Superficial venous patterns of the cubital fossa among volunteers from Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Introduction Cubital fossa is a space in anterior to the elbow which contains important vessels and nerves in the arm. Superficial veins of cubital fossa are commonly used for blood sampling, transfusions and for intravenous injections often under conditions of emergency. These veins are useful in arteriovenous fistula creation for hemodialysis. Besides that, they are used for creation of forearm flaps in plastic surgery. The arrangement of the superficial veins in the cubital fossa however is subjected to considerable variation. Different patterns of superficial cubital veins and their percentages of occurrence have been reported in various races. This prospective study among Malaysians from three races (Malays, Chinese and Indians) was planned since the superficial veins in the cubital fossa are important clinically and their arrangements are subject to racial variation. Objectives The aim of the study is to observe and describe the distribution of anatomical variations of the superficial veins of the cubital fossa among Malay, Chinese and Indian volunteers from Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Methodology and Study Design The study is designed as a descriptive cross-sectional survey involving a simple examination of the superficial veins of cubital fossa among volunteers from Hospital Kuala Lumpur. My sample is composed of three hundred volunteers from three major ethnicities Malays, Chinese and Indians aged from eighteen and above. I, myself performed the duplex ultrasound assessment with the guidance from my supervisors in the vascular unit HKL. The patterns of the veins were drawn onto a survey form. Results Based on my analysis, the commonest type of anastomosis seen was type 1 in both genders with female having 33.3% and male having 34.0% on the right cubital fossa and 32.0% in female and 34.0% in male on the left cubital fossa. Type 1 was the commonest among Malays and Indians. It was 40.0% and 37.0% of right and left cubital fossa in Malays. Indians meanwhile had 36.0% and 41.0% on the right and left cubital fossa. While in Chinese type 3 of anastomosis observed the most. It was 38.0% and 40.0% on right and left cubital fossa. The mixed type combination on both right and left cubital fossa was the highest prevalence in all 3 major ethnicities. There was no significant difference between gender and patterns but there was a significant difference in between ethnicities and patterns of cubital fossa. Conclusion Superficial veins of cubital fossa have their clinical importance. The understanding of patterns in genders, ethnicities and combination patterns of both cubital fossas will assist in clinical procedures. Duplex ultrasound has provided a great understanding of the anatomy of superficial veins of cubital fossa

Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence of Gold Nanoparticle and Quantum Dot Incorporated Silica Nanoparticle Aggregates

The enhancement of fluorescence intensity due to the proximity of metal nanoparticles is of great interest in enabling the detection of low concentration biomarkers. Although the recent developments in the optical sensor techniques pushed the sensitivity to the single-molecular detection, there is still an immense need for smaller and brighter sensor probes. Metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) is a promising strategy to amplify the signal from fluorophores by coupling to metal nanoparticles and significantly improve the potential of fluorescence based technology in bioapplications. Gold nanoparticles are known for their ability to manipulate the incident light and generate a localized charge density oscillation called surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The concentrated electric field created around the metal surface by the SPR can dramatically increase the fluorescence brightness of nearby fluorophores by opening up additional excitation and emission pathways. Our research goal is to develop a solution based approach to study the metal-enhanced fluorescence by aggregating metal and fluorophore nanoparticles using organic linker molecules, which would ultimately lead to the ultra-bright fluorescent probes. In the first part of our research, monodisperse gold nanoparticles (GNPs) of various diameters (15 - 60 nm) were synthesized using citrate reduction method and their photophysical properties were analyzed. The GNPs absorb and scatter in the visible light region with λmax between 515-545 nm. The place exchange efficacies of thiol and disulfide based hydrophobic ligand to replace water stabilizing citrate ions on the GNP surface were investigated. The amount of surface modified gold nanoparticles phase transferred from the aqueous to organic phase was measured using absorption spectroscopy to determine the efficacy of the place exchange. It took about 1 mM of 1,2-didodecyldisulfide to phase transfer 89% of GNPs. The surface plasmon resonances of nearby GNPs can combine to generate even more concentrated electric field at their interparticle gap and the phenomenon is called plasmon coupling. This would cause a red-shift of absorbance band for the aggregated GNPs. We used this red shift in absorbance spectra to monitor the aggregation of gold nanoparticles. We developed a method of organic molecules mediated GNP aggregation in aqueous solution. We synthesized alkane chain ligand with amine and disulfide terminal groups to coat on GNPs’ surface and promote GNP aggregation by spontaneous or photo triggered activation of dithiocarbamate (DTC) moiety. The DTC mediated robust aggregates of GNP caused a red shift of absorbance peak from ~530 nm to beyond 580 nm. This red shifted scattering component of GNP aggregates can also be used to enhance the fluorescence brightness of the fluorophores placed in the interparticle gap. Quantum dots (QDs) are fluorescent semiconductors with high photostability, high quantum efficiency and size tunable emission. They are attractive alternatives to the common organic dyes as the QDs have a broad excitation band and a narrow emission band. Since the MEF depends on the degree of spectral overlap between the metal and fluorophore, QDs with tunable emission would best fit for the study of MEF. Therefore, in the second part of our research we focused on synthesizing various size CdSe quantum dots cores (diameter 2.6 – 4.6 nm) and coated them with ZnS shell (overall diameter 7 nm) to create a highly stable and bright CdSe-ZnS core-shell QDs. In order to introduce water compatibility to the QDs, we developed a silica scaffold to encapsulate the CdSe-ZnS core. We produced different size silica nanoparticles (diameter 35 nm and 100 nm) by varying the thickness of the silica shell around the QD core in order to study the metal-fluorophore distance dependency of MEF. The silica nanoparticles were surface functionalized with various ligands containing dithiocarbamate terminal that have preferential affinity to gold surface to produce silica-gold heteroaggregation. In the last part of our research we investigated the effect of size and concentration of silica and gold nanoparticle on the fluorescence enhancement. We were able to achieve a notable 3-fold fluorescence enhancement from the dithiocarbamate mediated heteroaggregates of 25 nm diameter gold nanoparticles and 100 nm diameter QD-doped-silica nanoparticles in aqueous solution. TEM images verified that the heteroaggregates of GNP and QD-doped-SiNP were enabled by the organic linker ligands. The excitation and emission spectra indicated that the fluorescence enhancement was due to the aggregation of multiple GNP around the SiNPs. The effect of different binding methods of gold to silica on MEF was investigated. The construction and the controlled aggregation of functionalized gold and fluorophore-doped-silica nanoparticles would give an opportunity to advance the field of fluorescence based sensors. Our focus has been to take advantage of the fine-tuned synthetic control to synergize the special optical properties of the gold nanoparticles and quantum dots in a solution based approach to study MEF

