Search results for: intra-regional medical mobility (IRMM)

Authors: D. Onanena Adegono, P. Altinsoy, A. Schuster, P. Schäfer

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Autonomous vehicles look set to drastically alter the way we move people and goods, in urban as well as rural areas. However, little has been written about Africa with this regard. Moreover, in order for this new technology to be adopted, user acceptance is vital. The current research examines the user acceptance of autonomous minibus shuttles, as a solution for first/last mile public transport in Pretoria, South Africa. Of the respondents surveyed, only 2.31% perceived them as not useful. Respondents showed more interest in using these shuttles in combination with the bus rapid transit system (75.4%) as opposed to other modes of public transportation (40%). The significance of these findings is that they can help ensure that the implementation of autonomous public transport in South Africa is adapted to the local user. Furthermore, these findings could be adapted for other South African cities and other cities across the continent.

Keywords: autonomous buses and shuttles, autonomous public transport, urban mobility, user acceptance

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Sang Hoon Lee, Tae Il Lee, Su Jeong Lee, Jae Min Myoung

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In order to manufacture short gap single Si nanowire (NW) field effect transistor (FET) by imprinting and transferring method, we introduce the method using Al2O3 sacrificial layer. The diameters of cylindrical Si NW addressed between Au electrodes by dielectrophoretic (DEP) alignment method are controlled to 106, 128, and 148 nm. After imprinting and transfer process, cylindrical Si NW is embedded in PVP adhesive and dielectric layer. By curing transferred cylindrical Si NW and Au electrodes on PVP-coated p++ Si substrate with 200nm-thick SiO2, 3μm gap Si NW FET fabrication was completed. As the diameter of embedded Si NW increases, the mobility of FET increases from 80.51 to 121.24 cm2/V•s and the threshold voltage moves from –7.17 to –2.44 V because the ratio of surface to volume gets reduced.

Keywords: Al2O3 sacrificial transfer layer, cylindrical silicon nanowires, dielectrophorestic alignment, field effect transistor

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Authors: Min Bae

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Hygiene had traditionally meant ways of healthy and right living. However, the nineteenth century was the time when a gradual shift in medical and hygienic paradigms took place from holism to reductionism. Against this medical and social background, E. W. Lane (MD, Edinburgh, 1853) formulated his own medical philosophies in his book Hydropathy: Or Hygienic Medicine (1859). Until the 1880s when he published his last book on the hygienic medicine, he consistently intended to raise the importance of hygienic holism in medicine, while adopting hydropathy as his main therapeutic measure. Lane’s case reflects the mid-nineteenth century trend in which since the 1840s, the rational and holistic facets in medicine had significantly transferred to hydropathy, which was the most naturalistic healing system in the medical market. Hygiene for Lane was no longer the ancient form of ‘six non-naturals’. He emphasised physiology as the rational grounds for his project of the medicalisation of hygiene. His medical philosophy was profoundly naturalistic and holistic against the opposite trend of the contemporary hygiene and medicine. Conflicting aspects may often be best embodied in persons who stood on the boundaries between inside and outside. Lane’s theories on hygienic medicine did not develop into a new medical system which he believed would reconciliate orthodox medicine and hydropathy of his time had also adopted increasingly reductionist approaches since 1860s. Nevertheless, the naturalistic philosophies and approaches in Lane’s hygienic medicine demonstrates a continuous effort for a theoretical reformulation of hydropathy during its stagnant and declining period to constantly fit into the holistic paradigm of medicine and hygiene. Considering the fact that the nature cure concept in hydropathy and its individualistic approach were succeeded by naturopathy at the end of the century, analysis of Lane’s medical thoughts reveals part of a ‘thin red line’ of naturalism in the battleground between reductionism and holism during the nineteenth century in the history of medicine and hygiene.

Keywords: E. W. Lane, hygienic medicine, hydropathy, naturopath

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Authors: Cleto J. Sauer Jr

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Introduction: Brazil’s new national curriculum guidelines (NCG) for medical education were published in 2014, presenting active learning methodologies as a cornerstone. Simulation was initially applied for aviation pilots’ training and is currently applied in health sciences. The high-fidelity simulator replicates human body anatomy in detail, also reproducing physiological functions and its use is increasing in medical schools. Realistic Simulation (RS) has pedagogical aspects that are aligned with Brazil’s NCG teaching concepts. The main objective of this study is to carry on a narrative review on RS’s aspects that are aligned with Brazil’s new NCG teaching concepts. Methodology: A narrative review was conducted, with search in three databases (PubMed, Embase and BVS) of studies published between 2010 and 2020. Results: After systematized search, 49 studies were selected and divided into four thematic groups. RS is aligned with new Brazilian medical curriculum as it is an active learning methodology, providing greater patient safety, uniform teaching, and student's emotional skills enhancement. RS is based on reflective learning, a teaching concept developed for adult’s education. Conclusion: RS is a methodology aligned with NCG teaching concepts and has potential to assist in the implementation of new Brazilian medical school’s curriculum. It is an immersive and interactive methodology, which provides reflective learning in a safe environment for students and patients.

