Towards a better understanding of the precordial leads : an engineering point of view

This thesis provides comprehensive literature review of the electrocardiography evolution to highlight the important theories behind the development of the electrocardiography device. More importantly, it discusses different electrode placement on the chest, and their clinical advantages. This work presents a technical detail of a new ECG device which was developed at MARCS institute and can record the Wilson Central Terminal (WCT) components in addition to the standard 12-lead ECG. This ECG device was used to record from 147 patients at Campbelltown hospital over three years. The first two years of recording contain 92 patients which was published in the Physionet platform under the name of Wilson Central Terminal ECG database (WCTECGdb). This novel dataset was used to demonstrate the WCT signal characterisation and investigate how WCT impacts the precordial leads. Furthermore, the clinical influence of the WCT on precordial leads in patients diagnosed with non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) is discussed. The work presented in this research is intended to revisit some of the ECG theories and investigate the validity of them using the recorded data. Furthermore, the influence of the left leg potential on recording the precordial leads is presented, which lead to investigate whether the WCT and augmented vector foot (aVF) are proportional. Finally, a machine learning approach is proposed to minimise the Wilson Central Terminal

Quality assessment of medical translations performed by the two groups of medical translators and physicians

Translating medical texts is a very risky and important task because these texts deal with human life and any mistake in their translation can be life threatening. However, physicians, as well as medical translators, do this task and believe that the quality of their translation is more better than one performed by the medical translators but due to lack of time, they have to employ medical translators for doing this task. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of medical translations performed by the two groups of medical translators and physicians using House's model. For this purpose, the book "Bate's Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking" written by Fiona R. Prabhu and Lynn S. Bickley published in 2003 (ST) and its two versions of Persian translation performed by two groups of medical translators (TT1) and physicians (TT2) were analyzed according to the steps described in the House's model and the mismatches (overt and covert errors) were determined. Then the translations were classified as over or covert translations and the reasons were described. The results show that neither medical translators (with English knowledge and translating skills) nor physicians (with Medical knowledge) can perform a high quality translation of medical texts alone and without cooperation with the other group. It was concluded that for presenting a high quality translation, medical translators and physicians should have cooperation with each other and a team of medical translators and physicians is required. 

Modelling Intention to Use ERP Systems among Higher Education Institutions in Egypt: UTAUT Perspective

Firms strive to achieve the sustainable competitive advantage in diverse and changing marketplaces. Coping with such circumstances has required firms to align information technology with business strategy in order to exploit their capabilities and change business practices. In this regard, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has become increasingly important for organizations to build strong capabilities, improve operational performance, enhance business decision making and compete in a global business context. In other words, an ERP system integrates an organizations resources and also involves business processes and organizational changes. With the ubiquitous growth of IS investment, implementation of ERP systems has grown strongly. Recently, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have started to adopt ERP systems. An example is Egypt, where they have done so to increase their competitiveness in the global market. However, historically, ERP implementation has been shown to have a high failure rate, which is one of the main reasons users resist using the ERP system. Conversely, users acceptance of the ERP system is the key to the ERP implementation. Thus, this study attempts to find out the important factors that affect end users intention to use the ERP system during the pre-implementation phase of the ERP lifecycle in the higher education context. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with minor adjustments is the basis of this study. Ultimately, the findings of this research could enrich employees' experience by giving HEIs a tool for better understanding those factors affecting their ability to effectively utilize ERP systems. The proposed model has the ability to enhance the current level of the motivating factors influencing employees motivation to utilize ERP systems

Bio-Active Degradable Micellar Hydrogels for Osteogenic Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

