Men with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or over are more likely to have reduced fertility and fecundity rates. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effect of male BMI on IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome. An electronic search for published literature was conducted in MEDLINE and EMBASE between 1966 and November 2016. Outcome measures were clinical pregnancy rates (CPR) and live birth rates (LBR) per IVF or ICSI cycle. Eleven studies were identified, including 14,372 cycles; nine reported CPR and seven reported LBR. Pooling of data from those studies revealed that raised male BMI was associated with a significant reduction in CPR (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.98, P = 0.03) and LBR (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.95, P = 0.001) per IVF-ICSI treatment cycle. Male BMI could be an important factor influencing IVF-ICSI outcome. More robust studies are needed to confirm this conclusion using standardized methods for measuring male BMI, adhering to the World Health Organization definitions of BMI categories, accounting for female BMI, IVF and ICSI cycle characteristics, including the number of embryos transferred and embryo quality, and use the live birth rate per cycle as primary outcome.

PurposeThe worst scandals of the world's top companies have turned the attention of researchers towards the function of academic institutions in ethical training of future business leaders because the issue of dishonest behaviour of students becomes very severe, when they exercise the same practice at their place of work. Therefore, the understanding of the factors that affect student's decisions to engage in academic dishonesty is important for academic institutions, in order to reduce its occurrence. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of individual factors, situational factors and ethical factors on academic dishonesty behaviour of students in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire‐based field survey was conducted with 500 students across four universities in Pakistan.FindingsIt has been found that individual, situational and ethical factors affect on rationalisation of academic dishonesty and this rationalisation shapes actual conduct of academic dishonesty. Moreover, lack of well‐defined policies of the academic dishonesty in higher education is a major determinant of academic dishonesty among students.Practical implicationsThe results provide a strong implication for academics. By discouraging such behaviour, academic institutions can help ensure the integrity of the degrees they offer, and help to level the fair grade competition among students.Originality/valueThe research provides a profound investigation of individual, situational and ethical factors as predictors of students’ academic dishonesty. The study is pioneering in its nature to explore two common forms of academic dishonesty, i.e. plagiarism and dual submission among university students. Furthermore, the study used rationalisation of academic dishonesty as a determinant of the actual act of academic dishonesty.

The objective of this study is to identify those factors that affect the knowledge sharing behavior of individuals in the context of blogs of Pakistan. A research model has been developed, which consists of six construct derived from three well known theories namely Innovation Diffusion Theory, Social Capital theory and Theory of Reasoned Action. This theoretical model was tested empirically by conducting web based survey. Questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection from 120 bloggers. Partial Least Square technique was employed to test the model. Four out of five hypotheses were confirmed. This study confirmed that relative advantage, attitude and social interaction ties have significant influence on intention to share knowledge and intention to share knowledge is a predictor of actual knowledge behavior. This study has several implications for professional and academic institutions.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are being recognized as antibacterial agents due to their rapidly increasing multidrug resistance in bacterial pathogens. Hence, there is an unmet need to identify the natural antibacterial agent. The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of sericin-conjugated silver NPs synthesized by using sericin as a reducing and capping agent. Synthesized NPs were characterized by scanning electron microscope, nanolaser particle size analyzer (BT-90), Fouriertransform infrared analysis, and energy-dispersive X-ray. The biogenic NPs significantly inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli (12-15 mm zone of inhibition), Staphylococcus aureus (14.6-15.4 mm zone of inhibition), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (12.5-18 mm zone of inhibition). The stability of naturally synthesized NPs was examined at various temperatures (i.e., 4°C, 37°C, and 55°C) and pH (i.e., 3, 7, and 11). Temperature variability did not significantly affect the efficacy of NPs. However, NPs performed better at higher pH levels. This study suggested that the sericinbased silver NPs are not only effective against bacteria, but they also maintain the stability at different ranges of temperature and pH. We concluded that the sericinconjugated silver NPs possess the remarkable antibacterial potential, which suggests their large-scale use as a cheap and stable antimicrobial agent in the future. K E Y W O R D Santibacterial activity, nanoparticles, sericin, silver

No abstract

PurposeAnchored in a social control theory framework, this study aims to investigate the mediating effect of defensive silence in the relationship between employees' perception of supervisor ostracism and their creative performance, as well as the buffering role of proactivity in this process.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested using three-wave survey data collected from employees in North American organizations.FindingsThe authors found that an important reason for supervisor ostracism adversely affecting employee creativity is their observance of defensive silence. This mechanism, in turn, is less prominent among employees who show agency and change-oriented behavior (i.e. proactivity).Practical implicationsFor practitioners, this study identifies defensive silence as a key mechanism through which supervisor ostracism hinders employee creativity. Further, this process is less likely to escalate when their proactivity makes them less vulnerable to experience such social exclusion.Originality/valueThis study establishes a more complete understanding of the connection between supervisor ostracism and employee creativity, with particular attention to mediating mechanism of defensive silence and the moderating role of proactivity in this relationship.

No abstract

No abstract