Search results for: medical safety

Authors: Camilo Andres Agudelo-Velez, Lina María Martinez-Sanchez, Natalia Perilla-Hernandez, Maria De Los Angeles Rodriguez-Gazquez, Felipe Hernandez-Restrepo, Dayana Andrea Quintero-Moreno, Camilo Ruiz-Mejia, Isabel Cristina Ortiz-Trujillo, Monica Maria Zuluaga-Quintero

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is common condition, characterized by a persistent blockage of airflow, partially reversible and progressive, that represents 5% of total deaths around the world, and it is expected to become the third leading cause of death by 2030. Objective: To establish the clinical and epidemiological profile of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a medical institution from the city of Medellin, Colombia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed, with a sample of 50 patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a private institution in Medellin, during 2015. The software SPSS vr. 20 was used for the statistical analysis. For the quantitative variables, averages, standard deviations, and maximun and minimun values were calculated, while for ordinal and nominal qualitative variables, proportions were estimated. Results: The average age was 73.5±9.3 years, 52% of the patients were women, 50% of them had retired, 46% ere married and 80% lived in the city of Medellín. The mean time of diagnosis was 7.8±1.3 years and 100% of the patients were treated at the internal medicine service. The most common clinical features were: 36% were classified as class D for the disease, 34% had a FEV1 <30%, 88% had a history of smoking and 52% had oxygen therapy at home. Conclusion: It was found that class D was the most common, and the majority of the patients had a history of smoking, indicating the need to strengthen promotion and prevention strategies in this regard.

Keywords: pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive, pulmonary medicine, oxygen inhalation therapy

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Authors: Azza H. El-Medany, Hanan H. Hagar, Omnia A. Nayel, Jamila H. El-Medany

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In search for drugs that can target cancer cell micro-environment in as much as being able to halt malignant cellular transformation, the natural dietary phytochemical curcumin was currently assessed in DMH-induced colorectal cancer rat model. The study enrolled 50 animals divided into a control group (n=10) and DMH-induced colorectal cancer control group (n=20) (20mg/kg-body weight for 28 weeks) versus curcumin-treated group (n=20) (160 mg/kg suspension daily oral for further 8 weeks). Treatment by curcumin succeeded to significantly decrease the percent of ACF and tended to normalize back the histological changes retrieved in adenomatous and stromal cells induced by DMH. The drug also significantly elevated GSH and significantly reduced most of the accompanying biochemical elevations (namely MDA, TNF-α, TGF-β and COX2) observed in colonic carcinomatous tissue, induced by DMH, thus succeeding to revert that of MDA, COX2 and TGF-β back to near normal as justified by being non-significantly altered as compared to normal controls. The only exception was PAF that was insignificantly altered by the drug. When taken together, it could be concluded that curcumin possess the potentiality to halt some of the orchestrated cross-talk between cancerous transformation and its micro-environmental niche that contributes to cancer initiation, progression and metastasis in this experimental cancer colon model. Envisioning these merits to a drug with already known safety preferentiality, awaits final results of current ongoing clinical trials, before curcumin can be added to the new therapeutic armamentarium of anticancer therapy.

Keywords: curcumin, dimethyl hydralazine, aberrant crypt foci, malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione, cyclooxygenase-2, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, transforming growth factor-beta, platelet activating factor

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Authors: Kamel Abd Elaziz Mohamed

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Introduction: Drug related problems (DRPs) are of major concern, affecting patients of both sex. They impose considerable economic burden on the society and the health-care systems. Aim of the work: The aim of this work was to identify and categorize drug-related problems in adult intensive care unit. Patients and methods: The study was a prospective, observational study as eighty six patients were included. They were consecutively admitted to ICU through the emergency room or transferred from the general ward due to DRPs. Parameters included in the study as length of stay in ICU, need for cardiovascular support or mechanical ventilation, dialysis, as well as APACHE II score were recorded. Results: Drug related problems represent 3.6% of the total ICU admission. The median (range) of APACHE II score for 86 patients included in the study was 17 (10-23), and length of ICU stay was 2.4 (1.5-4.2) days. In 45 patients (52%), DRP was drug over dose (group 1), while other DRP was present in the other 41 patients (48%, group 11). Patients in group 1 were older (39 years versus 32 years in group 11), with significant impaired renal function. The need of inotropic drugs and mechanical ventilation as well as the length of stay (LOS) in ICU was significantly higher in group 1. There were no significant difference in GCS between both groups, however APACHE II score was significantly higher in group 1. Only four patients (4.6%) were admitted by suicidal attempt as well as three patients (3.4%) due to trauma drug-related admissions, all were in (group 1). Nineteen percent of the patients had drug related problem due to hypoglycaemic medication followed by tranquilizer (15%). Adverse drug effect followed by failure to receive medication were the most causes of drug problem in (group11).The total mortality rate was 4.6%, all of them were eventually non preventable. Conclusion: The critically ill patients admitted due to drug related problems represented a small proportion (3.6%) of admissions to the ICU. Hypoglycaemic medication was one of the most common causes of admission by drug related problems.

Keywords: drug related problems, ICU, cost, safety

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Authors: L. B. Naves, L. Almeida

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The development of Drugs Delivery System (DDS), has been wildly investigated in the last decades. In this paper, first a general overview of traditional and modern wound dressing is presented. This is followed by a review of what scientist have done in the medical environment, focusing the possibility to develop a new alternative for DDS through transdermal pathway, aiming to treat melanoma skin cancer.