A feasible approach to the restoration of injured bone tissue is the use of tissue engineering strategies to deliver mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the site of regenration in degradable, in-situ gelling, bio-active hydrogels. Although inert Polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels provide flexibility in controlling the cell microenvironment, their use for in vivo applications in tissue regeneration is limited by their persistence (nondegradability) in the site of regeneration. In an attempt to produce inert hydrolytically degradable matrices for encapsulation of MSCs, hydrogels based on star PEG macromonomers chain-extended with short hydroxy acid (HA) segments (SPEXA) were synthesized and characterized with respect to gelation kinetics, water content, degradation rate and mechanical properties. HA monomers included glycolide, lactide, p-dioxanone and ε-caprolactone. The degradation rate of SPEXA hydrogels was strongly dependent on HA type and number of HA repeat units. SPEXA gels chain-extended with the least hydrophobic glycolide completely degraded within days, lactide within weeks, and p-dioxanone and ε-caprolactone degraded within months. Further, there was a biphasic relationship between HA segment length and gel degradation. There was a significant decrease in gelation time of SPEXA macromonomers with HA chain-extension for all HA types due to micelle formation. Meso-scale simulations revealed formation of micellar structures within the SPEXA precursor solutions for all HA types. The micellar SPEXA hydrogels supported osteogenic differentiation, collagen production, and mineralization of MSCs. We further investigated the effect of concentration and hydrophobicity a BMP-2 protein derived peptide on osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) encapsulated in a PEG based hydrogel. The dose-osteogenic response curve of the BMP-2 peptide was in the 0.0005-0.005 mM range, and osteoinductive potential of the BMP-2 peptide was significantly less than that of BMP-2 protein even at 1000-fold higher concentrations. There was a higher osteogenic differentiation of encapsulated hMSCs when the BMP-2 peptide was dissolved in the hydrogel matrix as compared to the peptide conjugated to the hydrogel network. The BMP-2 peptide with a positive index of hydrophobicity had a critical micelle concentration (CMC) and formed aggregates in aqueous solution. Results revealed that osteoinductive potential of the BMP-2 peptide is correlated with its CMC and the free peptide concentration in aqueous medium and not the total concentration

Polyvinyl Sulfuric Acid: A Novel Solid Acid Catalyst for Preparation of Symmetrical Ethers and Theoretical Calculation

In this paper, polyvinyl sulfuric acid as a novel solid acid was easily prepared by simple mixing of polyvinyl alcohol with chlorosulfonic acid at room temperature. The facile procedure for conversion of benzylic alcohols to the corresponding symmetrical ethers in the presence of this solid acid under solvent free conditions was investigated. Results showed that the solid acid was an appropriate catalytic agent for this condensation reaction. It also showed its ability to produce the products in short reaction times while having high isolated yields.Also theoretical calculation by DFT method with B3LYP using 6-31G** basis sets was done. Based on the calculation, Transition state is a primary carbocation that the positive charge is dispersed by the benzene ring. The dipole moment of transition state is 0.2226D and the total energy of produced carbonation is more than symmetrical ether and alcohol, as the results the produced carbocation via SN1 is an appropriate transition state

Origin of tourmaline in micaschists of ‎Gol-e-Gohar metamorphic complex from south-eastern Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone (Baft, Kerman Province)‎

In Gol-e-Gohar micaschists from south-east Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone (Kerman province), there are tourmaline crystals which are enriched in  Mg and Na (Mg: 1.830 a.p.f.u and Na: 0.680 a.p.f.u), and so, they are dravite in compositions belonging  to alkaline series. The delineated combinational profiles from core to rim from  these tourmalines display a weak compositional zoning. Evidences such as the existence of quartz inclusions in these minerals, equilibriated boundaries between the tourmalines and biotites in all cases and the orientation of some tourmaline crystals along with other metapelite-forming minerals and weak chemical zoning in them indicate that they formed during or after acting tectonic forces and metamorphic events. Moreover, chemical composition of the studied tourmalines, such as

The effects of oral sodium bicarbonate supplementation on anthropometric measures in patients with chronic kidney disease:A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized clinical trials

Abstract Metabolic acidosis (MA) may play a key role in the pathogenesis of protein‐energy wasting (PEW) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). To present a comprehensive synthesis of the effect of oral sodium bicarbonate (SB) supplementation on anthropometric measures in patients with CKD, a systematic review was undertaken in PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Google Scholar, of relevant articles published prior to September 2022. The summary statistics of effect size, nonstandardized weighted mean difference (WMD), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to compare the effects of SB supplementation on anthropometric parameters vs. control group. To detect probable sources of heterogeneity, a series of predefined subgroup analyses were conducted. In total, 17 studies with 21 treatment arms, including 2203 participants (1149 cases, 1054 controls), met our inclusion criteria and were included in the meta‐analysis. SB supplementation had no significant effect on body weight (BW), midarm muscle circumference (MAMC), or lean body mass (LBM) in patients with CKD. There was a significant increase in body mass index (BMI) (MD: 0.59 kg/m2, 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.93, p = 0.001) after SB supplementation in the overall analysis. In subgroup analysis, LBM was increased in studies that were ≥ 24‐week duration (MD: 1.81 kg, 95% CI: 0.81 to 2.81) and in participants with BMI lower than 27 kg/m2 (MD: 1.81 mg/L, 95% CI: 0.81 to 2.81). SB supplementation may yield increases in BMI in predialysis CKD patients. However, our findings did not support the beneficial effects of SB supplementation on other anthropometric outcomes. There is an evident need for long‐term high‐quality interventions to confirm these findings

