Revisiting Factors that Influence Length of Stay and Wound Infection after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Background: Diabetes is common among patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). This study aims to revisit the predictive significance of diabetes, elevated HbA1c, low serum albumin levels, and gender on wound infection and hospital stay after CABG. Methods: This retrospective study included patients who had CABG from June 2019 to March 2020. We included patients who underwent elective CABG and excluded emergency CABG surgeries and combined surgeries. Elevated HbA1c is defined as an HbA1c level above 5.8%, and the normal range for serum albumin level is at 33-54 gm/L Results: A total of 87 patients were included, 81 males (93%) and six females (7%) with a mean age of 58 ± 8.5 years. Sixt-eight patients (78%) had diabetes mellitus Type 2 (D.M.). Mean Hb1Ac level was at 8.3 ± 1.8 %; mean preoperative serum albumin level was 34.7 ± 3.3 gm/L, mean postoperative serum albumin level was 16± 0.37 gm/L; preoperative EF of <50% (31%), 50-55% (14%) and >55% (55%). Mean hospital length of stay was 8.3±10.1 days, mean bypass duration was 110.9±35.4 minutes, the mean number of grafts was 3.15±.829; 98% of patients had LIMA to L.A.D. Female gender was a significant predictor of length of stay (coefficient: 4.38 (1.63- 7.13); P= 0.002) and postoperative wound infection (OR: 38.5 (5.35- 276.80); P<0.001).  Conclusion: Females could be associated with increased length of stay and wound infection after CABG. Identifying factors that influence the length of stay and wound infections could facilitate recovery and reduce complications

Improved estimators for the shape parameter in gamma regression

A regression model is considered in which the response variables have gamma distributions with a common shape parameter. A review is given of existing estimators for the shape parameter. Bias expressions for the maximum likelihood estimates of the regression coe f f i c i ent s and the shape parameter are developed. A new estima t o r f o r t h e shape parameter based on bias correction for the maximum likelihood estimator is shown to have markedly better variance and mean square error properties in small to moderate sized samples. Approximations to the low order moments of the Pearson statistic are derived for gamma regression models with general link functions. These are used for the case of a logarithmic link to develop new estimators for the shape parameter which have better moment properties than the estimators based on the Pearson statistic which have been used previously. Finally, the small sample variance and mean square error efficiencies of the estimators relative to the maximum likelihood estimator are evaluated by simulation for the case of a single explanatory variable and a logarithmic link, for a range of sample sizes less than or equal to 100

Biology of the Boxelder Bug in Cache Valley

The Box Elder Bug, Leptocoria trivittatue (say), is a hanipterous insect belonging to the family corisidae. Although it rarely is a pest of agricultural crops, its habit of invading homes and other buildings for hibernation and to warm itself has made it an annoying household pest. It has proven to be a difficult insect to control. Only a few of the contact insecticides, useful in control of related insect pests, have given satisfactory control of the Boxelder Bug. Because it has not been considered a critical problem, it has not received detailed attention from the scientific investigators. Its close association with boxelder trees has long been recognized. Elimination of boxelder trees has often been advocated for control of this insect. However, boxelder is not its only host and, furthermore, elimination of boxelder trees is not always practical or desirable

Understanding the concept of Khiyar (Option) among Muamalat students in ACIS UiTM Puncak Alam / Mashitah Al-Bakir Abdul Rahim.

Khiyar is an alternative principle in Muamalat's Islamic Law that made it possible to protect the interests of related parties in transactions. Khiyar rights are described in detail in the fiqh transaction books, particularly on trade issues. It is important to be known by people because it about right while transaction. However, many people do not know the exactly what is Khiyar about and if they face fraud while transaction, they do not know how to act. This research aim is to study the understanding level of Khiyar among Muamalat students in UITM Puncak Alam. This research include recommendations on cultivate awareness on the importance of Khiyar. Qualitative and quantitative method are use in this research which is library research and survey research (questionnaire). It is important to ensure that the concept of Khiyar is implemented by people in their contract

Sensory characteristics and lipid composition of white amur (Ctenopharyngodon Idella) fed different diets

