The Accuracy of the Broselow™ Pediatric Emergency Tape for Weight Estimation in an Omani Paediatric Population

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the Broselow™ Pediatric Emergency Tape (BT) for estimating weight in an Omani paediatric population at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted during July 2015. The electronic medical records of Omani outpatients <14 years old attending the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, between July 2009 and June 2013 were reviewed for recorded height and weight data. The BT Version 2002A was used to predict weight based on actual height measurements. Predicted weight measurements were then compared with actual weight to determine the accuracy of the estimation. Results: A total of 3,339 children were included in the study, of which 43.5% were female and 56.5% were male. The mean age was 6.4 ± 3.1 years and the mean height was 93.2 ± 23.5 cm. The mean actual weight was 13.9 ± 6.7 kg while the mean BT-predicted weight was 14.4 ± 6.9 kg. The BT-predicted weight estimations correlated significantly with actual weight measurements (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.97; P <0.001). A Bland-Altman analysis indicated that the BT performed well when estimating weight among Omani children, with an overestimation of only 0.5 kg for the entire cohort. Conclusion: The BT was found to be an effective tool for estimating weight according to body length in an Omani paediatric population. It should therefore be considered for use in emergency situations when actual weight cannot be determined

Inexpensive and Accurate Measuring Device forWater Constitute in Oil

This paper presents an inexpensive and accurate measuring device for water constitute in oil. The new device is based on the relationship between the water constitute in oil and the pressure of a sample from the oil. Experimental results show that the device can attain a very high resolution that can reach up +/- 0.4% and it can be used to measure a full range of water percentage levels (0-100%). Experimental results showed good agreement with theory

Decision-to-Delivery Time Intervals in Emergency Caesarean Section Cases : Repeated cross-sectional study from Oman

Objectives: In cases of fetal intolerance to labour, meeting the standard decision-to-delivery time interval (DDI) of ≤30 minutes is challenging. This study aimed to assess DDIs in emergency Caesarean section (CS) cases to identify factors causing DDI delays and the impact of a delayed DDI on perinatal outcomes. Methods: This repeated cross-sectional study included all emergency CS procedures performed due to acute fetal distress, antepartum haemorrhage or umbilical cord prolapse at the Nizwa Hospital, Nizwa, Oman. Three audit cycles of three months each were conducted between April 2011 and June 2013, including an initial retrospective cycle and two prospective cycles following the implementation of improvement strategies to address factors causing DDI delays. Poor perinatal outcomes were defined as Apgar scores of <7 at five minutes, admission to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) or a stillbirth. Results: In the initial cycle, a DDI of ≤30 minutes was achieved in 23.8% of 84 cases in comparison to 44.6% of 83 cases in the second cycle. In the third cycle, 60.8% of 79 women had a DDI of ≤30 minutes (P <0.001). No significant differences in perinatal outcomes for cases with a DDI of ≤30 minutes versus 31–60 minutes were observed; however, a DDI of >60 minutes was significantly associated with poor neonatal outcomes in terms of increased SCBU admissions and low Apgar scores (P <0.001 each). Factors causing DDI delays included obtaining consent for the CS procedure, a lack of operating theatre availability and moving patients to the operating theatre. Conclusion: The identification of factors causing DDI delays may provide opportunities to improve perinatal outcomes

First record of Gymnocranius griseus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) (family Lethrinidae) from southern Oman, Western Indian Ocean

