Local anaesthetic cream for the alleviation of pain during venepuncture in Tanzanian schoolchidren

The analgesic effect and the usefulness of EMLA cream 5% in connection with venous blood-sampling was investigated in 42 Tanzanian schoolchildren. Approximately 2.5 g EMLA was applied to the right cubital fossa for a minimum of 120 min. The analgesic effect was pronounced - 93% of the venepunctures were pain-free and no child experienced severe pain. No adverse reactions were observed and the children could continue normal school work during the application time

Potensi Limbah Sagu (Metroxylon SP.) Di Kecamatan Tebing Tinggi Barat Kabupaten Kepulauan Meranti Sebagai Substrat Penghasil Biogas

Biogas is one of alternative energy sources that fulfills future fuel needs. This studyaimed to analyse the potency of sago waste as fermentation substrate for biogasproduction. This research was done experimentally by employing sago waste materialsobtained from Sago Factory Nambus River from District West Tebing Tinggi Sub-province Meranti and fresh cow rumen liquid was obtained from slaughterhouse inPekanbaru. The biogas volume was calculated by measuring the volume of water thatwas pushed every 3 days, where the volume of water driven was proportional to thevolume of biogas produced. The bacterial cell numbers was counted using plate countmethod employing Nutrient Agar (NA). The substrate fermentation temperature and pHwere measured every 3 days. The highest biogas volume was produced by fermenter III(45760 ml) containing solid sago waste, liquid sago waste, and rumen liquid with ratio 1: 1 : 1 and the lowest was produced by fermenter II (1600 ml). The total bacterialinvolved in biogas production ranges from 1,87x10 5 – 2,87x10 8 CFU/ml samples. Thetemperature and pH of substrate fermetation was relatively constant during biogasproduction. The results showed that sago waste is potential as substrate for biogasproduction

Menyelesaikan Soal Matematika Model PISA Level 4

PISA (Program International for Student Assessment) merupakan suatu program penilaian skala Internasional yang bertujuan untuk meneliti kemampuan siswa usia 15 tahun dalam menerapkan pengetahuan yang sudah mereka pelajari di sekolah, yang berfokus pada bidang membaca, matematika, dan sains. Berdasarkan hasil PISA tahun 2009, distribusi skor literasi matematika siswa Indonesia belum mencapai level 4. Selanjutnya, dari hasil PISA 2012 untuk bidang matematika, kurang dari 5% siswa Indonesia yang mampu menjawab soal level 4, yaitu soal-soal yang berhubungan dengan model untuk situasi yang konkret tetapi kompleks dan mengintegrasikan representasi yang berbeda serta menghubungkannya dengan situasi nyata. Oleh karena itu, tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana siswa menyelesaikan soal matematika model PISA Level

Inābah dalam al-Qur’an (Suatu Kajian Taḥlīlī dalam QS al Zumar/39: 54)

Kemudian hasil dari penelitian ini yaitu 1). Hakikat inābah dalam QS al-Zumar/39:54, ialah hidayah khusus yang diberikan kepada hamba yang benar-benar mencintai Allah swt., inābah merupakan kembali kepada kebenaran dan kembali kepada Allah swt. untuk memenuhi janji, inābah adalah sifat yang dimiliki oleh wali Allah atau orang-orang yang dekat kepada-Nya, perintah inābah ditujukan kepada kaum mukminin agar bertobat apabila telah melampaui batas serta memperbanyak amalan-amalan kebaikan dan ditujukan juga kepada kaum musyrikin untuk kembali memeluk agama tauhid. 2). Wujud inābah dalam QS al-Zumar/39:54 ialah pertama, kembali kepada Allah swt. dengan bertobat yakni dengan menguatkan hati untuk tidak mengulangi perbuatan dosa yang telah dilakukan, menjaga diri dari perbuatan dosa yang belum dilakukan, penyesalan dosa harus setimpal, tobat dilakukan dan diniatkan untuk mengagungkan Allah swt. serta mendapat pegampunan dari-Nya, kedua, berserah diri kepada Allah swt. dengan ikhlas dalam beribadah kepada-Nya, ketiga, mengikuti al-Qur’an yaitu dengan mengikuti perintah Allah swt. dan menjauhi larangan-Nya yang telah tercantum di dalam al-Qur’an. 3). Dampak inābah ialah pertama, dosa-dosa diampuni oleh Allah swt. kedua, tidak mendapatkan azab. ketiga, mendapatkan pertolongan. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian pertama yang membahas kata inābah dalam ruang lingkup penelitian skripsi dalam khazanah al-Qur’an sekaligus mengetahui makna dari kata tersebut. Sebagaimana yang tercantum dalam QS al-Zumar/39: 54, pokok pembahasan dalam ayat ini ialah perintah untuk kembali kepada Allah swt. dan berserah diri Kepada-Nya serta dampak dari tidak mentaati perintah tersebut maka akan diberi ganjaran berupa azab serta tidak mendapatkan keselamatan. Untuk itu penelitian ini menjelaskan makna inābah dan bagaimana penerapannya sehingga diharapkan semua penjelasan dan pesan-pesan yang terdapat dalam penelitian ini dapat diterapkan sebagaimana mestinya

