Frequency of preoperative anxiety in Pakistani surgical patients

OBJECTIVE: To measure the frequency of preoperative anxiety in patients coming to our hospital and to correlate Visual analogue scale (VAS) with State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire. METHODS: This cross sectional study included 300 ASA I and II adult surgical in-patients admitted over a period of one year. STAI questionnaire and VAS was used as study tools. STAI score of \u3e 44 or VAS score of \u3e or = 50 were considered as significant anxiety. Enrolled patients were visited by primary investigator the day before surgery and patients were asked to fill the STAI questionnaire and VAS score. RESULTS: Significant preoperative anxiety was seen in 62% patients (73% females and 42% males). Frequency of anxiety decreased with advancing age but increased with higher educational status. A total of 77% of patients with no previous exposure to surgery and 26% of patients who had previous surgery, were anxious. Also 49% of patients who had visited the clinic and 86% of patients who had not visited the clinic were anxious. VAS correlated with STAI in 90% cases. Cut off value of VAS which showed positive correlation with STAI was 45. CONCLUSION: Frequency of preoperative anxiety was 62%. Female gender, younger age and higher educational status were positively correlated while prior experience of surgery while preoperative anaesthesia clinic visit were negatively correlated with anxiety. VAS correlated well with STAI

ANALISIS FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG BERPENGARUH TERHADAP KINERJA KEUANGAN PERBANKAN (Studi Perbandingan Pada Bank Persero dan BUSN Devisa di Indonesia Periode Tahun 2007-2009)

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meneliti pengaruh dari faktor-faktor: NPL, CAR, LDR, BOPO, NIM, dan PLO terhadap ROA yang merupakan salah satu ukuran kinerja keuangan bank, dengan membandingkan kineria keuangan perbankan antara Bank Persero dan BUSND di Indonesia Periode Tahun 2007- 2009. Data diperoleh dari laporan keuangan triwulan di Direktori Perbankan Indonesia periode 2007-2009. Jumlah populasi penelitian ini adalah 31 bank umum dan jumlah sampel sebanyak 21 bank umum yang terdiri dari 4 bank persero dan 17 BUSND dengan melalui tahap purposive sampling. Teknik analisis yang digunakan adalah regresi berganda yang dilanjutkan dengan uji Chow Test dengan level of significance 5%. Selain itu juga dilakukan uji asumsi klasik yang meliputi uji normalitas, uji multikolinieritas, uji heteroskedastisitas dan uji autokorelasi. Selama periode pengamatan menunjukkan bahwa data penelitian berdistribusi normal. Berdasarkan uji multikolinieritas, uji heteroskedastisitas dan uji autokorelasi tidak ditemukan variabel yang menyimpang dari asumsi klasik, hal ini menunjukkan bahwa data yang tersedia telah memenuhi syarat untuk menggunakan model persamaan regresi linier berganda. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa NPL, CAR, LDR, BOPO, NIM, dan PLO berpengaruh signifikan terhadap ROA baik untuk Bank Persero maupun Bank BUSND, tetapi NPL dan BOPO berpengaruh negatif terhadap ROA, sedangkan empat variabel yang lamberpengaruh positif. Uji Chow test menghasilkan nilai Chow test F sebesar 4,87. Nilai F tabel diperoleh sebesar 2,14. Dengan demikian diperoleh nilai Chow test (4,87) > F tabel (2,14). Hal ini berarti terdapat perbedaan pengaruh yang signifikan dari pengaruh 6 variabel bebas tersebut terhadap ROA pada Bank Persero dan Bank BUSND. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa keenam variabel tersebut memiliki kemampuan prediksi sebesar 88,5% terhadap ROA Bank Persero, sedangkan untuk BUSND keenam variabel tersebut memiliki kemampuan prediksi sebesar 88,8%

Explaining the behaviour of small states: an analysis of Jordan’s nuclear energy policy

Conventional analyses claim that small states bandwagon with leading international powers. The dominant view is that small states' vulnerabilities and limited power hinders their ability to pursue policy goals. This study critiques this position by investigating why and how Jordan continues to pursue a nuclear energy programme despite objections from the United States – its principle ally. By using theories of small states, this study analyses discursive practices in Jordanian policy-making. This approach is used to describe Jordan's nuclear energy policy and posit a logic of the effects that energy insecurity has on the government's perception of Jordan as a 'small state'. I use this to create hypotheses concerning the conditions under which small states may not simply bandwagon with key international allies, but may have more freedom to pursue their goals than traditional analyses predict. Explanations that assume small states always have limited freedom to pursue policy goals without the backing of key allies are not supported by the evidence considered here

A battery-less power supply using supercapacitor as energy storage powered by solar