Keywords: cancer therapy, dressing polymers, melanoma, wound healing

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Authors: Taha SamadSoltani, Peyman Rezaei Hachesu, Marjan GhaziSaeedi, Maryam Zolnoori

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Introduction: Data mining defined as a process to find patterns and relationships along data in the database to build predictive models. Application of data mining extended in vast sectors such as the healthcare services. Medical data mining aims to solve real-world problems in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. This method applies various techniques and algorithms which have different accuracy and precision. The purpose of this study was to apply knowledge discovery and data mining techniques for the diagnosis of asthma based on patient symptoms and history. Method: Data mining includes several steps and decisions should be made by the user which starts by creation of an understanding of the scope and application of previous knowledge in this area and identifying KD process from the point of view of the stakeholders and finished by acting on discovered knowledge using knowledge conducting, integrating knowledge with other systems and knowledge documenting and reporting.in this study a stepwise methodology followed to achieve a logical outcome. Results: Sensitivity, Specifity and Accuracy of KNN, SVM, Naïve bayes, NN, Classification tree and CN2 algorithms and related similar studies was evaluated and ROC curves were plotted to show the performance of the system. Conclusion: The results show that we can accurately diagnose asthma, approximately ninety percent, based on the demographical and clinical data. The study also showed that the methods based on pattern discovery and data mining have a higher sensitivity compared to expert and knowledge-based systems. On the other hand, medical guidelines and evidence-based medicine should be base of diagnostics methods, therefore recommended to machine learning algorithms used in combination with knowledge-based algorithms.

Keywords: asthma, datamining, classification, machine learning

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Authors: Sajjad Jafari

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Background and Aim: The use of herbal medicines has a long history. Today, due to the resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics and antimicrobial substances, herbal medicines have attracted attention due to their significant antimicrobial effects and low toxicity. This study aims to systematically review the antimicrobial effects of different plant extracts (Quercus infectoria) as possible candidates for treating infectious diseases. Material and Methods: The present study is a review study by searching reputable scientific databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science from 2000 to 2023 using the keywords Antimicrobial, Quercus infectoria, Medicinal herbal, Infectious diseases the latest information obtained. Results: In this study, 45 articles were found and reviewed. Quercus infectoria is a small tree native to Greece, Asia Minor, and Iran. Quercus is a plant genus in the family of Fagaceae. This species is generally known under the name ‘‘baloot” in Iran and is commonly used as a medicinal plant. The extracts used included water, hydro-alcoholic, ethanol, methanol. This plant had high inhibition activity and a lethal effect on gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria of ATCC strains, hospital, and resistant strains. Therefore, in addition to antibacterial effects, antiparasitic and antifungal effects. The seed of the plant was the most used and the most effective antimicrobial extract among the ethanol and methanol extracts. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that Quercus infectoria has significant antimicrobial effects against a wide range of microorganisms. This makes it a potential candidate for the development of new antimicrobial drugs. Further research is needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of Quercus infectoria in clinical trials.

Keywords: antimicrobial, Quercus infectoria, medicinal herbal, infectious diseases

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Authors: Wei Wen Yang, Emily Chia Yu Su

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Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical infectious disease caused by the dengue virus. After infection, symptoms usually start from three to fourteen days. Dengue virus may cause a high fever and at least two of the following symptoms, severe headache, severe eye pain, joint pains, muscle or bone pain, vomiting, feature skin rash, and mild bleeding manifestation. In addition, recovery will take at least two to seven days. Dengue fever has rapidly spread in tropical and subtropical areas in recent years. Several phenomena around the world such as global warming, urbanization, and international travel are the main reasons in boosting the spread of dengue. In Taiwan, epidemics occur annually, especially during summer and fall seasons. On the other side, Singapore government also has announced the amounts number of dengue cases spreading in Singapore. As the serious epidemic of dengue fever outbreaks in Taiwan and Singapore, countries around the Asia-Pacific region are becoming high risks of susceptible to the outbreaks and local hub of spreading the virus. To improve public safety and public health issues, firstly, we are going to use Microsoft Excel and SAS EG to do data preprocessing. Secondly, using support vector machines and decision trees builds predict model, and analyzes the infectious cases between Taiwan and Singapore. By comparing different factors causing vector mosquito from model classification and regression, we can find similar spreading patterns where the disease occurred most frequently. The result can provide sufficient information to predict the future dengue infection outbreaks and control the diffusion of dengue fever among countries.

Keywords: dengue fever, Taiwan, Singapore, Aedes aegypti

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Authors: A. Laksanayothin, W. Ariyawong

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Mae Moh Lignite Mine is the largest open-pit mine in Thailand. The mine serves coal to the power plant about 16 million tons per year. This amount of coal can produce electricity accounting for about 10% of Nation’s electric power generation. The mining area of Mae Moh Mine is about 28 km2. At present, the deepest area of the pit is about 280 m from ground level (+40 m. MSL) and in the future the depth of the pit can reach 520 m from ground level (-200 m.MSL). As the size of the pit is quite large, the stability of the pit is seriously important. Furthermore, the preliminary drilling and extended drilling in year 1989-1996 had found high pressure aquifer under the pit. As a result, the pressure of the underground water has to be released in order to control mine pit stability. The study by the consulting experts later found that 3-5 million m3 per year of the underground water is needed to be de-watered for the safety of mining. However, the quality of this discharged water should meet the standard. Therefore, the ground water treatment facility has been implemented, aiming to reduce the amount of naturally contaminated Arsenic (As) in discharged water lower than the standard limit of 10 ppb. The treatment system consists of coagulation and filtration process. The main components include rapid mixing tanks, slow mixing tanks, sedimentation tank, thickener tank and sludge drying bed. The treatment process uses 40% FeCl3 as a coagulant. The FeCl3 will adsorb with As(V), forming floc particles and separating from the water as precipitate. After that, the sludge is dried in the sand bed and then be disposed in the secured land fill. Since 2011, the treatment plant of 12,000 m3/day has been efficiently operated. The average removal efficiency of the process is about 95%.