PREDICTIVE TIME MODEL OF AN ANGLIA AUTOFLOW MECHANICAL CHICKEN CATCHING SYSTEM

In this project, a predictive time model was developed for an Anglia Autoflow mechanical chicken catching system. At the completion of poultry growout, hand labor is currently used to collect the birds from the house, although some integrators are beginning to incorporate mechanical catching equipment. Several regression models were investigated with the objective of predicting the time taken to catch the chicken. A regression model relating distance to total time (sum of packing time, catching time, movement to catching and movement to packing) provided the best performance. The model was based on data collected from poultry farms on the Delmarva Peninsula during a six-month period. Statistical Analysis System (SAS) and NeuroShell Easy Predictor were used to build the regression and neural network models respectively. Model adequacy was established by both visual inspection and statistical techniques. The models were validated with experimental results not incorporated into the initial model.Livestock Production/Industries,

A new framework to alleviate DDoS vulnerabilities in cloud computing

In the communication age, the Internet has growing very fast and most industries rely on it. An essential part of Internet, Web applications like online booking, e-banking, online shopping, and e-learning plays a vital role in everyday life. Enhancements have been made in this domain, in which the web servers depend on cloud location for resources. Many organizations around the world change their operations and data storage from local to cloud platforms for many reasons especially the availability factor. Even though cloud computing is considered a renowned technology, it has many challenges, the most important one is security. One of the major issue in the cloud security is Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS), which results in serious loss if the attack is successful and left unnoticed. This paper focuses on preventing and detecting DDoS attacks in distributed and cloud environment. A new framework has been suggested to alleviate the DDoS attack and to provide availability of cloud resources to its users. The framework introduces three screening tests VISUALCOM, IMGCOM, and AD-IMGCOM to prevent the attack and two queues with certain constraints to detect the attack. The result of our framework shows an improvement and better outcomes and provides a recovered from attack detection with high availability rate. Also, the performance of the queuing model has been analysed

Perspectives on the Pathogenesis and Complications of PE

Preeclampsia is a multisystem disorder characterized by hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. Globally, it is the leading cause of fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Nearly 8–10% of women develop hypertension during pregnancy worldwide. Although the actual pathogenesis of PE has not been fully understood, the only cure for the disease is delivery. So, the growing evidence suggests that improper spiral artery remodeling creates placental hypoxia and leads to altered immune response followed by endothelial dysfunction, the release of angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors, and various other vasoactive factors into the maternal circulation. Reliable biochemical markers are needed for the diagnosis of PE at the earliest. MMPs are differentially expressed as a result of the trophoblast invasion’s distinct temporal features. Early in the gestational period, MMPs create the conditions for the ensuing incursion to the placental bed. Endothelial dysfunction is the cause of the clinical sign of the mother such as impairment of the hepatic endothelium causing the HELLP syndrome to develop, impairment of the cerebral endothelium causing refractory neurological problems, or even eclampsia. Also, this chapter reveals the various maternal consequences like HELLP syndrome, Seizure, future cardiovascular events, and end-organ dysfunction; fetal complications include premature delivery, respiratory distress, IUGR, etc

