Nodular Melanoma Mimicking Keratoacanthoma : Lessons to learn

A 67-year-old man of Chinese descent presented with a painless nodular lesion that had been present on his right forearm for the previous 3 months. A single, well-defined, dome-shaped, firm nodule with a central keratin plug surrounded by erythema was noted. Keratoacanthoma with secondary bacterial infection was suspected and the patient underwent an excision biopsy. Biopsy of the nodule and immunohistochemical staining supported a diagnosis of nodular malignant melanoma. It should be noted both that nodular malignant melanoma may present with a wide variety of clinical appearances, and that the lack of melanin pigment in nodular malignant melanoma may hinder the diagnosis of this aggressive tumour

HUMAN CAPITAL IMPACT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE BANKS IN SRI LANKA

The concept of Human Capital (HC) recently received attention from scholars. They hypothesize that HC represents human factor with combined intelligence, expertise and skills of individuals. Human Capital Management is considered as an integrated approach to manage and develop human capabilities thus achieve high performance. Human Capital Management Practices (HCMP), provide with specific competencies that are important to excel best performance in the business world; the war for excellence escalates as the key factor to accomplish the top position among competitors. HC holds transferable characteristics across the jobs, firms or industry. HC has a broad meaning that includes self-generating, expandable, transportable and shareable characteristics that closely linked with the individual economic performance.  Article visualizations

A REVIEW ON HUMAN CAPITAL; TWO PRINCIPAL IDEAS PREDOMINANTLY GENERIC HUMAN CAPITAL AND SPECIFIC HUMAN CAPITAL FOR ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Today the businesses suffer with many complexities. The recent downturns in various economies, saturated business markets, globalized business approaches challenged the traditional organizational designs, approaches and processes. The organizations have realized the importance of Human Capital (HC) to face the business challenges. Those who capable of handling such complexities with HC capabilities will win even with high competition. Scholars highlighted that there are many approaches developed to measure and report human capital. Those organizations that plan, organize, develop, manage and align employee behaviours that shape the real work with HC strategies achieve the Organizational Performance than those who do not. HC includes self-generating, expandable, transportable, and shareable characteristics. The economic value of an organization stands not only on its tangible assets but on intangible assets too whereas HC is considered as an ‘intangible asset’. This paper reviews the impact of HC on Organizational Performance from various critical perspectives. This study revolved how HC concept systematically evolved in intellectual progression encompass with two principal ideas such as Context Generic HC and Context Specific HC. The  cognitive ability of an individual is considered as Context-Generic Human Capital whereas Context-Specific Human Capital of individuals could be measured by the  dimensions such as “value”, “rareness”, “inimitability”. JEL: J20; J24; L25  Article visualizations

Magnetohydrodynamics flow past a moving vertical thin needle in a nanofluid with stability analysis

In this study, we intend to present the dynamics of a system based on the model of convective heat and mass transfer in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) flow past a moving vertical thin needle in nanofluid. The problem is formulated in mathematical form by using Buongiorno’s model with the modified boundary condition. The transformed boundary layer ordinary differential equations are solved numerically using the bvp4c function in MATLAB software. The effects of the involved parameters, including, Brownian motion, thermophoresis, magnetic field, mixed convection, needle size and velocity ratio parameter on the flow, heat and mass transfer coefficients are analyzed. The numerical results obtained for the skin friction coefficients, local Nusselt number and local Sherwood number, as well as the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are graphically presented and have been discussed in detail. The study reveals that the dual solutions appear when the needle and the buoyancy forces oppose the direction of the fluid motion, and the range of the dual solutions existing depends largely on the needle size and magnetic parameter. The presence of the magnetic field in this model reduces the coefficient of the skin friction and heat transfer, while it increases the coefficient of the mass transfer on the needle surface. A stability analysis has been performed to identify which of the solutions obtained are linearly stable and physically relevant. It is noticed that the upper branch solutions are stable, while the lower branch solutions are not

HUMAN CAPITAL PRACTICES IMPACT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Human Capital is embedded in individuals with intelligence, expertise, knowledge, skills and education pronouncement made by many scholars. There are different phenomena explained by Context Generic Human Capital (HC) and Specific Human Capital. Those organizations that plan, organized and manage HC strategically gain high Organizational Performance than those who don’t. HC revolves as a vital factor to win business competition in contemporary firms. HC can be distinguished as “General Human Capital” and “Specific Human Capital” whereas General HC may be utilized across jobs, firms and industries however Specific HC may be utilized for particular job or in a specific firm etc. The effective management integrates human capabilities to gain valuable, rare and inimitable practices consequently lead to Organizational Performance. The study results recorded a positive significance of Human Capital Practices on Organizational Performance.  Article visualizations

