Thai contemporary timber construction system

Historically, Thailand had a deep connection with wood as a construction material. Thai vernacular architecture utilized this material in almost all of its building elements and it was the most common form of residential buildings. However, in present day concrete has become the most common material in construction, while timber construction has faded into obscurity. Concrete is one of the leading unsustainable materials in construction, comprising up to 5 percent of the global CO2 emissions and this thesis will aim to address the problem of over utilizing this material in Thailand. This thesis will explore the possibility of contributing to the development of Thai timber construction with the goal of creating positive environmental impact in global scale. This contribution will focus on the role of architect, while maximizing its positive impact. The development of “Thai contemporary timber construction system” will be the method for this contribution. This proposed system will aim to facilitate the process of building contemporary timber construction for Thai designers and builders. The utilization of this system should create a good quality building and maintaining strength of timber construction, while making the design process and building assembly less challenging. This facilitation will be executed through investigation, development of “Thai contemporary timber construction system”, demonstration of prototype buildings and evaluation process. In conclusion, “Thai contemporary timber construction system” has shown the potential of timber construction in the context of Thailand. With the utilization of imported lumber in conjunction with relevant knowledge from local and foreign sources, timber construction can be competitive with concrete construction. This competitiveness came from its unique aesthetic, low carbon emission and end of life value that timber construction can offer, with a drawback of higher construction cost

Physicochemical and Microbiological Stability of Phenytoin Sodium Extemporaneous Suspension

ABSTRACTObjective: To study the physicochemical and microbiological stability of phenytoin sodium extemporaneous suspension. Methods: Theextemporaneous suspension was prepared from the prompt release capsules of phenytoin sodium (100 mg/capsule). Four capsuleswere uncapped and the granules were ground into fine powders using a mortar and pestle. The powders were dispersed in sugar-freesuspension structured vehicle to achieve the concentration of 10 mg/mL. The suspensions were stored in glass and polyethylene plasticbottles and kept at 4, 25, and 40 ºC. The percent initial drug remaining, pH, sedimentation volume, viscosity, X-ray-powderdiffractometry and microbial stability were evaluated. Results: The percent phenytoin sodium concentration remained above 90% ofinitial concentration up to 56 days at all temperatures. The pH of suspensions were rather constant in both glass and polyethylenecontainers. The sedimentation volumes were 0.39 - 0.41 and redispersibilities were 3.3 - 3.5 throughout the study. The rheology ofprepared suspension exhibited a shear-thining system. The X-ray powder diffractogram showed that sediment of phenytoin sodium insugar-free suspension structured vehicle was in free acid form and no change in polymorphic form was observed after storage at 25 ºCfor 56 days. Conclusion: The extemporaneous suspension was chemically stable up to 56 days at 4, 25, and 40 ºC. The preparedsuspension met USP specification in microbial examination of nonsterile product after storage at 25 ºC for 56 days.Keywords: extemporaneous, phenytoin, stabili

Predicting outcome of upper gastrointestinal bleeding without endoscopy using the clinical Rockall score and Blatchford

     Background: The scoring system for upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) recently use clinical criteria and endoscopic finding to distinguish patient into high and low risk for recurrent bleeding and mortality rate. However, not every hospital in Thailand has endoscopy available. This study aimed to determine sensitivity and specificity of Blatchford score and  clinical Rockall score in classifying patient at risk of recurrent UGIB.           Method:  Retrospective study of consecutive patient with UGIB at HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center  during January 2006 until December 2008. High risk patients was defined as a Blatchford score of greater than 0 or a clinical Rockall score of greater than 0            Result:  A total of 215 patients with UGIB were enrolled in this study. Male to female ratio was 132 to 83 with mean age 64.26 years. The Blatchford score identified 157 cases (100%) as high risk patients. The clinical Rockall score identified 146 cases (93%) as high risk patients.                Conclusion: Without endoscopic finding, Blatchford score could be used to identify patient with high risk UGIB. It has higher sensitivity than clinical Rockall score. In this study, Blatchford score greater than 5 can use to identified for high risk patient. And if Blatchford score identify as low risk patients, they are able to elective endoscopy. 

The efficacy of anesthesia choice for lateral internal sphincterotomy: a comparison of local anesthesia and regional anesthesia

Anal fissure is a surgical disease commonly found at outpatients department. Anal fissures are classified into acute and chronic according to the duration of symptoms and wound appearance. Most of patients diagnosed with acute anal fissure can be healed by supportive treatment, whereas the gold standard treatment for chronic fissures is lateral internal sphincterotomy (LIS). For the good result,  and patory satisfication adequate intra-operative pain control is the important factor. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of local anesthesia for lateral internal sphincterotomy. Between 2009 and 2011, 17 patients with chronic anal fissure were included in this study; 8 patients served as control group (regional anesthesia), the others were experimental group (local anesthesia). The average pain score in postoperative day 1 and 2 in the regional anesthesia group less than the local anesthesia group (P < 0.005), but the healing time and recurrent rate were not different. Perianal anesthetics infiltration provides effective intra-operative and postoperative analgesia without complications. Furthermore, perianal anesthetics infiltration has lower cost than regional anesthesia

Performance of vertically mounted bifacial photovoltaics under the physical influence of low-rise residential environment in high-latitude locations

This study focuses on finding suitable installation sites for vertical bifacial photovoltaic (VBPV) panels in urban low-rise neighborhoods at high latitudes. The power production of east-west-oriented VBPV systems matches well with domestic electricity consumption profiles, increasing the self-consumption of PV electricity. Furthermore, PV electricity adds economic value by avoiding transmission fees and taxes. These systems are especially beneficial in high-latitude locations characterized by a low solar elevation angle. However, these low angles expose VBPV panels to a high risk of shading losses from their surroundings, and it is unknown how much shading limits the number of suitable installation sites. Here, environmental shading on VBPV panels is quantified for three low-rise residential neighborhoods in Helsinki, a high-latitude location, by comparing the specific yields (annual electricity production per kilowatt peak) of VBPV and monofacial PV (MPV) systems. The results showed that unshaded VBPV systems have a higher specific yield than their MPV counterparts. However, in densely built neighborhoods with tall trees, the lack of suitable installation sites for VBPV panels severely limits the peak power of these systems. Roof ridge VBPVs usually yield high production, while façade- and ground-mounted systems lose between 30% and 70% compared to roof ridge VBPV systems depending on their installation locations. South-oriented MPVs perform better than VBPVs on north-south-facing roofs, both in terms of specific yield and total annual production. Conversely, VBPVs installed on the ridges of unshaded roofs aligned closely with the north-south axis outperform MPVs on east- and west-facing roofs by 20%–30%

Intrahepatic Sarcomatous Cholangiocarcinoma: Case Report and Review of the Literature

The authors report a case of a patient with intrahepatic sarcomatous cholangiocarcinoma. A 45-year-old Thai man presented with a 3-month history of right upper abdominal pain. CT scan revealed hepatomegaly with a 6.5 cm hypovascular soft tissue density mass in the right lobe and showed mild delayed enhancement. On exploratory laparotomy, the tumor adherent to right diaphragm was found. We performed right hepatectomy, partial resection of right diaphragm, and cholecystectomy. The immunohistological results suggested “sarcomatous intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.” The tumor was recurrent in 5 months after operation and unresectable. Therefore, the treatment in this patient was supportive care. He died 11 months after his initial presentation. The literature reviews showed that intrahepatic sarcomatous cholangiocarcinoma is aggressive malignant with poor prognosis. Early detection, radical resection, and careful follow-up would be the treatment for the favorable prognosis