Knowledge of Clinical Students Regarding Pandemic H1N1Influenza

DergiPark: 379057tmsjAims: The aim of this study is to seek perception of clinical students concerning Pandemic H1N1 Influenza and its relation with the social and demographic determinants. We chose medical students as subjects of the study because this stratum is looked upon by the general population as a vital media to convey key directives regarding disease prevention, control and management. The important thing about this study is that it is the first of its kind to be conducted in medical institutes of Punjab. It paves a way for further studies aimed at pinpointing attitude and practices regarding Pandemic H1N1 Influenza among medical and paramedical staff. Our study can assist health care authorities unveil the knowledge gaps by developing educational campaigns. Methods: Data was collected through distribution of self-administered questionnaires to 300 students selected by the lottery method considering stratified random sampling. The study included 3rd, 4th and final year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery students. Questions were asked about signs and symptoms, source of information, mode and route of transmission, mainly affected organs, sample to be tested, availability of treatment and vaccination, spread of infection and requirement of urgent interventions. The information collected was entered and analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software version 23. Results: With 100% response rate, the major source of information remained as doctors (44.3%) and the common sign reported was runny nose (33.7%). The mean Pandemic H1N1 influenza knowledge point±standard deviation was 6.49±1.94 degrees. Rate of medical students, who knew about causative agent was 96.3%, route of transmission 69.7%, mode of transmission 62.3%, correct complications 77%, treatment available 66.7%, vaccine availability 41%, test availability 64.3%, specimen of choice to diagnose 29.3%, organ chiefly affected 49.3% and situations requiring urgent intervention 70%. Only 25.3% were aware of the fact that water is not responsible for the spread of the virus. Knowledge of each following year was higher. Female gender remained significant predictor in majority of questions. Conclusion: The study described that the knowledge of medical students regarding Pandemic H1N1 Influenza was moderate. The awareness about disease transmission and management was found to be inadequate. The majority had some misconceptions about the disease. The study provides the pace to disseminate awareness about this infection among students by organizing workshops and seminars

Abraham Accords, Indo-Pacific Accord and the US-Led Nexus of Curtailment: Threat to Regional Security, and Joint Counter Strategy

The Abraham Accords emerged against a background of a new geostrategic reality of shifting balances of power towards Eurasia. They have served to elevate Israel and cause divisions among Muslims to intensify the Arab-Iran conflict. The Accords also signalled that the US could now direct its focus on China, which it considers an existential threat for its global hegemony. Asia-Pacific region is fast transforming through economic growth led by China, and economists have heralded this phenomenon as the emergence of the 'New Asian Century.' This paper argues that the US might resort to create constructive chaos in the region through its alliance with Israel and India. Washington has put this strategy in place since 2001 and it has been successful in taming the region in the its favor. In continuation to the War on Terror (WoT) policies that targeted Muslim nations, the US reinvigorated its Pivot to Asia' policy which targets China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan. A major threat for Washington is the expansion and recognition of Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that will transform the global geopolitical landscape, connecting it with 65 countries across the globe. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being a major project in the framework of transnational connectivity has huge potential for Pakistan. India is playing a key role as a lynchpin for the US in the region and is perturbed equally from the rise of China, and regional development projects of the latter. China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran need to devise a joint regional strategy to safeguard their collective interests. If the US fails in its objective to contain China and its developing alliances, it will attempt to destabilize the region through the strategy of constructive chaos. </p

The influence of organisational culture on employee performance in Medivest Sdn Bhd

Organisation failures are related to ethical and risk management difficulties. Organization culture is characterized as developing habits that cause institutional failures, which are tied to ethics and risk management. This research paper analyzes the local challenges of organization culture on employee performance in hospital support services. Employee performance is critical and should be studied as it contributes to the overall achievement of an organisation. The goal of this research is to highlight dominant characteristics such as organisation leadership, management of employees, organisation glue, criteria of success, and strategic emphasis that contribute in enhancing Medivest's employee performance. In executing this present research, eight (8) Medivest senior managers were interviewed based on an interview protocol that covers six (6) segments of key factors of organisation culture (OC). In each segment, there were four (4) proposed statements leading to employee performance. The findings of this research have shown that the type of organization culture in Medivest is compete and collaborate culture. The employees of Medivest are seen to be focused and goal-oriented, and they show strong dedication and participation in daily operations. All of these factors contribute significantly to improve employee performance. This present research paper suggests that future studies should compare current findings with other hospital support service concessions within the topics of organisation culture and employee performance

Refining English language tests for university admission: a Malaysian example

English has now become the lingua franca of much of technological, business and academic endeavours. Consequently, learning the English language is now seen as vital, especially at the university level where proficiency in the language has become a selection criterion. At present, the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) has been adopted by Malaysian public universities as an indicator of English language proficiency. A student’s overall result depends on all the four language components of the MUET and often determines the number and nature of the English language courses he or she has to attend at university. This study seeks to examine whether MUET is an accurate predictor of performance and success at university and how the MUET can be finetuned as an entry level English language test. It was carried out among 52 third year undergraduates of the Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, admitted into the Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) programme. The findings of the study do not offer conclusive evidence about the validity of MUET as a predictor of academic success. However, six models of various combinations of scores on language components on the MUET scores are examined in terms of their effectiveness in increasing the accuracy in selecting students for the TESL programme. The correlations obtained using these models indicate that the combination of various components of the MUET can be used to more accurately predict student achievement at tertiary level than the cumulative MUET score itself. The results of these correlations and their implications in using language tests as admission requirements in general are also discussed

