Clinical Efficacy and Toxicity of Anti-EGFR Therapy in Common Cancers

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a cell surface molecule and member of the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases. Its activation leads to proliferation, antiapoptosis, and metastatic spread, making inhibition of this pathway a compelling target. In recent years, an increasing number of clinical trials in the management of solid malignancies have become available indicating the clinical efficacy of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies and oral small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). This review addresses frequently used EGFR inhibitors, summarizes clinical efficacy data of these new therapeutic agents, and discusses their associated toxicity and management

Analisis kecekapan relatif bagi industri saham amanah menggunakan pendekatan ekonometrik

Purpose – This paper measures the relative efficiency of unit trust in Malaysia for the year 2003 and 2004, consisting of 65 funds from 16 unit trust management company which are categorised into three types; growth fund, income fund, and Islamic fund. The importance of this study can help the investor/trustee to choose the most efficient fund. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study employed the production model by Battese and Coelli (1992). Frontier software Version 4.1 was used to analyse the efficiency score of unit trust funds and to estimate the parameters of stochastic production using maximum likelihood method.Findings – Score efficiency analysis is important to measure the level of technical efficiency in the unit trust industry and other industries. The growth fund showed increasing efficiency score when tested funds were categorised depending on the type or the investment objectives. The mean of efficiency score for the growth fund in 2003 is 95% and 99% in 2004. Entirely, the income fund in 2003 was more efficient than 2004 with 100% mean efficiency in 2003 and 93% in 2004. However, both funds were still considered as excellent and efficient.Meanwhile, the Islamic fund had low efficiency scores with 73% in 2003 and 84% in 2004. Originality/Value – The paper investigated extensively the relative efficiency and highlights these to investors, policy makers of unit trust, the unit trust industry and other industries

Heat transfer over an unsteady stretching surface in porous medium with radiation effect / Munirah Amir Hamzah and Wafa' Syahirah Zaidi

The boundary layer is a stationary fluid layer (such as water or air) that surrounds a moving object immersed. Boundary layer flow has many practical applications on a moving surface. For example, the extrusion of plastic sheets in aerodynamic and cooling of infinite metallic plate in a cooling bath. Radiation effect on the flow and heat transfer over an unsteady stretching surface are studied. The system in the fonn of partial differential equation (PDE) are transformed to the system of Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) by similarity transformation. The ordinary differential equation (ODE) systems are solved numerically by using Runge-Kutta Fehlberg method with shooting technique. The effect of Prandtl number, radiation, unsteadiness and permeability parameter on velocity and temperature are displayed graphically and discussed in details for various values of different parameter. Result shown that the temperature and velocity increases with increasing the numbers in Prandtl number, radiation parameter, unsteadiness parameter and permeability parameter. For the further research, researchers can consider other internal or external forces such as suction, injection, heat source and etc on the different surface of fluid

Strategies to cope claustrophobia during magnetic resonance imaging examination

Background: Claustrophobia associated with MRI scan is a well-recognized problem all over the world. The unpleasant psychological experience during MRI can lead to premature cancellation of the study resulting in non-interpretable data. In addition, performing future studies on the claustrophobic patient may not be possible leading to non-utilization of an important diagnostic modality. This study was conducted with the aim to determine a cheap and short intervention which can be applicable to small radiology set up as well.Methods: A prospective study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital from October 2016 to December 2016. Accompanying someone was the first strategy used to coped MR imaging claustrophobia followed by placebo (multivitamin), listening Quran and closed eye (blindfold). All those patients who failed to respond in these strategies were finally labeled as an unsuccessful candidate. Listening of Quran was selected as one of the tools as all the patients were Muslims in present study.Results: Among 84 claustrophobic patients, a closed eye was the most successful strategy found effective in (13) 81.2%, followed by placebo 66.7% patients, listening Quran (7) 30.4%, accompanying someone (15) 17.85% while 4% patients remained claustrophobic after application of all strategies. Significant association of accompanying someone and placebo was observed with education (p-value 0.037) and age of the patients (0.016) respectively.Conclusions: In general, placebo, being accompanied by someone and blindfold were found to be the most effective strategies to cope with MRI related claustrophobia. However, the success of these strategies is also dependent on certain factors like age, education status and socioeconomic status of the patients

8-channel logic analyzer controller design FPGA work in progress

This paper presents a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based logic analyzer controller. The controller circuit is capable of performing data acquisition and signal display on a 600x480 VGA monitor. The controller was designed using Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) coding and schematic capture. For validation, behavioral simulations are carried out using Xilinx ISE simulator. The synthesis of the controller onto Xilinx Spartan XC3S200-4FT256 FPGA chip is also presented. The motivation of this project is to explore the capability of designing a complete digital system in a single FPGA chip

Maturity Assessment Based on Physicochemical Properties of Senna tora Compost Production Using Bokashi Technique

