Medical Guide System

Currently, getting access to emergency services and consumer health services requires calling a knowledgeable person on the regular phone or using different self-care techniques for illnesses without consulting a doctor. We are improving and expanding new channels of personal communication to facilitate interaction between emergency users and the emergency service system. Given the widespread use of smart devices in our society, we are developing a web application called "Quick Health" for emergency management, with the main feature of answering a question asked by another party or evaluating a given answer, as well as posting a problem and exchanging ideas with others. Our goal is to define a platform that is totally usable by everyone, regardless of their technological or linguistic proficiency. This paper's main goal is to clarify how to adapt traditional applications to modern web applications by taking into account not only web technologies but also social networking behavior. Keywords - Healthcare Emergency System: Medical Guidance; User Interaction; Web Applications &nbsp

Supressão de plantas daninhas por leguminosas anuais em sistema agroecológico na Pré-Amazônia.

Este trabalho teve por objetivos identificar e avaliar a agressividade potencial das plantas daninhas em um agrossistema com leguminosas herbáceas anuais como cobertura de solo. Foram plantadas, nas ruas de um sistema de aléias de sombreiro ( Clitoria fairchildiana) e no final do período agrícola, as leguminosas mucuna-preta, feijão-guandu, feijão-de-porco e calopogônio, em sistema de blocos ao acaso com cinco repetições. Para estudo da dinâmica da composição florística, avaliaram-se a freqüência, densidade, dominância, similaridade, diversidade de espécies e biomassa das plantas daninhas. Foram identificadas 42 espécies de plantas espontâneas, das quais as mais freqüentes e de maior densidade e dominância foram Leptochoa virgata, Panicumlaxum e Sidasp. Não foram detectadas diferenças significativas para densidade, número de espécies, diversidade e biomassa entre as plantas daninhas emergidas nos quatro tratamentos com leguminosas; nem destas em relação ao controle

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy complicated with apical thrombus formation on first day of the illness: a case report and literature review

Abstract Background Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is characterized by transient systolic dysfunction of the apical and mid segments of the left ventricle in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease. Intraventricular thrombus formation is a rare complication of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and current data almost exclusively consists of isolated case reports and a few case series. Here we describe a case of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy with formation of an apical thrombus within 24 h of symptom onset, which has been reported in the literature only once previously, to the best of our knowledge. We have reviewed the available literature that may aid clinicians in their approach to the condition, since no published guidelines are available. Case presentation A 68-year-old Sri Lankan female presented to a local hospital with chest pain. Electrocardiogram (ECG) showed ST elevation, and antiplatelets, intravenous streptokinase and a high dose statin were administered. Despite this ST elevation persisted; however the coronary angiogram was negative for obstructive coronary artery disease. Echocardiogram revealed hypokinesia of the mid and apical segments of the left ventricle with typical apical ballooning and a sizable apical thrombus. She had recently had a viral infection and was also emotionally distressed as her sister was recently diagnosed with a terminal cancer. A diagnosis of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy was made and anticoagulation was started with heparin and warfarin. The follow up echocardiogram performed 1 week later revealed a small persistent thrombus, which had completely resolved at 3 weeks. Conclusion Though severe systolic dysfunction is observed in almost all the patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, intraventricular thrombus formation on the first day of the illness is rare. The possibility of underdiagnosis of thrombus can be prevented by early echocardiogram in Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. The majority of reports found in the literature review were of cases that had formed an intraventriclar thrombus within the first 2 weeks, emphasizing the importance of follow up echocardiography at least 2 weeks later. The management of a left ventricular thrombus in Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is controversial and in most cases warfarin and heparin were used for a short duration

Physicochemical properties, digestibility and expected glycaemic index of high amylose rice differing in length-width ratio in Sri Lanka

Gelatinization, pasting, digestibility and estimated glycaemic index of six high amylose rice varieties differing in length/width ratio were studied. Amylose content ranged narrowly (27.829.1%). Resistant starch content ranged from 0.44% to 1.4%. In contrast to gelatinisation enthalpy, gelatinisation temperature (GT) ranged narrowly (76.777.4 °C). For all rice varieties, melting temperature of amylose-lipid complex I and II was around 99 °C and 110 °C, respectively. The enthalpy of amylose-lipid complex I and II ranged between 0.180.87 and 0.230.55, respectively. Expected in vitro glycaemic index (GI) of all tested varieties was similar (88.292.4). The results showed that the size of the rice grain (length/width) and resistant starch content had no apparent impact on the GI of high amylose rice. The dominant factors determining the digestibility and glycaemic response of the tested high amylose rice varieties seemed to be amylose content and the GT. Besides the pasting temperature, other pasting properties varied significantly but were not correlated to starch digestibility and estimated GI among the six rice varieties. Thus, RVA pasting properties, except for pasting temperature, may not be good predictors for the GI of these high amylose rice

Vein graphite-based counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

This paper describes the use of ball-milled vein graphite and ball-milled floated graphite counter electrode (CE) materials in dye-sensitized solar cells. The vein graphite used was ball milled, sieved and fraction of particle sizes in the 45-63 pm was used (BMG). Another fraction in the same size range was floated in water to get ball-milled floated graphite (BMFG). Both samples were extensively characterized by electrochemical techniques, Raman spectroscopy and by Total Carbon Analysis. The performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) prepared using these CEs were optimized for their adhesion, sintering temperature and thickness. Best performances were obtained for the DSC with CE prepared using graphite:morphol mass ratio of 5:3, sintering temperature of 350 degrees C and the thickness of 250 mu m. Most of the impurities in ball-milled graphite can be removed by the floating technique and the DSC fabricated with ball-milled floated graphite based CE gives 24% better performance than that constructed using just ball-milled graphite based CE. The best conversion efficiency observed is 6.47%. Though this is less than that obtained using Pt CE, it is still very useful in practical applications as per cost considerations. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved