Visual estimation of joint angles at the elbow

The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of visual estimation of elbow joint angles. A total of 116observers (93 doctors and 23 physiotherapists) were shown 21 digital images of two arms in predeWned degrees of elbow Xexion on two separate occasions. They estimated the angle of Xexion to the nearest 5°. Only 70.8% of estimates were within +5°, although intra-observer agreement was good among all groups tested (ICC range 0.963-0.983). Orthopaedic consultants and registrars were equivalent and statistically better at estimating the angles compared to senior house officers and physiotherapists (P < 0.001). Compared to the angles of 85 and 90°, all other angles were signifcantly less likely to be estimated to within +5° (P < 0.001). In conclusion, visual estimation of joint angles at the elbow may not be desirable in cases where accurate serial assessment is required for clinical decision making. The use of a goniometer by an agreed standardized protocol is advised

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Top 100 Cited Articles on Hepatic Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The purpose of this study is to guide the readers to the impact of the articles published on hepatic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We searched Scopus using 10 different search terms for hepatic MRI. The selected studies were thoroughly reviewed by two independent authors and any disagreement was sorted out by mutual consensus. The list of articles and journals was downloaded into an excel spreadsheet. Only the top 100 cited articles were selected by mutual consensus among all the authors. These articles were further read in the full-text form and were further categorized into subgroups. Three authors independently reviewed the top 100 selected articles, and subsequently data was extracted from them and analyzed. Our study showed that the highest number of top 100 cited articles on hepatic MRI were from Radiology (30 articles) followed by European Radiology (14 articles). The American Journal of Roentgenology, Radiographics, and Journal of Magnetic Resonance had seven articles each. The United States had the highest number of articles by region. Nineteen other journals contributed only one article each to the list of top 100 cited articles. The contribution of authors to the top 100 cited articles was reviewed; all the authors contributing with more than two articles to the highly cited articles are given in Table 3 in the supplementary material. The maximum number of articles were published during 2009 (14 articles), and for a five-year period, the maximum contribution was made during 2008-2013 (44 articles). Our analysis gives an insight on the frequency of citations of top articles on hepatic MRI, categorizes the subtopics, the timeline of the publications, and contributions from different geographic distributions

Effectiveness of Person Fit Indices in Item Response Models with Different Degrees of Item Local Dependence

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of person fit indices (Wright’s weighted index, Drasgow index and Almehrizi’s weighted index) in item response models with different degrees of item local dependence (0.0, 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9) using simulated item parameters. Item responses for 40 samples each with 10000 subjects (a total of 400000 subjects) were simulated on a test of 60 items. Item discrimination parameters ranged between 0.19 and 1.79 and item difficulty parameters ranged between -2 and +2. 20% of test items were manipulated to show local dependence for each level of local dependence degrees. Student ability was generated to follow a standard normal distribution. Assumptions of item response theory were examined in all data sets using exploratory factor analysis and residual analysis using NOHARM platform for unidimensionality and Q3 index for local independence. Results showed that there was an increase in the percentages of non-conforming persons when increasing the degree of items local dependence for the three person fit indices (Wright’s weighted index, Drasgow index and Almehrizi’s weighted index). Results showed also that the percentages of non-conforming persons were larger with Wright’s weighted index than with Drasgow index and Almehrizi’s weighted index. The distributional properties of the three indices showed relatively consistent in distributional properties. Drasgow index and Almehrizi’s weighted index were very similar distributional properties. Also, there was a larger agreement index between Wright’s weighted index and Drasgow index

Effects of omental pedicle transposition on regeneration of neurotmesis sciatic nerve in rabbit

The present study was aimed at providing an understanding of the role of omental pedicle transposition in peripheral nerve regeneration by utilizing an established rabbit sciatic nerve regeneration model. Twelve adult New Zealand White rabbits (2-2.3kg) were divided into two groups (n=6) and acclimatized for 3 weeks. Complete blood examination, liver and kidney function tests were carried out during this period. In Group A, an end-to-end of sciatic nerve segment anastomosis was done, while that of Group B, the nerve anastomosis wrapped with omental pedicle was performed. The nerve specimens were collected from both groups for histopathological and ultrastructural evaluation after 16 weeks post surgery. Results showed that omental pedicle transpositioned (Group B) had more newly developed nerve fibres and less scar tissue. Ultrastructural examinations showed neuronal sprouting, whereas directions of regenerative nerve fibres were intraneural, but in the end-to-end anastomosis of group B showed that some of nerve fibres had extraneural

Assessment of power plant emission and its health impact in Gaza

The aim of study was to investigate the concentrations of the ambient air pollutants (i.e PM2.5, CO, CO2) and to examine the health impacts on the residentials living surrounding the power plant in Gaza City-Palestine.The pollutants were monitored several distance surrounding the plant for a period of four months during both summer and winter seasons using a portable laser particle counter and gaseous monitor. A public health questionnaire was also distributed on the residents living around the power plant in order to assess the impact of air pollution on their health status.The results showed that the concentration of particulate matter exceeded the WHO standard where the highest level was 79 ?g/m3 and the lowest level was 49?g/m3. However the concentration of carbon monoxide was lower than the WHO standards where the highest level was 2.18 ppm and lowest level was 0.1 ppm. Moreover, the concentration of carbon dioxide oscillated from 254 ppm to 514 ppm. The health assessment results showed that 50% of the study sample suffered of breathing difficulties.This study concluded that the concentration of particulate matter and carbon dioxide were high, while the level of carbon monoxide was low, furthermore the level of public awareness was good. Meanwhile 40% of population sample visited the hospital because of a disease that infects the respiratory tract

Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi efikasi-kendiri guru sekolah menengah di Malaysia dalam pelaksanaan pendidikan alam sekitar

The aim of this study was to identify the factors that influence teacher's self-efficacy in Environmental Education in schools. The factors that have been identified are teachers' attitudes and awareness towards the environment and teachers' perception towards school principal's instructional leadership practices. The study involved 300 teachers from 30 secondary schools in Perlis represent North Zone, Selangor represent Central Zone, Pahang represent East Zone, Malacca representing South Zone and Sarawak represents East Malaysia. However, analysis of the study involves 263 respondents (87.7%) from 283 questionnaires collected. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (Multiple Linear Regression stepwise method) were used to analyse the data and present the findings. Overall, the results showed that the level of teacher self-efficacy in implementation of Environmental Education is moderate (M = 3.53, SD = .30). According to the perceptions of teachers, principals instructional leadership practices (M = 3:36, SD = .77) was moderate and teacher awareness towards the environment (M = 3.60, SD = .58) was also moderate. However, the attitude towards the environment is good and positive (M = 4.22, SD = .42). The result indicates that the factors that influence teachers self-efficacy in implementation of Environmental Education is the teacher environmental awareness (β = .323, p = .000), teachers' perception towards principals instructional leadership practices for Dimensions of Climate Fostering Teaching and Education Learning Environment (β = .298, p = .001), attitude towards the environment (β = .234, p = .000) and teachers' perception towards principals instructional leadership practices to Dimensions of Teaching and Management Environment Programme (β = –.219, p = .012). These factors explain 34.4% variance of teacher self-efficacy. Based on the findings, some suggestions to the school and the Ministry of Education were presented

Effects of different quality of soil mixture on growth development of an important medicinal plant, Boesenbergia rotunda

Growth and morphological development of Boesenbergia rotunda grown in different soil mixture were considered to determine the suitable growing media for the species. B. rotunda or fingerroot ginger is a highly important medicinal plant belonging to Zingiberaceae family. The rhizome and fingerroot structure of this species contains several bioactive compounds with various functional pharmaceutical activities. It can be vegetatively propagated through cutting rhizome and shows slow growth rate. This study provided some analysis and informative data on how the three types of typical soil (red soil (RS), black soil (BS) and sand (SS) can give important influences on the morphological and physiological development of the species. Fourteen different types of soil mixture with different mix ratio and quality were used as a growth medium. The effects of these treatments were implied based on the growth rate, evaluation in biomass quality of shoots, rhizomes and fingerroots, and photosynthetic pigment analysis. The highest quality growth of B. rotunda was established in the medium containing high percentage of RS and BS with low of SS. The growth rate of plant and photosynthetic pigment concentration were increased in the medium containing a high percentage of RS (50-100%) and BS (50-100%). The presence of a high percentage of BS in the medium was also significantly increased the biomass production of rhizome and fingerroots. The soil mixture might not make adverse effects on the shoots biomass except in medium containing more than 50% of SS. The physical characteristics (bulk density, porosity, water holding capacity and electrical conductivity) of the soil mixture were studied to determine the quality of an optimum combination of the growing medium. The synthetically evaluation index of the plant showed that the different type of soil mixture has a significant effect on growth development of B. rotunda that necessary in industrialization cultivation study

Control of microbiologically influenced corrosion using ultraviolet radiation

Baram Delta Operation had been producing oil and gas since 1960’s and serious pipelines failure was reported in the year of 2005. The final investigation has concluded that one of the species of bacteria that has been identified to cause microbiologically influenced corrosion, specifically known as sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) was found to be one of the potential contributing factors to the incidents. This work investigates the potential use of ultraviolet (UV) radiation to inhibit the SRB consortium that was cultivated from the crude oil in one of the main trunk lines at Baram Delta Operation, Sarawak, Malaysia. The impact of UV exposure to bio-corrosion conditions on carbon steel coupon in certain samples for 28 days was discussed in this study. The samples were exposed to UV radiation based on variations of parameters, namely: time of UV exposure; and power of UV lamp. The significant changes on the amount of turbidity reading and metal loss of the steel coupon were recorded before and after experiment. The results showed that SRB growth has reduced rapidly for almost 90% after the UV exposure for both parameters as compared to the abiotic samples. Metal loss values were also decreased in certain exposure condition. Additionally, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was performed to observe the biofilm layer formed on the metal surface after its exposure to SRB. The evidence suggested that the efficiency of UV treatment against SRB growth could be influenced by the particular factors studied

Aggressiveness of Ganoderma boninense and G. zonatum isolated from upper- and basal stem rot of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) in Malaysia

Currently, the most known devastating oil palm disease throughout South-east Asia is basal stem rot (BSR) caused by Ganoderma boninense. However, there is insufficient information on G. zonatum which also has been associated with the BSR, and upper stem rot (USR). Thus, this study reports pathological symptoms and degree of aggressiveness amongst G. zonatum and G. boninense of USR and BSR on oil palm seedlings. All the Ganoderma isolates tested showed positive signs of infection on the seedlings at 12 and up to 24 weeks after inoculation. However, the symptoms of infection on the seedlings were indistinguishable amongst the Ganoderma species tested. In fact, they showed significantly different degree of aggressiveness in terms of area under disease progress curve (AUDPC), epidemic rate, severity of foliar symp­toms (SFS), dis­ease severity index (DSI), stem bole necrosis and primary roots necrosis. The present findings suggested that G. zonatum of USR was the most aggressive, followed by G. zonatum and G. boninense of BSR, and G. boninense of USR was the least aggressive. Hence, a new mechanism of control strategies is urgently required to con­tain the disease from spreading especially for USR and also for G. zonatum in Malaysia