Flood vulnerability and resilience: Exploring the factors that influence flooding in Sarawak

Flooding is the most common natural disaster in Malaysia, resulting in chaos and disruptions to social and economic activities, damage to roads and railway tracks, vehicles, affecting the level of properties, loss of life, and rise in vulnerability. In addition to natural causes, floods are mainly attributed to continuous heavy rainfall, rapid development, unplanned urbanization, poor drainage system, and environmental degradation. This annual occurrence of floods has given a big impact on the lives of humans and other living beings. Due to the negative impact of floods, we need to pay serious attention and take alternative ways to reduce this disaster. This study aimed to investigate the vulnerability factors and understand the concept of vulnerability and resilience to manage floods in Sarawak. The researcher primarily focused on reviewing the printed and documented material of disasters in order to find the vulnerability factors. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that nature, human, and governance factors, contributed mostly to floods. The present study shows that vulnerability reduction along with emergency preparedness can reduce flood damages and fatalities. The innovative technologies must have to be considered to reduce vulnerability and build resilience for sustainable disaster risk reduction

Pengaruh Peningkatan Tween 20 Sebagaisurfaktan Terhadapkarakteristik Dan Kestabilan Fisik Sediaanselfnanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System (Snedds) Simvastatin

SARI Simvastatin merupakan golongan obat BCS (Biopharmaceutics Classification System) kelas II dengan efek anti kolesterol.Simvastatin memiliki permeabilitas yang baik didalam saluran cerna, namun kelarutannya buruk didalam air.Beberapa sediaan dibuat untuk membantu kelarutan simvastatin, salah satunya adalah SNEDDS (Self Nano-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System) adalah sediaan yang dapat membentuk nanoemulsi dalam tubuh, setelah SNEDDS dikonsumsi oleh pasien.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh peningkatan jumlah tween 20 sebagai surfaktan terhadap karakteristik fisik, kestabilan fisik, dan perbedaan pelepasan obat SNEDDS simvastatin dibandingkan dengan kapsul konvensional. Serta mengetahui konsentrasi efektif surfaktan untuk membentuk formula SNEDDS simvastatin. SNEDDS dibuat dengan perbandingan minyak, kosurfaktan dan surfaktan 1:1:4; 1:1:5; 1:1:6; 1:1:7 dan 1:1:8. Data yang diperoleh dari hasil uji karakteristik fisik dan hasil pelepasan obat dianalisa menggunakan SPSS dengan taraf kepercayaan 95%, untuk melihat adakah perbedaan hasil dari peningkatan konsentrasi surfaktan yang digunakan.Komponen SNEDDS yang digunakan Isopropyl Myristat Oil (IPM) sebagai minyak, propilenglikol sebagai kosurfaktan dan tween 20 sebagai surfaktan.Hasil yang diperoleh menyimpulkan bahwa dengan peningkatan surfaktan meningkatkan nilai loading drug, emulsification time dan uji transmitan.SNEDDS simvastatin menghasilkan hasil uji pelepasan obat lebih tinggi dibandingkan kapsul simvastatin konvensional.SNEDDS simvastatin menunjukan hasil yang tidak berbeda terhadap kestabilan fisik karena FI-FV setelah cycling test dan uji kestabilan nanoemulsi dalam aquadest, AGF dan AIF tidak mengalami Perubahan atau stabil. Berdasarkan hasil uji karakteristik fisik, kestabilan fisik dan uji pelepasan obat didapatkan formula efektif dengan perbandingan IPM : propilenglikol: tween 20 sebesar 1:1:4

An interactive workshop plus locally adapted guidelines can improve General Practitioners asthma management and knowledge: A cluster randomised trial in the Australian setting

