Awareness of, use and perception of efficacy of alternative therapies by patients with inflammatory arthropathies.

Fifty one patients with chronic inflammatory polyarthritis were surveyed on unconventional treatments they used to self-treat their condition. Awareness of the availability of alternative therapies (ATs) was universal. Sixty-six percent (66%) of patients had tried one or more ATs. The most popular ATs were dietary manipulation (no red meat, dosing with vinegar and honey), the wearing of magnets and copper bracelets, and acupuncture. The best predictors of AT use were male sex, Caucasian race and formal education beyond high school. Numbers were too small to make definitive statements about perceptions of efficacy, but the users of magnets and fish oils tended to be dissatisfied with these ATs, while those who had tried bee stings, herbs and hormones claimed effectiveness

The dietary treatment of inflammatory arthritis: case reports and review of the literature.

Two patients with seropositive inflammatory arthropathies who experienced clinical improvement on the Waianae diet are presented. The scientific literature validates the usefulness of fasting in the control of joint inflammation. Elimination diets are variably successful. Fasting followed by a vegetarian diet can produce a sustained positive response measured clinically and by laboratory variables of inflammation; the efficacy of such an approach appears to hinge on the alteration of fecal flora. Swaying the balance of dietary fats in favor of the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids has an antiinflammatory effect, but does not appear to correct the basic immunologic processes involved in the development of the arthropathies. Practical guidelines for the application of this information are offered

Organizational socialization and organizational citizenship behavior of filipino employees in two types of business organizations

This study investigates the organizational socialization and organizational citizenship behavior among Filipino workers in multinational companies (multinational company) and Filipino-owned companies (Filipino-owned company), using the mixed method research design. The Phase 1 surveyed Filipino employees (N=500) between 18 to 59 years of age and was analyzed using t-test. The findings showed no significant differences on scores both on organizational socialization and organizational citizenship behavior among the multinational company employees and Filipino-owned company employees. Moreover, ten employees, five of which represented each type of business organizations, participated in the focus group discussions during the Phase 2 of the study. Such discussions were intended to explore more on the organizational socialization behaviors and the extra - role behaviors the participants had exhibited. The study also discussed the implications of the results.

Numerical Investigation on the Effects of Varying the Arc length of a Windshield on the Performance of a Highway Installed Banki Wind Turbine

Two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are employed to investigate the effects of adding a circular-arc-shaped windshield on the performance of a Banki type vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT), particularly to the application where the VAWT is harnessing wind energy in highway caused by the passing vehicles. Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) is the computational approach used to calculate the turbulent flow within the domain. Two sets of simulation cases based on two different vehicles (i.e., car and a bus) are performed with varying arc-length of the windshield. The results show that the windshield provides an increase in the energy captured by the VAWT by up to 16.14% compared to no windshield case when the car model is used. In contrast, windshield in all the simulation cases using a bus model gives a negative effect to VAWT performance where the worst case yields −64.77%

Adoption of an evidence-based colorectal cancer screening promotion program by community organizations serving Filipino Americans.

BackgroundFilipino Americans have low rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and high CRC mortality. To reduce this disparity, we conducted a dissemination trial in which we offered two levels of technical assistance to community organizations to disseminate an evidence-based CRC screening promotion program among their Filipino American members. This report describes the recruitment of organizations and adoption - the proportion and representativeness of organizations that decided to implement the program.MethodsDuring the recruitment phase, we completed organizational assessments with 44 community-based organizations (previous partners in research, organizations that were referred to us, or new organizations) to assess their eligibility to participate (having≥150 Filipino American members age 50+). We compared organizational characteristics of organizations that did and did not adopt our CRC screening promotion program.ResultsTwenty two of the 44 community organizations that completed the assessment adopted the CRC screening promotion program (50%). Adoption was highest among organizations that had previously partnered with us (11/14=79%) and among organizations that were referred to us by community partners (5/10=50%) and lowest among new organizations (6/20=30%). Few organizational differences were found between adopters and non-adopters.ConclusionsThe high rate of adoption among organizations that were referred by community partners or had partnered with us in the past underscores the importance of community resources, community-academic relationships, and partnership in the dissemination process. However, the moderate rate of adoption among new organizations and the demands of completing documentation and assessments in our trial to advance dissemination research raise questions regarding the generalizability of study findings

Adoption of an evidence-based colorectal cancer screening promotion program by community organizations serving Filipino Americans