Primer registre de Gymnocranius griseus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) (família Lethrinidae) del sud d’Oman, oest de l’oceà Índic Es va recol·lectar un únic espècimen (285 mm longitud estàndard) de Gymnocranius griseus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) a la ciutat de Salalah (Oman), a la costa del mar d’Aràbia. És el primer registre d’aquesta espècie a les aigües d’Oman. Presenta característiques específiques: cos alt (2,17 vegades la longitud estàndard); els perfils dorsal i ventral del cap són uniformement convexos; el perfil de la part ventral del cos és recte; la vora inferior de l’ull se situa lleugerament per sota de la línia que uneix la part anterior de la boca amb el centre de l’aleta caudal lobulada; l’ull és relativament ample, de diàmetre pràcticament igual o lleugerament superior a les distàncies preorbitària i interorbitària; la boca és relativament petita i la part posterior dels maxil·lars arriba pràcticament al nivell dels orificis nasals anteriors; presenta tres parells de fines canines a la part anterior del maxil·lar superior i un parell a la part anterior de l’inferior, com també altres dents vil·liformes que adquireixen forma cònica a les parts laterals. L’espècimen va ser identificat com un G. griseus atès que les seves característiques corresponen a la descripció diagnòstica de Carpenter & Allen (1989). Palabras clave: Gymnocranius griseus, Salalah, Mar de Arabia, Primer registro.A single specimen (285 mm SL) of Gymnocranius griseus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) was collected from Salalah, Arabian Sea coast of Oman. It is the first record of this species from the Omani waters. It shows specific characters: deep body (2.17 times SL); evenly convex dorsal and ventral profile of head; ventral part of body profile straight; lower edge of eye slightly above a line from tip of snout to middle of caudal fin fork; eye relatively large, its diameter about equal to or slightly larger than preorbital and interorbital widths; mouth relatively small, posterior part of jaws reaching to about level of anterior nostrils; three pair and one pair of slender canines at front of upper and lower jaw, respectively, other teeth villiform, becoming conical on lateral sections. The specimen was identified as G. griseus as these characters fit the diagnostic description of Carpenter & Allen (1989). Key words: Gymnocranius griseus, Salalah, Arabian Sea, First record.Primer registre de Gymnocranius griseus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) (família Lethrinidae) del sud d’Oman, oest de l’oceà Índic Es va recol·lectar un únic espècimen (285 mm longitud estàndard) de Gymnocranius griseus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) a la ciutat de Salalah (Oman), a la costa del mar d’Aràbia. És el primer registre d’aquesta espècie a les aigües d’Oman. Presenta característiques específiques: cos alt (2,17 vegades la longitud estàndard); els perfils dorsal i ventral del cap són uniformement convexos; el perfil de la part ventral del cos és recte; la vora inferior de l’ull se situa lleugerament per sota de la línia que uneix la part anterior de la boca amb el centre de l’aleta caudal lobulada; l’ull és relativament ample, de diàmetre pràcticament igual o lleugerament superior a les distàncies preorbitària i interorbitària; la boca és relativament petita i la part posterior dels maxil·lars arriba pràcticament al nivell dels orificis nasals anteriors; presenta tres parells de fines canines a la part anterior del maxil·lar superior i un parell a la part anterior de l’inferior, com també altres dents vil·liformes que adquireixen forma cònica a les parts laterals. L’espècimen va ser identificat com un G. griseus atès que les seves característiques corresponen a la descripció diagnòstica de Carpenter & Allen (1989). Palabras clave: Gymnocranius griseus, Salalah, Mar de Arabia, Primer registro

Analysis of Blood Cultures in Major Burns in Tertiary Care Burn Unit in Oman

Objectives: In this study we review blood stream infections of major burns in a tertiary care burn unit to determine the most prevalent organisms in order to have a better empirical therapy protocol. Methods: This is a retrospective study where blood stream infection of major burns (>20% Total Body Surface Area) were analysed. Results:155 patients fulfilled the criteria. Median age was 33 years.  Median TBSA was 38%. 57.42% were males and 42.58% were females. Mortality was 25.16%. 50.9% of patients had positive blood culture. Expired patients had higher TBSA, Abbreviated Burns Severity Index score and earlier first positive blood culture. The most prevalent organisms grown from all blood cultures were Acinetobacter, staphylococci, Klebsiella, Enterococcus and pseudomonas. Candida is also commonly grown in blood cultures. All Acinetobacter species are always multidrug resistant. 8 of 14 patients had multidrug resistant Klebsiella.  There were only 4 patients who had Methicilin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) grown. The number of blood cultures samples taken ranged from 1 to 28 (median 6). First positive blood culture showed that Staphylococcus epidermidis   and Acinetobacter are the most common organisms. Conclusion: In conclusion multidrug resistant Acinetobcater has become the most predominant microorganism grown in blood cultures of major burns in our unit. Empirical therapy should include antibiotics that are effective against it to reduce the mortality. Keywords: Infection; Blood; Burn; Resistance; Antibiotics; Culture

Embedded gateway services for Internet of Things applications in ubiquitous healthcare