Background A cluster randomised trial was conducted to determine the effectiveness of locally adapted practice guidelines and education about paediatric asthma management, delivered to general practitioners (GPs) in small group interactive workshops. Methods Twenty-nine practices were randomly allocated to one of three study arms. Australian asthma management guidelines were adapted to accommodate characteristics of the local area. GPs in the intervention arm (Group 1, n = 18 GPs) participated in a small group based education program and were provided with the adapted guidelines. One control arm (Group 2, n = 18 GPs) received only the adapted guidelines, while the other control arm (Group 3, n = 15 GPs) received an unrelated education intervention. GPs' knowledge, attitudes and management of paediatric asthma was assessed. Results Post intervention, intervention arm GPs were no more likely to provide a written asthma action plan, but were better able to assess the severity of asthma attack (Group 1vs Group 2 p = 0.05 and Group 1 vs Group 3 p = 0.01), better able to identify patients at high risk of severe attack (Group 1vs Group 3 p = 0.06), and tended to score higher on the asthma knowledge questionnaire (Group 1 vs Group 2 p = 0.06 and Group 1 vs Group 3 p = 0.2). Most intervention arm GPs felt more confident than control GPs to manage acute asthma attack and ongoing management of infrequent episodic asthma. Conclusion Using interactive small group workshops to disseminate locally adapted guidelines was associated with improvement in GP's knowledge and confidence to manage asthma, but did not change GP's self-reported provision of written action plans.Siaw-Teng Liaw, Nabil D Sulaiman, Christopher A Barton, Patty Chondros, Claire A Harris, Susan Sawyer and Shyamali C Dharmag

New Records of the Spider Fauna From Sarawak, Malaysia

SHORT COMMUNICATION New Records of the Spider Fauna from Sarawak, Malaysi

The Role of Entrepreneur-Venture Fit in Online Home-based Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Literature Review

Home-based businesses and their founders represent an important, but under-researched facet of entrepreneurship. Far from being small, hobby-businesses with little economic impact, home-based business make significant contribution to national economies in terms of both turnover and employment. Online home-based businesses have been recognised as an important and distinct sector of the home-based business domain, offering unique opportunity for innovation and business diversity. The paper presents a systematic literature review of extant research on online home-based entrepreneurs and their businesses. The findings of the review are structured and discussed using the theoretical lens of entrepreneur-venture fit. Use of this lens allows the study to bring coherence to previously fragmented extant studies, providing a basis for future research in this domain. The study also develops a novel model of entrepreneur-venture fit in the specific case of online home-based businesses. This allows us to suggest five positive interactions between entrepreneurial and venture characteristics. It also allows us to suggest a number of previously unidentified negative interactions, which may result in entrepreneurs becoming ‘locked-in’ and suffering multiple sources of stress

Invasive Aspergillosis in a Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patient

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with a broad clinicalmanifestation characterized by production of antibodies against cellular nuclear components. The prevalence of SLE among many countries is variable, ranging from 2.9 to 400 per 100,000. In Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, the incidence of SLE between 1990 and 1998 is 37.3 per 10,000 hospitalization.1 Patients with autoimmune disease have at least twofold risk of acquiring infections compared with healthy individuals. This may be due to the immunosuppresant therapy but could also caused by the primary immune dysregulation that was the basis for the pathogenesis of their disease, or other autoimmune disease manifestations such as lymphopenia.2 Infection is the main factor increasing the mortality and morbidity of SLE patients. A study in New York conducted between 1966 and 1976 involving 223 SLE patients reported 150 cases of infection, of which 23 were opportunistic infection: 12 were candidiasis while 11 others were deep fungal infection. The use of corticosteroids in SLE is the main factor that predispose patients to infection, particularly fungal infection.3 Aspergillosis is the term used to denote all disease caused by any one of the pathogenic and allergenic species of Aspergillus. The annual incidence of aspergillosis in the United States is reported to be 1–2 per 100,000.4 Aspergillus fumigatus is the cause of most cases of invasive aspergillosis, almost all cases of chronic aspergillosis, and most allergic syndromes. The mortality rate of invasive aspergillosis is 50% when properly diagnosed and treated; otherwise it could be as high as 100

Invasive Aspergillosis in a Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patient