Keywords: curriculum, high-fidelity simulator, medical education, realistic simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Rihab Gamaoun, Cynthia El Hage, Laura Ruiz, Erin Prosk, Antonio Vigano

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Introduction: Santé Cannabis (SC), a Canadian medical cannabis-specialized group of clinics based in Montreal and in the province of Québec, has served more than 5000 patients seeking cannabis-based treatment prescription for medical indications over the past five years. Within a research frame, data on the use of medical cannabis products from all the above patients were prospectively collected, leading to a large real-world database on the use of medical cannabis. The aim of this study was to gather information on the profiles of both patients and prescribed medical cannabis products at SC clinics and to assess the safety of medical cannabis among Canadian patients. Methods: Using a retrospective analysis of the database, records of 2585 patients who were prescribed medical cannabis products for therapeutic purposes between 01-November 2017 and 04-September 2019 were included. Patients’ demographics, primary diagnosis, route of administration, and chemovars recorded at the initial visits were investigated. Results: At baseline: 9% of SC patients were female, with a mean age of 57 (SD= 15.8, range= [18-96]); Cannabis products were prescribed mainly for patients with a diagnosis of chronic pain (65.9% of patients), cancer (9.4%), neurological disorders (6.5%), mood disorders (5.8 %) and inflammatory diseases (4.1%). Route of administration and chemovars of prescribed cannabis products were the following: 96% of patients received cannabis oil (51% CBD rich, 42.5% CBD:THC); 32.1% dried cannabis (21.3% CBD:THC, 7.4% THC rich, 3.4 CBD rich), and 2.1% oral spray cannabis (1.1% CBD:THC, 0.8% CBD rich, 0.2% THC rich). Most patients were prescribed simultaneously, a combination of products with different administration routes and chemovars. Safety analysis is undergoing. Conclusion: Our results provided initial information on the profile of medical cannabis products prescribed in a Canadian population and the experienced adverse events over the past three years. The Santé Cannabis database represents a unique opportunity for comparing clinical practices in prescribing and titrating cannabis-based medications across different centers. Ultimately real-world data, including information about safety and effectiveness, will help to create standardized and validated guidelines for choosing dose, route of administration, and chemovars types for the cannabis-based medication in different diseases and indications.

Keywords: medical cannabis, real-world data, safety, pharmacovigilance

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Authors: Abram Zoltan

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Over the past hundred years, human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, have released enough carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to dissipate additional heat into the lower atmosphere and affect the global climate. Climate change affects many social and environmental determinants of health: clean air, safe drinking water, and adequate food. Our aim is to draw attention to the effects of climate change on the health and health care system. Improving climate awareness and the knowledge related to climate change's health impacts are essential among medical students and practicing medical doctors. Therefore, in their everyday practice, they also need some assistance and up-to-date knowledge of how climate change can endanger human health and deal with these novel health problems. Our activity, based on the cooperation of more universities, aims to develop new curriculum outlines and learning materials on climate change's health impacts for medical schools. Special attention is intended to pay to the possible preventative measures against these impacts. For all of this, the project plans to create new curriculum outlines and learning materials for medical students, elaborate methodological guidelines and create training materials for medical doctors' postgraduate learning programs. The target groups of the project are medical students, educational staff of medical schools and universities, practicing medical doctors with special attention to the general practitioners and family doctors. We had searched various surveys, domestic and international studies about the effects of climate change and statistical estimation of the possible consequences. The health effects of climate change can be measured only approximately by considering only a fraction of the potential health effects and assuming continued economic growth and health progress. We can estimate that climate change is expected to cause about 250,000 more deaths. We conclude that climate change is one of the most serious problems of the 21st century, affecting all populations. In the short- to medium-term, the health effects of climate change will be determined mainly by human vulnerability. In the longer term, the effects depend increasingly on the extent to which transformational action is taken now to reduce emissions. We can contribute to reducing environmental pollution by raising awareness and by educating the population.

Keywords: climate change, health impacts, medical students, education

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Authors: Oyebade K. Oyedotun

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The cardiotocogram is a technical recording of the heartbeat rate and uterine contractions of a fetus during pregnancy. During pregnancy, several complications can occur to both the mother and the fetus; hence it is very crucial that medical experts are able to find technical means to check the healthiness of the mother and especially the fetus. It is very important that the fetus develops as expected in stages during the pregnancy period; however, the task of monitoring the health status of the fetus is not that which is easily achieved as the fetus is not wholly physically available to medical experts for inspection. Hence, doctors have to resort to some other tests that can give an indication of the status of the fetus. One of such diagnostic test is to obtain cardiotocograms of the fetus. From the analysis of the cardiotocograms, medical experts can determine the status of the fetus, and therefore necessary medical interventions. Generally, medical experts classify examined cardiotocograms into ‘normal’, ‘suspect’, or ‘pathological’. This work presents an artificial neural network based decision support system which can filter cardiotocograms data, producing the corresponding statuses of the fetuses. The capability of artificial neural network to explore the cardiotocogram data and learn features that distinguish one class from the others has been exploited in this research. In this research, feedforward and radial basis neural networks were trained on a publicly available database to classify the processed cardiotocogram data into one of the three classes: ‘normal’, ‘suspect’, or ‘pathological’. Classification accuracies of 87.8% and 89.2% were achieved during the test phase of the trained network for the feedforward and radial basis neural networks respectively. It is the hope that while the system described in this work may not be a complete replacement for a medical expert in fetus status evaluation, it can significantly reinforce the confidence in medical diagnosis reached by experts.

