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Master i samfunnsvitenskap med fordypning i Public Administration - 202

Challenges in teaching palliative care module virtually during COVID-19 era

With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the global community, routine activities of universities, offices, and industries have been hindered. People are being forced to rethink the ways of working virtually from home for providing education, business, and health services in this social distancing during the COVID era. This sudden shift also posed challenges of online teaching in a private university, in urban Karachi, Pakistan. The Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery recently conducted an online palliative care module using a virtual learning environment and Microsoft Teams for Trainee Nurse Interns. Although the first experience of online teaching and learning was a successful venture for faculty and students, in a lockdown situation, numerous challenges were also encountered being a lower middle-income country. The issues of electricity shutdown, Internet connectivity, and quality assurance were anticipated on transition to online pedagogy, but backup plans were formed to make execution promising

Rapid Detection of Enteroviruses in Public Water Supplies

Microbiolog

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy PDT has appeared in recent years as a non –surgical method for the treatment of cancer and many inflammatory conditions resulting from infection with bacteria, fungi, or viruses and in this side known as Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy .This treatment is an oxygen-depending photochemical reaction and occurs as are a result of activating photosensitive compound which leads to the production of cytotoxic oxygen types mostly O2 (singlet oxygen). PDT system composed of three ingredients: light source, photosensitizers and oxygen. PDT can be used in periodontal pocket treatment in order to avoid the use of antibiotics and their side effect as well as reduce the emergence of resistant strains. The application of PDT are in continuous progress and the future of PDT is bright and promising more development especially in the treatment of cancer and many inflammatory disease such as wound and periodontal infection. So, this review aims to explain the mechanism of action and their role in the treatment of the inflammatory injuries

Telesimulation innovation on the teaching of Spikes model on sharing bad news

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) brought to the world, an unprecedented emergency, which dramatically affected the face-to-face teaching in higher education academia. University faculty and students had to shift overnight to an online and remote course instruction. They were neither trained nor prepared and had limited resources and infrastructure. Palliative Care and Oncology Stream Faculty at Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan, piloted an innovative academic project using telesimulation (TS). Trainee nurse interns were taught communication skills and the art of breaking bad news to palliative clients using the SPIKES model through TS. To incorporate best practices for simulation-based experiences, we used the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning to standardize and implement TS with 141 interns. This review article documents how the faculty planned and implemented the TS strategy during COVID-19. It outlines the challenges and the lessons learnt from implementation and feedback from faculty and students. This information could be useful in the future execution of TS, in any communication and counseling course, since COVID-19 has impacted the future educational course design and pedagogy worldwide

Maternal and infant outcomes of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, Lebanese and migrant women giving birth in a tertiary public hospital in Lebanon : a secondary analysis of an obstetric database

Acknowledgments We would like to thank Rafik Hariri University Hospital for providing the data for this study. Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Spray-Dried Proliposome Microparticles for High-Performance Aerosol Delivery Using a Monodose Powder Inhaler

Proliposome formulations containing salbutamol sulphate (SS) were developed using spray drying, and the effects of carrier type (lactose monohydrate (LMH) or mannitol) and lipid to carrier ratio were evaluated. The lipid phase comprised soy phosphatidylcholine (SPC) and cholesterol (1:1), and the ratios of lipid to carrier were 1:2, 1:4, 1:6, 1:8 or 1:10 w/w. X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) revealed an interaction between the components of the proliposome particles, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that mannitol-based proliposomes were uniformly sized and spherical, whilst LMH-based proliposomes were irregular and relatively large. Using a two-stage impinger (TSI), fine particle fraction (FPF) values of the proliposomes were higher for mannitol-based formulations, reaching 52.6%, which was attributed to the better flow properties when mannitol was used as carrier. Following hydration of proliposomes, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated that vesicles generated from mannitol-based formulations were oligolamellar, whilst LMH-based proliposomes generated 'worm-like' structures and vesicle clusters. Vesicle size decreased upon increasing carrier to lipid ratio, and the zeta potential values were negative. Drug entrapment efficiency (EE) was higher for liposomes generated from LMH-based proliposomes, reaching 37.76% when 1:2 lipid to carrier ratio was used. The in vitro drug release profile was similar for both carriers when 1:6 lipid to carrier ratio was used. This study showed that spray drying can produce inhalable proliposome microparticles that can generate liposomes upon contact with an aqueous phase, and the FPF of proliposomes and the EE offered by liposomes were formulation-dependent

