Penggunaan jenis-jenis penilaian oleh pensyarah dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran di Jabatan Kejuruteraan Awam, Politeknik Ungku Omar

Penilaian ialah satu sistem atau proses yang meliputi aktiviti-aktiviti mengumpul maklumat tentang st'artegi dan aktiviti pengajaran dan pembelajaran, untuk membuat analisis dan keputusan denagn tujuan mengambil tindakan yang sewajamya seperti merancang aktiviti pengajaran dan pembelajaran selanjutnya dengan cara yang lebih berkesan. Penilaian terdiri daripada empat iaitu pra penempatan, formatif, diognastik dan sumatif. Keempat-empat jenis penilaian ini mempunyai kelebihan dan kelemahan yang tersendiri. Melalui dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa pensyarah lelaki lebih banyak menggunakan jenis-jenis penilaian dalam bilik kuliah iaitu min 3.37 berbanding dengan pensyarah perempuan iaitu min 3.28. Selain daripada itu, dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan sebanyak 47 % responden mempunyai pengetahuan tentang penilaian pendidikan jenis objektif, 6 4 % responden mengaplikasikan jenis penilaian kaedah lisan dalam aktiviti pengajaran dan 84 % responden bersetuju bahawa penilaian pendidikan telah dapat meningkatkan mutu diri pensyarah dalam aktiviti pengajaran. Manakala 2.7 % responden tidak bersetuju bahawa pelajar diberi masa yang mencukupi sebelum sesuatu jenis penilaian dilakukan. Sehubungan dengan itu pengkaji mencadangkan supaya pensyarah-pensyarah didedahkan dengan penggunaan jenis-jenis penilaian untuk meningkatkan keupayaan dan kecekapan dalam usaha membina jenis-jenis ujian dengan lebih bermutu. Pensyarah juga digalakkan untuk melakukan jenis-jenis penilaian dalam bilik kuliah. Selain daripada itu, pensyarah juga perlu memastikan pelajar sentiasa bersedia untuk dibuat penilaian. Seterusnya pensyarah perlu mempelbagaikan jenis-jenis penilaian pendidikan dalam aktiviti pengajaran bagi mengesan peringkat penguasaan dan kemajuan pelajar dalam semua bidang yang berkaitan dengan pendidika

Remdesivir and three other drugs for hospitalised patients with COVID-19: final results of the WHO Solidarity randomised trial and updated meta-analyses.

BACKGROUND World Health Organization expert groups recommended mortality trials of four repurposed antiviral drugs - remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon beta-1a - in patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). METHODS We randomly assigned inpatients with Covid-19 equally between one of the trial drug regimens that was locally available and open control (up to five options, four active and the local standard of care). The intention-to-treat primary analyses examined in-hospital mortality in the four pairwise comparisons of each trial drug and its control (drug available but patient assigned to the same care without that drug). Rate ratios for death were calculated with stratification according to age and status regarding mechanical ventilation at trial entry. RESULTS At 405 hospitals in 30 countries, 11,330 adults underwent randomization; 2750 were assigned to receive remdesivir, 954 to hydroxychloroquine, 1411 to lopinavir (without interferon), 2063 to interferon (including 651 to interferon plus lopinavir), and 4088 to no trial drug. Adherence was 94 to 96% midway through treatment, with 2 to 6% crossover. In total, 1253 deaths were reported (median day of death, day 8; interquartile range, 4 to 14). The Kaplan-Meier 28-day mortality was 11.8% (39.0% if the patient was already receiving ventilation at randomization and 9.5% otherwise). Death occurred in 301 of 2743 patients receiving remdesivir and in 303 of 2708 receiving its control (rate ratio, 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81 to 1.11; P = 0.50), in 104 of 947 patients receiving hydroxychloroquine and in 84 of 906 receiving its control (rate ratio, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.59; P = 0.23), in 148 of 1399 patients receiving lopinavir and in 146 of 1372 receiving its control (rate ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.25; P = 0.97), and in 243 of 2050 patients receiving interferon and in 216 of 2050 receiving its control (rate ratio, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.39; P = 0.11). No drug definitely reduced mortality, overall or in any subgroup, or reduced initiation of ventilation or hospitalization duration. CONCLUSIONS These remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon regimens had little or no effect on hospitalized patients with Covid-19, as indicated by overall mortality, initiation of ventilation, and duration of hospital stay. (Funded by the World Health Organization; ISRCTN Registry number, ISRCTN83971151; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04315948.)

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Evaluation of the Permanent Deformations and Aging Conditions of Batu Pahat Soft Clay-Modified Asphalt Mixture by Using a Dynamic Creep Test

This study aimed to evaluate the permanent deformation and aging conditions of BatuPahat soft clay–modified asphalt mixture, also called BatuPahat soft clay (BPSC) particles; these particles are used in powder form as an additive to hot-mix asphalt mixture. In this experiment, five percentage compositions of BPSC (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8%) by weight of bitumen were used. A novel design was established to modify the hot-mix asphalt by using the Superpave method for each additive ratio. Several laboratory tests evaluating different properties, such as indirect tensile strength, resilient stiffness modulus, and dynamic creep, was conducted to assess the performance of the samples mixed through the Superpave method. In the resilient modulus test, fatigue and rutting resistance were reduced by the BPSC particles. The added BPSC particles increased the indirect tensile strength. Among the mixtures, 4% BPSC particles yielded the highest performance. In the dynamic creep test, 4% BPSC particles added to the unaged and short-term aged specimens also showed the highest performance. Based on these results, our conclusion is that the BPSC particles can alleviate the permanent deformation (rutting) of roads

Evaluation of the Permanent Deformations and Aging Conditions of Batu Pahat Soft Clay-Modified Asphalt Mixture by Using a Dynamic Creep Test

This study aimed to evaluate the permanent deformation and aging conditions of BatuPahat soft clay–modified asphalt mixture, also called BatuPahat soft clay (BPSC) particles; these particles are used in powder form as an additive to hot-mix asphalt mixture. In this experiment, five percentage compositions of BPSC (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8%) by weight of bitumen were used. A novel design was established to modify the hot-mix asphalt by using the Superpave method for each additive ratio. Several laboratory tests evaluating different properties, such as indirect tensile strength, resilient stiffness modulus, and dynamic creep, was conducted to assess the performance of the samples mixed through the Superpave method. In the resilient modulus test, fatigue and rutting resistance were reduced by the BPSC particles. The added BPSC particles increased the indirect tensile strength. Among the mixtures, 4% BPSC particles yielded the highest performance. In the dynamic creep test, 4% BPSC particles added to the unaged and short-term aged specimens also showed the highest performance. Based on these results, our conclusion is that the BPSC particles can alleviate the permanent deformation (rutting) of roads