Acute haemolysis in childhood falciparum malaria

Acute haemolysis associated with clinical episodes of high-level Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia was studied in 20 children from an holoendemic area (coastal Tanzania). The change in blood haemoglobin (Hb) concentration ranged from -46 to +5 g/L during the 72-h observation period and was linearly related to maximum parasitaemia. Balance studies between loss of blood Hb, increase in plasma Hb and appearance of Hb in the urine indicated that extravascular clearance of red cells was the predominant mode of erythrocyte clearance. Most subjects, however, showed minor signs of intravascular haemolysis. The plasma Hb was ≪1% of blood Hb and haemoglobinuria was detected in 14/20 children but the excretion of Hb in urine was \u3c0.5% of total Hb loss. Haemoglobinuria was, however, a marker of severe haemolysis, since the maximum blood Hb loss in children without haemoglobinuria was 10 g/L. Erythrocyte-bound opsonins known to induce erythrophagocytosis, i.e., complement C3c fragments and autologous IgG, were increased in all patients. In the patients with major haemolysis, the changes correlated to the haemolysis over time. Hence, a similar mechanism for predominantly extravascular erythrocyte clearance may be operative in acute malarial anaemia, normal erythrocyte senescence and other forms of acute haemolysis

Efficacy and safety of the six-dose regimen of artemether-lumefantrine in pediatrics with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria: A pooled analysis of individual patient data

Patient data from eight clinical trials were pooled and analyzed to study the efficacy and safety of the six-dose versus four-dose regimen of artemether-lumefantrine (coartemether; Coartem) in children weighing 5-25 kg. A total of 544 patients with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria (six-dose: 343; four-dose: 201), matched for demographic and baseline characteristics and individual coartemether doses were included in the analysis. Analysis of day 28 cure rate based on the intention-to-treat and evaluable populations yielded corrected cure rates for the six-dose regimen of 93% and 96% compared with 61% and 76%, respectively, for the four-dose regimen (P \u3c 0.0001 for both comparisons). Similarly high cure rates were achieved with the six-dose regimen in non-immune infants weighing as little as 5 kg. The six- and four-dose regimens were equally well tolerated. The main finding of this analysis is that the six-dose regimen of coartemether is safe and more efficacious than the four-dose regimen in children. Copyright © 2006 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Plasma zinc concentrations are depressed during the acute phase response in children with falciparum malaria

Plasma concentrations of some micronutrients are altered in the setting of acute infectious or inflammatory stress. Previous studies have provided conflicting evidence concerning the extent and direction of changes in plasma zinc concentrations during the acute phase response. We carried out an observational cohort study in 689 children enrolled in a randomized trial of zinc supplementation during acute falciparum malaria in order to evaluate the relation between plasma zinc concentration and the acute phase response. Plasma zinc was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. On admission, 70% of all subjects had low plasma zinc (\u3c9.2 μmol/L). Multivariate analysis of predictors of admission plasma zinc showed that admission C-reactive protein (CRP), parasite density, and study site were the most important predictors. Predictors of changes in plasma zinc from admission to 72 h included baseline CRP, change in CRP, treatment group, study site, and baseline zinc concentration. In children with acute malaria infection, baseline plasma zinc concentrations were very low and were inversely correlated with CRP (r = -0.24, P \u3c 0.0001) and the degree of parasitemia (r = -0.19, P \u3c 0.0001). Even when CRP and time were taken into account, zinc supplementation increased plasma zinc concentration from admission to 72 h. When available, plasma zinc concentrations should be interpreted with concurrent measures of the acute phase response such as CRP. In children whose age, diet, and/or nutritional status place them at risk of zinc deficiency, those with low plasma zinc levels should be supplemented with oral zinc and followed for clinical and/or biochemical response. © 2005 American Society for Nutritional Sciences