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with a broad clinicalmanifestation characterized by production of antibodies against cellular nuclear components. The prevalence of SLE among many countries is variable, ranging from 2.9 to 400 per 100,000. In Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, the incidence of SLE between 1990 and 1998 is 37.3 per 10,000 hospitalization.1 Patients with autoimmune disease have at least twofold risk of acquiring infections compared with healthy individuals. This may be due to the immunosuppresant therapy but could also caused by the primary immune dysregulation that was the basis for the pathogenesis of their disease, or other autoimmune disease manifestations such as lymphopenia.2 Infection is the main factor increasing the mortality and morbidity of SLE patients. A study in New York conducted between 1966 and 1976 involving 223 SLE patients reported 150 cases of infection, of which 23 were opportunistic infection: 12 were candidiasis while 11 others were deep fungal infection. The use of corticosteroids in SLE is the main factor that predispose patients to infection, particularly fungal infection.3 Aspergillosis is the term used to denote all disease caused by any one of the pathogenic and allergenic species of Aspergillus. The annual incidence of aspergillosis in the United States is reported to be 1–2 per 100,000.4 Aspergillus fumigatus is the cause of most cases of invasive aspergillosis, almost all cases of chronic aspergillosis, and most allergic syndromes. The mortality rate of invasive aspergillosis is 50% when properly diagnosed and treated; otherwise it could be as high as 100

First-Principles Calculations of Hyperfine Interactions in La_2CuO_4

We present the results of first-principles cluster calculations of the electronic structure of La_2CuO_4. Several clusters containing up to nine copper atoms embedded in a background potential were investigated. Spin-polarized calculations were performed both at the Hartree-Fock level and with density functional methods with generalized gradient corrections to the local density approximation. The distinct results for the electronic structure obtained with these two methods are discussed. The dependence of the electric-field gradients at the Cu and the O sites on the cluster size is studied and the results are compared to experiments. The magnetic hyperfine coupling parameters are carefully examined. Special attention is given to a quantitative determination of on-site and transferred hyperfine fields. We provide a detailed analysis that compares the hyperfine fields obtained for various cluster sizes with results from additional calculations of spin states with different multiplicities. From this we conclude that hyperfine couplings are mainly transferred from nearest neighbor Cu^{2+} ions and that contributions from further distant neighbors are marginal. The mechanisms giving rise to transfer of spin density are worked out. Assuming conventional values for the spin-orbit coupling, the total calculated hyperfine interaction parameters are compared to informations from experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure

Efficacy and safety of blonanserin transdermal patch in patients with schizophrenia: A 6-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study

© 2019 The Authors Background: Blonanserin is a second-generation antipsychotic used for the treatment of schizophrenia. This study determined the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of a blonanserin transdermal patch in patients with acutely exacerbated schizophrenia. Methods: This double-blind, multicenter, phase 3 study consisted of a 1-week observation period during which patients were treated with two patches of placebo, followed by a 6-week double-blind period where patients were randomized (1:1:1) to receive once-daily blonanserin 40 mg, blonanserin 80 mg, or placebo patches. The primary endpoint was the change from baseline in the total Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) score. Safety assessments included treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs). Results: Between December 2014 and October 2018, patients were recruited and randomly assigned to blonanserin 40 mg (n = 196), blonanserin 80 mg (n = 194), or placebo (n = 190); of these, 77.2% completed the study. Compared with placebo, blonanserin significantly improved PANSS total scores at 6 weeks (least square mean [LSM] difference vs placebo: −5.6 with blonanserin 40 mg; 95% confidence interval [CI] −9.6, −1.6; adjusted p = 0.007, and − 10.4 with blonanserin 80 mg; 95% CI −14.4, −6.4; adjusted p \u3c 0.001). Blonanserin was well tolerated; the most common TEAEs reported were application-site erythema and pruritus, akathisia, tremor, and insomnia. Conclusions: Blonanserin transdermal patch improved the symptoms of acute schizophrenia with acceptable tolerability

Impact of financial inclusion in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of reviews

Financial inclusion programmes seek to increase access to financial services such as credit, savings, insurance and money transfers and so allow poor and low-income households in low- and middle-income countries to enhance their welfare, grasp opportunities, mitigate shocks, and ultimately escape poverty. This systematic review of reviews assesses the evidence on economic, social, behavioural and gender-related outcomes from financial inclusion. It collects and appraises all of the existing meta-studies - that is systematic reviews and meta-analyses - of the impact of financial inclusion. The authors first analyse the strength of the methods used in those meta-studies, then synthesise the findings from those that are of a sufficient quality, and finally, report the implications for policy, programming, practice and further research arising from the evidence. Eleven studies are included in the analysis