Keywords: decision support, cardiotocogram, classification, neural networks

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Authors: Laura Cochrane

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The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has established three categories of biological agents based on their ease of spread and the severity of the disease they cause. Category A biological agents are the highest priority because of their high degree of morbidity and mortality, ease of dissemination, the potential to cause social disruption and panic, special requirements for public health preparedness, and past use as a biological weapon. Despite the threat of Category A biological agents, opportunities for medical intervention exist. This work summarizes public information, consolidated and reviewed across the situational usefulness and disease awareness to offer discussion to three specific Category A agents: anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), botulism (Clostridium botulinum toxin), and smallpox (variola major), and provides an overview on the management of medical countermeasures available to treat these three (3) different types of pathogens. The medical countermeasures are discussed in the setting of pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, and therapeutic treatments to provide a framework for requirements in public health preparedness.

Keywords: anthrax, botulism, smallpox, medical countermeasures

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Authors: Abdalla Mohamed Eblabla

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Due to the high increase and demand for a wide assortment of applications that require low-cost, high-efficiency, and compact systems, RF power amplifiers are considered the most critical design blocks and power consuming components in wireless communication, TV transmission, radar, and RF heating. Therefore, much research has been carried out in order to improve the performance of power amplifiers. Classes-A, B, C, D, E, and F are the main techniques for realizing power amplifiers. An implementation of high efficiency class-F power amplifier with Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) was realized in this paper. The simulation and optimization of the class-F power amplifier circuit model was undertaken using Agilent’s Advanced Design system (ADS). The circuit was designed using lumped elements.

Keywords: Power Amplifier (PA), gallium nitride (GaN), Agilent’s Advanced Design System (ADS), lumped elements

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Authors: Zainab Idrees Ahmad, Mahjabeen Qureshi, Zainab Hussain

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Standard precautions are a set of infection control practices used to prevent the transmission of diseases that can be acquired by contact with body fluids, non-intact skin, and mucous membranes. Lack of practice of SPs can result in a considerable increase in morbidity and mortality rates. Medical students (the future physicians) should have the highest knowledge of standard precautions to prevent the spread of nosocomial infections and ensure their safety as well. This study was designed. To assess the knowledge of medical students regarding standard precautions. And explore the attitude of medical students of MBBS in the third, fourth and final year towards standard precautions.: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the setting of Rawalpindi Medical University, Pakistan including the students of MBBS in their 3rd, 4th and final years. The study duration was from October 2022 to February 2023. The sample size calculated was 282 with a confidence interval of 95%. A questionnaire was structured utilizing the WHO guidelines on SPs assessing knowledge and attitude regarding hand hygiene, needle stick injury, use of gloves and mask, and sharp disposal. A total of 300 responses were received utilizing the technique of non-random convenience sampling. Data was analyzed using the latest version of SPSS.:Knowledge score regarding components of SPs, hand hygiene, and moments of hand hygiene was satisfactory. However, score regarding the use of PPE, needle stick injury, and sharp disposal was low. Almost all the students were compliant with the proper washing of hands but the observation of recommended time length was lacking. Compliance with the use of correct PPE and informing the supervisor upon getting a needle stick injury was low. This study signifies that medical students lack knowledge regarding standard precautions. This is alarming as this can be the vehicle for the spread of nosocomial infections. Proper training should be given to medical students to prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections.

Keywords: attitude, knowledge, medical students, standard precautions

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Authors: Griaznova Svetlana, Umedov Mekhroz

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The current healthcare facilities trend is the creation of multidisciplinary large-scale centers to provide the maximum possible services in one place, minimizing the number of possible instances in the path of patient treatment. The multifunctional medical centers are mainly designed in urban infrastructure for good accessibility. However, many functions and connections define the building shape, often make it inharmonious, that greatly destroys the city's appearance. The purpose of the research is to scientifically substantiate the factors influencing the shaping, the formation of architectural solutions principles, the formation of recommendations and principles for the multifunctional medical centers' design. The result of the research is the elaboration of architectural and planning solutions principles and the determination of factors affecting the multifunctional healthcare facilities shaping. Research method: Study and generalization of international experience in scientific research, literature, standards, teaching aids, and design materials on the topic of research. An integrated approach to the study of existing international experience of multidisciplinary medical centers. Elaboration of graphical analysis and diagrams based on the system analysis of the processed information. Identification of methods and principles of functional zoning of nuclear medicine centers.

