BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) survivors experience difficulty navigating complex care pathways. Sharing care between GPs and specialist services has been proposed to improve health outcomes in cancer survivors following hospital discharge. Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) groups are known to have poorer outcomes following cancer treatment but little is known about their perceptions of shared care following surgery for CRC. This study aimed to explore how non-English-speaking and English-speaking patients perceive care to be coordinated amongst various health practitioners.MethodsThis was a qualitative study using data from face to face semi-structured interviews and one focus group in a culturally diverse area of Sydney with non-English-speaking and English-speaking CRC survivors. Participants were recruited in community settings and were interviewed in English, Spanish or Vietnamese. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed by researchers fluent in those languages. Data were coded and analysed thematically.ResultsTwenty-two CRC survivors participated in the study. Participants from non-English-speaking and English-speaking groups described similar barriers to care, but non-English-speaking participants described additional communication difficulties and perceived discrimination. Non-English-speaking participants relied on family members and bilingual GPs for assistance with communication and care coordination. Factors that influenced the care pathways used by participants and how care was shared between the specialist and GP included patient and practitioner preference, accessibility, complexity of care needs, and requirements for assistance with understanding information and navigating the health system, that were particularly difficult for non-English-speaking CRC survivors.ConclusionsBoth non-English-speaking and English-speaking CRC survivors described a blend of specialist-led or GP-led care depending on the complexity of care required, informational needs, and how engaged and accessible they perceived the specialist or GP to be. Findings from this study highlight the role of the bilingual GP in assisting CALD participants to understand information and to navigate their care pathways following CRC surgery.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12875-018-0822-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The overuse of antibiotics is losing its effectiveness due to increased antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Over the last two decades, the evaluation of antibiotic residues in the environment has greatly attracted the attention of researchers around the world. The more new groups of antibiotics were validated to use in medical treatment, the more antibiotic residues were discharged into the environment. In this work, a combined SPE-UPLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for simultaneously analyzing 9 antibiotic compounds belonging 3 different groups which are tetracyclines (tetracycline – TET, chlortetracycline – CHL, oxytetracycline – OXY), fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin – CIP, norfloxacin – NOR, ofloxacin – OFL) and macrolides (azithromycin – AZI, erythromycin – ERY, clarithromycin – CLA) in surface water. All target analytes were separated on a reversed-phase column (Water BEH C18 column, 1.7 µm particle size, 100 x 2.1 mm) coupled with a mass in tandem employing positive electrospray ionization (+ESI). All target analytes were well separated with an overall run time of 16 minutes. The limit of detection was from 0.2 to 10 µg L-1. The extraction process has been successfully optimized using the HLB column (Oasis, 6mL, 200mg, Waters) with recoveries from 71 to 125%. The optimized method was finally applied to analyze ten surface water samples (lake and river). OFL, CLA, and ERY were most found in lake samples at concentrations from 35 – 570.3 ng.L-1 while only CIP was found in all river samples. The other compounds were also detected in both types of samples but the concentrations were lower than the quantification limit.

Climate change is predicted to increase both the frequency and the severity of weather shocks that adversely affect the livelihood of humans, especially those working in agriculture. We study the impact of weather shocks on welfare and how it exacerbates household income inequality. We first recognise the limitations of existing measures of weather shocks and propose an absolute measure that is more robust to the length of time over which weather samples are obtained. Next, we study the impact of the newly constructed weather shocks on welfare measured by different income sources and different types of consumption. The findings suggest that weather shocks reduce crop revenue significantly. We then consider how the diverse impact of weather shocks affects household income inequality. The Gini decomposition of income sources suggests crop income reduces income inequality in rural areas. Overall, weather shocks reduce income from crops and therefore they increase income inequality. JEL Classification: D63, O13, O18

This study aims to investigate the impact of internal financial factors on the financial performance of mineral firms listed on the Vietnam Stock Exchange. The research uses quantitative and qualitative methods to process the data collected. The results reveal that determinants of internal financial factors, including solvency, have a negative correlation with return on sales (ROS); firm growth rate (RG) has a positive correlation with ROS; capital structure influences the return on equity (ROE) positively, and capital structure negatively affects ROE; capital structure and DR have a negative impact on return on assets (ROA); current assets structure have a positive correlation with the ROA; CR has a negative impact on ROA; while firm RG and age have a positive correlation with ROA; the remaining determinants do not influence financial performance. Nhung, Daphné, and Huyen (2021) concluded that two variables consisting of total assets turnover ratio (ATR) and growth in sales significantly influence financial performance (FP) when it is measured by return on equity (ROE) or return on sales (ROS). However, this impact level of internal financial determinants is different. Finally, some suggestions are shown to enhance the financial performance of listed mineral firms in Vietnam

Background: Patients’ expectations are considered to influence their satisfaction with the service provided. This can be used to provide a deeper understanding and better approach to improve health care delivery. Objectives: This study was to identify patients' expectations forhealth care services at commune health centers in Huong Thuy Town, Thua Thien Hue province. Methods: A cross-sectional study with data collected from 423 people in Huong Thuy, using the 38-item standardized questionnaire to measure patients' expectations of primary care. A five score Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree was used to report people’s expectation towards primary care services at commune health centers. Results: Among five important features of primary care, patient expectations for aspects of the medical care were the highest ranking. Aspects that achieved the lowest expectations were the availability and accessibility. The items such as “Facilities should be well equipped and modern”, “Doctor should guide patient in taking medicines correctly” and “Doctor should make patient feel free and comformtable to talk about health issues” received the highest scores. Conclusions: The study provides evidence on what patients expect for primary care service, thus helps to improve primary care quality, especially on the aspects that patients rate highest priorities. Key words: primary care, patient’s expectation, commune health center