Tunable spacing dual-wavelength Q-switched fiber laser based on tunable FBG device

A tunable spacing dual-wavelength Q-switched fiber laser is experimentally demonstrated based on a fiber Bragg grating tunable device incorporated in an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL). The system utilizes two identical fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) at 1547.1 nm origin to enable two laser lines operation. The wavelength separations between two laser lines are controlled by fixing one of the FBGs while applying mechanical stretch and compression to the other one, using a fiber Bragg grating tunable device. The seven steps of wavelength spacing could be tuned from 0.3344 to 0.0469 nm spacing. Pulse characteristics for both close and wide spacing of dual-wavelength Q-switched fiber laser are successfully being recorded. The findings demonstrate the latest idea of dual-wavelength fiber laser based on FBG tunable device, which offers a wide range of future applications

AST, ALT, Bilirubin and AST/ALT Ratio role; Covid- 19 Patients

Background Impaired liver function upon admission has been linked to the severity of COVID-19 infection, yet the data is debated [1]. Therefore, this retrospective study aimed to evaluate the liver function among COVID-19 patients during hospitalization and its association with the disease severity. Methodology The patient aged 18 to 80 with positive COVID-19 at Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (HRPZ II), Kota Bharu, Kelantan, with available AST, ALT, Bilirubin, and AST/ALT ratio data on admission, were retrospectively evaluated from March 2021 to March 2022. Disease severity was categorized based on Annex 2e guidelines by Malaysia's Ministry of Health, which further classified them into mild to moderate disease (Stage 1-3) and severe to critical illness (Stage 4-5). The AST, ALT, Bilirubin, and AST/ALT ratio levels on Day 1 admission were archived from the electronic medical record system and compared between the two groups. The statistical analysis was using SPSS version 27. This study was approved by (JEPeM-USM) protocol code USM/JEPeM/21100691 and Ministry of Health Malaysia NMRR-21-762-58458 (IIR). Results and Discussion The study included a total of 168 COVID-19 patients with a mean (SD) age of 46.67(16.10) for mild to moderate and 56.66(12.41) for severe to critical. There is a significant age group for both groups (p-value=0.002). During hospitalization, 16(14.41%) patients progressed to death from severe to critically ill patients. Upon admission, the median (IQR) of AST and ALT were significantly higher in the severe to critical group compared to in the mild to moderate group, [AST; 39.0(49.0) and 24.0(14.0), ALT 38.0(43.0) and 21.0(18.0)], p<0.05. However, no significant difference between both groups for bilirubin level and AST/ALT ratio. Non-survivors had a higher AST and ALT level compared to survivors, with a median (IQR) of [AST 98.0(88.0) and 32.0 (26.0), ALT of 67.5(90.0) and 28.0(31.0), (p<0.05). Similarly, no significant difference between non-survivors and survivors for bilirubin and AST/ALT ratio. Our study support that, abnormal liver function at admission has been shown to be associated with the disease severity and mortality of COVID-19 infection. However, there is also a need to observe the COVID-19 survivors' hepatobiliary sequelae and dynamic liver function changes following hospital discharge. Conclusion Abnormal AST and ALT level at admission has been shown to be associated with the disease severity and mortality of COVID-19 infection. Further study needed to evaluate liver damage in COVID-19 post-discharge

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 &lt; 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

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

The knowledge of zakat in business among Muslim entrepreneur in Kelantan

This study related to the knowledge of zakat in business among Muslim entrepreneurs in Kelantan is the first study conducted by researchers. The process of data entry, analysis tests and findings have also been done according to the desired process and the results obtained are seen to meet the questions formed. In fact, the findings have also been able to answer all research questions and research objectives. The results of the studies and discussions that have been presented in this study clearly show that the level of knowledge about zakat in business among Muslim entrepreneurs in Kelantan is at a moderate level. However, this study has limitations that should be considered where; this study uses a small sample size causing the results to be less accurate. The study sample is also limited to Muslim entrepreneurs in Kelantan only and does not represent all Muslim entrepreneurs in Malaysia. However, the results of this study can be utilized by various parties to increase the knowledge of Muslim entrepreneurs about zakat in business

An Overview of the Recent Advances of Additive-Improved Mg(BH₄)₂ for Solid-State Hydrogen Storage Material

Recently, hydrogen (H2) has emerged as a superior energy carrier that has the potential to replace fossil fuel. However, storing H2 under safe and operable conditions is still a challenging process due to the current commercial method, i.e., H2 storage in a pressurised and liquified state, which requires extremely high pressure and extremely low temperature. To solve this problem, research on solid-state H2 storage materials is being actively conducted. Among the solid-state H2 storage materials, borohydride is a potential candidate for H2 storage owing to its high gravimetric capacity (majority borohydride materials release >10 wt% of H2). Mg(BH4)2, which is included in the borohydride family, shows promise as a good H2 storage material owing to its high gravimetric capacity (14.9 wt%). However, its practical application is hindered by high thermal decomposition temperature (above 300 °C), slow sorption kinetics and poor reversibility. Currently, the general research on the use of additives to enhance the H2 storage performance of Mg(BH4)2 is still under investigation. This article reviews the latest research on additive-enhanced Mg(BH4)2 and its impact on the H2 storage performance. The future prospect and challenges in the development of additive-enhanced Mg(BH4)2 are also discussed in this review paper. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review paper that focuses on the additive-enhanced Mg(BH4)2 for solid-state H2 storage

