Scarf Pin Inhalation in Young Girls: Atypical Type of Foreign Body Inhalation

Background: To study the causes and pattern of scarf pin inhalation in young girls Methods: In this descriptive study patients, with a history of scarf pin inhalation, were included. A detailed history of onset, duration and time between inhalation and presentation to hospital was taken. Comprehensive physical examination was carried out in all patients to recognize any cardio respiratory complications. The precise anatomical location and position of the pin was determined by chest x-ray. All the procedures were performed under general anaesthesia after proper preoperative assessment. Bronchoscope was introduced by classic technique under standard anaesthetic monitoring assisted ventilation. The scarf pin was visualized and retrieved by grasping forceps of appropriate length and design. Repeat rigid bronchoscopy was done, where required. Chest x-ray was repeated in all patients to see any complications. Patients were discharged in stable condition after 24 of surgery. Results: Total 33 female patients were included in study with history of pin inhalation. Mean age (years) in the study was 16.74+2 ranging in age from 12 to 30 years. The most frequent presenting complaints were cough and foreign body sensation in throat. Out of 33 cases, 12(36.36%) were in left main bronchus, 8 (24.24%) were in right main bronchus and 6 (18.18%) scarf pin were impacted in trachea. Conclusion: Scarf pin inhalation is a life threatening condition which is more common in muslim females due to hijab. Scarf pin inhalation in females can be prevented by increasing public awareness, prohibiting them from placing pin in their mout

Examining the pulse of the tourism industry in the Asia-Pacific region: a systematic review of social media

Purpose – Social media continues to be the major influencer in the lives of the millennial and generation-z in many regions of the world; especially in influencing their travel decisions. In order to validate such relationship, a systematic literature review with an end goal of closing the current gaps in knowledge with regard to the impact of social media on tourism in the Asia-Pacific region has been conducted. Design/Methodology – We performed a systematic search of relevant literature through various databases including Scopus, ScienceDirect and ProQuest. In total, 25 articles were taken into consideration in which the review protocol made use of specific techniques such as PRISMA. Approach – We conceptualized the differences and similarities in the Asia-Pacific tourism industry influenced by social media. Findings – As a contribution to knowledge and practice, we found that the usage of social media for tourism marketing purposes is strongly correlated to the tourism industry in many countries of the APAC region. However, it has not yet been generalized as a popular tool in other nations in the region. Originality of the research – This study provides practical and future recommendations concerning the influence of social media in the Asia-Pacific context that has become increasingly popular. Asia-Pacific governments need to introduce social media inclusive tourism marketing to capture the full potential of their tourism industry

Prophylaxis of DVT with enoxaparin in patients undergoing total knee replacement

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the low molecular weight heparin as prophylaxis against thromboembolism following total knee replacement surgery.Methods: Post-operative bilateral lower extremity colour duplex scan was performed on 55 patients subjected to total knew arthroplasty. The scan was performed 7 days after surgery for detection of DVT. All patients were given Enoxaparin 40mg subcutaneous daily for 2 weeks as prophylaxis against DVT.Results: Two patients were diagnosed as DVT by color duplex scanning and both were distal but only one was asymptomatic. Another patient developed pulmonary embolism and died subsequently. The major and minor wound problems were seen in two and six patients respectively; nearly all complications were seen in obese patients.Conclusion: DVT is not a nonexistent entity in our population. Low molecular weight heparins are safe drugs but apparently the bleeding complications are more as compared to Western literature. Larger case control studies are required to determine the true efficacy and safety of LMWH

Autoclaved tumor bone for reconstruction: An alternative in developing countries

The options for reconstruction after excision of skeletal tumors include reimplanting the autoclaved tumor-bearing bone. We asked whether such bone will survive and unite with normal bone and whether the local tumor recurrence rate increases after its use. We ascertained the functional outcome (Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score) and complications in 19 patients. After wide excision, the bony segment was autoclaved at 120 degrees for 10 minutes and reimplanted at the original defect with intramedullary nails and compression plates. Twelve of our 19 patients were available for followup. The autoclaved segment united with the normal bone in 11 of the 12 patients. No patients had fracture or resorption of the autoclaved segment. Two patients had local tumor recurrence in nearby soft tissues, apparently unrelated to the autoclaved bone. The mean functional score was 70%. Complications included fatigue failure of the nail in one patient, superficial infection in three patients, and deep infection in two patients. Reconstruction with autoclaved tumor-bearing bone is a simple and effective tool in limb salvage. This technique is a cost-effective alternative for developing countries circumventing complications of prosthetic and allograft reconstruction

Musculoskeletal tumours throughout history and beyond: Clinical features, imaging, staging and biopsy

Background: Over the last century, there has been a remarkable development in the study of bone and soft tissue sarcomas. This is primarily due to the improved knowledge of the nature of these lesions and the improved imaging technology. In literature there are many protocols that are being used and all of them have reported various advantages and disadvantages of each technique used. However, there is no set guideline and whatever has been proposed has been developed on the basis of the experience of different centres and different surgeons.Objective: The current systematic review was planned to thoroughly evaluate the levels of evidence on which we base decisions for surgical management of lower extremity bone tumours.Methods: The review included descriptive studies published in the English language. Studies included case reports, case series and experiences of different centres for the surgical management of lower extremity bone tumours. Articles reporting all levels of evidence - Level I to V - were included. PubMed, ERIC, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Reviews databases from 2002 to 2012 were searched.Results: Information was gathered and thoroughly studied from 63 articles. There were no Level I studies, 2(3.2%) Level II studies, 47(74.6%) Level III, and the remaining 14(22.2%) studies were Level IV and Level V

Exploring the role of sentiments in identification of active and influential bloggers

The social Web provides opportunities for the public to have social interactions and online discussions. A large number of online users using the social web sites create a high volume of data. This leads to the emergence of Big Data, which focuses on computational analysis of data to reveal patterns, and associations relating to human interactions. Such analyses have vast applications in various fields such as understanding human behaviors, studying culture influence, and promoting online marketing. The blogs are one of the social web channels that offer a way to discuss various topics. Finding the top bloggers has been a major research problem in the research domain of the social web and big data. Various models and metrics have been proposed to find important blog users in the blogosphere community. In this work, first find the sentiment of blog posts, then we find the active and influential bloggers. Then, we compute various measures to explore the correlation between the sentiment and active as well as bloggers who have impact on other bloggers in online communities. Data computed using the real world blog data reveal that the sentiment is an important factor and should be considered as a feature for finding top bloggers. Sentiment analysis helps to understand how it affects human behaviors

Exploring the role of sentiments in identification of active and influential bloggers

The social Web provides opportunities for the public to have social interactions and online discussions. A large number of online users using the social web sites create a high volume of data. This leads to the emergence of Big Data, which focuses on computational analysis of data to reveal patterns, and associations relating to human interactions. Such analyses have vast applications in various fields such as understanding human behaviors, studying culture influence, and promoting online marketing. The blogs are one of the social web channels that offer a way to discuss various topics. Finding the top bloggers has been a major research problem in the research domain of the social web and big data. Various models and metrics have been proposed to find important blog users in the blogosphere community. In this work, first find the sentiment of blog posts, then we find the active and influential bloggers. Then, we compute various measures to explore the correlation between the sentiment and active as well as bloggers who have impact on other bloggers in online communities. Data computed using the real world blog data reveal that the sentiment is an important factor and should be considered as a feature for finding top bloggers. Sentiment analysis helps to understand how it affects human behaviors

Towards A Generic, Service-Oriented Framework for Distributed Real-Time Systems

REACTION 2012. 1st International workshop on Real-time and distributed computing in emerging applications. December 4th, 2012, San Juan, Puerto Rico.Continuously increasing complexity and scale of distributed real-time systems have exposed the limitations of their existing development methodologies. This fact is evident by the unsustainable rate of increase in the development and maintenance costs of such systems. In this paper, we present a generic, service-oriented framework for distributed real-time systems. The proposed framework can potentially serve as the basis for a widely applicable, cross-domain toolset, thus, decreasing the development and maintenance costs for distributed real-time systems. The proposed framework consists of a generic, service-oriented deployment platform that abstracts away the details of implementation platform and an associated development methodology. The proposed framework makes extensive use of the existing service-oriented technologies such as Web Services. However, it also extends these technologies for application to distributed real-time systems by introducing QoS-aware service deployment and service monitoring phases. This paper presents the details of the proposed framework as well as a case-study of the application of the proposed framework to the domain of smart gri

Vulnerable road users are at greater risk during ramadan -- results from road traffic surveillance data.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To assess how the frequency, nature and outcome of road traffic crashes differ during the fasting month of Ramadan. METHODS: The retrospective study was conducted in Karachi and comprised data from the Road Traffic Injury Surveillance Project which entailed information on all road traffic injury victims presenting to Emergency Departments in the city between September 2006 and September 2011. Data was analysed to find the frequency of road traffic crashes according to time of incident, road user group and survival. Ramadan and Non-Ramadan groups were compared with respect to time and frequency of incidents, road user group and mortality. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There were 163,022 subjects from whom 13,640(8.36%) came during Ramadan and 149,382 (91.6%) during the non-Ramadan months. Frequency of road traffic crashes did not change significantly during Ramadan, but was clustered around the breaking of Fast and the Taravih prayers. The most commonly affected road user group was motorbike riders followed by pedestrians. Overall survival of the RTI victims was 96.1% with a mortality rate of 4.1% which was higher than the figure of 3.5% in the non-Ramadan period. CONCLUSIONS: Vulnerable road users were more frequently involved in road traffic injuries during Ramadan. Moreover, the frequency of crashes increased around evening which requires more careful planning of traffic controls, especially for the vulnerable road users