Gadjah Mada University

About: Gadjah Mada University is a education organization based out in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Adsorption. The organization has 17307 authors who have published 21389 publications receiving 116561 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Gajah Mada & Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Infection with GB virus C (GBV-C) in patients with chronic liver disease or on maintenance hemodialysis in Indonesia.

Abstract: RNA of a non-A to E hepatitis virus identified recently and designated provisionally GB virus C(GBV-C), was sought in patients in Indonesia by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction with nested primers deduced from a helicase-like region. GBV-C RNA was detected in 32 (55%) of 58 patients on maintenance hemodialysis at a frequency significantly higher (P < 0.001) than that in seven (5%) of 149 patients with chronic liver disease. Co-infection with hepatitis C virus was observed in 26 (81%) of the 32 patients on hemodialysis and in five (71%) of the seven patients with liver disease who were infected with GBV-C. Complete identity was observed in a sequence of 100 base pairs in the helicase-like region for GBV-C cDNA clones from some patients on maintenance hemodialysis. These results indicate that the patients on hemodialysis would be at high risk for GBV-C infection, which would be transmitted by transfusion and patient-to-patient routes.

Inflammatory mediators in dengue virus infection in children: interleukin-8 and its relationship to neutrophil degranulation.

Abstract: The chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) has chemoattractant activity for neutrophils and is able to activate and degranulate these cells. We investigated whether IL-8 may exert these effects in children with dengue virus infection. Circulating levels of IL-8, neutrophilic elastase (a constituent of the azurophilic granula of neutrophils), and lactoferrin, released from specific granula, were measured in 186 children with dengue virus infection, 33 healthy children as negative controls and 11 children with bacterial infections as positive controls. Levels of IL-8 on admission were elevated in 71% of the dengue patients, while the elastase and lactoferrin levels were increased in 68 and 17% of patients, respectively. These levels were significantly higher than in healthy children (P < 0.05) for IL-8 and elastase but not for lactoferrin (by the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney [WMW] U test). Similar levels of IL-8 were found in patients with bacterial infections. Levels of IL-8 and elastase in patients with shock were significantly higher than in patients without shock (P = 0.02; WMW), but those of lactoferrin were not. IL-8 correlated with elastase and lactoferrin (r = 0.19 and P = 0.009 versus r = 0.24 and P = 0.001, respectively; two-tailed Spearman rank correlation). Thus, IL-8 levels are increased in most patients with dengue virus infection and correlate with degranulation of neutrophils as well as with some clinical and hemodynamic variables. These findings suggest a role for IL-8 in the pathogenesis of dengue virus infection.

Decentralisation policy as recentralisation strategy: forest management units and community forestry in Indonesia

Abstract: SUMMARY Critical political analyses on decentralisation policies have revealed that such approaches may not achieve their formal goal, and might even support centralisation efforts. A number of previous studies on decentralisation separated the analyses of administrative process from the analyses of political power of administrative actors across levels of government. Using bureaucratic politics theory, this article presents close examinations of both process and power relations reconfigured by decentralising and recentralising forces across governmental levels. This study illustrates how the Indonesian central government is on its way to reclaiming its authority for forest administration and management through so-called Forest Management Units (FMU) and closely related community forestry programmes. This study reveals that the sources of real contention in KPH and community forestry policies are the power struggles between national, provincial and district bureaucracies. The conceptual model and the resu...

IT Governance Mechanisms in Public Sector Organisations: An Australian Context

Abstract: Information technology plays a significant role enabling organisations to achieve their objectives. Accordingly, the governance mechanisms over the organisation's IT resources must be in place and operating effectively if the organization is to achieve its objectives. The concern with IT governance is not only evident in the private sector but also in the public sector. This study attempts to examine empirically the individual IT governance mechanisms that influence the overall effectiveness of IT governance in Australian public sector organisations. Using sample data from auditors who currently work in Australian public sector organisations, this study examined the influence of four proposed individual IT governance mechanisms on the overall effectiveness of IT governance. This study found significant positive relationships between the existence of an IT strategy committee and corporate (organisational) communication systems, and the overall level of effective IT governance within Australian public sector organisations.

Preventable risk factors for noncommunicable diseases in rural Indonesia: prevalence study using WHO STEPS approach

Abstract: Objective To gain a better understanding of the health transition in Indonesia, we sought to describe the prevalence and distribution of risk factors for noncommunicable diseases and to identify the risk-factor burden among a rural population and an urban population. Methods Using the protocol of the WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS), risk factors for noncommunicable diseases were determined for 1502 men and 1461 women aged 15–74 years at the Purworejo Demographic Surveillance Site in 2001. Findings Smoking prevalence was high among men (913/1539; weighted percentage = 53.9.%) in both rural and urban populations; it was almost non-existent among women. A higher proportion of the urban population and the richest quintile of the rural population had high blood pressure and were classified as being overweight or obese when compared with the poorest quintile of the rural population. Those classified as being in the richest quintile who lived in the rural area were 1.5 times more likely to have raised blood pressure and 8 times more likely to be overweight than those classified as being in the poorest quintile and living in the rural area. Clustering of risk factors was higher among those classified as being in the richest quintile of those living in the rural area compared with those classified as being in the poorest quintile; and the risks of clustering were just 20–30% lower compared with the urban population. Conclusion Both the rural and urban populations in Purworejo face an unequally distributed burden of risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. The burden among the most well-off group in the rural area has already reached a level similar to that found in the urban area. The implementation of the WHO STEPS approach was feasible, and it provides a comprehensive picture of the burden of risk factors, allowing appropriate health interventions to be implemented to address health inequities.