Keywords: arsenic, coagulant, ferric chloride, groundwater, lignite, coal mine

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Authors: Januar Parlaungan Siregar, Davindra Brabu Mathivanan, Dandi Bachtiar, Mohd Ruzaimi Mat Rejab, Tezara Cionita

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Natural fibres play a significant role in mass industries such as automotive, construction and sports. Many researchers have found that the natural fibres are the best replacement for the synthetic fibres in terms of cost, safety, and degradability due to the shortage of landfill and ingestion of non biodegradable plastic by animals. This study mainly revolved around pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) which is available abundantly in tropical countries and with excellent mechanical properties. The composite formed in this study is highly biodegradable as both fibre and matrix are both derived from natural based products. The matrix which is polylactic acid (PLA) is made from corn starch which gives the upper hand as both material are renewable resources are easier to degrade by bacteria or enzyme. The PALF is treated with different alkaline solution to remove excessive moisture in the fibre to provide better interfacial bonding with PLA. Thereafter the PALF is washed with distilled water several times before placing in vacuum oven at 80°C for 48 hours. The dried PALF later were mixed with PLA using extrusion method using fibre in percentage of 30 by weight. The temperature for all zone were maintained at 160°C with the screw speed of 50 rpm for better bonding and afterwards the products of the mixture were pelletized using pelletizer. The pellets were placed in the specimen-sized mould for hot compression under the temperature of 170°C at 5 MPa for 5 min and subsequently were cold pressed under room temperature at 5 MPa for 5 min. The specimen were tested for tensile and flexure strength according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D638 and D790 respectively. The effect of surface modification on PALF with different alkali solution will be investigated and compared.

Keywords: natural fibre, PALF, PLA, composite

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Authors: Nikoletta G. Karytsioti

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The European Union’s function and effectiveness are still an issue that minds, bringing about division even in the member-states interior. Recently, more serious issues have been added in the Union’s malfunction, which affects not only the Union’s function but also their residents’ safety. One of these issues is the migration crisis, which frustrates the European Union’s balances and the stability. The present paper’s aim to frame and interpret the Greek public opinion in basic migration matters, throughout the political philosophy and specifically via John Rawls ‘Theory of Justice’. The theory is deployed to examine if it may be used in a practical way, on a tangible issue and in a specific area. In order to obtain a real frame of the public opinion about the matter of migration, a questionnaire was addressed to Greek people. The sample was chosen for three main reasons: a) Greeks are experienced in the migration as they had migrated in the past, b) many young people migrated the recent years after the debt crisis, c) Greece is a reception state. Being based in the Theory of Justice and specifically in the ‘veil of ignorance’, is tried to overcome the obstacles of human nature’s subjectivity, while examining the variations in the responses per social group. The questionnaire will have demographic questions and special interest questions, related with the crisis, before and after ‘the veil of ignorance’. The paper’s originality comes from the fact that it is the first time that a philosophical theory is used to examine the migration issue in a practical manner. The main goals of the paper are three: - To examine the differences/similarities in the responses before and after the veil of ignorance, - to reveal opinions on migration crisis from E.U. citizens and - to confirm or not the practical usefulness of the Political Philosophy as a highlighting tool

Keywords: European Union, immigrants, migration crisis, political philosophy, theory of justice, veil of ignorance

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Authors: Jansen Ang, Andrew Neo, Dawn Chia

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Border Security is unlike mainstream policing in that officers are essentially in static deployment, working round the clock every day and every hour of the year looking for illegitimate entry of persons and goods. In Singapore, Border Security officers perform multiple functions to ensure the nation’s safety and security. They are responsible for safeguarding the borders of Singapore to prevent threats from entering the country. Being the first line of defence in ensuring the nation’s border security officers are entrusted with the responsibility of screening travellers inbound and outbound of Singapore daily. They examined 99 million arrivals and departures at the various checkpoints in 2014, which is a considerable volume compared to most immigration agencies. The officers’ work scopes also include cargo clearance, protective and security functions of checkpoints. The officers work in very demanding environment which can range from the smog at the land checkpoints to the harshness of the ports at the sea checkpoints. In addition, all immigration checkpoints are located at the boundaries, posing commuting challenges for officers. At the land checkpoints, festive seasons and school breaks are peak periods as given the surge of inbound and outbound travellers at the various checkpoints. Such work provides unique challenges in comparison to other law enforcement duties. This paper assesses the current stressors faced by officers of a border security agency through the conduct of ground observations as well as a perceived stress survey as well as recommendations in combating stressors faced by border security officers. The findings from the field observations and surveys indicate organisational and operational stressors that are unique to border security and recommends interventions in managing these stressors. Understanding these stressors would better inform border security agencies on the interventions needed to enhance the resilience of border security officers.

Keywords: border security, Singapore, stress, operations

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Authors: Yufeng Li, Yinan Ma, Jing Wu, Chengnian Long

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Infrared object detection aims at separating small and dim target from clutter background and its capabilities extend beyond the limits of visible light, making it invaluable in a wide range of applications such as improving safety, security, efficiency, and functionality. However, existing methods are usually sensitive to the noise of the input infrared image, leading to a decrease in target detection accuracy and an increase in the false alarm rate in high-noise environments. To address this issue, an infrared small target detection algorithm called YOLO-IR is proposed in this paper to improve the robustness to high infrared noise. To address the problem that high noise significantly reduces the clarity and reliability of target features in infrared images, we design a soft-threshold coordinate attention mechanism to improve the model’s ability to extract target features and its robustness to noise. Since the noise may overwhelm the local details of the target, resulting in the loss of small target features during depth down-sampling, we propose a deep and shallow feature fusion neck to improve the detection accuracy. In addition, because the generalized Intersection over Union (IoU)-based loss functions may be sensitive to noise and lead to unstable training in high-noise environments, we introduce a Wasserstein-distance based loss function to improve the training of the model. The experimental results show that YOLO-IR achieves a 5.0% improvement in recall and a 6.6% improvement in F1-score over existing state-of-art model.

