15 research outputs found
Re-mend: An accessible modular system for co-creation of customized clothing that caters to a wheelchair user’s personal style and fit.
“Clothing is a language we wear on our bodies, telling the world our story, our values and our sense of self” Wheelchair User. 11.1% of the United States population has mobility difficulties and the number is expected to rise in the coming years (CDC) yet they are unable to find clothing that addresses their style and needs. The study\u27s focus is on understanding the clothing needs and preferences of people with seated ability, an important step towards inclusivity in the fashion industry. People with seated ability face challenges in finding clothing that addresses both their functional and personal fashion language, hence highlighting the need for tailored and customizable solutions. The co-creation design approach, coupled with qualitative research methods, user journeys, and sharing pictures of ill-fitting clothing, proved to be a powerful and insightful process for designing a customizable clothing solution for people in wheelchairs. This led to Re-mend, a modular service model system for co-creation of customized clothing by leveraging community skills to make clothing functional, fashionable, and accessible. This approach has the potential to provide a more efficient and personalized service and to improve the quality of life of people in wheelchairs. Keywords : Adaptation, Wheelchair users, Customization, Clothing, measurements, co-creation model, modular system, style, fit, adaptive clothin
Frequency of Acute and Late Reaction of Non-Ionic Iodinated Contrast Media in Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography
Introduction: A contrast agent is a substance used to increase the contrast of structures or fluids within the body in medical imaging. Contrast agents absorb or alter external electromagnetism or ultrasound, and enhance the radio density in a target tissue or structure. Contrast agents are commonly used to improve the visibility of blood vessels and the gastrointestinal tract. Several types of contrast agent are in use in medical imaging and they can roughly be classified based on the imaging modalities where they are used and the purposes of this study to find out the frequency of adverse reactions of non-ionic iodinated contrast media in contrast enhanced Computed Tomography. Material Methods: It was cross-sectional observational study conducted on 133 patients who visited Al-Razi healthcare hospital, Lahore for a CT (computed Tomography) scan. 36 of them got adverse reactions to the non-ionic contrast media. The frequency of adverse reactions happening with the non-ionic contrast usage was determinedResults: In this study, one hundred and thirty-three patients who fulfilled the criteria were included in the study. 36 of the patients had adverse reactions to the non-ionic contrast media which included shivering, fatigue, headache, nausea and rashes. All of the patients had no previous history of allergies or contrast reactions. The mean age of patients ranged from 51.49 ± 16.19years. Conclusion: In conclusion, the use of non-ionic contrast media as a CT contrast agent has a safety profile. It is concluded that a non-ionic iodinated contrast media reaction rarely results in long-term sequelae as it is less severe and easily treatable. Keywords: Non-Ionic Iodine Contrast Media, Computed Tomography, Adverse Reactions DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/88-05 Publication date: April 30th 202
5 Years Mortality of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury during the Establishment of Closed System Neurocritical Care Unit in a Resource Constrained Developing Country
Background & Objectives: Severe traumatic brain injury is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity.Efficient management of severe traumatic brain injury demands a specialty driven focused intensive care. We developed our model of closed ICU driven by Neurosurgical Neurointensivist and the corollary to thiscommitment is a TBI patient centered Neurocritical care with the capacity and capability to deal with most of the neurological illnesses.Materials & Methods: A prospective study was conducted to find out the impact of the establishment of closed system of neurocritical care on 5 year mortality of severe TBI. Total 1288 patients met the inclusion criteria, which were enrolled. Tabulation was done for gender, age range, Glasgow outcome scale and mortality.Results: It was observed that mortality reduced from 47% to 35% over a span of five years. The most common age range was 30-40 years, which is the most productive group of any population. Bed sore incidence is always on rise in any ICU. After the implementation of SOPs based management and increase in nursing staff theincidence of bedsore also showed a detrimental pattern from 35 % to 19%.Conclusion: Neurocritical care unit is proven to be an integral part of any neurosurgical unit and this closed system of NCC unit provide best SOP based care with significant reduction in mortality of patients with STBI