Pengetahuan dan amalan perlindungan pengguna Facebook wanita terhadap penipuan cinta di Malaysia

Penipuan cinta dalam talian atau love scam merupakan satu bentuk jenayah komersial iaitu penjenayah menjalinkan hubungan cinta palsu dengan wanita demi menipu dan mengaut keuntungan daripada mangsa dalam bentuk wang atau seksual. Pelbagai medium siber digunapakai oleh penjenayah untuk mendekati mangsa sasaran; dan media sosial seperti Facebook merupakan salah satu platform yang sering digunapakai. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji pengetahuan dan amalan perlindungan terhadap penipuan cinta dalam kalangan pengguna Facebook wanita di Malaysia. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif iaitu kaedah tinjauan dengan menggunakan soal selidik. Seramai 609 pengguna Facebook wanita di Malaysia telah direkrut dalam kajian ini dengan menggunakan teknik persampelan bertujuan. Analisis setiap item untuk domain pengetahuan dan amalan perlindungan menunjukkan wujudnya kepelbagaian respon daripada kalangan responden. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa kebanyakan wanita mempunyai tahap pengetahuan dan amalan perlindungan yang tinggi terhadap jenayah penipuan cinta. Analisis korelasi Pearson juga menunjukkan hubungan yang positif dan signifikan (r = 0.30, p < 0.05) antara pengetahuan dan amalan perlindungan terhadap penipuan cinta. Ujian perbandingan skor min tahap pengetahuan dan amalan perlindungan terhadap penipuan cinta mendapati bahawa tidak ada perbezaan signifikan berdasarkan wanita yang pernah dan tidak pernah menjadi mangsa penipuan cinta sebelum ini tetapi didapati berbeza berdasarkan sejarah rakan, kenalan atau ahli keluarga yang pernah menjadi mangsa dengan tidak pernah menjadi mangsa dalam penipuan cinta sebelum ini. Dapatan kajian ini mampu menjadi satu aras tanda bagi mengukur dan memantau tahap pengetahuan dan amalan perlindungan terhadap penipuan cinta dalam kalangan pengguna media sosial wanita di Malaysia

Techniques of Using Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells as the Cellular System to Investigate How of the Bovine Species (Indian Zebu-Jersey Crossbreds) Responds to <em>in vitro</em> Thermal Stress Stimulation (Thermal Assault/Heat Shock)

Animal production is negatively impacted by global warming and is subject to serious consequences for livestock production systems. In order to understand how PBMCs of Indian Zebu-Jersey crossbreds respond to various levels and durations of thermal assault and heat shock, in this chapter we will discuss techniques involving in vitro thermal stress stimulation (TSS) to stimulate bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) under various thermal assault conditions (TACs), including normal to extreme temperatures and varying durations of thermal exposure (DTEs). The consequences of thermal stress on bovine species can be lessened and managed with an understanding of how PBMCs as a cellular system respond to in vitro heat shock and thermal assault. To learn more about how Indian Zebu-Jersey crossbreds respond to in vitro thermal conditions, it may also be possible to explore the relationship between the decrease in PBMCs count during in vitro TSS and the expression of the heat shock protein genes (HSPs) such as HSPs 70 and 90 genes. This will be exploited to discover how Indian Zebu-Jersey crossbreds respond in vivo to diverse environmental thermal conditions and will further enable in vivo understanding of the potential for thermotolerance in bovine species for better adaptability, survival, and production performance

Enhanced SARS-CoV-2-Specific CD4+ T Cell Activation and Multifunctionality in Late Convalescent COVID-19 Individuals

Background: Examination of CD4(+) T cell responses during the natural course of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection offers useful information for the improvement of vaccination strategies against this virus and the protective effect of these T cells. Methods: We characterized the SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4(+) T cell activation marker, multifunctional cytokine and cytotoxic marker expression in recovered coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) individuals. Results: CD4(+) T-cell responses in late convalescent (>6 months of diagnosis) individuals are characterized by elevated frequencies of activated as well as mono, dual- and multi-functional Th1 and Th17 CD4(+) T cells in comparison to early convalescent (<1 month of diagnosis) individuals following stimulation with SARS-CoV-2-specific antigens. Similarly, the frequencies of cytotoxic marker expressing CD4(+) T cells were also enhanced in late convalescent compared to early convalescent individuals. Conclusion: Our findings from a low-to middle-income country suggest protective adaptive immune responses following natural infection of SARS-CoV-2 are elevated even at six months following initial symptoms, indicating the CD4(+) T cell mediated immune protection lasts for six months or more in natural infection