Keywords: health care, multifunctionality, form, medical center, hospital, PET, CT scan

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Authors: Nina Robson, Kenneth John Faller II, Vishalkumar Ahir, Arthur Ricardo Deps Miguel Ferreira, John Buchanan, Amarnath Banerjee

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This paper describes the development of a virtual-reality system ARWED, which will be used in physical rehabilitation of patients with reduced upper extremity mobility to increase limb Active Range of Motion (AROM). The ARWED system performs a symmetric reflection and real-time mapping of the patient’s healthy limb on to their most affected limb, tapping into the mirror neuron system and facilitating the initial learning phase. Using the ARWED, future experiments will test the extension of the action-observation priming effect linked to the mirror-neuron system on healthy subjects and then stroke patients.

Keywords: physical rehabilitation, mirror neuron, virtual reality, stroke therapy

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Authors: Paritosh Goel

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The conservation of historic buildings and historic Centre’s over recent years has become fully encompassed in the planning of built-up areas and their management following climate changes. The approach of the world of restoration, in the Indian context on integrated urban regeneration and its strategic potential for a smarter, more sustainable and socially inclusive urban development introduces, for urban transformations in general (historical centers and otherwise), the theme of sustainability. From this viewpoint, it envisages, as a primary objective, a real “green, ecological or environmental” requalification of the city through interventions within the main categories of sustainability: mobility, energy efficiency, use of sources of renewable energy, urban metabolism (waste, water, territory, etc.) and natural environment. With this the concept of a “resilient city” is also introduced, which can adapt through progressive transformations to situations of change which may not be predictable, behavior that the historical city has always been able to express. Urban planning on the other hand, has increasingly focused on analyses oriented towards the taxonomic description of social/economic and perceptive parameters. It is connected with human behavior, mobility and the characterization of the consumption of resources, in terms of quantity even before quality to inform the city design process, which for ancient fabrics, and mainly affects the public space also in its social dimension. An exact definition of the term “smart city” is still essentially elusive, since we can attribute three dimensions to the term: a) That of a virtual city, evolved based on digital networks and web networks b) That of a physical construction determined by urban planning based on infrastructural innovation, which in the case of historic Centre’s implies regeneration that stimulates and sometimes changes the existing fabric; c) That of a political and social/economic project guided by a dynamic process that provides new behavior and requirements of the city communities that orients the future planning of cities also through participation in their management. This paper is a preliminary research into the connections between these three dimensions applied to the specific case of the fabric of ancient cities with the aim of obtaining a scientific theory and methodology to apply to the regeneration of Indian historical Centre’s. The Smart city scheme if contextualize with heritage of the city it can be an initiative which intends to provide a transdisciplinary approach between various research networks (natural sciences, socio-economics sciences and humanities, technological disciplines, digital infrastructures) which are united in order to improve the design, livability and understanding of urban environment and high historical/cultural performance levels.

Keywords: historical cities regeneration, sustainable restoration, urban planning, smart cities, cultural heritage development strategies

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: Nidesh Sapkota, Garima Pudasaini, Dikshya Agrawal, Binav Baral, Umesh Bhagat, Dharanidhar Baral

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Background: Medical and Dental students are vulnerable to higher levels of Psychological distress than other age matched peers. Many studies reveals that there is high prevalence of psychoactive substance use and Psychiatric co-morbidities among them. Objectives: -To study the prevalence of substance use among medical and dental students of a Medical University. -To study the prevalence of depression and anxiety in medical and dental students of a Medical University. Materials and Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study in which simple random sampling was done. Semi-structured questionnaire, AUDIT for alcohol use, Fagerstrom test for Nicotine dependence, Cannabis screening test (CAST), Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used for the assessment. Results: Total sample size was 588 in which the mean age of participants was 22±2years. Among them the prevalence of alcohol users was 47.75%(281) in which 32%(90) were harmful users. Among 19.55%(115) nicotine users 56.5%(65), 37.4%(43), 6.1%(7) had low, low to moderate and moderate dependence respectively. The prevalence of cannabis users was 9%(53) with 45.3%(24), 18.9%(10) having low and high addiction respectively. Depressive symptoms were recorded in 25.3%(149) out of which 12.6%(74), 6.5%(38), 5.3%(31), 0.5%(3), 0.5%(3) had mild, borderline, moderate, severe and extreme depressive symptoms respectively. Similarly anxiety was recorded among 7.8%(46) students with 42 having moderate and 4 having severe anxiety symptoms. Among them 6.3%(37) had suicidal thoughts and 4(0.7%) of them had suicide attempt in last one year. Statistically significant association was noted with harmful alcohol users, Depression and suicidal attempts. Similar association was noted between Depression and suicide with moderate use of nicotine. Conclusion: There is high prevalence of Psychoactive substance use and psychiatric co-morbidities noted in the studies sample. Statistically significant association was noted with Psychiatric co-morbidities and substance use.