Keywords: infrared small target detection, high noise, robustness, soft-threshold coordinate attention, feature fusion

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Authors: Nikolay P. Brayanov, Anna V. Stoynova

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Model-based development approach is gaining more support and acceptance. Its higher abstraction level brings simplification of systems’ description that allows domain experts to do their best without particular knowledge in programming. The different levels of simulation support the rapid prototyping, verifying and validating the product even before it exists physically. Nowadays model-based approach is beneficial for modelling of complex embedded systems as well as a generation of code for many different hardware platforms. Moreover, it is possible to be applied in safety-relevant industries like automotive, which brings extra automation of the expensive device certification process and especially in the software qualification. Using it, some companies report about cost savings and quality improvements, but there are others claiming no major changes or even about cost increases. This publication demonstrates the level of maturity and autonomy of model-based approach for code generation. It is based on a real live automotive seat heater (ASH) module, developed using The Mathworks, Inc. tools. The model, created with Simulink, Stateflow and Matlab is used for automatic generation of C code with Embedded Coder. To prove the maturity of the process, Code generation advisor is used for automatic configuration. All additional configuration parameters are set to auto, when applicable, leaving the generation process to function autonomously. As a result of the investigation, the publication compares the quality of generated embedded code and a manually developed one. The measurements show that generally, the code generated by automatic approach is not worse than the manual one. A deeper analysis of the technical parameters enumerates the disadvantages, part of them identified as topics for our future work.

Keywords: embedded code generation, embedded C code quality, embedded systems, model-based development

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Authors: A. A. Adebayo, A. O. Ogunkeyede, A. O. Adeigbe

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Digital globalisation and yarn of Nigeria society to overcome the digital divide have resulted in contamination of soil by heavy metals (HMs) from e-waste activities at Alaba international market, Lagos, Nigeria. The aim of this research was to determine the concentration of various metals {Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), and Lead (Pb)} and identify their ecological and health risks for the people within the study area. A total of 60 soil samples were collected at Alaba market study area. Two types of samples were collected from each sampling points: topsoil (0-15 cm), subsoil (15 -30 cm). The metal concentration results showed that the soils were heavily contaminated by HMs at topsoil and subsoil. The geoaccummulation and ecological risk indices revealed high pollution level from all studied site. The health risk assessment results suggested that there is high possibility of carcinogenic risk to humans because the carcinogenic risk via corresponding exposure pathways exceeded the safety limit of 10-6 (the acceptable level of carcinogenic risk for human). Furthermore, inhalation of soil particles is the main exposure pathway for Cr to enter the human body for all ages. Children in the vicinity are exposed more to ingestion of Pb since they tend to eat earth (pica) and repeatedly suck their fingers. This study provides basic information to create awareness for a need to introduce pollution control measures and the need to protect the ecosystem and human health within the study area at Alaba international market.

Keywords: contaminated soil, ecological risk, hazard index, risk factor, exposure pathways, heavy metals

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Authors: Somayeh Abedian, Pirhossein Kolivand, Hamid Reza Lornejad, Amin Karampour, Ebrahim Keshavarz Safari

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For emergency and relief service providers such as pre-hospital emergencies, quick arrival at the scene of an accident or any EMS mission is one of the most important requirements of effective service delivery. Response time (the interval between the time of the call and the time of arrival on scene) is a critical factor in determining the quality of pre-hospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This is especially important for heart attack, stroke, or accident patients. Location-based e-services can be broadly defined as any service that provides information pertinent to the current location of an active mobile handset or precise address of landline phone call at a specific time window, regardless of the underlying delivery technology used to convey the information. According to research, one of the effective methods of meeting this goal is determining the location of the caller via the cooperation of landline and mobile phone operators in the country. The follow-up of the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) organization has resulted in the receipt of two separate secured electronic web services. Thus, to ensure human privacy, a secure technical architecture was required for launching the services in the pre-hospital EMS information management system. In addition, to quicken medics’ arrival at the patient's bedside, rescue vehicles should make use of an intelligent transportation system to estimate road traffic using a GPS-based mobile navigation system independent of the Internet. This paper seeks to illustrate the architecture of the practical national model used by the Iranian EMS organization.

Keywords: response time, geographic location inquiry service (GLIS), location-based service (LBS), emergency medical services information system (EMSIS)

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Authors: Irene Carter, Roy Hanes, Judy MacDonald

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Considering that disability is universal and people with disabilities are part of all societies; that there is a connection between the disabled individual and the societal; and that it is society and social arrangements that disable people with impairments, contemporary disability discourse emphasizes the social model of disability to counter medical and rehabilitative models of disability. However, the social model does not go far enough in addressing the issues of oppression and inclusion. The authors indicate that the social model does not specifically or adequately denote the oppression of persons with disabilities, which is a central component of progressive social work practice with people with disabilities. The social model of disability does not go far enough in deconstructing disability and offering social workers, as well as people with disabilities a way of moving forward in terms of practice anchored in individual, familial and societal change. The social model of disability is expanded by incorporating principles of anti-oppression social work practice. Although the contextual analysis of the social model of disability is an important component there remains a need for social workers to provide service to individuals and their families, which will be illustrated through anti-oppressive practice (AOP). By applying an anti-oppressive model of practice to the above definitions, the authors not only deconstruct disability paradigms but illustrate how AOP offers a framework for social workers to engage with people with disabilities at the individual, familial and community levels of practice, promoting an emancipatory focus in working with people with disabilities. An anti- social- oppression social work model of disability connects the day-to-day hardships of people with disabilities to the direct consequence of oppression in the form of ableism. AOP theory finds many of its basic concepts within social-oppression theory and the social model of disability. It is often the case that practitioners, including social workers and psychologists, define people with disabilities’ as having or being a problem with the focus placed upon adjustment and coping. A case example will be used to illustrate how an AOP paradigm offers social work a more comprehensive and critical analysis and practice model for social work practice with and for people with disabilities than the traditional medical model, rehabilitative and social model approaches.

