In-flight Medical Emergency: An experience with Singapore Airlines

In-flight medical emergencies are becoming a concern to airlines and their passengers in light of the increasing number of air passengers. The SQ flight was from Sydney, Australia to Singapore. The whole journey took about eight hours. Three hours into the flight, a 58-year old woman began complaining of central chest pain radiating to her left arm, shortness of breath, and a dull aching pain in her right lower limb. She described the chest pain as having started like a heavy stone sitting on her chest. The strength of the in-flight medical emergency system and some points are discussed in this article

Prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus of Chinese populations in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

This article reviews and describes trends and differences in prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus of Chinese populations in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan based on literatures published in the MEDLINE Advanced database (January 1966-October 2005) in both Chinese and English languages. Chinese populations in Hong Kong and Taiwan have significant higher prevalence rates of diabetes than their Mainland counterparts, with odds ratios 1.5 (95% confidence intervals: 1.4, 1.7) and 2.0 (95% confidence intervals: 1.8, 2.2), respectively in 1995-2003 adjusted for age and diagnostic criteria. Using stratified diagnostic criteria; the odds ratios in Hong Kong and Taiwan were consistently higher than Mainland China for the periods of 1985-1994 and 1995-2003. A large proportion, i.e. 68.6% (95% confidence intervals: 67.4%, 69.7%) of diabetic patients remains undiagnosed in Mainland China as compared to 52.6% (95% confidence intervals: 49.8%, 55.5%) undiagnosed in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The prevalence rates of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance of the Chinese populations rise in older age groups. In tandem with economic development and change toward lifestyle that is lack of physical activity and rich in high-fat diet, prevalence of diabetes of the Chinese populations are on the rise. If the undiagnosed individuals left uncontrolled, they are subject to higher risks of developing diabetes and its complications. These will increase the burdens of diabetes medically and financially

How To Analyse Your Research Data? Illustrations with Hands-On Exercises Using SPSS

Statistical analysis for a quantitative study is often perceived to be the most difficult step by a novice researcher. The objective of this paper is to provide step by step guides to analyse quantitative data. A common research topic on diabetes is used to illustrate the approach in data analysis. There are several statistical software packages available to assist researchers in data analysis. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software is applied in the hands-on example. The dataset about blood glucose control in diabetic patients and a trial version of SPSS are made available online. Having studied the paper and practiced the hands-on example, a reader is expected to be able to apply and interpret appropriate statistical tests for his/ her research

Are Doctors in the University-Based Primary Care Clinic More Evidence-Based?

Letter to the editor

Do Primary Care Doctors Behave the Same in Antibiotic Prescribing for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections?

Purpose: To compare the extent of using an evidence-based approach in managing upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) among primary care doctors from two different government clinic settings in Malaysia. Method: This is a cross sectional, prospective study carried out in a teaching university primary care centre in Kuala Lumpur (KL) where doctors are constantly exposed to continuing medical education (CME) and seven health clinics in Seremban, Malaysia where doctors have less exposure to CME in the year 2000. Twelve primary care practitioners in KL and 13 in Seremban participated in the study. Each practitioner was asked to record clinical data and prescriptions given to twenty consecutive patients with URTIs using a structured questionnaire for each patient. The extent of usage of an evidence-based approach in managing URTIs among practitioners was assessed

HONG KONG TEACHERS’ ENGLISH ORAL INPUT IN KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOMS

Oral input has long been recognised as a key factor influencing second language acquisition in early childhood. Children rely heavily on oral input to learn new words and develop phonological awareness of a language. However, in the context of English teaching in Hong Kong kindergartens — which feature diversity in language use in the classroom — little work has been done on the oral input given to children. This study examined the English oral input of teachers in Hong Kong kindergarten classrooms. It investigated the amount and features of teachers’ English oral input, and how the input affected the conditions for English language learning. Classroom observations were conducted monthly for three months with one native speaking (NS) and two non-native speaking (NNS) kindergarten teachers together with a total of 44 Chinese-speaking children. The research used the Oral Input Quality Observation Scheme developed for systematically collecting oral input and output data from the teachers and children respectively. The results show that the learning activities did not seem to be hindered by the different pronunciations of the NS and NNS teachers. However, the NS teacher tended to use a broader variety of vocabulary and a richer amount of English than the NNS teachers. Both the NS and NNS teachers demonstrated limitations in pedagogical skills in teaching the children English pronunciation. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to the context of English teaching in Hong Kong kindergartens

Statistics Made Simple for Healthcare and Social Science Professionals and Students

The fundamentals of statistics, methods of sampling, types of data, levels of measurement, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, and hypothesis testing are covered in Chapters 1, 2 and 3. Chapter 4 deals with (chi-square) tests that can be applied for nominal (categorical) and ordinal data. Categorical data that are commonly collected in studies to investigate relative risk and odds ratio are dealt with in Chapter 5. Statistical tools for handling and analyzing interval data are elaborated in Chapter 6 (t-test and Z-test), Chapter 7 (Analysis of Variance / ANOVA, comparing averages of two and more sources) and Chapter 8 (Correlation, Regression Analysis). The steps to be taken in analyzing quantitative data are summarized in Appendix I. Information about some useful software packages, references and website links are provided in Appendix II. Readers can resort to statistical tables or Microsoft Excel software to obtain certain statistical indices and values. The relevant Microsoft Excel commands are summarized in Appendix III. Some residual plots related to regression analysis are presented in Appendix IV. The statistical tables for(Chi-square) distribution, t-distribution, Standard Normal distribution, and F-distribution are provided in Appendix V, VI, VII, and VIII respectively

Perceived usefulness of open educational resources: Impact of switching to online learning for face-to-face and distance learners

This paper reports a study on the perceived usefulness of university students on open educational resources (OER) in relation to the switch of learning mode to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants involved two groups of students, one studying in a face-to-face mode and the other in a distance learning mode. They took part in a survey which was conducted in 2019 before the pandemic (with a total of 912 responses) and 2021 during the pandemic (with a total of 1,018 responses). The results show that both groups of students generally perceived OER to be more useful during the pandemic. The specific types of OER which were perceived as relatively more useful include open online courses and open access textbooks. Face-to-face students showed a higher level of perceived usefulness of OER for preparing tests and examinations, while distance learning students perceived OER as more useful for supplementing course materials. They both concerned about the limitations of OER, especially on accuracy and comprehensiveness. The findings suggest the importance of recognizing the diverse needs of the two groups of students and offering appropriate OER support for them

Compatibility of the Omnican (R) Pen Needles with Insulin Pens, Humapen (R) and Novopen (R)

This study was carried out to assess accuracy of Omnican (R) insulin pen needles (29G and 30G) by measuring the weight of insulin delivered in each of 10 depressions of the plunger comparing these using other pen-injectors (Humapen (R) and Novopen (R) for each gauge. We found that the needle-to-needle variation was not statistically significant when the needles were used to dispense insulin using either of the insulin pens (Humapen (R) and Novopen (R). HumaPen (R) insulin pen was found to deliver the insulin closer to set target volume using either gauge (29G and 30G) of the Omnican (R) needles in some of the insulin ranges used in this study