Improved Dehydrogenation Properties of LiAlH₄ by Addition of Nanosized CoTiO₃

Despite the application of lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH4) being hindered by its sluggish desorption kinetics and unfavourable reversibility, LiAlH4 has received special attention as a promising solid-state hydrogen storage material due to its hydrogen storage capacity (10.5 wt.%). In this work, investigated for the first time was the effect of the nanosized cobalt titanate (CoTiO3) which was synthesised via a solid-state method on the desorption behaviour of LiAlH4. Superior desorption behaviour of LiAlH4 was attained with the presence of a CoTiO3 additive. By means of the addition of 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt.% of CoTiO3, the initial desorption temperature of LiAlH4 for the first stage was reduced to around 115–120 °C and the second desorption stage was reduced to around 144–150 °C, much lower than for undoped LiAlH4. The LiAlH4-CoTiO3 sample also presents outstanding desorption kinetics behaviour, desorbing hydrogen 30–35 times faster than undoped LiAlH4. The LiAlH4-CoTiO3 sample could desorb 3.0–3.5 wt.% H2 in 30 min, while the commercial and milled LiAlH4 desorbs 2. The apparent activation energy of the LiAlH4-CoTiO3 sample based on the Kissinger analysis was decreased to 75.2 and 91.8 kJ/mol for the first and second desorption stage, respectively, lower by 28.0 and 24.9 kJ/mol than undoped LiAlH4. The LiAlH4-CoTiO3 sample presents uniform and smaller particle size distribution compared to undoped LiAlH4, which is irregular in shape with some agglomerations. The experimental results suggest that the CoTiO3 additive promoted notable advancements in the desorption performance of LiAlH4 through the in situ-formed AlTi and amorphous Co or Co-containing active species that were generated during the desorption process

Influence of Nanosized CoTiO₃ Synthesized via a Solid-State Method on the Hydrogen Storage Behavior of MgH₂

Magnesium hydride (MgH2) has received outstanding attention as a safe and efficient material to store hydrogen because of its 7.6 wt.% hydrogen content and excellent reversibility. Nevertheless, the application of MgH2 is obstructed by its unfavorable thermodynamic stability and sluggish sorption kinetic. To overcome these drawbacks, ball milling MgH2 is vital in reducing the particle size that contribute to the reduction of the decomposition temperature. However, the milling process would become inefficient in reducing particle sizes when equilibrium between cold-welding and fracturing is achieved. Therefore, to further ameliorate the performance of MgH2, nanosized cobalt titanate (CoTiO3) has been synthesized using a solid-state method and was introduced to the MgH2 system. The different weight percentages of CoTiO3 were doped to the MgH2 system, and their catalytic function on the performance of MgH2 was scrutinized in this study. The MgH2 + 10 wt.% CoTiO3 composite presents the most outstanding performance, where the initial decomposition temperature of MgH2 can be downshifted to 275 °C. Moreover, the MgH2 + 10 wt.% CoTiO3 absorbed 6.4 wt.% H2 at low temperature (200 °C) in only 10 min and rapidly releases 2.3 wt.% H2 in the first 10 min, demonstrating a 23-times-faster desorption rate than as-milled MgH2 at 300 °C. The desorption activation energy of the 10 wt.% CoTiO3-doped MgH2 sample was dramatically lowered by 30.4 kJ/mol compared to undoped MgH2. The enhanced performance of the MgH2–CoTiO3 system is believed to be due to the in situ formation of MgTiO3, CoMg2, CoTi2, and MgO during the heating process, which offer a notable impact on the behavior of MgH2

Serum urea/albumin ratio; Covid-19 patients

Background The blood urea to albumin ratio is an inflammatory biomarker that has been linked to clinical outcomes in a variety of diseases . In this regard, the urea/albumin ratio can be a useful biomarker that allows the clinician to identify those at higher risk of critical illness quickly. This study aims to determine the association between the urea/albumin ratio and severity among COVID-19 patients. Methodology This was a retrospective study on hospitalised adult COVID-19 patients aged 18 to 80 at Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (HRPZ II) between February 2021 and February 2022. A total of 170 COVID-19 patients were enrolled in this study. The serum urea, albumin, and creatinine level on admission were recorded. The patients were classified into five clinical stages based on Annex 2e guidelines by Malaysia's Ministry of Health. The patients were grouped by disease severity into mild to moderate disease (Stage 1-3) and severe to critical illness (Stage 4-5). The statistical analysis was using SPSS version 27. This study was approved by (JEPeM-USM) protocol code USM/JEPeM/21100691 and Ministry of Health Malaysia NMRR-21-762-58458 (IIR). Results and Discussion Of the patients who were included in the study, 56 (32.9%) were mild to moderate category, and 114 (67.1%) were in the severe to the critical group. 69(40.6%) were male, and 101(59.4%) were female. The mean age was significantly higher in the severe to the critical group, 59.26 ± 13.6 years, compared to the mild to moderate group, 52.09 ± 22.2 years, p=0.010. The severe to critical group had a significantly higher median value of urea, creatinine, and urea/albumin ratio compared to the mild to moderate group. (urea: 7.0(7.20) and 3.6(3.2), p<0.001; creatinine 89.50(59.75) and 54.3(39.75), p<0.001; urea/albumin ratio 0.21(0.24) and 0.08(0.07), p<0.001). The mean albumin value in the severe to the critical group was significantly lower than in the mild to moderate group (34.95 ± 5.57 and 37.8 ± 5.58, respectively; p = 0.002). These findings suggest that markers of renal function could reliably identify the risk of COVID-19 in individuals. Conclusion Based on our study findings, a high urea/albumin ratio on admission was associated with severe COVID-19 infection. This biomarker could aid in risk stratification models for predicting serious and fatal outcomes of COVID-19 disease. Further studies are needed to define the optimal cut-off point for this marker and reach a consensus on its prognostic value