Keywords: anti-oppressive practice, disability, people with disabilities, social model of disability

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Authors: R. Unnikrishnan, K. Shankar

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In the case of high-speed fighter aircrafts, seat ejection is designed mainly for the safety of the pilot in case of an emergency. Strong windblast due to the high velocity of flight is one main difficulty in clearing the tail of the aircraft. Excessive G-forces generated, immobilizes the pilot from escape. In most of the cases, seats are ejected out of the aircrafts by explosives or by rocket motors attached to the bottom of the seat. Ejection forces are primarily in the vertical direction with the objective of attaining the maximum possible velocity in a specified period of time. The safe ejection parameters are studied to estimate the critical time of ejection for various geometries and velocities of flight. An equivalent analytical 2-dimensional biomechanical model of the human spine has been modelled consisting of vertebrae and intervertebral discs with a lumped mass approach. The 24 vertebrae, which consists of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions, in addition to the head mass and the pelvis has been designed as 26 rigid structures and the intervertebral discs are assumed as 25 flexible joint structures. The rigid structures are modelled as mass elements and the flexible joints as spring and damper elements. Here, the motions are restricted only in the mid-sagittal plane to form a 26 degree of freedom system. The equations of motions are derived for translational movement of the spinal column. An ejection force with a linearly increasing acceleration profile is applied as vertical base excitation on to the pelvis. The dynamic vibrational response of each vertebra in time-domain is estimated.

Keywords: biomechanical model, lumped mass, seat ejection, vibrational response

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Authors: Yuxuan Yang, Zhaoping Zhong

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Municipal solid waste and sludge are important sources of waste energy and their proper disposal is of great importance. Pyrolysis can fully decompose solid wastes and sludge, and the pyrolysis products (charcoal, oil and gas) have important recovery values. Due to the complex composition of solid wastes and sludge, the pyrolysis process at high temperatures is prone to heavy metal emissions, which are harmful to humans and the environment and reduce the safety of pyrolysis products. In this paper, heavy metal emissions during pyrolysis of municipal sewage sludge, paper mill sludge, municipal domestic waste, and aged refuse at 450-650°C were investigated and the emissions and hazards of heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Cd, Cu and Zn) were effectively reduced by adding modified vermiculite as an additive. The vermiculite was modified by intercalation with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, which resulted in more than twice the original layer spacing of the vermiculite. Afterward, the interpolated vermiculite was made into vermiculite flakes by exfoliation modification. After that, the expansion rate of vermiculite flakes was increased by Mg2+ modification and thermal activation. The expanded vermiculite flakes were acidified to improve the textural characteristics of the vermiculite. The modified vermiculite was analysed by XRD, FT-IR, BET and SEM to clarify the modification effect. The incorporation of modified vermiculite resulted in more than 80% retention of all heavy metals at 450°C. Cr, Cu and Zn were better retained than Pb and Cd. The incorporation of modified vermiculite effectively reduced the risk of heavy metals, and all risks were low for Pb, Cr, Cu and Zn. The toxicity of all heavy metals was greatly reduced by the incorporation of modified vermiculite and the morphology of heavy metals was transformed from Exchangeable and acid-soluble (F1) and Reducible (F2) to Oxidizable (F3) and Residual (F4). In addition, the increase in temperature favored the stabilization of heavy metal forms. This study provides a new insight into the cleaner use of energy and the safe management of solid waste.

Keywords: heavy metal, pyrolysis, vermiculite, solid waste

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Authors: Fernanda Rodriguez

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Breast cancer is pervasive among women, and an increasing number of women are opting for a mastectomy: a medical operation in which one or both breasts are removed with the intention of treating or averting breast cancer. However, there is an emerging population of cancer survivors in European nations that, rather than attempting to reconstruct their breasts to resemble as much as possible ‘normal’ breasts, have turned to dress their scars with decorative tattoos. At a practical level, this study hopes to improve the support systems of these women by possibly providing professionals in the medical field, tattoo artists, and family members of cancer survivors with a deeper understanding of their motivations and decision-making processes for choosing an alternative restorative route - such as decorative tattoos - after their mastectomy. At an intellectual level, however, this study aims to narrow a gap in the academic field concerning the relationship between mastectomies and alternative methods of healing, such as decorative tattoos, as well as to broaden the understanding regarding meaning-making and the ‘normal’ feminine body. Thus, by means of semi-structured interviews and a phenomenological standpoint, this research set itself the goal to understand why do women who have undergone a mastectomy choose to dress their scars with decorative tattoos instead of attempting to regain ‘normalcy’ through breast reconstruction or 3D areola tattoos? The results obtained from the interviews with fifteen women showed that the disillusionment with one part of the other of breast restoration techniques had led these women to find an alternative form of healing that allows them not only to close a painful chapter of their life but also to regain control over their bodies after a period of time in which agency was taking away from them. Decorative post-mastectomy tattoos allow these women to grant their bodies with new meanings and produce their own interpretation of their feminine body and identity.

Keywords: alternative femininity, decorative mastectomy tattoos, gender embodiment, social stigmatization

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Authors: Yoshitaka Ooya, Daishuke Furuya, Manabu Nemoto

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Some countries such as Canada and Australia have mandatory bicycle helmet laws for all citizens and age groups. As of 2008 Japan has also adopted a helmet law but it is restricted to people 13 years old and under. People over 13 years of age are not required to wear helmets in Japan. Currently, the rate that people 0-13 years old actually wear helmets is low. In 2013 a number of patients came to Saitama University Hospital International Medical Center for treatment due to bicycle-related trauma. The total number of patients was 89 (55 male and 34 female). The average age of the patients was 40.9 years old (eldest; 83 y/o, median; 40 y/o, youngest; 1 y/o with a standard deviation ± 2.8). 54 of these patients (61%) experienced head trauma as well as some experiencing multiple injuries associated with their accident. 13 patients were wearing helmets, 50 patients were not wearing helmets and it is unknown if the remaining 26 patients were wearing helmets. This information was acquired from the patient`s medical charts. Only one patient who was wearing a helmet had a severe head injury, and this patient also experienced other multiple injuries. 17 patients who were not wearing helmets had severe head injuries and out of the 17, two had multiple injuries. The mechanism for injury varied. 12 patients were injured in an accident with a vehicle, only one of which was wearing a helmet. This patient also had multiple injuries. Of the other 11 patients, two had multiple injuries. The remaining patient`s injuries were caused by other accidents (3; fell over while riding, 2; crashed into an inanimate object, 1; collided with a motorcycle). The ladder of which had a severe head injury. All of these patients had light energy accidents and were all over 13 years of age. In Japan it is not mandatory for people over the age of 13 years to wear a bicycle helmet. Research shows that light energy accidents were mostly present in people over the age of 13, to which the law does not require the wearing of helmets. It is important that all people in all age groups be required to wear helmets when operating a bicycle to reduce the rate of light energy severe head injuries.