Keywords: alcohol, cannabis, dependence, depression, medical students

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Authors: Igor Luiz Bernardes de Moura, Luan Carlos de Sena Monteiro Ozelim, Fabiano Araujo Soares

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The development of a low cost acquisition system of S-EMG signals which are reliable, comfortable for the user and with high mobility shows to be a relevant proposition in modern biomedical engineering scenario. In the study, the sampling capacity of the Arduino microcontroller Atmel Atmega328 with an A/D converter with 10-bit resolution and its reconstructing capability of a signal of surface electromyography are analyzed. An electronic circuit to capture the signal through two differential channels was designed, signals from Biceps Brachialis of a healthy man of 21 years was acquired to test the system prototype. ARV, MDF, MNF and RMS estimators were used to compare de acquired signals with physiological values. The Arduino was configured with a sampling frequency of 1.5 kHz for each channel, and the tests with the circuit designed offered a SNR of 20.57dB.

Keywords: electromyography, Arduino, low-cost, atmel atmega328 microcontroller

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Authors: Khalid Abdelghany

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Additive Manufacturing (AM) is the manufacturing technology that is used to fabricate fast products direct from CAD models in very short time and with minimum operation steps. Jointly with the advancement in medical computer modeling, AM proved to be a very efficient tool to help physicians, orthopedic surgeons and dentists design and fabricate patient-tailored surgical guides, templates and customized implants from the patient’s CT / MRI images. AM jointly with computer-assisted designing/computer-assisted manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology have enabled medical practitioners to tailor physical models in a patient-and purpose-specific fashion and helped to design and manufacture of templates, appliances and devices with a high range of accuracy using biocompatible materials. In developing countries, there are some technical and financial limitations of implementing such advanced tools as an essential portion of medical applications. CMRDI institute in Egypt has been working in the field of Medical Additive Manufacturing since 2003 and has assisted in the recovery of hundreds of poor patients using these advanced tools. This paper focuses on the surgical and dental use of 3D printing technology in Egypt as a developing country. The presented case studies have been designed and processed using the software tools and additive manufacturing machines in CMRDI through cooperative engineering and medical works. Results showed that the implementation of the additive manufacturing tools in developed countries is successful and could be economical comparing to long treatment plans.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, dental and orthopeadic stents, patient specific surgical tools, titanium implants

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Authors: Daniel Bulanda, Janusz A. Starzyk, Adrian Horzyk

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The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most commonly used medical tests, essential for correct diagnosis and treatment of the patient. While ECG devices generate a huge amount of data, only a small part of them carries valuable medical information. To deal with this problem, many compression algorithms and filters have been developed over the past years. However, the rapid development of new machine learning techniques poses new challenges. To address this class of problems, we created the FlexPoints algorithm that searches for characteristic points on the ECG signal and ignores all other points that do not carry relevant medical information. The conducted experiments proved that the presented algorithm can significantly reduce the number of data points which represents ECG signal without losing valuable medical information. These sparse but essential characteristic points (flex points) can be a perfect input for some modern machine learning models, which works much better using flex points as an input instead of raw data or data compressed by many popular algorithms.

Keywords: characteristic points, electrocardiogram, ECG, machine learning, signal compression

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Authors: Siyuan Cai

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This paper takes community segregation during major infectious diseases as the background, based on the physiological needs and safety needs of citizens during home segregation, and based on the selection of convenient facilities and medical facilities as the main research objects. Based on the POI data of public facilities in Chongqing, the spatial distribution characteristics of the convenience and medical facilities in the 15-minute living circle centered on three neighborhoods in Shapingba, namely Shengwei Community, Anju Commmunity and Fengtian Garden Community, were explored by means of GIS spatial analysis. The results show that the spatial distribution of convenience and medical facilities in this area has significant clustering characteristics, with a point-like distribution pattern of "dense in the west and sparse in the east", and a grouped and multi-polar spatial structure. The spatial structure is multi-polar and has an obvious tendency to the intersections and residential areas with dense pedestrian flow. This study provides a preliminary exploration of the distribution of medical and convenience facilities within the 15-minute living circle of a segregated community, which makes up for the lack of spatial research in this area.