Classification and identification of human papillomavirus based on its prevalence and development of cervical lesion among Iranian women

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the most common female cancer in large areas of the developing world, and almost half of these cases (54%) arises in Asia, where cervical cancer is still threatening women’s health and survival, which makes it a considerable public problem. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most powerful human carcinogens. Today, it has been proven that all cervical cancers and primary precancerous lesions are caused by carcinogenic types of HPV infections. HPV genotyping can therefore evaluate the screening programs. Methods: Five hundred fifty women referring to the gynecological centers were subjected to Pap smear cell samples. The cytopathological diagnosis of obtained cervical samples was based on the Bethesda system. HPV genotyping was carried out using the INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping Extra II Amp assay. Results: In a total of 244 HPV positive cases, single‑type HPV infec­tion was observed in 49.6%, while multi‑type HPV infections (including ≥ 2 types) were found in 45.5% of cases. Among the 110 cases with abnormal cytology results, going-over analyses led to the identification of atypical squamous cell of unknown significance (ASCUS) in 73 cases, low‑grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) in 24 cases, and high‑grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) in 12 cases. In these groups, the infection rate of high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) was 89%, 82%, and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: In this study, the total population of women suffering from different cervical lesions and malignancy was found to be infected with various HPV genotypes. High prevalence of HPV- 53 and HPV- 16 detected among participants with normal cytology can be considered as a tip-off development of cervical cancer among Iranian women

Investigating the Translation of Genderism from Persian to English: A Case Study of I’ll Turn off the Lights

The present study investigated the translation of genderism Persian-English. Genderism is an ideology that shows partiality based on biological sex and separates society into two groups in a way that one sex is subordinate to another sex and it is reflected in languages; thus, there are sexist concepts in each language; the concepts are usually culture-oriented. The main question was: How have the sexist concepts been translated from Persian to English? The corpus of this comparative and qualitative study was Zoya Pirzad’s novel (2001) Cheraghha-ra Man Khamush Mikonam (L.T. I’ll turn off the lights) and its translation by Franklin Lewis (2012) Things We Left Unsaid. The framework of the evaluation was Vinay and Darbelnet’s (1995) model. The results revealed that translation of genderism is a challenging task, and the sexiest language of the SL was modified during the translation process; hence, the tone of sexist implications of the source text has been changed to more sexist concepts or anti-sexist concepts

Income-carbon footprint relationships for urban and rural households of Iskandar Malaysia

Iskandar Malaysia has a vision to achieve sustainable development and a low carbon society status by decreasing the amount of CO2 emission as much as 60% by 2025. As the case is in other parts of the world, households are suspected to be a major source of carbon emission in Iskandar Malaysia. At the global level, 72% of greenhouse gas emission is a consequence of household activities, which is influenced by lifestyle. Income is the most important indicator of lifestyle and consequently may influence the amount of households' carbon footprint. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate the carbon-income relationships in Iskandar Malaysia's urban and rural areas. Data were gathered through a questionnaire survey of 420 households. The households were classified into six categories based on their residential area status. Both direct and indirect carbon footprints of respondents were calculated using a carbon footprint model. Direct carbon footprint includes domestic energy use, personal travel, flight and public transportation while indirect carbon footprint is the total secondary carbon emission measurement such as housing operations, transportation operations, food, clothes, education, cultural and recreational services. Analysis of the results shows a wide range of carbon footprint values and a significance correlation between income and carbon footprint. The carbon footprints vary in urban and rural areas, and also across different urban areas. These identified carbon footprint values can help the authority target its carbon reduction programs