The Effect of Developmentally Supportive Care Training Program on Nurses' Performance and Behavioral Responses of Newborn Infants

Developmental care is a strategy used in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) to help reduce the amount of stress that a newborn infant is exposed to. Developmental care helps NICUs to be more "baby friendly”. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of developmentally supportive care training program on nurses' performance during tub bath provided for neonates in NICU, and to explore the effect of developmentally supportive care training program on behavioral responses of newborn infants during tub bath in NICU. The study adopts a quasi-experimental research design.  The study was conducted in the NICU at Benha Specialized Pediatric Hospital. The data were collected using structured interview sheet, newborn assessment sheet, Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale developed by Brazleton and Nugent (1973) and an observational checklist to evaluate the nurses’ performance during tub bath. Apparently, the study results evident that there was highly statistically significance differences between the means of the total scores of nurses’ performance regarding tub bath for newborn infants before and after application of developmentally supportive care program (DSC). Moreover, the means of NBAS items were all significantly improved among newborn infants and they exhibited less stress and greater comfort during tub bath after application of DSC program. The study recommended that collaboration and continuing education of the staff in the NICU are vital to improve the quality of care provided for newborn infants. Keywords: Developmentally supportive care-Nurses’ performance- Behavioral responses of neonate

Quality of Nursing Care Provided for Neonates with Tracheoesophageal Fistula

Tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) is an abnormal connection between the esophagus and the trachea. It is one of the most life-threatening anomalies in newborn. The current study aimed to assess the quality of nursing care provided for neonates with TEF and to assess the nurses’ knowledge and performance regarding neonates with TEF. A descriptive exploratory research design was utilized in the current study. The study was conducted at the Neonatal Surgical Intensive Care Unit (NSICU) affiliated to Benha Specialized Pediatric Hospital. A convenient sample composed of all nurses working at NSICU and all neonates with TEF within six months from starting study. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire sheet to assess nurses’ knowledge regarding quality of nursing care for neonates with TEF and observational checklists to assess nurses’ performance for neonates with TEF at NSICU. The study results evident that three quarters of nurse shad average level of knowledge regarding neonates with TEF and all of them had good level of performance provided for neonates with TEF. Meanwhile, there were positive correlation between nurses’ knowledge and performance scores. The present study concluded that, there were positive correlation between nurses’ knowledge and performance scores in relation to their socio-demographic characteristics. It was recommended that periodical educational training programs for nurses working at NSICU are mandatory, for the purpose of updating the knowledge and to maintain efficient performance and to reach high quality of care. Key words: Neonate-Tracheoesophageal Fistula-Quality of nursing car

Bioactive chemical constituents of Curcuma longa L. rhizomes extract inhibit the growth of human hepatoma cell line (HepG2)

The present study was designed to identify the chemical constituents of the methanolic extract of Curcuma longa L. rhizomes and their inhibitory effect on a hepatoma cell line. The methanolic extract was subjected to GC-MS analysis to identify the volatile constituents and the other part of the same extract was subjected to liquid column chromatographic separation to isolate curcumin. The inhibition of cell growth in the hepatoma cell line and the cytopathological changes were studied. GC-MS analysis showed the presence of fifty compounds in the methanolic extract of C. longa. The major compounds were ar-turmerone (20.50 %), β-sesquiphellandrene (5.20 %) and curcumenol (5.11 %). Curcumin was identified using IR, 1H and 13C NMR. The inhibition of cell growth by curcumin (IC50 = 41.69 ± 2.87 µg mL–1) was much more effective than that of methanolic extract (IC50 = 196.12 ± 5.25 µg mL–1). Degenerative and apoptotic changes were more evident in curcumin-treated hepatoma cells than in those treated with the methanol extract. Antitumor potential of the methanolic extract may be attributed to the presence of sesquiterpenes and phenolic constituents including curcumin (0.051 %, 511.39 µg g–1 dried methanol extract) in C. longa rhizomes

QUALITY OF LIFE OF PATIENTS WITH SEVERE KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS IN HUNGARY: CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic musculoskeletal disease that is associated with mortality, disability, and low quality of life. In Hungary, the number of patients diagnosed with severe knee osteoarthritis is dramatically increasing yearly. Objective: This study aims to assess the quality of life among patients with severe knee osteoarthritis who undergo knee replacement surgery after one month to assess their quality of life (QoL). Material and Method: Ten patients (6 female, 4 male, 70±4 years, 30.7±3.4 kg/m2) with severe knee osteoarthritis were included from an orthopedic clinic in Pécs, Hungary. The SF-36 questionnaire (Hungarian version) was used to assess QoL of the patients one month prior to knee replacement surgery. Results: The participants with severe knee OA reported allow overall average of pain (40.95%), role limitations due to physical health (42.5%), and role limitations due to emotional problems (46.7%) that reduced their QoL. In addition, there are significant differences between women and men in some domains. Women had significantly lower physical functioning and role limitations due to emotional problems than men, by 42.8% (p=0.03) and 73.3% (P=0.005), respectively. Moreover, women had a higher feeling of pain than men; however, the differences was insignificant. Conclusions: Patients with severe knee osteoarthritis have low quality of life and severe pain during daily activities. Furthermore, women with severe knee OA had significantly higher pain and lower quality of life than men due to their emotional status. Further studies with large sample sizes are needed. Received 2022 June 30; Revised 2022 July 15; Accepted 2022 July 21; Available online 2022 June 30; Available print 2022 August 30