The continuous advancement in computer and communication technologies has made personalized healthcare monitoring a rapidly growing area of interest. New features and services are envisaged, raising users' expectations in healthcare services. The emergence of Internet of Things brings people closer to connect the physical world to the Internet. In this paper, we present embedded services that are part of a ubiquitous healthcare system that allows automated and intelligent monitoring. The system uses IP connectivity and the Internet for end-to-end communication, from each 6LoWPAN sensor nodes to the web user interface on the Internet. The proposed algorithm in the Gateway performs multithreaded processing on the gathered medical signals for conversion to real data, feature extraction and wireless display. The user interface at the server allows users to access and view the medical data from mobile and portable devices. The ubiquitous system is exploring possibilities in connecting Internet with things and people for health services

Deep learning to automate the labelling of head MRI datasets for computer vision applications

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to build a deep learning model to derive labels from neuroradiology reports and assign these to the corresponding examinations, overcoming a bottleneck to computer vision model development. METHODS: Reference-standard labels were generated by a team of neuroradiologists for model training and evaluation. Three thousand examinations were labelled for the presence or absence of any abnormality by manually scrutinising the corresponding radiology reports ('reference-standard report labels'); a subset of these examinations (n = 250) were assigned 'reference-standard image labels' by interrogating the actual images. Separately, 2000 reports were labelled for the presence or absence of 7 specialised categories of abnormality (acute stroke, mass, atrophy, vascular abnormality, small vessel disease, white matter inflammation, encephalomalacia), with a subset of these examinations (n = 700) also assigned reference-standard image labels. A deep learning model was trained using labelled reports and validated in two ways: comparing predicted labels to (i) reference-standard report labels and (ii) reference-standard image labels. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) was used to quantify model performance. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score were also calculated. RESULTS: Accurate classification (AUC-ROC > 0.95) was achieved for all categories when tested against reference-standard report labels. A drop in performance (ΔAUC-ROC > 0.02) was seen for three categories (atrophy, encephalomalacia, vascular) when tested against reference-standard image labels, highlighting discrepancies in the original reports. Once trained, the model assigned labels to 121,556 examinations in under 30 min. CONCLUSIONS: Our model accurately classifies head MRI examinations, enabling automated dataset labelling for downstream computer vision applications. KEY POINTS: • Deep learning is poised to revolutionise image recognition tasks in radiology; however, a barrier to clinical adoption is the difficulty of obtaining large labelled datasets for model training. • We demonstrate a deep learning model which can derive labels from neuroradiology reports and assign these to the corresponding examinations at scale, facilitating the development of downstream computer vision models. • We rigorously tested our model by comparing labels predicted on the basis of neuroradiology reports with two sets of reference-standard labels: (1) labels derived by manually scrutinising each radiology report and (2) labels derived by interrogating the actual images

Synthesis, characterization, and optoelectronic properties of phenothiazine-based organic co-poly-ynes

We present the synthesis and characterization of seven new organic co-poly-ynes P1-P7 incorporating the phenothiazine (PTZ) motif and evaluate their optoelectronic properties and performance in polymer light-emitting diodes and polymer solar cells (PLEDs/PSCs). The co-poly-ynes were obtained in moderate to high yields via Sonogashira coupling reactions and characterized using analytical, spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques and complementary quantum-chemical modelling. The materials show strong optical absorption in the visible region of the spectrum and most also show strong emission with quantum yields in the range of 13-41% relative to rhodamine 6G (R6G). PLED devices based on the co-poly-ynes were prepared and the most promising was measured to have a brightness of up to 1.10 × 104 cd m-2. PSCs based on donor materials incorporating some of the polymers were prepared and demonstrated power conversion efficiencies of up to 0.24%. This journal is </p

How Can Home Care Patients and Their Caregivers Better Manage Fall Risks by Leveraging Information Technology?

Objectives: From the perspectives of home care patients and caregivers, this study aimed to (a) identify the challenges for better fall-risk management during home care episodes and (b) explore the opportunities for them to leverage health information technology (IT) solutions to improve fall-risk management during home care episodes. Methods: Twelve in-depth semistructured interviews with the patients and caregivers were conducted within a descriptive single case study design in 1 home health agency (HHA) in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Results: Patients and caregivers faced challenges to manage fall risks such as unmanaged expectations, deteriorating cognitive abilities, and poor care coordination between the HHA and physician practices. Opportunities to leverage health IT solutions included patient portals, telehealth, and medication reminder apps on smartphones. Conclusion: Effectively leveraging health IT could further empower patients and caregivers to reduce fall risks by acquiring the necessary information and following clinical advice and recommendations. The HHAs could improve the quality of care by adopting IT solutions that show more promise of improving the experiences of patients and caregivers in fall-risk management