Keywords: bicycle helmet, head trauma, hospital, traumatic situation

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Authors: Ru-Yu Lien, Shih-Hsin Hung, Shu-Fen Lu, Ju-Jen Shie, Wen-Ju Yang, Yuann-Meei Tzeng, Chien-Ying Wang

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Background: The quality of care in intensive care units (ICUs) is crucial, especially for terminally ill patients. Shared decision-making (SDM) with families is essential to ensure appropriate care and reduce suffering. Aim: This study explores the effectiveness of an end-of-life decision support Patient Decision Aid (PDA) in an ICU setting. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional research design conducted in an ICU from August 2020 to June 2023. Participants included family members of end-of-life patients aged 20 or older. A total of 319 participants. Family members of end-of-life patients received the PDA, and data were collected after they made medical decisions. Data collection involved providing family members with a PDA during family meetings. A post-PDA questionnaire with 17 questions assessed PDA effectiveness and anxiety levels. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0. Results: The PDA significantly reduced anxiety levels among family members (p < 0.001). It helped them organize their thoughts, prepare for discussions with doctors, and understand critical decision factors. Most importantly, it influenced decision outcomes, with a shift towards palliative care and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of family-centered end-of-life care in ICUs. PDAs promote informed decision-making, reduce conflicts, and enhance patient and family involvement. These tools align patient values and goals with medical recommendations, ultimately leading to decisions that prioritize comfort and quality of life. Implementing PDAs in healthcare systems can ensure that patients' care aligns with their values.

Keywords: shared decision-making, patient decision aid, end-of-life care, intensive care unit, family-centered care

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Authors: Moses A. Guto Maobe, Leonard Gitu, Erastus Gatebe

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The plants Carissa spinarum and Toddalia asiatica have historically been used as herbal medicines in Kisii and Nyamira Counties region, Kenya. But, there is limited study about heavy metal contents in their different plant parts. Such information is necessary for proper use of the two plant species as herbal medicines. So, precise determination of heavy metal contents in different part of these herbs is required for quality, efficacy and safety use in the treatment of ailments. The main aim of this study was to standardize the two herbs of interest. The objective of this study was to evaluate the levels of heavy metal contents in the root of Carissa spinarum and Toddalia asiatica. A wet digestion method with concentrated nitric-hydrochloric acid was used for the dissolution of each herb part prior to elemental analysis. Standard solutions of various concentrations of each pure metal of analytical grade arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) were prepared and used. The analysis of As, Cd and Hg in each of two herbs was conducted by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) Shimadzu model No. 6200. Data obtained from root of Carissa spinarum indicated concentration (mgkg⁻¹) of Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd) and Mercury (Hg) were 0.87 x 10⁻³, 7.02 x 10⁻⁶ and 0.66 x 10⁻³ respectively. Results obtained from root of Toddalia asiatica showed concentration (mgkg⁻¹) of Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd) and Mercury (Hg) were 1.33 x 10⁻³, 7.32 x 10⁻⁶ and 1.13 x 10⁻³, respectively. The permissible limits set by WHO for As, Cd and Hg in herbs are (mgkg⁻¹) < 1 - 5, < 0.3 – 1 and < 0.1- 0.5 respectively. The concentrations of As, Cd, and Hg determined were relatively higher in the root of Toddalia asiatica than the root of Carissa spinarum. It was concluded that levels of heavy metal contents of As, Cd, and Hg in the root of Carissa spinarum and Toddalia asiatica were within permissible limits set by WHO/FAO.

Keywords: heavy metals, Carissa spinarum, Toddalia asiatica, wet digestion, pollutants, AAS

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Authors: Gopika Rajagopal, Sudheesh Thiyyakkandi

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Back-to-back reinforced earth (RE) walls are extensively used in these days as bridge abutments and highway ramps, owing to their cost efficiency and ease of construction. High quality select fill is the most suitable backfill material due to its excellent engineering properties and constructability. However, industries are compelled to use low quality, locally available soil because of its ample availability on site. However, several failure cases of such walls are reported, especially subsequent to rainfall events. The stiffness of reinforcement is one of the major factors affecting the performance of RE walls. The present study focused on analyzing the effect of reinforcement stiffness on the performance of complete select fill, complete marginal fill, and hybrid-fill (i.e., combination of select and marginal fills) back-to-back RE walls, immediately after construction and upon rainwater infiltration through finite element modelling. A constant width to height (W/H) ratio of 3 and height (H) of 6 m was considered for the numerical analysis and the stiffness of reinforcement layers was varied from 500 kN/m to 10000 kN/m. Results showed that reinforcement stiffness had a noticeable influence on the response of RE wall, subsequent to construction as well as rainwater infiltration. Facing displacement was found to decrease and maximum reinforcement tension and factor of safety were observed to increase with increasing the stiffness of reinforcement. However, beyond a stiffness of 5000 kN/m, no significant reduction in facing displacement was observed. The behavior of fully marginal fill wall considered in this study was found to be reasonable even after rainwater infiltration when the high stiffness reinforcement layers are used.