Evaluation of Cervical Disc Degeneration in Patients with Neck Pain on Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Background: Cervical disc degeneration is the most common pathology that in most of the cases clinically present as Objective: To evaluate the cervical region abnormalities in patients with neck pain on magnetic resonance imaging. Methodology: In this descriptive study 180 adult patients were included. All patients had been collected from DHQ hospital Gilgit and Ghurki Trust teaching hospital. After informed consent, data were collected through 1.5 tesla GE (closed bore) and 0.35 tesla Hitachi (open bore) MRI machines. Results: Findings show that among 180 adult patients, 136 presented with disc degeneration among which 81 were males and 55 were females. Among 81 males, 63 had disc degeneration at multiple levels while 18 had single disc degeneration. In females 35 patients showed multiple disc degeneration while 20 involved a single disc. Conclusion: It is concluded that disc degeneration is prevalent in males than females. Disc degeneration at multiple levels is higher than single disc degeneration in both genders. Keywords: Disc degeneration, magnetic resonance imaging. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/99-03 Publication date: April 30th 2022
Evaluating the Frequency of Sciatica on Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Lower Back Pain
Sciatica refers to pain affecting the back, hip, and outer side of the leg, caused by compression of a spinal nerve root in the lower back often owing to degeneration of an intervertebral disc. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of sciatica in patients with lower back pain using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Data was collected by filling the predesign questionnaire. Information for filling the questionnaire was taken by reports of MRI scan for backache. Patients were presented with multiple symptoms out of which 4 (5.6%) patients presented with history of trauma. 37 (59.7%) patients represented with the history pain radiating to one or both legs. 27 (43.50%) patients showed disc bulge. 40 (64.50%) patients showed stenosis in nerve root (L4-S1) and 40 (64.50%) patients were diagnosed with sciatica. Careful assessment of risk factors in patients with lower back pain using MRI could help in prevention of several spinal diseases. Being an important diagnostic tool in diagnosis of sciatica MRI may provide significant prognostic information of the disease. Keywords: Stenosis, Disc Bulge. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/80-03 Publication date:September 30th 202
Computational prediction of a phage cocktail active against multidrug-resistant bacteria [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]
BackgroundAntibiotic misuse and overuse have contributed to the emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria, posing a serious public health problem across the globe. Phage cocktails, which combine multiple phages, provide an efficient method to combat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. This study integrated a computational pipeline to design a phage cocktail against the bacterial strains Acinetobacter baumannii AB0057, Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae HS11286, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa UCBPP-PA14.MethodsThe whole genome sequences of selected multidrug-resistant bacteria were accessed. Prophage sequences were identified from them which could be expressed to produce viable lytic phages against MDR bacterial strains, thereby reducing the severity of infection. Prophages were annotated for open reading frames (ORFs), putative promoters, virulence factors, transcriptional terminators, ribosomal RNAs, and transfer RNAs. A dot plot was also generated to investigate similar phages and phylogenetic analysis was performed.ResultsA total of 11 prophages were predicted from the bacterial genomes. About 472 open reading frames were predicted along with 3 transfer RNAs. Additionally, the presence of 754 putative promoters and 281 transcription terminator sequences was also detected. Comparative genomic and phylogenetic analyses provided insight into the diversity, relatedness, and lytic potential of the phages. The final designed phage cocktail consisted of five selected prophages including Acinetobacter baumannii prophages (2759376-2809756) and (3311844-3364667), and Klebsiella pneumoniae prophages (1288317-1338719), (1778306-1808606), and (2280703-2325555).ConclusionThe phage cocktail designed in this study might be useful against MDR Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae infections, especially where conventional antibiotics fail. Sequence similarity analysis suggested that the phage cocktail may also be effective against other carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae strains
Policy research institutions and the health SDGs : building momentum in South Asia - Pakistan country study