Design of an Imaging Payload for Earth Observation from a Nanosatellite

A compact imaging payload consisting of visible-near infrared and short-wave infrared capability is being developed to demonstrate low-cost wildfire monitoring among other Earth observations. Iris is a 1U multispectral push-broom imager that is capable of generating spectral data pertinent for wildfire science and wildfire risk analysis from a CubeSat platform. This payload is slated to fly on-board Ex-Alta 2, the University of Alberta’s second CubeSat and Alberta’s contribution to the Canadian CubeSat Project, to be deployed from the International Space Station in 2022. Iris features four closely integrated designs: optical, structural, electronics, and firmware. The mechanical and electronic interfaces of Iris are suited for modular integration into 1U of other generic CubeSat structures. The design has significant constraints on mass, size, performance, and cost. The current optical design features two compact lightpaths within the housing for imaging in short-wave infrared, near-infrared, blue, and red bands (center wavelengths at 2100, 865, 490, and 665 nm, respectively). Design simulations suggest achievement of a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 20 dB across all bands and a spatial resolution of 360 mor better averaged across the field-of-view. Taken together, this demonstrates significant scientific value for minimized cost and instrument volume. This design uses exclusively commercially available lenses, providing significant overall cost savings. The structural housing of Iris consists of 6061 T6 Aluminum, which provides a light-tight optical path for the visible to near-infrared and short-wave infrared light paths, as well as mounting for the optics and printed circuit board to the CubeSat structure within the required tolerances. A 45-degree folding mirror is employed to provide an extended optical lightpath within 1U with no deployable optics. The lens and mirror mounts are fitted with manual adjustment mechanisms for post-assembly alignment of the optical elements. This feature allows the team to perform small modifications to the axial position of the lenses as well as the folding mirror plane without having to re-manufacture the structure, saving time and cost. Within Iris, a subsystem named Electra features a custom filtered CMV4000 CMOS detector from ams AG integrated alongside a custom filtered G11478-512WB InGaAs linear array from Hamamatsu. Electra is a custom printed circuit board which houses an Intel Cyclone V system-on-chip field-programmable gate array, 512 MB of DDR3 synchronous dynamic random-access memory, and other supporting infrastructure for controlling Iris imaging operations and handling spectral data. An in-house software and VHDL suite is implemented within Electra for sensor control, memory management, and all off-board communications. Software functionality includes data compression and a cloud detection algorithm, wherein images are ranked based on heuristic value of relative cloud content, together increasing scientific value per spacecraft link time. A full proto-flight model of Iris is scheduled for manufacturing and testing in Q4 2021. Following manufacturing, comprehensive validation analysis and characterization will be performed, confirming ability to meet mission requirements

Assessment of Dietary and Lifestyle Responses After COVID-19 Vaccine Availability in Selected Arab Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has been consistently associated with unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and dietary practices. This study aimed to assess the dietary and lifestyle behaviors of adults after COVID-19 vaccine availability and their attitude toward the vaccine in selected Arab countries. A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted between October 2021 and December 2021 using Google Forms (n = 2259). A multi-component questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic characteristics, attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine, and behavioral, dietary, and lifestyle responses after easing the restriction. Participants were given a score based on the sum of positive dietary and lifestyle changes. The generalized linear models were used to identify the association between positive dietary and lifestyle changes score and sociodemographic characteristics. Weight gain during the pandemic was reported by 39.5% of the participants, 36.1% reported ever getting infected with the COVID-19 virus, and 85% received at least one dose of the vaccine. The key adverse reactions of the COVID-19 vaccine were fatigue, headache, and joint pain, and the main reason for vaccination was protection against infection. Most participants were concerned about the vaccine side effects (45.8%) and inadequate testing (50.7%). After easing of restriction, 54.3% of the participants reduced the frequency of disinfecting objects, and 58.3% joined social events. Most dietary and lifestyle behaviors remained unchanged after vaccine availability but there was an increase in the time spent behind the screen for work (50.1%) and entertainment (42.9%). The results of the multivariate regression analyses revealed that older participants (p = 0.001), those with higher education (p = 0.010), and those working from home (p = 0.040) were more likely to have higher positive dietary and lifestyle changes scores. Although most participants were concerned about vaccine safety, low vaccine hesitancy rates were observed among the study sample. The availability of the COVID-19 vaccines resulted in loosening some of the safety social measures among Arab adults but the negative impact of the pandemic on dietary and lifestyle behaviors remained unaltered