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The centre of interest of this research article is the association between chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics and firm performance. Employing a sample of Nifty 500 firms, the support found recommends that demographic and job-related characteristics may be related with the firm's financial performance. We consider CEO gender, duality, nationality, remuneration and education level as CEO characteristics and we employ return on assets (ROA) as a representative for firm performance. This study widens the understanding of the important function played by the CEO and provides better insight into CEO-specific variables. Specifically, the reported findings specify a positive relationship between CEO remuneration and firm performance, thus indicating that compensation acts as a good inducement for executives to yield finer firm performance while CEO nationality appears to inhibit it, steering foreign directors to a minority spot. This implies that remuneration should be more thoughtfully attached to performance, so that proficient CEOs are not lured by more tempted compensation elsewhere and the decision to engage foreign nationals to company boards must be based on norms other than the firm's future financial performance.

The present article attempts to analyse the incidence and determinants of poverty among Scheduled Caste (SC) households in rural Punjab. The study based on the primary data of 543 SC households selected from rural areas of Punjab, concluded that the incidence of consumption-based poverty among different categories is slightly less than the incidence of income-based poverty among different categories of SCs across sampled districts. One explanation for this is that SC households try to maintain a minimum standard of living by taking loans from various institutional as well as non-institutional agencies. There is a negative relationship between the income earned by SC households and the percentage of those living below the poverty line (BPL). The study suggests that the proportion of SCs living BPL can decrease with an increase in their level of income and employment.

The objective of the present paper is to analyse levels, patterns and distribution of consumption expenditure by farmers and agricultural labourers in rural Punjab. An attempt has also been made to analyse the same trends across social groups and observe how caste interacts with resource ownership and leads to unequal outcomes. The study reveals a positive relationship between farm size and consumption levels, and also shows that caste-based discrimination becomes overt at higher levels of living. The farming communities may show a level of equality in deprivation but not in achievements. We see that most poor farmers and agricultural labourers spend on basic needs, thus leaving lesser amounts to be spent on durables and services. Things worsen for socially marginalised groups. The majority of households belonging to these categories have an average propensity to consume greater amounts which forces them to borrow money to make both ends meet. Finally, this study offers some policy suggestions to save such communities from a vicious debt trap and help them improve their living standards.

Background and Objectives: In the era of global industrialization, enzymes are being used extensively in the various sectors including food processing. Owing to the high price of enzymes, various initiatives have been undertaken by the R&D sector for the development of new processes or improvement in the existing processes for production of cost effective enzymes. With the advancement in the field of biotechnology, different bioprocesses are being used for utilization of different agro-industrial residues for the production of various enzymes. This review focuses on different types of agro-industrial wastes and their utilization in the production of enzymes. The present scenario as well as the future scope of utilization of enzymes in the food industry has also been discussed.Results and Conclusion: The regulations from the various governmental as well as environmental agencies for the demand of cleaner environment have led to the advancement in various technologies for utilization of the wastes for the production of value-added products such as enzymes. Among the different types of fermentation, maximum work has been carried under solid state conditions by batch fermentation. The research has indicated the significant potential of agro-industrial wastes for production of food-grade enzymes in order to improve the economics of the process.Conflict of interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

A 50–year old female presented with the chief complaint of a discharge per vaginum, which was there for the past 15 days. A routine PAP smear was received in the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Patiala, India. After its fixation and staining, it was examined under the microscope. It showed the Trichomonas vaginalis infection, with the neutrophils forming cannon balls at places. Neutrophils in the PAP smear are a nonspecific finding, particularly if they are low in numbers or if they are seen in the premenstrual and the menstrual phases. The neutrophils which are adherent to the squamous cells are called "cannon balls" or "pus balls", which are common in the Chlamydia infection. This case is being presented because of the presence of these rare morphological structures i.e. "cannon balls" or "pus balls".

BACKGROUND: In India,due to manpower constraints, patients' family members are often actively involved in healthcare activities of their near and dear ones. They have significant contact with the patient at all the 5 moments for hand hygiene (HH) as listed by WHO. At our tertiary care hospital in north India, we have been monitoring HH compliance (HHC) for nearly a decade. In this study, we analyzed the impact of decade long awareness campaigns to improve HH compliance in our patients' attendants. METHODS: Trained infection control nurses directly observed the compliance to hand hygiene at each of the five moments for patients' attendants over different areas of the hospital over a period of 5 years (January 2014–December 2018). Compliance was calculated as percentage of events over total opportunities and compared. RESULTS: 7290 opportunities were observed with an overall compliance of 46.3%. The overall HHC in patient attendants has increased from 35.5% in 2014 to 48.2% in 2018 (P < 0.0001). Compliance at WHO moment 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 was 51.2%, 47.8%, 67.8%, 48.9% and 24.4% respectively. Among family members, mothers of newborn babies had a much higher HHC (77%) than others (44.7%) (P < 0.0001). Also, the compliance was higher in medical vs. surgical wards and pediatric wards vs. adult wards (P < 0.0001 in both). CONCLUSION: This is the first study about family members' HHC in a hospital setting in a low and middle-income country. Once trained, family members exhibit fairly good hand hygiene compliance while involved in healthcare activities of their patients. Mothers of newborn babies exhibit exemplary hand hygiene compliance while caring for their babies in our hospital. It is worthwhile empowering and educating patient attendants about the importance and process of hand hygiene as it is likely to result in immense benefit for patients. [Image: see text] [Image: see text] DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.