Taking into account health related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for Pakistan, efforts are required beyond providing medical services. A multi-sectoral approach necessitates the inclusion of wider social services. Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) along with other collaborating organizations is working to map and contextualize stakeholder roles, their relations, and as well, the extent of their involvement in SDG implementation and monitoring. This analysis aims to facilitate better understanding of the existing institutional framework and what needs to be created for accelerating progress towards health related SDGs
Impact of Psychopathy and Narcissism on Employees’ Adverse Outcomes: A Perspective of Ethical Climate Theory and Threatened-Egotism Model
This study examines the impact of psychopathic and narcissist personalities on employees' adverse outcomes. Additionally, this study investigates the intervening mechanism of workplace incivility among the relationship between psychopathic and narcissist personalities and adverse outcomes. Furthermore, the interactive impact of Islamic work values was also tested between the association of workplace incivility and adverse outcomes. Using the purposive sampling technique, data was collected through a survey method from 404 permanent employees of a public sector organization in two different time lags. PROCESS-macro was used to test indirect, interactive, and moderated mediation effects. The findings of this study confirm the direct effect relationship between that psychopathic and narcissist personalities and employees’ adverse outcomes. Further, this study confirms that workplace incivility indirectly enhances the adverse outcomes of employees. Finally, the study findings revealed that a higher level of Islamic work values reduces the adverse outcomes of the employees having psychopathic and narcissistic personality characteristics. We also tested moderated mediation model, which disclosed that a higher level of Islamic work values reduces the negativity level of psychopathic personalities that further decreases the level of counterproductive work behaviors via workplace incivility. However, there was no moderating role of Islamic work values to reduce narcissist personalities' negativity levels and reduce counterproductive work behaviors via workplace incivility. The present study by providing information to the management of the public sector organizations on how they can overcome the negative behaviors and outcomes of their workforce through the implementation of the Islamic ethical system. This attempt contributed to ethical climate theory and threatened the egotism model by explaining that negative personality traits predict uncivil behaviors, which further lead to adverse outcomes. This study further contributes that the ethical climate of the organization helps the individuals to overcome the negativity of their personality and negative behaviors as well
Mouse IgG2a Antibodies Specific for the Commensal Streptococcus mitis Show Stronger Cross-Reactivity with Streptococcus pneumoniae than IgG1 Antibodies
Here we show that mouse IgG2a and IgG1 antibodies specific for the commensal Streptococcus mitis cross-react with pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes 2 and 4, although the cross-reactivity conferred by IgG2a is stronger than that by IgG1 antibodies. These findings may be important for understanding the S. mitis-induced IgG isotype responses and have consequences for the development of an effective pneumococcal vaccine
Effectiveness of Home-Based Administration of Ready to Use Therapeutic Formula (RUTF) in the Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)
Objective: To evaluate the growth of children with uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) treated with Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Formula (RUTF) on an outpatient department basis.
Methodology: This prospective observational study was conducted on 66 children at the Outpatient setting of the MCH Centre, Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan, from January 2023 to June 2023, after approval from the hospital’s ethical committee. Children aged 6-59 months suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) were selected for nutritional rehabilitation with Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Formula (RUTF) after meeting the selection criteria defined by WHO. RUTF is a nutrient mixture formulated primarily for the therapy of severe acute malnutrition without complications.
Results: The mean age of patients was 16.98±6.12 months. Out of 66 patients, 26 (39.3%) were male, and 40 (60.6%) were female. The mean weight before RUTF treatment was 6.53±1.21 kg, mean Height/Length was 71.65±7.01 cm, mean MUAC was 10.88±0.36 cm, mean BSR was 91.21±2.32 mg/dL, and mean weight after RUTF treatment was 9.17±1.53 kg. There was a significant difference in the weight of children after RUTF treatment (6.53±1.21 vs 9.17±1.53, p=0.0001) with no side effects. The weight increased after treatment with RUTF.
Conclusion: According to WHO recommendations, we conclude that RUTF is helpful in enhancing weight gain in children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition under the age of five.
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