Organised care of acute stroke at Groote Schuur Hospital : a controlled trial

Includes bibliographical references.Background and purpose: Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) admits about 570 stroke patients annually. These patients about occupy 10% of acute medical beds. Recent investigations have demonstrated that stroke services are poorly organised Although "Organised stroke care" has been shown to improve outcomes, this has not been demonstrated locally. This study was undertaken to determine whether stroke unit care within a general medical ward improves outcomes. Study design and sampling: The study was a prospective non-randomised controlled trial, with systematic allocation by admission day. of all acute stroke admissions to the Department of Medicine from 1 January to 15 May 1996. Intervention: There were three comparison groups: in the Stroke Intervention Ward, the intervention was implemented by the author; in the Guidelines Ward, the manner in which the intervention can be set up and implemented was provided in the form of a Guidelines Booklet and in the Control Ward, stroke patients received routine care. The intervention consisted of (i) geographic/spatial unity and allocation of a designated nurse; (ii) use of a Stroke Clerking Pro forma and (iii) a multidisciplinary Team Care Plan and Post Intake Stroke Ward Round. Results: 58 patients were admitted to the Stroke Intervention Ward, 40 patients were admitted to the Guidelines Ward and 91 were admitted to the 2 Control Wards. The groups had similar baseline characteristics, except for the percentage of patients continent on admission. There were no significant differences in the Modified Barthel Index prior to admission, at discharge or at follow-up. There were no significant differences in the principal outcome measures (death, dependency, death or dependency, institutionalisation and death or institutionalisation) between the comparison groups. The median [inter-quartile range] length of hospital stay in days was significantly reduced in the Stroke Intervention Ward (6.5[5-9]) compared to the Guidelines Ward (9[7-14]) and the Control Wards (8[5-12]). The referral rates to Professionals Allied to Medicine were significantly increased in the Stroke Intervention Ward, except for referrals to the Community Liaison Sister. The referral rates to rehabilitation resources on discharge were significantly increased in the Stroke Intervention Ward, except for referrals to physiotherapy. Conclusions: Organised Stroke Care is feasible in our setting and results in improved utilisation of resources without increasing length of stay. However, principle outcome measures were not significantly altered in this study

Low Salinity Injection Fluids With Additives For Enhanced Oil Recovery From Clastic Reservoirs: The Macro to Pore Scale Studies

The core of the present work is the studies of the use of additives in low salinity water for their suitability for injection into oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs to improve the oil recovery performance in an enhanced oil recovery process by this method. This work carried out various investigations to find out the possibilities to mitigate the shortcomings of the existing process of low salinity water injection enhanced oil recovery

Effect of Integrated Feedback on Classroom Climate of Secondary School Teachers

This study aimed at finding out the effect of Integrated feedback on Classroom climate of secondary school teachers. This research is experimental in nature. Non-equivalent control group design suggested by Stanley and Campbell (1963) was used for the experiment. Integrated feedback was treatment and independent variable, Classroom climate was dependent variable and pre- Classroom climate, and Intelligence were considered as covariates. The sample of the study comprised of 77 secondary school teachers and 220 students studying in secondary classes from purposively selected four schools of Indore city. The data for Classroom climate, Job satisfaction and Intelligence were collected through standardized tools. One-way ANCOVA and 2X2 factorial design ANCOVA were used for data analysis. Hypotheses were tasted at level of significance with α = 0.05. It was found that the treatment has significant effect over Classroom climate when pre- Classroom climate was taken as covariate. The results also shown that Classroom climate was independent of the treatment when Intelligence and pre- Classroom climate were separately considered as covariates. In addition, classroom climate was also found independent of interaction between feedback and intelligence when pre – Classroom climate was taken as covariate

Pole Placement Control Technique for Tracking Path Control of UAV by Longitudinal and Lateral Parameters Control