Population parameters of Rastrelliger kanagurta (Cuvier, 1816) in the Marudu Bay, Sabah, Malaysia

An investigation of the population parameters of Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta (Cuvier, 1816) in the Marudu Bay, Sabah, Malaysia was carried out from January to September 2013. The relationship between total length and body weight was estimated as W=0.006TL3.215 or Log W=3.215LogTL – 2.22 (R2=0.946). Monthly length frequency data of R. kanagurta were analyzed by FiSAT software to evaluate the mortality rates and its exploitation level. Asymptotic length (Lµ) and growth co-efficient (K) were estimated at 27.83 cm and 1.50 yr-1, respectively. The growth performance index (φ') was calculated as 3.07. Total mortality (Z), natural mortality (M) and fishing mortality (F) was calculated at 4.44 yr-1, 2.46 yr-1 and 1.98 yr-1, respectively. Exploitation level (E) of R. kanagurta was found to be 0.45. The exploitation level was below the optimum level of exploitation (E=0.50). It is revealed that the stock of R. kanagurta was found to be still under exploited in Marudu Bay

Decellularized and genipin crosslinked human umbilical cord artery and vein for potential use as peripheral nerve conduit

Critical gap peripheral nerve injury, commonly caused by motor vehicle accidents, results in dysfunctional nerve and impaired body function. Our study aims to develop a conduit from decellularized and genipin crosslinked human umbilical cord artery and vein for future use in critical nerve gap injury treatments. Human umbilical cord arteries (HUCA) and veins (HUCV) were divided into native (nHUCA and nHUCV), decellularized (dHUCA and dHUCV) and genipin-crosslinked (clHUCA and clHUCV) groups. Both the decellularized and crosslinked groups were decellularized, and subsequently, the clHUCA and clHUCV groups were crosslinked with 0.1%, 0.4% and 0.7% (w/v) genipin. The HUCA and HUCV were then studied for decellularization efficiency, crosslinking index, biodegradation, swelling ratio, ultrastructure analysis, flexibility and mechanical strength. In addition, mesenchymal stem cells isolated from Wharton’s jelly were seeded into HUCA and HUCV for biocompatibility studies. The degradation test showed that nHUCV and dHUCV degraded at day 7 compared to other groups that did not show any degradation even after 21 days. Biocompatibility studies showed that the conduits crosslinked with 0.4% (w/v) genipin were successfully seeded and was having the most amount of seeded cells. In conclusion, the decellularization and genipin crosslinking of human umbilical cord artery and vein enabled successful in fabrication of conduit with suitable properties such as reduced swelling, flexibility, porosity and mechanical strength, with potential in tissue engineering applications

Hybrid off-river augmentation system as an alternative raw water resource: the hydrogeochemistry of abandoned mining ponds

The use of water from abandoned mining ponds under a hybrid off-river augmentation system (HORAS) has been initiated as an alternative water resource for raw water. However, it raises the questions over the safety of the use of such waters. In this study, the hydrogeochemical analysis of the waters is presented to assess the degree to which the water has been contaminated. Comparisons were made between sampling sites, i.e. abandoned mining ponds, active sand mining ponds and the receiving streams within Bestari Jaya, Selangor River basin. The aqueous geochemistry analysis showed different hydrochemical signatures of major elements between sites, indicating different sources of minerals in the water. Discharges from the sand mining ponds were found to contain elevated availability of dissolved concentrations of iron, manganese, lead, copper and zinc, among others. However, the quality of the water (from the main river) that is supplied for potable water consumption is at a satisfactory level despite being partly sourced from the abandoned mining ponds. In fact, all the metal concentrations detected were well below the Malaysia Ministry of Health guideline limits for untreated raw water. In addition, the results of the geochemical index analysis (i.e. geoaccumulation index, enrichment factor and modified contamination factor) showed that the rivers and abandoned mining ponds were generally unpolluted with respect to the metals found in sediments

What information and the extent of information research participants need in informed consent forms: a multi-country survey

Background: The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms (ICFs) is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in biomedical research. Methods: This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). Results: Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 (85.1%) were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be \u27moderately important\u27 to \u27very important\u27 for their decision making (mean score, ranging from 3.58 to 4.47). Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF (mean score = 4.47, 4.47, and 4.45, respectively). Conclusions: Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030