Senna tora is a leguminous plant species belonging to the Fabaceae family, known for its ability to engage in nitrogen fixation. It might improve compost output for sustainable soil fertility control. Bokashi compost is an organic amendment produced in two to four weeks through the fermentation of organic material. The purpose of this study is to assess the maturity of Senna tora compost made using the bokashi method for future uses. Senna tora compost produced by the bokashi method reached a mesophilic temperature (> 35 °C) on the first day and a thermophilic level (> 50 °C) on the second day. From Day 2 to Day 12, a thermophilic temperature level was observed. The temperature decreases until Day 35, signifying the finish of the decomposition process. The pH level of the compost showed a fluctuating pattern, starting at 7.8 and spiking at 8.4 before lowering to 7.2 (neutral) by the end of the study. The height of the compost decreased by approximately 53.97% over the duration of the study, showing that the decomposition process has reached a state of maturity. During the decomposition process of Senna tora, the nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), with 2.88%, 0.654% and 6.671%, respectively, are released and eventually reach the desired target value. The initial carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio of the compost was 25, and it gradually decreased to 14 at the end of study. Senna tora compost produced a statistically significant result in the evaluation of compost maturity. The compost is deemed suitable for use as an organic fertilizer since it meets the specified nutrient availability criteria

A New Class of Electrocatalyst Materials for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has been attracting lots of attention as a power source for transportation, stationary and portable electronic devices due to the high energy density of methanol and ease of handling compared to gaseous fuels such as hydrogen and natural gas. However, the commercialization of DMFC is still limited due to some technical challenges such as methanol crossover and low methanol electro-oxidation kinetics. In order for fuel cells to be a feasible and viable option amongst clean energy technologies, innovations in the materials developments are required for efficient operation of fuel cells. Many efforts have been made in various research laboratories to develop high-performance catalysts that will enhance the methanol electro-oxidation. Compared to any single-metal catalyst, Pt has shown the highest activity for the electro-oxidation of methanol in an acid environment. However, Pt is expensive and during the methanol electro-oxidation reaction, COads and other organic intermediates such as formaldehyde, formic acid and methyl formate are formed on the Pt surface, which results in poisoning of the Pt catalyst. Many binary and ternary catalysts for methanol electro-oxidation have been investigated and reported in the literature, most of them based on modification of Pt with some other metal(s). The aim is to accelerate the oxidation of the intermediates and decrease their accumulation so as to improve the catalyst performance. Among the various catalyst formulations, PtRu alloy has shown the best results for the methanol electro-oxidation. Diverse methods have been used to prepare the PtRu-based catalysts for methanol electro-oxidation. Catalyst composition and method of preparation are known to immensely affect the physical property es and electrochemical performance of a catalyst. Thus, there is the need to use a carefully selected approach in order to prepare a catalyst with the highest attainable performance. Incorporation of transition metals into the PtRu catalysts to form ternary catalysts in order to improve the performance of the PtRu catalysts is one of the techniques attracting a lot of interest. In this work, a novel approach have been used for synthesizing a new class of electrocatalyst nanomaterials for electro-oxidation of methanol by incorporation nano-oxides of transition metals. The prepared nanomaterial catalysts were characterized using FESEM, BET surface area, EDX, FT-IR and XRD. The catalysts performance was studied using cyclic voltammetry and compared with the commercial Pt-Ru/C.qscienc

Analisis Kecekapan Relatif bagi Industri Saham Amanah Menggunakan Pendekatan Ekonometrik

Makalah ini bertujuan untuk mengukur kecekapan relatif industri saham amanah di Malaysia menggunakan kaedah Analisis Sempadan Stokastik (ASS) bagi tahun 2003 dan 2004 yang terdiri daripada 65 buah dana daripada 16 buah syarikat pengurusan dana saham amanah di Malaysia. Dana yang dikaji dibahagikan kepada tiga jenis, iaitu pertumbuhan, pendapatan dan Islam/Syariah menggunakan spesifi kasi Batt ese dan Coelli (1992). Analisis data dan keputusan kajian menggunakan program Frontier Versi 4.1 (Coelli, 1996). Kecekapan merupakan pengukuran penting yang boleh digunakan untuk menilai perkembangan dan pertumbuhan ekonomi sesebuah negara.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND STRESS AMONG ADULTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASES IN FAISALABAD

OBJECTIVES: Primary objective was to identify the relationship between stress and positive attitude among adults with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Secondary objective was to predict Stress from Positive attitude in illness by controlling demographic characteristics (age, gender, and marital status) among adults with CHD. METHODS: This was a Cross-sectional survey research conducted during March-May 2017 in Public Hospitals of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Study sample was selected through purposive sampling technique. The sample size consisted of 278 (155 men, 123 women) CHD inpatients and out patients with age range from 18-80 years. Perceived Stress scale Urdu 10 items (PSS-10) and Silver Lining Questionnaire (SLQ) Urdu version 38 were used to measure stress and positive attitude in illness respectively. SPSS 21 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A significant positive relationship exists between age and stress while a significant negative relationship exists between positivity and stress among adults with CHD. After controlling the demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and marital status, positive attitude in illness is significant predictor of stress among adults with CHD. CONCLUSION: Adults with CHD have a high level of stress and low level of positive attitude. Stress and positive attitude are interlinked and statistically significant negative relationship among adults with CHD, further age; gender and marital status are significant predictors of stress among CHD adult patients