Keywords: back-to-back reinforced earth wall, finite element modelling, rainwater infiltration, reinforcement stiffness

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Nasrud Din, Fawad Saeed, Sajid Hussain, Rai Muhammad Dawood Sultan, Premkumar Sellan, Qasim Khan, Wei Lei

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The continuously increasing external quantum efficiencies of Perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have received significant interest in the scientific community. The need for monitoring and medical diagnostics has experienced a steady growth in recent years, primarily caused by older people and an increasing number of heart attacks, tumors, and cancer disorders among patients. The application of Perovskite near-infrared light-emitting diode (PeNIRLEDs) has exhibited considerable efficacy in bioimaging, particularly in the visualization and examination of blood arteries, blood clots, and tumors. PeNIRLEDs exhibit exciting potential in the field of blood vessel imaging because of their advantageous attributes, including improved depth penetration and less scattering in comparison to visible light. In this study, we synthesized FAPbI₃ Perovskite doped with different concentrations of 5-Aminovaleric acid (5-AVA) 1-6 mg. The incorporation of 5-AVA as a dopant during the FAPbI₃ Perovskite formation influences the FAPbI3 Perovskite’s structural and optical properties, improving its stability, photoluminescence efficiency, and charge transport characteristics. We found a resulting PL emission peak wavelength of 850 nm and bandwidth of 44 nm, along with a calculated quantum yield of 75%. The incorporation of 5-AVA-modified FAPbI₃ Perovskite into LEDs will show promising results, enhancing device efficiency, color purity, and stability. Making it suitable for various medical applications, including subcutaneous deep vein imaging, blood flow visualization, and tumor illumination.

Keywords: perovskite light-emitting diodes, deep vein imaging, blood flow visualization, tumor illumination

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Authors: Rajrupa Ghosh, Abhijit Mitra

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Future use of animal protein sources in prawn feeds is expected to be considerably reduced as a consequence of increasing economical, environmental and safety issues. Of main concern has been the use of expensive marine protein sources, such as fish meal which often results in fouling of water quality and disease outbreak in cultured species. To determine prawn capacity to use practical feeds with plant proteins as replacement ingredients to animal protein sources, 8-months growth trial was conducted in two sets of ponds using juvenile (0.02 gm) Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Among the two sets, one set (comprising of three ponds) is experimental pond included formulated feed prepared with 30% Porteresia coarctata dust along with other general ingredients and another set (comprising of another three ponds) is control pond with commercial feed. Mean final weight, percent weight gain, final net yield, feed conversion ratio and survival were evaluated. Higher condition index values, survival rate and gain in prawn weight were observed in experimental pond compared to control pond. Low FCR values were observed in the experimental pond than the control pond. Evaluation of production parameters at the end of the study demonstrated significant differences (P ≥ 0.05) among two ponds. The variation may be attributed to specially formulated plant based feed that not only boosted up the growth of prawns, but also upgraded the ambient aquatic health. These results indicate that fish meal can be replaced with algal protein sources in diets without affecting prawn growth and production.

Keywords: macrobrachium rosenbergii, porteresia coarctata, Indian sundarbans, feed

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Akash Soogumbur

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Tourniquets are commonly used in orthopaedic surgery to provide hemostasis during procedures on the upper and lower limbs. However, there is a risk of complications associated with tourniquet use, such as nerve damage, skin necrosis, and compartment syndrome. The British Orthopaedic Association (BOAST) guidelines recommend the use of tourniquets at a pressure of 300 mmHg or less for a maximum of 2 hours. Research Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a tourniquet checklist in improving compliance with the BOAST guidelines. Methodology: This was a retrospective study of all orthopaedic procedures performed at a single institution over a 12-month period. The study population included patients who had a tourniquet applied during surgery. Data were collected from the patients' medical records, including the duration of tourniquet use, the pressure used, and the method of exsanguination. Findings: The results showed that the use of the tourniquet checklist significantly improved compliance with the BOAST guidelines. Prior to the introduction of the checklist, compliance with the guidelines was 83% for the duration of tourniquet use and 73% for pressure used. After the introduction of the checklist, compliance increased to 100% for both duration of tourniquet use and pressure used. Theoretical Importance: The findings of this study suggest that the use of a tourniquet checklist can be an effective way to improve compliance with the BOAST guidelines. This is important because it can help to reduce the risk of complications associated with tourniquet use. Data Collection: Data were collected from the patients' medical records. The data included the following information: Patient demographics, procedure performed, duration of tourniquet use, pressure used, method of exsanguination. Analysis Procedures: The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The compliance with the BOAST guidelines was calculated as the percentage of patients who met the guidelines for the duration of tourniquet use and pressure used. Question Addressed: The question addressed by this study was whether the use of a tourniquet checklist could improve compliance with the BOAST guidelines. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the use of a tourniquet checklist can be an effective way to improve compliance with the BOAST guidelines. This is important because it can help to reduce the risk of complications associated with tourniquet use.

Keywords: tourniquet, pressure, duration, complications, surgery

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Yoon Kyung Song, Seung Won Han, Sang Hyun Hwang, Do Hoon Lee

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Laboratory tests is a significant part for the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment of diseases. Blood collection is a simple process, but can be a potential cause of pre-analytical errors. Vacuum blood collection tubes used to collect and store the blood specimens is necessary for accurate test results. The purpose of this study was to validate Improve serum separator tube(SST) (Guanzhou Improve Medical Instruments Co., Ltd, China) for routine clinical chemistry laboratory testing. Blood specimens were collected from 100 volunteers in three different serum vacuum tubes (Greiner SST , Becton Dickinson SST , Improve SST). The specimens were evaluated for 16 routine chemistry tests using TBA-200FR NEO (Toshiba Medical Co. JAPAN). The results were statistically analyzed by paired t-test and Bland-Altman plot. For stability test, the initial results for each tube were compared with results of 72 hours preserved specimens. Their clinical availability was evaluated by biological Variation of Ricos data bank. Paired t-test analysis revealed that AST, ALT, K, Cl showed statistically same results but calcium (CA), phosphorus(PHOS), glucose(GLU), BUN, uric acid(UA), cholesterol(CHOL), total protein(TP), albumin(ALB), total bilirubin(TB), ALP, creatinine(CRE), sodium(NA) were different(P < 0.05) between Improve SST and Greiner SST. Also, CA, PHOS, TP, TB, AST, ALT, NA, K, Cl showed statistically the same results but GLU, BUN, UA, CHOL, ALB, ALP, CRE were different between Improve SST and Becton Dickinson SST. All statistically different cases were clinically acceptable by biological Variation of Ricos data bank. Improve SST tubes showed satisfactory results compared with Greiner SST and Becton Dickinson SST. We concluded that the tubes are acceptable for routine clinical chemistry laboratory testing.

Keywords: blood collection, Guanzhou Improve, SST, vacuum tube

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Minh-Phuong Ngoc Bui, Abdennour Abbas

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Microbial spoilage of food/drug has been a constant nuisance and an unavoidable problem throughout history that affects food/drug quality and safety in a variety of ways. A simple and rapid test of fungi and bacteria in food/drugs and environmental clinical samples is essential for proper management of contamination. A number of different techniques have been developed for detection and enumeration of foodborne microorganism including plate counting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), polymer chain reaction (PCR), nucleic acid sensor, electrical and microscopy methods. However, the significant drawbacks of these techniques are highly demand of operation skills and the time and cost involved. In this report, we introduce a rapid method for detection of bacteria and fungi in food/drug products using a specific interaction between a reducing agent (tris(2-carboxylethyl)phosphine (TCEP)) and the microbial surface proteins. The chemical reaction was transferred to a transduction system using gold nanoplates-enhanced chemiluminescence. We have optimized our nanoplates synthetic conditions, characterized the chemiluminescence parameters and optimized conditions for the microbial assay. The new detection method was applied for rapid detection of bacteria (E.coli sp. and Lactobacillus sp.) and fungi (Mucor sp.), with limit of detection as low as single digit cells per mL within 10 min using a portable luminometer. We expect our simple and rapid detection method to be a powerful alternative to the conventional plate counting and immunoassay methods for rapid screening of microorganisms in food/drug products.

Keywords: microorganism testing, gold nanoplates, chemiluminescence, reducing agents, luminol

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Alex Kiselyov, Suehyun Cho, Darrell Harrington; Florent Cros, Olin Palmer, John Caputo, Michael Kardosh, Eran Oren, William Loudon, Michael Shpigelmacher

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Despite the most aggressive surgical and adjuvant therapeutic strategies, treatment of both pediatric and adult brainstem tumors remains problematic. Novel strategies, including targeted biologics, immunotherapy, and specialized delivery systems such as convection-enhanced delivery (CED), have been proposed. While some of these novel treatments are entering phase I trials, the field is still in need of treatment(s) that exhibits dramatically enhanced potency with optimal therapeutic ratio. Bionaut Labs has developed a modular microrobotic platform for performing localized delivery of diverse therapeutics in vivo. Our biocompatible particles (Bionauts™) are externally propelled and visualized in real-time. Bionauts™ are specifically designed to enhance the effect of radiation therapy via anatomically precise delivery of a radiosensitizing agent, as exemplified by temozolomide (TMZ) and Avastin™ to the brainstem gliomas of diverse origin. The treatment protocol is designed to furnish a better therapeutic outcome due to the localized (vs systemic) delivery of the drug to the neoplastic lesion(s) for use as a synergistic combination of radiation and radiosensitizing agent. In addition, the procedure is minimally invasive and is expected to be appropriate for both adult and pediatric patients. Current progress, including platform optimization, selection of the lead radiosensitizer as well as in vivo safety studies of the Bionauts™ in large animals, specifically the spine and the brain of porcine and ovine models, will be discussed.

Keywords: Bionaut, brainstem, glioma, local delivery, micro-robot, radiosensitizer

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Jui Chen Wu, Ming Yi Hsu

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Background and Purpose: Shift work of nursing staff is inevitable in hospital to provide continuing medical care. However, shift work is considered as a health hazard that may cause physical and psychological problems. Serious workplace fatigue of nursing shift work might impact on family, social and work life, moreover, causes serious reduction of quality of medical care, or even malpractice. This study aims to explore relationships among nursing staff’s shift, workplace fatigue and quality of working life. Method: Structured questionnaires were used in this study to explore relationships among shift work, workplace fatigue and quality of working life in nursing staffs. We recruited 590 nursing staffs in different Community Teaching hospitals in Taiwan. Data analysed by descriptive statistics, single sample t-test, single factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchical regression, etc. Results: The overall workplace fatigue score is 50.59 points. In further analysis, the score of personal burnout, work-related burnout, over-commitment and client-related burnout are 57.86, 53.83, 45.95 and 44.71. The basic attributes of nursing staff are significantly different from those of workplace fatigue with different ages, licenses, sleeping quality, self-conscious health status, number of care patients of chronic diseases and number of care people in the obstetric ward. The shift variables revealed no significant influence on workplace fatigue during the hierarchical regression analysis. About the analysis on nursing staff’s basic attributes and shift on the quality of working life, descriptive results show that the overall quality of working life of nursing staff is 3.23 points. Comparing the average score of the six aspects, the ranked average score are 3.47 (SD= .43) in interrelationship, 3.40 (SD= .46) in self-actualisation, 3.30 (SD= .40) in self-efficacy, 3.15 (SD= .38) in vocational concept, 3.07 (SD= .37) in work aspects, and 3.02 (SD= .56) in organization aspects. The basic attributes of nursing staff are significantly different from quality of working life in different marriage situations, education level, years of nursing work, occupation area, sleep quality, self-conscious health status and number of care in medical ward. There are significant differences between shift mode and shift rate with the quality of working life. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis reveal that one of the shifts variables 'shift mode' which does affect staff’s quality of working life. The workplace fatigue is negatively correlated with the quality of working life, and the over-commitment in the workplace fatigue is positively related to the vocational concept of the quality of working life. According to the regression analysis of nursing staff’s basic attributes, shift mode, workplace fatigue and quality of working life related shift, the results show that the workplace fatigue has a significant impact on nursing staff’s quality of working life. Conclusion: According to our study, shift work is correlated with workplace fatigue in nursing staffs. This results work as important reference for human resources management in hospitals to establishing a more positive and healthy work arrangement policy.

Keywords: nursing staff, shift, workplace fatigue, quality of working life

Procedia PDF Downloads 257