Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: a rare complication of acute viral gastroenteritis

Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (TCM) is characterized by a transient but reversible ventricular dysfunction in post-menopausal females following, but not always, a recent emotional or physical stress. Typically, chest pain is reported as a presenting symptom in the majority of patients. The severe diarrheal illness secondary to acute viral gastroenteritis is not commonly reported as the stressor event prior to TCM. We report a unique case of a middle-aged male presented with syncope shortly after loose bowel movements. He was diagnosed with TCM and was successfully managed with supportive care. The purpose of this case is to make clinicians aware of this rare association

Application of Rasch model in validating the content of measurement instrument for blog quality

Research in blog quality is very crucial nowadays in order to have a good quality blog in the blogosphere. The blog quality criteria have been derived from a rigorous metadata analysis. Yet, these criteria have not been reviewed and their significance has not been proven systematically. In this paper, Rasch Model is applied to produce an empirical evidence of content validity of the blog quality criteria. This study confirms that the definitions of 11 families and the 49 criteria assigned have content validity by mean of online survey. These criteria will then be used as a basis of constructing the instrument to measure the acceptability of the criteria for blog quality

Green Synthesis of Nickel Oxide Nanoparticles using Populus ciliata Leaves Extract and their Potential Antibacterial Applications

Green synthesis of nanoparticles has received a lot of attention from scientists globally because it is eco-friendly, relatively rapid, and a cost-effective  method. This work presents a method for the green synthesis of nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO-NPs) using leaf extracts of Populus ciliata as a reducing  and stabilising agent. The synthesised NiO-NPs were characterised by ultravioletvisible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder  X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the synthesised NiO-NPs shapes varied, were  highly crystalline, and had a face-centred cubic geometry. The calculated crystallite size of the synthesised nanoparticles was 44 nm. Moreover, the  antibacterial activity of the synthesised NiO-NPs was also conducted against Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis) and Gram-  negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). Bacillus subtillus showed a maximum inhibition zone of 28.1±1.6 mm, whereas Klebsiella  pneumonia showed a minimum inhibition zone of 9.2±0.5 mm. It was also found that the antibacterial activity increased with an increase in the  concentration of NiO-NPs

Use of platelet-rich plasma in treating low back pain: A review of the current literature

Low back pain (LBP) is a common problem encountered by physicians. It is a considerable cause of morbidity and socioeconomic loss and is one of the most expensive musculoskeletal disorders. Conventional treatments include bed rest, analgesics, therapeutic exercises, lumbar or caudal epidural corticosteroids, and surgery. Several new biological therapies are being investigated for use in LBP and one of these is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). In this article, we summarize the current literature published on PRP concerning its composition, classification, and application in LBP. We believe our review will prove useful to clinicians and academics alike, interested in new developing therapies for LBP

Blog quality model

Breakthroughs in technology are making the internet an ever-growing phenomenon, and we have witnessed an enormous growth of blogs in the blogosphere. However, the blogosphere has been crippled by disorganised and uncontrolled growth, and many blogs are of poor quality. Development domains, such as software engineering, website engineering, and information systems, have provided accepted models for the assessment of the quality of their products. However, to the best of our knowledge, there appears to be no standard model for the assessment of blog quality. In this paper, we propose a blog quality model as a guide for bloggers at large, with a set of 49 criteria grouped into 11 families of features that are relevant to blog quality. This model has been constructed by determining a set of criteria from a review of the relevant literature and blogs and then measuring the acceptability of these criteria by means of questionnaire surveys sent to sample populations of blog readers

Pediatric brainstem gliomas: An institutional experience

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical profiles and outcomes of pediatric brainstem gliomas treated at our institute.Methodology: We reviewed the files of 18 pediatric age group patients diagnosed with brainstem glioma at our institution. The following variables were recorded: age, sex, duration of symptoms, date of diagnosis, main clinical symptoms, Karnofsky performance status score, magnetic resonance imaging findings, histopathology findings, details of the treatment given, disease progression, and date of mortality/last follow-up. This data were then transferred to SPSS version 23 which was used for further analysis.Results: The mean age of our cohort was 8.6 years (range 3-15). There were 11 (61.1%) males and 7 (38.9%) females. There were 16 (88.9%) patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), 1 (5.6%) patients with exophytic medullary gliomas, and 1 (5.6%) patient with midbrain/tectal glioma. Mean overall survival (OS) was 9.7 months. Mean progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.3 months. All patients with DIPG eventually passed away from their disease. Patients with DIPG who received radiotherapy had a longer OS and PFS than those who did not (9.8 and 6 months vs. 3.4 and 2.4 months). Diagnostic latency \u3e1 month was found to have a statistically significant longer progression-free interval.Conclusion: DIPGs in the pediatric population have a poor prognosis. Radiotherapy serves to increase survival time but is not curative

Framework Of Strategic Alignment Through Enterprise Architecture For Organization Performance

One of the topics in strategic planning of information systems is Business-IT alignment (BITA). BITA is manifested in strategic alignment, which is generally seen as an important factor as a driver for optimizing business performance. Strategy conformity is related to the suitability of internal resource capabilities and external opportunities towards superior performance. To realize the suitability of Business and IT strategies, a framework is needed, namely Enterprise Architecture (EA). Many studies have focused on business and IT customization using EA, but none have addressed how to relate it to organizational performance. Meanwhile, the goal of IT investment is to improve organizational performance by aligning IT with the business. For this reason, the solution is to develop a framework for conformity with Business and IT strategies through EA by mapping organizational performance. The resulting output is a framework used to align IT with business strategy through EA and its relationship to organizational performance