Keywords: ArcGIS, community segregation, convenient facilities; distribution pattern, medical facilities, POI, 15-minute community life circle

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Authors: Madhavi-Priya Singh, Liam Lowe, Farouk Arnaout, Ludmilla Pillay, Giordan Perez, Luke Mischker, Steve Costa

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Introduction: An Emergency Department consultant identified the failure of medical students to complete the task of clerking a patient in its entirety. As six medical students on our first clinical placement, we recognised our own failure and endeavored to examine why this failure was consistent among all medical students that had been given this task, despite our best motivations as adult learners. Aim: Our aim is to understand and investigate the elements which impeded our ability to learn and perform as medical students in the clinical environment, with reference to the prescribed task. We also aim to generate a discussion around the delivery of medical education with potential solutions to these barriers. Methods: Six medical students gathered together to have a comprehensive reflective discussion to identify possible factors leading to the failure of the task. First, we thoroughly analysed the delivery of the instructions with reference to the literature to identify potential flaws. We then examined personal, social, ethical, and cultural factors which may have impacted our ability to complete the task in its entirety. Results: Through collation of our shared experiences, with support from discussion in the field of medical education and ethics, we identified two major areas that impacted our ability to complete the set task. First, we experienced an ethical conflict where we believed the inconvenience and potential harm inflicted on patients did not justify the positive impact the patient interaction would have on our medical learning. Second, we identified a lack of confidence stemming from multiple factors, including the conflict between preclinical and clinical learning, perceptions of perfectionism in the culture of medicine, and the influence of upward social comparison. Discussion: After discussions, we found that the various factors we identified exacerbated the fears and doubts we already had about our own abilities and that of the medical education system. This doubt led us to avoid completing certain aspects of the tasks that were prescribed and further reinforced our vulnerability and perceived incompetence. Exploration of philosophical theories identified the importance of the role of doubt in education. We propose the need for further discussion around incorporating both pedagogic and andragogic teaching styles in clinical medical education and the acceptance of doubt as a driver of our learning. Conclusion: Doubt will continue to permeate our thoughts and actions no matter what. The moral or psychological distress that arises from this is the key motivating factor for our avoidance of tasks. If we accept this doubt and education embraces this doubt, it will no longer linger in the shadows as a negative and restrictive emotion but fuel a brighter dialogue and positive learning experience, ultimately assisting us in achieving our full potential.

Keywords: ethics, medical student, doubt, medical education, faith

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Authors: Y. T. Boon, M. N. Naim, R. Zakaria, N. F. Abu Bakar, N. Ahmad, I. W. Lenggoro

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In this study, encapsulation of agarwood oil with non-ionic surfactant, Tween 80 was prepared at critical micelle concentration of 0.0167 % v/v to produce the most stable nano-emulsion in aqueous. The encapsulation has minimized the bioactive compounds degradation in various pH conditions thus prolong their shelf life and maintained its initial oil grade. The oil grading of the prepared samples were conducted using the gel electrophoresis instead of using common analytical industrial grading such as gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC- MS). The grading method was chosen due to their unique zeta potential value after the encapsulation process. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of applying the electrophoresis principles to separate the encapsulated agarwood oil or grading of the emulsified agarwood oil. The results indicated that the grading process are potential to be further investigate based on their droplet size and zeta potential value at various pH condition when the droplet were migrate through polyacrylamide gel.

Keywords: electrophoretic mobility, essential oil, nanoemulsion, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, tween 80, zeta potential

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Authors: Samantha Vargas-Alfonso

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The phenomenon of migration has been long-recorded since ancient history but never has mobility in huge numbers been so rapid and constant than that of the present. A significant portion of these migrants move for the promise of better economic subsistence by finding employment in foreign lands; while there are local and international instruments to protect these migrant workers, they still face human rights violations amongst other hurdles in integrating themselves into their host country. This research aims to look at the occurrence of Passport Confiscation for Filipino migrant workers (blue-collar workers) who are situated in Saudi Arabia. In addition to this, the study will look at the Kafala System which GCC countries practice regulating their foreign employees. The research attempts to prove that international conventions lack power in constraining the occurrence of passport confiscation and that while the kafala system exists, there is very little opportunity to address this issue.

Keywords: kafala, labor, migration, passport

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Authors: Keiko Yamauchi, Motoyuki Nakao, Yoko Ishihara

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The increase in the number of women with breast cancer in Japan has required hospitals to provide a higher quality of medicine so that patients are satisfied with the treatment they receive. However, patients’ satisfaction following breast cancer treatment has not been sufficiently studied. Hence, we investigated the factors influencing patient satisfaction following breast cancer treatment among Japanese women. These women underwent either breast-conserving surgery (BCS) (n = 380) or total mastectomy (TM) (n = 247). In March 2016, we conducted a cross-sectional internet survey of Japanese women with breast cancer in Japan. We assessed the following factors: socioeconomic status, cancer-related information, the role of medical decision-making, the degree of satisfaction regarding the treatments received, and the regret arising from the medical decision-making processes. We performed logistic regression analyses with the following dependent variables: extreme satisfaction with the treatments received, and regret regarding the medical decision-making process. For both types of surgery, the odds ratio (OR) of being extremely satisfied with the cancer treatment was significantly higher among patients who did not have any regrets compared to patients who had. Also, the OR tended to be higher among patients who chose to play a wanted role in the medical decision-making process, compared with patients who did not. In the BCS group, the OR of being extremely satisfied with the treatment was higher if, at diagnosis, the patient’s youngest child was older than 19 years, compared with patients with no children. The OR was also higher if patient considered the stage and characteristics of their cancer significant. The OR of being extremely satisfied with the treatments was lower among patients who were not employed on full-time basis, and among patients who considered the second medical opinions and medical expenses to be significant. These associations were not observed in the TM group. The OR of having regrets regarding the medical decision-making process was higher among patients who chose to play a role in the decision-making process as they preferred, and was also higher in patients who were employed on either a part-time or contractual basis. For both types of surgery, the OR was higher among patients who considered a second medical opinion to be significant. Regardless of surgical type, regret regarding the medical decision-making process decreases treatment satisfaction. Patients who received breast-conserving surgery were more likely to have regrets concerning the medical decision-making process if they could not play a role in the process as they preferred. In addition, factors associated with the satisfaction with treatment in BCS group but not TM group included the second medical opinion, medical expenses, employment status, and age of the youngest child at diagnosis.