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an autonomous flight and to obtained desired flight path and trajectory, it is necessary to control its various parameters. This paper presents a flight path control of fixed wing UAV by the control of Lateral and Longitudinal parameters using MATLAB platform. In this paper, simple mathematical model of 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) UAV having three linear and three rotational motions is presented. For simplicity and to obtained desired path and trajectory control, mathematical model of fixed wing 6 DOF UAV is divided into two subsystems. One subsystem is used to control Longitudinal Parameter such as vehicle speed and height without any change in direction of motion while the other sub system is used for the control of lateral parameters such as control of angular speed along x-axis, for yaw and roll control and control of angular speed along z-axis. Both sub-systems are Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) in nature, the desired input output combinations are extracted for the effective control of UAV. In this paper open loop behaviour of these system are plotted and analysed. It has been observed that open loop systems are not able to follow the desired trajectory. Further, these sub-systems are controlled by Pole Placement technique so that the vehicle can follow the desired path. The implementation and simulation of pole placement controllers on UAV is done using MATLAB software

Mucormycosis of maxilla following tooth extraction in immunocompetent patients : reports and review

Mucormycosis is a rare, fulminant, rapidly spreading fungal infection, which usually affects patient with underlying immune deficiency. If not managed promptly, the disease is characterized by progressive necrosis and is often fatal. A review of English literature shows that only fourteen cases of mucormycosis have been reported after tooth extraction. This paper highlights two cases of mucormycosis subsequent to tooth extraction in healthy adult patients. This first patient presented with an oroantral fistula and extensive maxillary necrosis. Whereas the second case was localized and presented as non-healing extraction socket with alveolar necrosis. This adds two more cases of this rare and serious complication of tooth extraction, to the present literature

Influence of Parents’ Educational and Socio-Economic Status on Dental Health of Children Among South Indian Population

In the modern era where both parents are employed, there seems to be limited focus on the dietary habits and dental health of their children. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the parental influence and family characteristics on the prevalence of dental caries among children who reported to the department of Orthodontics aged 10-17 years from Chennai. A cross-sectional epidemiological survey was carried out on 250   children aged 10 years to 17 years. The data was retrieved from the subjects records provided by the institution which consisted of information on their dental caries status. Structured questionnaires were given to parents to collect information regarding their socio-environmental and family characteristics. Student's t-test on metric parameters and Chi-square/Fisher for study parameters between two or more groups were used. It was observed that in families where the average monthly income >10,000/-, decayed, missing, and filled teeth was proportionately lower. The socioeconomic status, which is primarily influenced by parental factors and family structure, have a definite role in dental needs of children from underprivileged backgrounds. Dental health programs should aim to reduce the gross inequalities in the oral health status of these children and their families

Plasmonic Resonances and Their Application to Thin-Film Solar Cell

This chapter furnishes the plasmonic properties of metal nanostructure and its application to thin-film solar cell. Plasmonics is an emerging branch of nanooptics where light metal interaction in subwavelength domain is studied. Metal supports surface plasmon resonance that has tunable signature, which depends on the morphology as well as surrounding media. These plasmonic resonances can be tuned in a broader range of solar spectra by changing several parameters such as size, shape and medium. Moreover, metals show scattering properties that could be utilized to enhance optical path length of photon inside the thin film of solar device. The chapter mainly focusses on the study of plasmonic resonance of smaller- and larger-sized metal nanoparticle using semi-analytical as well as numerical approach. For the estimation of optical properties like extinction spectrum and field profile of larger-sized nanoparticle, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is used. The field distribution in both silver and gold nanoparticle cases has been plotted in ‘on’ resonance condition, which has a broader range of applications

Examining the relationship between self-actualization and job performance via taking charge

Based on Construal-level theory, this study hypothesized that self-actualization positively relates to employees’ taking charge, and self-actualization affects creative performance and normal performance through taking charge positively, but the effect is different. The authors selected a cross-sectional design to investigate interrelations amongst study variables at two different time points with the interval of one month, and surveyed 417 team members and 186 immediate team leaders in the banking sector in Pakistan. The authors used individual-level data to evaluate the validity and test the proposed relationships by using Mplus. They revealed that self-actualization affects taking charge positively, and taking charge mediated the relationship with the difference in effect e.g. taking charge has high effect on creative performance in comparison to normal performance. The outcomes carry important implications aimed at increasing high-level self-actualization that results in taking charge, and so on leads to creative and normal performance