BackgroundFilipino Americans have low rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and high CRC mortality. To reduce this disparity, we conducted a dissemination trial in which we offered two levels of technical assistance to community organizations to disseminate an evidence-based CRC screening promotion program among their Filipino American members. This report describes the recruitment of organizations and adoption - the proportion and representativeness of organizations that decided to implement the program.MethodsDuring the recruitment phase, we completed organizational assessments with 44 community-based organizations (previous partners in research, organizations that were referred to us, or new organizations) to assess their eligibility to participate (having≥150 Filipino American members age 50+). We compared organizational characteristics of organizations that did and did not adopt our CRC screening promotion program.ResultsTwenty two of the 44 community organizations that completed the assessment adopted the CRC screening promotion program (50%). Adoption was highest among organizations that had previously partnered with us (11/14=79%) and among organizations that were referred to us by community partners (5/10=50%) and lowest among new organizations (6/20=30%). Few organizational differences were found between adopters and non-adopters.ConclusionsThe high rate of adoption among organizations that were referred by community partners or had partnered with us in the past underscores the importance of community resources, community-academic relationships, and partnership in the dissemination process. However, the moderate rate of adoption among new organizations and the demands of completing documentation and assessments in our trial to advance dissemination research raise questions regarding the generalizability of study findings

Implementation of an evidence-based intervention to promote colorectal cancer screening in community organizations: a cluster randomized trial.

UnlabelledThe implementation of evidence-based strategies to promote colorectal cancer (CRC) screening remains challenging. The aim of this study is to evaluate two strategies to implement an evidence-based intervention to promote CRC screening in Filipino American community organizations. Twenty-two community organizations were randomized to either a basic or enhanced implementation strategy. In both arms, community health advisors recruited participants non-adherent to CRC screening guidelines, conducted educational sessions, distributed print materials and free fecal occult blood test kits, reminded participants to get screened, and mailed letters to participants' providers. In the enhanced arm, leaders of the organizations participated in implementation efforts. While the effectiveness was similar in both arms of the study (screening rate at 6-month follow-up was 53 % in the enhanced arm, 49 % in the basic arm), 223 participants were screened in the enhanced arm versus 122 in the basic arm. The enhanced implementation strategy reached 83 % more participants and achieved a higher public health impact.Trial registrationNCT01351220 (ClinicalTrials.gov)

Numerical Investigation of the Performance of a Submersible Pump: Prediction of Recirculation, Vortex Formation, and Swirl Resulting from Off-Design Operating Conditions

Like any other turbomachinery, it is essential that the hydraulic behavior and performance of mixed-flow pumps are evaluated way in advance prior to manufacturing. Pump performance relies heavily on the proper design of the intake structure. Intake structures should be accurately designed in order to minimize and avoid unnecessary swirl and vortex formations. Ensuring the optimum performance condition as well as predicting how a particular intake structure affects the efficiency of the pump often requires either physical model studies or theoretical evaluations. Unfortunately, physical models are costly, time-consuming, and site-specific. Conversely, design and performance predictions using a theoretical approach merely gives performance values or parameters, which are usually unable to determine the root cause of poor pump performance. This study evaluates the viability of using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as an alternative tool for pump designers and engineers in evaluating pump performance. A procedure for conducting CFD simulations to verify pump characteristics such as head, efficiency, and flow as an aid for preliminary pump design is presented. Afterwards, a multiphase simulation using the VOF approach is applied to compare the fluid dynamics between four different pump intake structures. A full-sized CFD model of the pump sump complete with the pump’s active components was used for the intake structure analysis in order to avoid scaling issues encountered during the reduced-scale physical model test. The results provided a clear illustration of the hydraulic phenomena and characteristic curves of the pump. A performance drop in terms of reduction in TDH was predicted across the various intake structure designs. The CFD simulation of intake structure provided a clear insight on the varying degree of swirl, flow circulation, and effect on pump efficiency between all four cases

Mapping of Suitable Sites for Concentrated Solar Power Plants in the Philippines Using Geographic Information System and Analytic Hierarchy Process

Solar energy is a renewable source of energy harnessed from the sun. Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants harness this energy by focusing sunlight on a limited area to heat a working fluid, which is used to generate steam and power a thermodynamic cycle that produces electricity. There are currently no CSP plants in the Philippines, and this study aimed to locate the most suitable sites for this type of power plant. The first step was to mask out areas totally unsuitable as plant sites; we identified five exclusion factors for this: protected areas, slope, direct normal irradiance (DNI), water bodies, and land cover type. A scoring gradient was then applied to the remaining suitable areas according to seven ranking factors: DNI, slope, typhoon frequency, capacity of the nearest grid line, distance to the nearest grid line, distance to the nearest road, and distance to the nearest water body. Next, to reflect the actual degrees of influence of the factors to site suitability, we determined their relative numeric weights using analytic hierarchy process, with the weights derived from inputs from interviews with academic and industry experts. Finally, using ArcGIS Pro, we used a weighted sum of the ranking scores to produce a suitability map covering the entire Philippines. Suitable sites in the following provinces were found: Ilocos Sur, Pampanga, Mindoro, Masbate, and Maguindanao. These areas have a total area of 27.9 km2 and a projected total power output of 733 MW