Keywords: medical decision making, breast-conserving surgery, total mastectomy, Japanese

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Authors: Laura Brennan, Ram Balakumar

Abstract:

ChatGPT has been developed by Open AI (Nov 2022) as a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) language model which has been designed to produce human-like text from user written prompts. To gain the most from the system, user written prompts must give context specific information. This article aims to give guidance on how to optimise the ChatGPT system in the context of education for otolaryngology. Otolaryngology is a specialist field which sees little time dedicated to providing education to both medical students and doctors. Additionally, otolaryngology trainees have seen a reduction in learning opportunities since the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article we look at these various barriers to medical education in Otolaryngology training and suggest ways that ChatGPT can overcome them and assist in simulation-based training. Examples provide how this can be achieved using the Authors’ experience to further highlight the practicalities. What this article has found is that while ChatGPT cannot replace traditional mentorship and practical surgical experience, it can serve as an invaluable supplementary resource to simulation based medical education in Otolaryngology.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, otolaryngology, surgical training, medical education

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Authors: Volkan Kaya, Ersin Elbasi

Abstract:

Watermarking and stenography are getting importance recently because of copyright protection and authentication. In watermarking we embed stamp, logo, noise or image to multimedia elements such as image, video, audio, animation and text. There are several works have been done in watermarking for different purposes. In this research work, we used watermarking techniques to embed patient information into the medical magnetic resonance (MR) images. There are two methods have been used; frequency domain (Digital Wavelet Transform-DWT, Digital Cosine Transform-DCT, and Digital Fourier Transform-DFT) and spatial domain (Least Significant Bits-LSB) domain. Experimental results show that embedding in frequency domains resist against one type of attacks, and embedding in spatial domain is resist against another group of attacks. Peak Signal Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Similarity Ratio (SR) values are two measurement values for testing. These two values give very promising result for information hiding in medical MR images.

Keywords: watermarking, medical image, frequency domain, least significant bits, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Benny Sand, Yotam Lurie, Shlomo Mark

Abstract:

Medical Internet of Things (MIoT), AI, and data privacy are linked forever in a gordian knot. This paper explores the conflicts of interests between the stakeholders regarding data privacy in the MIoT arena. While patients are at home during healthcare hospitalization, MIoT can play a significant role in improving the health of large parts of the population by providing medical teams with tools for collecting data, monitoring patients’ health parameters, and even enabling remote treatment. While the amount of data handled by MIoT devices grows exponentially, different stakeholders have conflicting understandings and concerns regarding this data. The findings of the research indicate that medical teams are not concerned by the violation of data privacy rights of the patients' in-home healthcare, while patients are more troubled and, in many cases, are unaware that their data is being used without their consent. MIoT technology is in its early phases, and hence a mixed qualitative and quantitative research approach will be used, which will include case studies and questionnaires in order to explore this issue and provide alternative solutions.

Keywords: MIoT, data privacy, stakeholders, home healthcare, information privacy, AI

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Cheng-En Tsai, Chung-Chun Hsiao, Fu-Yuan Chang, Liang-Lun Lan, Jia-Ying Tu

Abstract:

New design of three dimensional (3D) flywheel system based on gimbal and gyro mechanics is proposed. The 3D flywheel device utilizes the rotational motion of three spherical shells and the conservation of angular momentum to achieve planar locomotion. Actuators mounted to the ring-shape frames are installed within the system to drive the spherical shells to rotate, for the purpose of steering and stabilization. Similar to the design of 2D flywheel system, it is expected that the spherical shells may function like a “flyball” to store and supply mechanical energy; additionally, in comparison with typical single-wheel and spherical robots, the 3D flywheel can be used for developing omnidirectional robotic systems with better mobility. The Lagrangian method is applied to derive the equation of motion of the 3D flywheel system, and simulation studies are presented to verify the proposed design.

Keywords: Gimbal, spherical robot, gyroscope, Lagrangian formulation, flyball

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Authors: Lelika Lazarus, Reshma Sookrajh, Kapil S. Satyapal

Abstract:

Reflecting on teaching is commonly cited as a fundamental practice for personal and professional development. Educational research into the scholarship of teaching and learning anatomy includes engaging in discipline specific literature on teaching, reflecting on individual teaching methods and communicating these findings to peers. The aim of this paper is to formally assess the opinions of senior anatomy instructors regarding the state of anatomical knowledge at their respective institutions. The context of the paper derives from ongoing debates about the perceived decline in standards of anatomical knowledge of medical students and postgraduate learners. An open ended questionnaire was devised consisting of eight direct questions seeking opinions on anatomy teaching, knowledge, and potential educational developments and general thoughts on the teaching of anatomy to medical students. These were distributed to senior anatomy Faculty (identified by the author by their affiliation with the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa) based at the eight national medical schools within the country. A number of key themes emerged. Most senior faculty felt that the standard of medical education at their respective institutions was ‘good.’. However, emphasis was also placed on the ‘quality of teaching’ incorporating clinical scenarios. There were also indications that staff are split into those that are keen to do research and those that are happy to provide teaching to medical students as their primary function. Several challenges were also highlighted such as time constraints within the medical curriculum, the lack of cadavers to reinforce knowledge and gain depth perception and lack of appropriately qualified staff. Recommendations included fostering partnerships with both clinicians and medical scientists into the anatomy curriculum thus improving teaching and research.

Keywords: anatomy, education, reflection, teaching

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Authors: H. Al-Khalaifa, A. Al-Nasser

Abstract:

The viewpoint towards the use of drugs or vaccines against avian parasitic diseases is one of the most striking challenges in avian medical parasitology. This includes many difficulties associated with drug resistance and in developing prophylactic vaccines. In many instances, the potential success of a vaccination in controlling parasitic diseases in poultry is well-documented. However, some medical, technical and financial limitations are still paramount. On the other hand, chemotherapy is not very well-recommended due to a number of medical limitations. But in the absence of an effective vaccine, drugs are used against parasitic diseases. This paper sheds light on some the advantages and disadvantages of using vaccination and drugs in controlling parasitic diseases in poultry species. The usage of chemotherapeutic drugs is discussed with some examples. Then, more light will be shed on using vaccines as a potentially effective and promising control tool.

Keywords: drugs, parasitology, poultry, vaccines

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Hannah Yael Ephraim

Abstract:

During reproductive age (between 15 and 44), women are particularly susceptible to psychiatric illness. Depression and anxiety disorders are especially common for women during reproductive age. Women of reproductive age are also at greater risk for multiple physical conditions during this time. Existing literature focuses on the impact of mental health on physical health, showing that people with anxiety and depression repeatedly show greater physical health risk among those with developing chronic medical illness. However, there is limited research on the impact physical health has on mental health in women of reproductive age, a large and vulnerable population. For this reason, the current study seeks to ask the following questions: are women of reproductive age with a diagnosis of a chronic physical condition more likely to experience symptoms of mental illness than women without a diagnosis of a chronic physical condition? Does the type of physical illness relate to signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety? A quasi-experimental research design was implemented to compare the mental health outcomes of women with the diagnosis of chronic medical conditions and women without the diagnosis of a chronic medical condition. Quantitative data was collected through an anonymous ten-minute Qualtrics survey. The survey was sent out through multiple online platforms. The sample includes two groups of women: one group with the diagnosis of a chronic medical illness, and one group without a diagnosis and/or symptoms (N = 541). Participants identify as a woman and are between the ages of 15 and 44. A comparison of women with a diagnosis of a chronic physical condition and those without a diagnosis will be conducted to explore differences in depression and anxiety symptoms between women with and without a chronic medical diagnosis. The impact race, SES, and occupation will also be addressed in relation to anxiety and/or depression in women of reproductive age. This study will further the understanding of the relationship between mental illness in women of reproductive age with chronic medical conditions. The results of this study will have implications for the integration of mental health care in women’s health centers and perhaps training of clinicians and physicians providing psychological and medical care to women of reproductive age.

Keywords: mental health, physical health, reproductive age, women

Procedia PDF Downloads 297

Authors: Hassane Ouazzani Chahdi, Omar Helli, Bourzgui Nour Eddine, Hassan Maher, Ali Soltani

Abstract:

The real-time knowledge of the NO, NO₂ concentration at high temperature, would allow manufacturers of automobiles to meet the upcoming stringent EURO7 anti-pollution measures for diesel engines. Knowledge of the concentration of each of these species will also enable engines to run leaner (i.e., more fuel efficient) while still meeting the anti-pollution requirements. Our proposed technology is promising in the field of automotive sensors. It consists of nanostructured semiconductors based on gallium nitride and zirconia dioxide. The development of new technologies for selective detection of NO and NO₂ gas species would be a critical enabler of superior depollution. The current response was well correlated to the NO concentration in the range of 0–2000 ppm, 0-2500 ppm NO₂, and 0-300 ppm NH₃ at a temperature of 600.

Keywords: NOₓ sensors, HEMT transistor, anti-pollution, gallium nitride, gas sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 228