Using heart rate profiles during sleep as a biomarker of depression

Background: Abnormalities in heart rate during sleep linked to impaired neuro-cardiac modulation may provide new information about physiological sleep signatures of depression. This study assessed the validity of an algorithm using patterns of heart rate changes during sleep to discriminate between individuals with depression and healthy controls. Methods: A heart rate profiling algorithm was modeled using machine-learning based on 1203 polysomnograms from individuals with depression referred to a sleep clinic for the assessment of sleep abnormalities, including insomnia, excessive daytime fatigue, and sleep-related breathing disturbances (n = 664) and mentally healthy controls (n = 529). The final algorithm was tested on a distinct sample (n = 174) to categorize each individual as depressed or not depressed. The resulting categorizations were compared to medical record diagnoses. Results: The algorithm had an overall classification accuracy of 79.9% [sensitivity: 82.8, 95% CI (0.73–0.89), specificity: 77.0, 95% CI (0.67–0.85)]. The algorithm remained highly sensitive across subgroups stratified by age, sex, depression severity, comorbid psychiatric illness, cardiovascular disease, and smoking status. Conclusions: Sleep-derived heart rate patterns could act as an objective biomarker of depression, at least when it cooccurs with sleep disturbances, and may serve as a complimentary objective diagnostic tool. These findings highlight the extent to which some autonomic functions are im

Morphological and physical characteristic of stone mastic asphalt mixture incorporating nano silica

Introduction: Asphalt binder plays an important role in contributing to the good performance of asphalt mixture. However, the interlocking structure of asphalt binder is delicate and sensitive due to surrounding temperature and moisture. Methods: Previously, asphalt binder usually modified with polymer modifier. But, this type of modifier has low temperature susceptibility. To overcome this, nanomaterial is introduced to enhance the performance of virgin asphalt binder. Among the crucial evaluation of nano-modification is to evaluate its microstructural changes through morphological property evaluation. The addition of nanomaterial then will significantly improve the inner structure of asphalt binder and reduce the effect of those problems. Aim: Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the morphological properties of nanosilica modified asphalt binder to determine the inner structured properties of modified specimen. Results: Among the morphological tests conducted for asphalt binder in this study were Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). From SEM image analysis and XRD evaluation, the existence of Nanosilica (NS) inside the asphalt binder was well dispersed and from these two tests, the existence of NS inside asphalt binder was verified. From AFM results, most of NS-MB images before and after ageing conditions displayed the typical bee structure (Catana Phase). Conclusion: It was also concluded that the addition of NS in asphalt binder improved its surface stiffness. The overall surface stiffness of the asphalt binder after aging was increased and the surface became more solid

Age, temperature, and parasitaemia predict chloroquine treatment failure and anaemia in children with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria

The prevalence of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria has been increasing in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South America over the last 2 decades, and has been associated with increased anaemia-associated morbidity and higher mortality rates. Prospectively collected clinical and parasitological data from a multicentre study of 788 children aged 6-59 months with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria were analysed in order to identify risk factors for chloroquine treatment failure and to assess its impact on anaemia after therapy. The proportion of chloroquine treatment failures (combined early and late treatment failures) was higher in the central-eastern African countries (Tanzania, 53%; Uganda, 80%; Zambia, 57%) and Ecuador (54%) than in Ghana (36%). Using logistic regression, predictors of early treatment failure included younger age, higher baseline temperature, and greater levels of parasitaemia. We conclude that younger age, higher initial temperature, and higher baseline parasitaemia predict early treatment failure and a higher probability of worsening anaemia between admission and days 7 or 14 post-treatment