Molecular phylogenetic inference of White-Spotted Guitarfish (Rhynchobatus australiae) collected from local Malaysian fish markets

The white-spotted guitarfish (Rhynchobatus australiae) is in high demand at local Malaysian fish markets because its fins are a valuable food source. To date, few molecular studies have characterized their genetic identity. We have conducted a molecular study to infer the phylogenetic relationships of white-spotted guitarfish, which portray a similar morphology to sharks and rays. The main objective of this study was to determine the phylogenetic position of R. australiae using cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences of mitochondrial DNA based on fish samples collected from local Malaysian fish markets. This study included nine genetic samples of R. australiae and fourteen samples from other members of the shark and ray families, including Sphyrna lewini (Sphyrnidae), Rhizoprionodon oligolinx and Carcharhinus sorrah (Carcharhinidae), Dasyatis zugei, Himantura walga, Himantura gerradi, Himantura jenkinsii and Neotrygon kuhlii (Dasyatidae). Chimaera fulva, a member of the Chimaera family, was used as the outgroup. Sequences in size of ~701 base pairs were successfully obtained from all fish samples. The phylogenetic tree topology was reconstructed using distance-based (neighbor-joining) and character-based (maximum parsimony) methods using MEGA and PAUP software. Results indicated that R. australiae formed monophyletic clade and is closely related to sharks (Sphyrnidae and Carcharhinidae). This conclusion was also supported by genetic distance analysis which indicated that Rhynchobatidae and sharks (Carcharhinidae and Sphyrnidae) were closer to each other than to rays (Dasyatidae). This study has proven the efficiency of the COI mitochondrial locus in revealing the phylogenetic position of R. australiae. Research findings from this study have increased our understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among guitarfish, sharks, and rays, and their respective taxonomic positions are given their shared morphological characters. This will benefit us in identifying these fish species before consumption from local fish markets

Role of echocardiography in diagnostic evaluation of patients admitted to observation unit.

BACKGROUND: Syncope is a transient loss of consciousness due to transient decrease in cerebral perfusion. Syncope accounts for a 3-6% of all emergency department visits. Etiology of syncope can be neural, cardiogenic, or vascular. Previous studies have evaluated the types and management of syncope. Echocardiography is a commonly used test in the evaluation of causes of syncope. Whether the benefit compared to financial burden of this diagnostic study is in all subsets of syncope cases remains unclear. AIM: To evaluate the impact of echocardiography in the diagnostic evaluation of syncope and to evaluate the subset of patients that would benefit more from this diagnostic imaging. METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review of patients \u3e 18 years of age with a primary diagnosis of syncope in a period of January 1st 2015-January 31st 2017. Our inclusion criteria included patients \u3e 18 years of age who were admitted to the observation floor with the primary complaint as syncope, had a normal or abnormal physical examination for syncope, had a normal or abnormal electrocardiogram during admission, had an echocardiography performed at admission. Our exclusion criteria included patients with seizures, hypoglycemia, myocardial infarction, patients who didn\u27t get echocardiography, and patients who had a positive marker of cardiac injury. RESULTS: A total of 369 patients were initially identified with a primary diagnosis of syncope, however only 120 of these patients fulfilled our inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of n=25 of included patients had either an abnormal physical exam or abnormal echocardiography. Among this high risk group, 24% (n=6) of the patients had an abnormal finding on their transthoracic echocardiography. On the other hand, in the low risk group with a normal physical examination and electrocardiogram (EKG), 14 had a trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) positive for cause of syncope, that led to a change in medication, workup, or intervention in 6.7% (n=8) of the patients. CONCLUSION: The analysis of our study suggested that the diagnostic yield of transthoracic echocardiography in syncope is very limited in the absence of an abnormal physical exam or electrocardiogram, and it increase the health care cost burden with no additional benefits

Splitting tensile and pullout behavior of synthetic wastes as fiber-reinforced concrete

Plastic bottles and waste wires are the most commonly discarded synthetic wastes that contribute to environmental pollution. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles act as one of the contributors to environmental pollution. One solution to environmental pollution includes recycling plastic bottle wastes as synthetic fibers and incorporating them into concrete. Therefore, pullout strengths of synthetic fibers in a concrete matrix should be investigated by conducting splitting tensile and pullout tests. Experiments of the present study used fibers from ring-shaped PET bottles with widths of 5 and 10 mm. Irregularly shaped PET bottles with 10–15 mm size, waste wires measuring 55 mm in length, and manufactured synthetic macro-fibers were also used in comparative analysis. Results indicate that an increase in fiber volume improves tensile strength of concrete. Incorporation of high-volume fiber with concrete results in a substantial amount of fibers bridging and crossing fractured sections, thereby activating failure resistance mechanisms. In comparison with irregularly shaped PET and waste wire fibers, ring-shaped fibers performed better as they are mainly designed to activate fiber yielding instead of fiber pullout. The load energy required to debond fibers and the concrete matrix was high when the surface contact area was large in comparison with that when a small surface contact area was considered. Fibers with small surface contact area easily slip under tensile stress. Thus, the surface contact area of fibers with concrete matrix allows good frictional resistance against pullout or tensile loa