52.20±7.52 years and male female ratio 2:3. On examination out of these thirty patients, impingement syndrome was positive in 93.3% (Neer) and 76.7% (Hawkin), supraspinatus tendinitis in 83.3% (Jobe’s), biceps tendinitis in 30.0% (Yergason’s test) and 33.3% (Speed’s maneuver), subscapularis tendinitis in 3.3% (Gerbers lift off test) patients. Sonographic alteration was found in a total of 28 (93.33%) patients. Forty five pathologies were detected; 46.67% patients had single pathology, 40% had two and 6.67% had three pathologies. The structure most frequently involved was the supraspinatus tendon (35.50%). The long head of biceps tendon (17.78%) and the acromioclavicular joint (26.67%) were also frequently involved. Infraspinatus tendinopathy, subscapularis tendinopathy and subcaromial bursitis were present in small percentage. Significant difference was found between clinical examination and ultrasound findings. Conclusion: Ultrasonography may be a useful tool to improve diagnosis in painful shoulder. Birdem Med J 2019; 9(3): 218-222

We present an application of the recent CS-ARDL methodology in the context of a country’s trade balance–exchange rate relationship. The trade balance is expected to deteriorate first before improving in response to currency depreciation and vice versa, widely known as the J-curve effect satisfying the Marshall–Lerner condition in the long run. Combining bilateral and aggregate analysis in one setting by constructing specific panel data with one reference country, we find that aggregate analysis is sensitive to our allowance for heterogeneity. Estimates using the aggregate time series data show evidence favoring the J-curve relation, whereas the aggregate analysis resulting from the panel time series data shows that currency appreciation improves trade balance in Bangladesh in the long run, which goes against the Marshall–Lerner condition. With the reference of the existing commodity-level literature, we argue that this atypical scenario lines with the realities of a ‘small’ economy like Bangladesh, where her exporters attempt to maintain their market share with some government support. The study provides essential policy suggestions by identifying the significant contributors to Bangladesh’s trade balance–exchange rate relationship: China, Japan, and Singapore.