This paper presents a battery-less power supply using supercapacitor as energy storage powered by solar. In this study the supercapacitor as energy storage, as opposed to batteries, has widely researched in recent years. Supercapacitors act like other capacitors, but their advantage is having enormous power storage capabilities. Maximum charging voltage and capacitance are two variables of storage in the supercapacitor. The supercapacitor is used as energy storage to charge a low power device wirelessly and act as a power supply. The solar energy is used as a backup power supply if there is no electricity in the remote or isolated area to charge the supercapacitor. The time taken to charge the supercapacitor depend on the amount of current rating of the solar panel. The higher the current, the shorter the time taken to charges the supercapacitor. Power supply using supercapacitor can store up to 30 Vdc using a DC-DC boost converter

The study of the contamination extent in jewelry used by nursing staff and its relation to some factors in Shahrekord Medical University hospitals

Background and aims: In clinics, nurses spend most of their working shifts « hours with different if they do not follow the general principals of prevention, they will have greater share of transmission of infection to patients and others. Therefore, the aim of this study is determining the extent of contamination in nursing staff's jewelry and their level of awareness of using these objects in Shahrekord medical university hospitals. Methods: This study is a analytical discriptive study which was done on 220 nurses, who were selected by cluster sampling, in Shahrekord hospitals. For data collection, a questionnaire included demographic information and assessment of the level of awareness about the terms of using jewelries in clinical environments was used. The reliability of this questionnaire was obtained 0.86 based on Cronbach's alpha, and confirmed. After that, the nurses' palms and the jewelry used by them were sampled and cultured in vitro. After 48-72 hours, the samples were examined and the data were analyzed by the use of SPSS Software and descriptive and inferential statistical techniques such as Cross tab. Results: The results of this study revealed that only 7 (3.2%) of the participants did not use jewelry in the workplace. In the in vitro cultures from the jewelry used by participants in the study, Staphylococcus Epidermidis had the highest frequency and candida albikans had the lowest frequency. Also, the materials used in watches had a significant role in the level of microbial contamination but this relationship is not seen in other jewelry. (r=259.84, P=0.000). There is a relationship between the gender of the participants and the level of microbial contamination in the watches. (r=24.913, P=0.000) This relationship is more in women comparing with men. Although more than 75% of nurses have a good awareness of the abandonment of using the jewelry in clinical areas, yet the use of jewelry is at a considerable extent. Conclusion: The results of this study show that the hands and various types of jewelry used by nurses are contamined with various pathogens, while applying the defined professional principles for controlling infection is the most important principles of clinical programs. Therefore, the results of this study can be used by the managers of the hospitals to emphasize more desirably on the compliance of the rules and regulations for controlling of infection in clinical environments

To a More Sustainable Construction Method for Electrically Conductive Heated Pavement Systems

Snow and ice damage to the pavement in the United States, particularly in colder regions, costs the US economy millions of dollars each year. Conventional methods for keeping snow off roads after heavy snowfall are judged prohibitively expensive. As a result, an alternative solution is required to reduce costs while also improving pavement resiliency. An electrically heated pavement system (EHPS) has been regarded as a viable alternative to older approaches in recent years. The majority of earlier research concentrated on improving the conductivity characteristics of paving materials. On the other hand, this study takes a different approach by focusing on the construction method rather than changing the properties of materials. This study focuses on the construction method, followed by using two ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE COMPOSITE materials, such as WPU-GP and EP-GP, and coated on the PCC substrate using the parallel stripe method. The results show that the construction approach utilizing WPU-GP produced 22.5%, and EP-GP produced 17.5% GP validated the concept of sustainable EHPS construction. Furthermore, increasing the coating thickness improves the heating effect of the pavement surface, and resistive heating performance improves steadily with higher voltage application, although lower coating spacing demonstrated better surface heating performance

Hospital Managers’ Perception of Recent Health Care Reform in Teaching Hospitals of Qazvin, Iran

Abstract Background: The main purpose of any government from a healthcare reform is to improve the service quality and raised public satisfaction. Objectives: As the important role of managerial human resources in any organizational changes, this paper tried to examine the point of view of this group about the recent reform in governmental hospitals of Qazvin. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2015. The statistical population consisted of 50 executive managers of Qazvin teaching hospitals. The data gathering instrument was a research-made questionnaire with approved reliability and validity (α = 0.84). Data analyse was performed in SPSS version 20 using descriptive and analytic statistics (analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation test and one sample t-test). Results: A total of 43.2% of managers believed that this reform was a good restrictor for malpractices in healthcare and 31.8% believed that it will not be so useful to improve the society health status. The average score of resource preparation, insurance companies coordination, changing the routine workflows, and finally achieving the goals, had a meaningful difference (P ˂ 0.05) and the average score of these fields were upper than average. Conclusions: The findings showed that based on the managers’ point of view, the reform plan was able to achieve its primary goals; however, it could not meet their exceptions in improving the society health status. Therefore, it is necessary to design some interventions for changing this perception. Keywords: Healthcare Reform, Managers, Teaching Hospital