Synthesis and characterization of nickel ferrite magnetic nanoparticles by co-precipitation method

Magnetic nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanoparticles have been synthesized via co-precipitation method by varying the metal precursors ratio. Four different precursors ratio (Fe:Ni) are varied at 40:60, 50:50, 60:40 and 80:20. The size of the nanoparticles is found to increase with increasing iron (Fe) content. In addition, the morphology of the particles are observed to change from spherical to a shape similar to a nanooctahedral particle when the Fe content in the initial precursors ratio increases. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns have proved the presence of nickel ferrite nanoparticles. The magnetic properties characterized by Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature proved that the assynthesized nickel ferrite nanoparticles are ferromagnetic and the saturation magnetization (Ms) increases with the content of Fe in the sample

A multi-center study on the attitudes of Malaysian emergency health care staff towards allowing family presence during resuscitation of adult patients

BACKGROUND The practice of allowing family members to witness on-going active resuscitation has been gaining ground in many developed countries since it was first introduced in the early 1990s. In many Asian countries, the acceptability of this practice has not been well studied. AIM We conducted a multi-center questionnaire study to determine the attitudes of health care professionals in Malaysia towards family presence to witness ongoing medical procedures during resuscitation. METHODS Using a bilingual questionnaire (in Malay and English language), we asked our respondents about their attitudes towards allowing family presence (FP) as well as their actual experience of requests from families to be allowed to witness resuscitations. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the association between the many variables and a positive attitude towards FP. RESULTS Out of 300 health care professionals who received forms, 270 responded (a 90% response rate). Generally only 15.8% of our respondents agreed to allow relatives to witness resuscitations, although more than twice the number (38.5%) agreed that relatives do have a right to be around during resuscitation. Health care providers are significantly more likely to allow FP if the procedures are perceived as likely to be successful (e.g., intravenous cannulation and blood taking as compared to chest tube insertion). Doctors were more than twice as likely as paramedics to agree to FP (p-value = 0.002). This is probably due to the Malaysian work culture in our health care systems in which paramedics usually adopt a 'follow-the-leader' attitude in their daily practice. CONCLUSION The concept of allowing FP is not well accepted among our Malaysian health care providers

A survey of malaysian emergency personnel on family presence during resuscitation

The practice of family presence (FP) during resuscitation is gaining a foothold in Western countries but still largely not encouraged by Asian health-care personnel (HCP). This study aims to provide a Malaysian data on HCPs opinions ofFP. A non-probability survey was conducted in emergency departments (EDs) of four hospitals around Malaysia. A questionnaire was designed based on previous similar surveys conducted in Singapore. It was edited by two emergency physicians and pre-test was conducted in HUSM to validate and test the reliability of the questionnaire. All HCPs in four hospitals were included in this study which ran from October until December 2009. A total of 273 replies were obtained of which one third were doctors and the rest paramedics. Mean age was 32 years and there were equal number of male and female participants. The HCPs had worked an average of7.5 years with 5.1 years in the ED. It was found that 27% of doctors were more agreeable to FP compared to paramedics (p=O.OOl). However 54% of doctors and 32.4% of paramedics agreed that relatives had a right to FP. 57.6% of doctors compares to 67.6% of paramedics would like to be present during their own relative's resuscitation. Among the reasons for not allowing FP were it would be traumatic experience to the family, medico-legal reasons, breach of patient's privacy, interfere with resuscitation process, overcrowding, increase stress to HCPs and prolonging resuscitation efforts. Advantages of FP identified were assuring the family everything had been done, facilitate mourning, strengthen family bond and allow for final rites. Logistic regression of variant showed that the odds of a doctor agreeing to FP was 2.86 that of a paramedic (p-value=0.002). In conclusion, it was found that Malaysian emergency HCPs do not agree to FP. Surveys of the public may help to assess their opinions and whether it disagree with HCPs opinions

Collision analysis of top tensioned riser

The risk of collision increases as the oil and gas industry is moving to ever deeper water. The riser interaction has become an issue of considerable concern. Riser spacing and top tension requirement are the two parameters to avoid riser collision. Increasing riser spacing affects the deck space and load carrying capacity while a closer riser spacing will increase the risk of mutual contact. Hence, in this project, sensitivity studies on the contact velocity and clashing energy along the riser during collision were carried out, for different riser spacing.A riser system model comprises two risers in a tandem arrangement is developed by considering hydrodynamic interaction. The riser spacing is close enough such that hydrodynamic effects due to the wake shed by another riser lead to clashing between the two risers. An optimum range of riser spacing is chosen to facilitate the sensitivity analysis.Bachelor of Engineering (Civil

EVALUATING THE CYCLING FRIENDLINESS OF A BUILT ENVIRONMENT- A CASE STUDY OF TAMPINES CYCLING TOWN

Master'sMASTER OF ARCHITECTURE (M.ARCH

A cross-sectional study on the cardiovascular risk factors among residents aged 30 years and above at Rumah Jana and Rumah Runggai in Julau district from 4 September 2000 to 22 October 2000

A cross-sectional study on the cardiovascular risk factors was carried out among residents aged 30 and above at Rumah Jana and Rumah Runggai, Julau from September to October 2000 by fourth year medical students from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. The cardiovascular risk factors studied were hypertension, smoking, hypercholesterolaemia, (high fasting blood cholesterol), diabetes mellitus (abnormal fasting blood glucose) and overweight. A total of 155 respondents were universally selected for the questionnaire interview and measurements of blood pressure, body mass index, fasting blood glucose and fasting total blood cholesterol. The prevalence of hypertension was found to be 37.4 %, prevalence of smoking was 21.3 %, prevalence of high fasting total blood cholesterol was 17.4 %, prevalence of abnormal fasting blood glucose was 4.5 % and the highest prevalence was of overweight which was found to be 38.7 %. Study on the association between prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors with sociodemographic data revealed four significant associations. The significant associations were male respondents were found to have higher prevalence of smoking than female respondents, prevalence of hypertension rose with the increase in the respondents age, the prevalence of overweight was higher among the lower age group and the prevalence of overweight were higher among respondents with formal education (p<0.05). Results revealed that 74.8% of the respondents have at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor and 31.6% have 2 or more cardiovascular risk factors. A significant association was found between prevalence of overweight and the prevalence of high fasting total blood cholesterol (p<0.05). Generally, the respondents have good knowledge on cardiovascular risk factors. The percentage of respondents with adequate knowledge of each of the studied cardiovascular risk factor ranged from 68.4% for hypertension to 72.9% for hypercholesterolaemia. Study on the association between knowledge on a particular cardiovascular risk factor and the prevalence of that particular cardiovascular risk factor revealed a significant association between knowledge on overweight with the prevalence of overweight (p<0.05). Results revealed that respondents have very good attitude towards cardiovascular risk factors, with the percentage of respondents with positive attitude towards each of the studied cardiovascular risk factor ranged from 80.0% to 93.5%. Significant associations were found between the attitude of respondents towards hypertension with the prevalence of hypertension and between the attitude of respondents towards smoking with the prevalence of smoking (p<0.05)

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially