Emotional Intelligence And Its Relationship With Organizational Commitment Among Nurses In Private Healthcare In The Northern Region Of Malaysia

Industri kesihatan telah membangun dengan pesat kebelakangan ini. Malah, penambahan mendadak bilangan hospital swasta di Malaysia juga dilihat sebagai tanda keprihatinan rakyat terhadap kesihatan diri sendiri dan keluarga. The healthcare industry has undergone rapid development in recent times. This is apparent by the increasing number of private hospitals Malaysia

DFDL: Discriminative Feature-oriented Dictionary Learning for Histopathological Image Classification

In histopathological image analysis, feature extraction for classification is a challenging task due to the diversity of histology features suitable for each problem as well as presence of rich geometrical structure. In this paper, we propose an automatic feature discovery framework for extracting discriminative class-specific features and present a low-complexity method for classification and disease grading in histopathology. Essentially, our Discriminative Feature-oriented Dictionary Learning (DFDL) method learns class-specific features which are suitable for representing samples from the same class while are poorly capable of representing samples from other classes. Experiments on three challenging real-world image databases: 1) histopathological images of intraductal breast lesions, 2) mammalian lung images provided by the Animal Diagnostics Lab (ADL) at Pennsylvania State University, and 3) brain tumor images from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, show the significance of DFDL model in a variety problems over state-of-the-art methodsComment: Accepted to IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), 201

Surgical strategies for recurrent craniofacial meningiomas

Journal ArticleRecurrent cranial base meningiomas are among the most difficult tumors to treat surgically. Although they are histologically benign, these tumors often invade through the cranial base into the infratemporal and pterygopalatine fossae. We reviewed our experience with these tumors to describe the natural history of these lesions as well as provide a possible treatment paradigm

Comparison of computerized tomography and direct visualization in thoracic pedicle screw placement

Journal ArticleObject. To validate computerized tomography (CT) scanning as a tool to assess the accuracy of thoracic pedicle screw placement, the authors compared its accuracy with that of direct visualization in instrumented cadaveric spine specimens. Methods. A grading scale was devised to score the placement of the pedicle screw. The grades ranged from 0 to 3 depending on the extent to which the pedicle had been violated. One hundred fifty-five pedicles were fitted with instrumentation in eight cadaveric spines. A single observer graded the appearance of the screw based on CT scans (3-mm axial sections with 1-mm overlap) and direct visualization of the specimen. The authors arrived at a Kappa value of 0.51, which suggested only moderate agreement between the two measurement techniques. Whereas CT had a positive predictive value of 95%, it had a negative predictive value of 62%. Conclusions. The authors thus conclude that although CT scanning is the most valid tool to assess the accuracy of thoracic pedicle screw placement, it tends to overestimate the number of misplaced screws

Evaluation of Cytotoxic Effects of Dichloromethane Extract of Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia Miers ex Hook F & THOMS) on Cultured HeLa Cells

Extracts of Tinospora cordifolia (TCE) have been shown to possess anti-tumor properties, but the mechanism of the anti-tumor function of TCE is poorly understood. This investigation elucidates the possible mechanism underlying the cytotoxic effects of dichlormethane extracts of TCE, after selecting optimal duration and concentration for treatment. HeLa cells were exposed to various concentrations of TCE, which has resulted in a concentration-dependent decline in the clonogenicity, glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity and a concentration-dependent increase in lipid peroxidation (TBARS) with a peak at 4 h and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release with a peak at 2 h. Our results suggest that the cytotoxic effect of TCE may be due to lipid peroxidation and release of LDH and decline in GST

Modified Kalman Filter for GPS Position Estimation over the Indian Sub Continent

AbstractPosition accuracy is the measure of a system's capability to provide quality estimates, which in turn depends mainly on measurement noise and the type of algorithm employed. Though many positioning algorithms have emerged, due to its exceptional performance in a wide range of real time applications, the Kalman Filter Estimator (KFE) is used often for their implementation. So this paper concentrates in improving its accuracy further while introducing a new observation matrix in its estimation process and succeeds in performing the same. This paper also extends the modified algorithm for GPS receiver position estimation over the Indian subcontinent. Real time data collected from GPS receiver located at IISC, Bangalore (Lat/Lon: 13.010N /77.560E), India is used to evaluate the performance of this developed algorithm called Modified Kalman Filter Estimator (MKFE). GPS Statistical Accuracy Measures (SAM) such as Circular Error Probability (CEP), Spherical Error Probability (SEP) etc. are used for performance evaluation. From the results it is observed that the proposed MKFE has faster convergence rate with high accuracy and is suitable for real time defence applications over the Indian subcontinent

FABRICATION OF SODIUM ALGINATE/GUM GHATTI IPN MICROBEADS INTERCALATED WITH KAOLIN NANO CLAY FOR CONTROLLED RELEASE OF CURCUMIN

Objective: The objective of this study is to fabricate sodium alginate (SA)/gum ghatti (GG) microbeads intercalated with Kaolin (KA) nano clay for the sustained release of curcumin (CUR). Methods: The microbeads were prepared by a simple ionotropic gelation technique. The developed beads were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (X-RD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Swelling studies and in vitro release studies were investigated under both pH 7.4 and pH 1.2 at 37 °C. Results: The developed microbeads were characterized by FTIR, which confirms the interaction between CUR, polymeric matrix and KA. DSC and XRD analysis reveals that the CUR has molecularly dispersed in the polymer matrix. In vitro results illustrated that microbeads were influenced by the pH of test media, which might be suitable for intestinal drug delivery. The drug release mechanism was analyzed by fitting the release data into different kinetic equations and n values are obtained in the range of 0.609-0.640, suggesting that the developed microbeads showed the non-Fickian diffusion type drug release. Conclusion: These results clearly illustrated that the developed KA intercalated polymeric microbeads are potential drug carriers for the controlled release of CUR

Vibration Characteristics of Aircraft Engine-Bladed-Disk Assembly

This paper is concerned with the vibration characteristics of a gas-turbine blade-disk assembly and a third stage of compressor blade-disk assembly of an orpheus aircraft engine. The assembly is analyzed by considering each component individually and then combining them together with a receptance coupling technique by matching forces and displacements at each junction point. The blade is modelled by number of free-free aerofoil section beams staggered at different angles to the plane of the disk, and the non-uniform disk is modelled as numbers of concentric annuli. The natural frequencies and mode shapes for each case have been obtained. Results obtained are verified by testing both the above assemblies on a microprocessor based vibration exciter and real time analyzer. The mode shape corresponding to each natural frequency was obtained by probing with hand held accelerometer

Efficacy and safety of a combination therapy of atorvastatin and krill oil versus atorvastatin and niacin in dyslipidemia: a randomized, open, and comparator study

Background: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is a major health problem, with CAD being the leading cause of mortality. Epidemiologic data strongly associate high CAD risk to elevated total and LDL cholesterol and low levels of HDL cholesterol. Combination therapy is often required to achieve multiple lipid treatment goals, and ≥50% reduction in low-density lipoprotein. Niacin/statin combination therapy may promote the cost-effective achievement of OLVs in several at-risk patient populations. Krill oil is extracted from Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, a zooplankton crustacean rich in phospholipids. Krill oil significantly reduces total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides, and increase HDL levels and has been found to be effective in the management of hyperlipidemia and long-term regulation of blood lipids. The aim of this study is to compare the Efficacy and Safety of a combination therapy of statin and krill oil versus Statin and Niacin in dyslipidemia.Methods: 30 eligible patients were randomized in a 12 week, open-label, comparative (2-arm, 1:1), prospective study into 2 arms, the first receiving atorvastatin 10mg od and krill oil 500mg bid and the second receiving atorvastatin 10mg od and niacin 375mg od. The primary endpoint of the study was a comparative assessment of change in lipid profile (LDL, TG, HDL) from baseline and after 12 weeks. The secondary endpoint involved recording all the adverse effects during the study.Results: Analysis of the baseline and post 12 week lipid levels by non-parametric unpaired ‘t’ test (Mann-Whitney test) showed a statistically significant change in two of the lipid levels (i.e. LDL – p=0.0037 in favour of statin and niacin and HDL – p=0.0003 in favour of statin and niacin). However the triglyceride levels showed no significant change in the two groups (p=0.2452).Conclusions: In our study the conventional combination therapy of statin and niacin is found to be more efficacious than the newer statin and krill oil combination in lowering LDL levels and increasing HDL levels in dyslipidemic patients. A further study with a higher sample size could confirm the findings of this study