Global Perspectives of Intensive Animal Farming & Its Applications

Agricultural farming outputs are dependent upon the production type because different farming systems create different products. Intensive animal farming is widely used for the production of products that have societal importance, including meat, milk, wool, leather, fur, eggs, and honey. To ensure their timely production with limited cost, advanced technological processes, and chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers in large amount) are carried out in this intensive factory farming. Amongst animal farming, the livestock sector is the fastest-growing agricultural sector. The global shift toward intensive animal farming for high productivity yield has rendered a negative impact on the environment and biodiversity and is now an alarming sign for global warming. It has also resulted in soil, water, and air pollution due to the emission of greenhouse gases from the waste generated by these animals. Rapid use of antimicrobials in these farming systems has led to the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens. Therefore, an integrated and comprehensive approach covering the nonmarket outputs of the farming system is required for monitoring these global trends

A Model for Uncertain Multi-objective Transportation Problem with Fractional Objectives

Fractional programming problems take into account the situations where the decision maker is interested to maximize or minimize the ratios of some functions rather than a simple function. Fractional programming modeling approach has a lot of scope in dealing with the transportation planning decision problems. This paper presents a model for transportation problem with multiple fractional objectives involving uncertain parameters. In order to make the model more realistic, we have considered the case when there exists more than one fractional objective. All the parameters involved in the proposed model viz. objective function coefficients, availabilities and demands are assumed to be uncertain. Moreover, an equivalent deterministic model is also presented. Fuzzy goal programming approach is discussed as the solution approach for reaching the compromise solution. A numerical example is also given to illustrate the model more clearly

Arousal Safety Leading to Purchase Intention; The Role of Moderating and Mediating Variables in Structural Model

The effect of arousal safety has been analyzed on purchase intention, then attitude towards the advertisement and attitude towards the brand have been incorporated as intervening variables between the relationships. The interaction effect of self-monitoring and message arguments have also been taken in to consideration for better understanding of the consumer’s response. The data has been gathered from 206 respondents by using purposive sampling method. The research instrument was comprised of summated rating/additive scale (likert scale) and semantic differential scaling. Confirmatory Factor Analysis has been applied after the application of preliminary tests on the data. Structure Equation Modeling and moderation and mediation analysis have also been applied to test the hypotheses. Arousal safety in the advertisements shape consumers response and it proved to be a fully mediated model. Self-monitoring also probes the relationship. Message arguments haven’t had any affect as moderator, hence can be used as a focal predictor. The study is a starting point for future research to provide a coherent methodology for capturing the necessary data, processing the underlying information and evaluating the effects of arousal safety in advertisements. The study extends the field of advertising in the direction of arousal safety (Humor) effects. In comparison to previous research, empirical evidence on the arousal safety in television advertising and purchase intention in relation with moderating and mediating variables is provided

Estimation of the burden of out-of-hospital traumatic cardiac arrest in Karachi, Pakistan, using a cross-sectional capture-recapture analysis

Background: The burden of trauma-related-out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in developing countries like Pakistan remains largely unexplored due to a lack of organized pre-hospital systems. In order to estimate the burden, we used a two-sample capture-recapture method which has been used in several domains to estimate difficult-to-count populations.Methods: We obtained 3-month data from two sources: Records of two major EMS (emergency medical services) systems and five major hospitals providing coverage to the city\u27s population. All adults with traumatic OHCA were included. Information on variables such as name, age, gender, date and time of arrest, cause of arrest, and destination hospital were obtained for these cases and data were compared to obtain a matched sample. Utilizing an equation and different levels of restrictive criteria, estimates were obtained for burden.Results: The EMS records reported 788 and hospital records reported 344 cases of traumatic OHCA. The capture-recapture analysis estimated the annual traumatic OHCA incidence as 45.7/100,000 (95% CI: 44.2 to 47.3). Estimation of the burden from individual hospital or EMS records underestimated and calculated only 14.6% and 33.9% of the total burden, respectively. Most of the traumatic arrest victims had gunshot wound (GSW) (65.2%) followed by road traffic injuries (RTI) (20.8%).Conclusion: The actual burden of traumatic OHCA in Pakistan is larger than the burden reported by either the hospitals or EMS services alone. Most of the cases occurred due to GSW and RTI. A multipronged approach is required to manage the problem; from prevention to developing organized trauma care systems and training lay responders in pre-hospital trauma care is vital

Endovascular coiling versus neurosurgical clipping for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is a frequently devastating condition with a reported incidence of between 10 and 15 people per 100,000 in the United States. Currently, according to the best of our knowledge, there are not enough meta-analyses available in the medical literature of the last five years which compare the risks and benefits of endovascular coiling with neurosurgical clipping.Methods: Twenty-two studies were selected out of the short-listed studies. The studies were selected on the basis of relevance to the topic, sample size, sampling technique, and randomization. Data were analyzed on Revman software.Results: Mortality was found to be significantly higher in the endovascular coiling group (odds ratio (OR): 1.17; confidence interval (CI): 95%, 1.04, 1.32). Re-bleeding was significantly higher in endovascular coiling (OR: 2.87; CI: 95%, 1.67, 4.93). Post-procedure complications were significantly higher in neurosurgical clipping compared to endovascular coiling (OR: 0.36; CI: 95%, 0.24, 0.56). Neurosurgical clipping was a 3.82 times better surgical technique in terms of re-bleeding (Z = 3.82, p = 0.0001). Neurosurgical clipping is a better technique requiring fewer re-treatments compared to endovascular coiling (OR: 4.64; CI: 95%, 2.31, 9.29). Endovascular coiling was found to be a better technique as it requires less rehabilitation compared to neurosurgical clipping (OR: 0.75; CI: 95%, 0.64,0.87).Conclusion: Neurosurgical clipping provides better results in terms of mortality, re-bleeding, and re-treatments. Endovascular coiling is a better surgical technique in terms of post-operative complications, favorable outcomes, and rehabilitation