Two fish diets, trout chow pellets (A) and alfalfa pellets (P), were evaluated as to their effects on growth, lipid level and compo-sition, fatty acid (FA) composition of polar and neutral lipids, and sensory characteristics of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). During the 6 month feeding experiment, fish fed A gained 661 g/fish compared to 358 g for fish fed P. In addition, total lipid con-tent in fish fed A increased from 1.84 to 3.72% in 4 months time, but remained approximately the same in fish fed P (P\u3c 1.0%) across feed-ing times. Three phospholipid classes: sphingomyelin (6 to 13%), lecithin (55 to 63%), and cephalin (25 to 35%) were affected by feed-ing time (P\u3c0.05). Nineteen FA were found in the phospholipids: 14:0, 16:01, 16:0, 16:1, 18:0, 18:1, 18:11, 18:2ω6, 18:3ω6, 18:3ω3, 20:1, 20:2, 20:3, 20:4ω6, 20:5ω3, 20:5ω6, 22:5uω3, 22:6ω3, and 24:1. Significant differences between diets were found in the percentages of 14 acids, and feeding time also significantly affected the levels of these acids. All of the previous FA except 16:01 plus 9 additional 16:11, 17:0, 17:1, 20:0, 22:1, 23:0, 24:0, 24:4 and an unknown, were found in the neutral lipids. Significant differences between diets were found in the percentages of 18 acids in the neutral lipids, and feeding time significantly affected the levels of 19 of the acids. Compared with fish fed P, fish fed A had higher levels of monounsatur-ated FA (MONO) and lower levels of omega-6 polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) in both neutral and polar lipids; there were higher levels of saturated FA (SAT) and omega-S PUFA in the phospholipids but lower levels of SAT and omega-3 PUFA in the neutral lipids. Compared to P, A had lower percentages of SAT (40.9 vs. 51.1), omega-6 PUFA (12.1 vs. 18.2), and omega-3 PUFA (15.8 vs. 24.7) and a higher percentage of MONO (31.0 vs. 5.3). There was no significant difference between the flavor of grass carp fed P (3.6) and that of catfish (3.7), but the panel (n = 93) scored the flavor of grass carp fed A (3.4) lower than that of catfish (P\u3c0.06). They also found no significant differences in texture among the three fish samples. Compared with catfish acceptability (3.6), grass carp fed P tended to have lower acceptability (3.4), but grass carp fed A a significantly lower acceptability (3.3). The main reason given for scoring the acceptability of grass carp lower than that of catfish was the presence of small bones in the fillets. This indicates that either grass carp must be bigger at market-size than those in this study (1585 g) or the bones must somehow be removed

Low attenuation microwave waveguides

PhDAn investigation of the dispersion and attenuation characteristics of cylindrical structures supporting guided electromagnetic waves with low attenuation is described. The object of the investigation is to understand how the cross-sectional shape and the nature of the boundary conditions affects the propagation characteristics. Attention is directed towards structures supporting the least number of propagating modes under the conditions which yield low attenuation over a reasonable bandwidth. Elliptical waveguides with both smooth-walls and corrugated walls are studied in detail. This reveals errors in previous-theories which are corrected. Some aspects of corrugated rectangular and circular waveguides are considered. Potential low attenuation waveguides such as the dielectric lined and dielectric waveguides are evaluated

Growth and organoleptic qualities of grass carp fed experimental diets

The growth of two different sizes of grass carp were studied in laboratory feeding experiments. Experimental diets included trout chow, bermuda grass pellets, and sudan grass; fish were fed at three feeding rates, 2.5, 5, and 10% of body weight. The fish that were fed trout chow showed excellent growth of small and large fish at 2.5, 5, and 10%. Bermuda grass produced good growth only in large fish at the 2.5% level and better growth at 5%. Small fish lost weight when fed bermuda grass at the 5 and 10% rates. This was probably due to the smaller fish being unable to consume the large pellets. The fish fed sudan grass at 2.5% body weight also lost weight during the six-week feeding trial. Organoleptic comparisons indicated that there was a significant difference in the taste preference of grass carp fed bermuda grass and trout chow. The panelists preferred fish fed bermuda grass more than those fed trout chow. There was no significant difference in the taste preference among grass carp fed bermuda grass, trout chow, and sudan grass when compared to channel catfish

Development of an interactive computer graphics system with application to data fitting

The work reported in this thesis is organized into two parts. Part I presents a review study of the existing graphics facilities in terms of hardware and software (Chapter 2), interactive input techniques (Chapter 3) and the organization of graphics output processes and application data structures (Chapter 4). Finally, in Part I, a full account is presented concerning the development and implementation of the basic graphics software package LIGHT. Part II contains a detailed discussion of the implementation of several application programs which employ the basic graphics software developed in Part I. The applications cover the following problem areas: (1) Interpolatory Data Fitting (IDF); (2) Interactive Contour Tracing (ICT); (3) Triangular Mesh Generation (TMG). Finally, full program listings of the basic software and the application modules are given in the Appendices accompanying this thesis

Multidimensional Systolic Arrays of LMS AlgorithmAdaptive (FIR) Digital Filters

A multidimensional systolic arrays realization of LMS algorithm by a method of mapping regular algorithm onto processor array, are designed. They are based on appropriately selected 1-D systolic array filter that depends on the inner product sum systolic implementation. Various arrays may be derived that exhibit a regular arrangement of the cells (processors) and local interconnection pattern, which are important for VLSI implementation. It reduces latency time and increases the throughput rate in comparison to classical 1-D systolic arrays. The 3-D multilayered array consists of 2-D layers, which are connected with each other only by edges. Such arrays for LMS-based adaptive (FIR) filter may be opposed the fundamental requirements of fast convergence rate in most adaptive filter applications