Comparison of Neostigmine-Atropine Administration Methods for Hemodynamic Parameters in Patients Undergoing Elective Surgery: A Randomized Control Trial

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the hemodynamic effects of neostigmine-atropine in the reversal of muscle relaxants when administered either sequentially or simultaneously. Methods: Patients undergoing noncardiac surgery were recruited and randomly allocated to either a sequential or a simultaneous administration of neostigmine (0.04 mg kg−1) and atropine (0.02 mg kg−1) at the end of surgery. Sequential group (SEQ group): Neostigmine and 1/3 dose of atropine were administered first minute, followed by another 2/3 dose of atropine 3 minutes later. Simultaneous group (SIM group): Neostigmine and atropine mixture was finished in 4 minutes. The primary outcome was the area under the curve (AUC) of the heart rate difference within 15 minutes of administration. The secondary outcome was the heart rate at each time point and the heart rate difference. Results: The AUC of heart rate difference within 15 minutes after administration in the SEQ group was 13.05±9.57 versus 43.56±10.54 in the SIM group (P<0.05). SIM group had a significantly lower heart rate when compared to SEQ group at 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 minutes after administration (P<0.05). Heart rate difference was significantly smaller at 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 minutes after administration in the SEQ group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Sequential administration, when atropine was administered later, induced smaller heart rate variability. Atropine and neostigmine should be administered in this order: neostigmine combined with small doses of atropine was administered first, followed by the remaining atropine

A new development in magnetic particle tracking technology and its application in a sheared dense granular flow

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 065116 (2019) and may be found at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.5100739.This paper presents a new development in the magnetic particle tracking (MPT) technology that measures the translational and rotational motions of a small particle. A main advantage of MPT is that it is able to track objects in an opaque environment without using radioactive material or X-rays. In addition, it can provide information about the orientation and rotation of the object, which is difficult to obtain using other technologies. However, the reconstruction process of MPT using standard optimization approaches is very time consuming and, therefore, limits its applications. In this work, two new MPT reconstruction algorithms are examined and the results are compared with the optimization approach. The extended Kalman filter (EKF) algorithm has the same accuracy as the optimization method but is orders of magnitude faster. The speed of the sequential importance sampling approach is between those of the above two methods. The accuracy of position obtained using EKF is about 0.6%, and the uncertainty of orientation is less than 1.5°. The MPT is applied to measure a dense granular shear flow to investigate the spatial distribution of a tracer particle

Measuring vorticity vector from the spinning of micro-sized mirror-encapsulated spherical particles in the flow

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 115111 (2019) and may be found at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5121016.We demonstrate a nonintrusive technique that is capable of measuring all three-components of vorticity following small tracer particles in the flow. The vorticity is measured by resolving the instantaneous spin of the microsized spherical hydrogel particles, in which small mirrors are encapsulated. The hydrogel particles have the same density and refractive index as the working fluid—water. The trajectory of the light reflected by the spinning mirror, recorded by a single camera, is sufficient to determine the 3D rotation of the hydrogel particle, and hence the vorticity vector of the flow at the position of the particle. Compared to more conventional methods that measure vorticity by resolving velocity gradients, this technique has much higher spatial resolution. We describe the principle of the measurement, the optical setup to eliminate the effect of particle translation, the calibration procedure, and the analysis of measurement uncertainty. We validate the technique by measurements in a Taylor-Couette flow. Our technique can be used to obtain the multipoint statistics of vorticity in turbulence

Proper orthogonal decomposition and recurrence map for the identification of spatial–temporal patterns in a low-Re wake downstream of two cylinders

Flow decomposition methods provide systematic ways to extract the flow modes, which can be regarded as the spatial distribution of a coherent structure. They have been successfully used in the study of wake, boundary layer, and mixing. However, real flow structures also possess complex temporal patterns that can hardly be captured using the spatial modes obtained in the decomposition. In order to analyze the temporal variation of coherent structures in a complex flow field, this paper studies the recurrence in phase space to identify the pattern and classify the evolution of the flow modes. The recurrence pattern depends on the time delay and initial condition. In some cases, the flow system will revisit a previous state regardless of the initial state, and in other cases, the system’s recurrence will depend on the initial state. These patterns are determined by the arrangement and interactions of coherent structures in the flow. The temporal order of the repetition pattern reflects the possible ways of flow evolution

Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and Recurrence Map for the Identification of Spatial–Temporal Patterns in a Low-Re Wake Downstream of Two Cylinders

Flow decomposition methods provide systematic ways to extract the flow modes, which can be regarded as the spatial distribution of a coherent structure. They have been successfully used in the study of wake, boundary layer, and mixing. However, real flow structures also possess complex temporal patterns that can hardly be captured using the spatial modes obtained in the decomposition. In order to analyze the temporal variation of coherent structures in a complex flow field, this paper studies the recurrence in phase space to identify the pattern and classify the evolution of the flow modes. The recurrence pattern depends on the time delay and initial condition. In some cases, the flow system will revisit a previous state regardless of the initial state, and in other cases, the system’s recurrence will depend on the initial state. These patterns are determined by the arrangement and interactions of coherent structures in the flow. The temporal order of the repetition pattern reflects the possible ways of flow evolution

A semi-analytical solution and AI-based reconstruction algorithms for magnetic particle tracking

Magnetic particle tracking is a recently developed technology that can measure the translation and rotation of a particle in an opaque environment like a turbidity flow and fluidized-bed flow. The trajectory reconstruction usually relies on numerical optimization or filtering, which involve artificial parameters or thresholds. Existing analytical reconstruction algorithms have certain limitations and usually depend on the gradient of the magnetic field, which is not easy to measure accurately in many applications. This paper discusses a new semi-analytical solution and the related reconstruction algorithm. The new method can be used for an arbitrary sensor arrangement. To reduce the measurement uncertainty in practical applications, deep neural network (DNN)-based models are developed to denoise the reconstructed trajectory. Compared to traditional approaches such as wavelet-based filtering, the DNN-based denoisers are more accurate in the position reconstruction. However, they often over-smooth the velocity signal, and a hybrid method that combines the wavelet and DNN model provides a more accurate velocity reconstruction. All the DNN-based and wavelet methods perform well in the orientation reconstruction

Psychiatry Residents in China: Socio-Demographic Characteristics, Career Satisfaction, and Related Factors

Objective: To study the socio-demographic characteristics, the working environment, and the level of career satisfaction among psychiatry residents in China.Method: This was a part of a large-scale, nation-wide online survey of hospitals, healthcare professionals, and patients. Data, including socio-demographics, work hours, income, job satisfaction, and intention to quit were collected anonymously. Respondents also completed the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ).Results: One thousand sixty residents nested in 32 psychiatric hospitals in 29 provinces in China completed the survey. Respondents were predominantly female (69.0%), worked an average of 47.8 ± 11.6 h per week, and 28.97% had experienced medical disputes in the previous year. The top three reported reasons for dissatisfaction were low pay (50.1%), contentious doctor-patient relationships (17.6%), and high workload (10.8%). An intention to quit their current job was reported by 18.7% of residents. The overall mean MSQ score was 73.8 ± 13.8, with significant differences across post-graduate training years and regions. A multilevel regression analysis found that a higher MSQ score was significantly associated with fewer years in residency, shorter work hours, higher monthly pay, having medical liability insurance, and feeling satisfied with the level of doctor-nurse cooperation, their hospitals' medical disputes prevention/management, and the healthcare workers' social environment.Conclusion: Psychiatry residents in China are predominantly female and well-educated. They are only moderately satisfied with their career. Poor salaries, contentious doctor-patient relationships and high workload are among their top complaints and may explain why a considerable proportion are intending to leave their current residency. More support from the government regarding residents' salaries, workload and working environment may help improve their job satisfaction and retention, ensuring that China will have a pool of well-trained and engaged psychiatrists for the future

Have you eaten yet?

Have You Eaten Yet? is an interactive installation piece stemming from the disappearing Chinese dialects situation in Singapore. This installation uses audio recordings of four Chinese dialect speakers telling stories of their past that can be heard through a telephone handset as you interact with the objects. Have You Eaten Yet? conveys my personal take on what really is lost when Chinese Dialects “die”, are these stories about the good-old-times, the times when Chinese Dialects were the Lingua Franca.Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interactive Medi