KINETIC CHANGES OF KIDNEY FUNCTION TESTS AMONG PATIENTSWITH KIDNEY FAILURE IN ROYAL MEDICAL SERVICES

Introduction: Kidney function tests are requested to monitor the general status of kidney health in general, and particularly to assess renal failure status. Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of therapeutic options for renal failure patients through studying changes in selected laboratory investigations.. Methodology: A retrospective study design was involved to review files of patients with kidney failure at Royal Medical Services. A total of 263 files were reviewed for kidney function tests over a period of three months. After the end of data collection, data were analyzed employing SPSS V20. The representation of data was as means and standard deviations. Kinetic changes were tested using paired T-test. Significance between variables was considered at an alpha < 0.05. Results Among study variable including Hematocrit (HCT), mean cell volume (MVC), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, phosphorous, calcium, albumin, sodium, and potassium, there were insignificant changes except for BUN (p=0.004), sodium (p=0.013), and potassium (p=0.000). Conclusion From the results, following changes in the level of kidney function tests help in assessment of renal failure status as the progression of disease can be monitored. Understanding and comparing various laboratory findings help in better monitoring of clinical status of patients

Effect of Addition of ADHE and CABP Surfactants on the Physiochemical and Mechanical Properties of Cement Pastes

The lightweight aerated concrete, mortar and paste is recently acceptable for the use in civil construction purposes as a result of their peculiar features such as heat-insulating, sound absorption, low self-weight and self-compacting features, hence their high workability, this features depend on their content of air. However, their major demerits are its difficulty of high strength development when compared with normal ones. This paper studies the parameters leads to produce a sustainable aerated paste by choosing a suitable air-entraining agent that entrain wide range of air with minimum lose in strength. To reach this goal a comparative study is carried out between the effect of adding different percentages of each of the cationic surfactant alkyl dimethyl hydroxyl ethyl ammonium chloride (ADHE) and the amphoteric surfactant cocamido propyl betaine (CAPB) to some Portland cement pastes. The influence of the different surfactant concentrations and the mixing times on the air content of the pastes and accordingly the bulk density, compressive strength and microstructure of the hardened cement specimens is discussed. The results demonstrate the preference of using CAPB over ADHE because its ability to give a wide range of air dosage and its ability to improve the compressive strengt

T Regulatory Cell Responses to Immunization with a Soluble Egg Antigen in Schistosoma mansoni-Infected Mice

The aim of the study is to characterize the phenotypes of CD4+ CD25+ T regulatory cells within the liver granulomas and association with both Foxp-3 gene expression and splenic cytokines. Naïve C57BL/6 mice were intravenously injected with multiple doses of the soluble egg antigen (SEA) 7 days before cercarial infection. The immunized and infected control groups were sacrificed 8 and 16 weeks post-infection (PI). Histopathology, parasitological parameters, splenic phenotypes for T regulatory cells, the FOXP-3 expression in hepatic granuloma using real-time PCR, and the associated splenic cytokines were studied. Histopathological examination of the liver revealed remarkable increase in degenerated ova within hepatic granuloma which decreased in diameter at weeks 8 and 16 PI (P<0.01). The percentage of T regulatory cells (CD4+ CD25+) increased significantly (P<0.01) in the immunized group compared to the infected control at weeks 8 and 16 PI. The FOXP-3 expression in hepatic granulomas increased from 10 at week 8 to 30 fold at week 16 PI in the infected control group. However, its expression in the immunized group showed an increase from 30 at week 8 to 70 fold at week 16 PI. The splenic cytokine levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IFN-γ, IL-4, and TNF-α, showed significant decreases (P<0.05) compared to the infected control group. In conclusion, the magnitude and phenotype of the egg-induced effects on T helper responses were found to be controlled by a parallel response within the T regulatory population which provides protection in worm parasite-induced immunopathology

Diagnostic efficacy of monoclonal antibody based sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of Fasciola gigantica excretory/secretory antigens in both serum and stool

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This research was carried out to develop a reliable monoclonal antibody (MoAb)-based sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the diagnosis of active <it>Fasciola gigantica </it>infection in both serum and stool for comparative purposes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From a panel of MoAbs raised against <it>F. gigantica </it>excretory/secretory antigens (ES Ags), a pair (12B/11D/3F and 10A/9D/10G) was chosen due to its high reactivity and strict specificity to <it>F. gigantica </it>antigen by indirect ELISA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The two MoAbs were of the IgG₁and IgG_2asubclasses, respectively. Using SDS-PAGE and EITB, the selected MoAbs recognized 83, 64, 45 and 26 kDa bands of ES Ags. The lower detection limit of ELISA assay was 3 ng/ml. In stool, the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic efficacy of ELISA was 96%, 98.2 and 97.1%; while in serum they were 94%, 94.6% and 94.3%, respectively. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between ova count in stool of <it>F. gigantica </it>infected patients and the OD readings of ELISA in both stool and serum samples (<it>r </it>= 0.730, p < 0.01 and r = 0.608; p < 0.01, respectively).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data showed that the use of MoAb-based sandwich ELISA for the detection of <it>F. gigantica </it>coproantigens in stool specimens was superior to serum samples; it provides a highly efficient, non-invasive technique for the diagnosis of active <it>F. gigantica </it>infection.</p

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements