Specialist Nursing Improves Outcomes in Heart Failure

The paper, Specialist Nursing Improves Outcomes in Heart Failure considers the question What is Heart Failure? and examines the symptoms, global incidence and typical interventions alongside the emergent role of the Heart Failure Nurse Specialist and their positive impact on patient care. Three clinical case studies are explored examining the treatment and management of a patient with 1. Non-Ischaemic viral heart failure, 2. Non-Ischaemic alcohol related heart failure and 3. Ischaemic heart disease causing heart failure. The case studies illustrate the complex interventions made by specialist heart failure nurse specialist and provide 10 reasons why Heart Failure Nurse Specialists are an important and impactful addition to the nursing workforce

Comparative study of selected indoor concentration from selective laser sintering process using virgin and recycled polyamide nylon (pa12)

Additive manufacturing (AM) stands out as one of the promising technologies that have huge potential towards manufacturing industry. The study on additive manufacturing impact on the environment and occupational exposure are attracting growing attention recently. However, most of the researcher focus on desktop and fused deposition modelling type and less attention given to the industrial type of AM. Usually, during the selective laser sintering process, recycle powder will be used again to reduce cost and waste. This article compares the PM 2.5, carbon dioxide (CO2) and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentration between virgin and recycles powder using polyamide-nylon (PA12) towards indoor concentration. Four phases of sampling involve during air sampling accordingly to the Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010 by DOSH Malaysia. It was found that PM 2.5 and CO2 concentration are mainly generated during the pre-printing process. The recycle powder tended to appear higher compared to virgin powder in terms of PM 2.5, and CO2. The peak value of PM 2.5 is 1452 μg/m3 and CO2 is 1218 ppm are obtained during the pre-printing process during 8 hours of sampling. TVOC concentration from recycling powder is slightly higher during the post- printing phase where confirm the influence of the powder cake and PA12 temperature from the printing process. In summary, this work proves that elective laser sintering (SLS) machine operators are exposed to a significant amount of exposure during the SLS printing process. Mitigation strategies and personal protective equipment are suggested to reduce occupational exposure

Risk-based inspection on highway assets with category 2 defects

This paper presents a study piloted on highway assets Category 2 defects. Imminent hazards on high-way road networks are significantly accelerated by structural deterioration of highway infrastructures. The inspection and maintenance strategy for highway infrastructure requires continuous improvements to reduce high occurrence of defective highway assets. Combined risk-based inspection (RBI) and stochastic (STOC) techniques is considered in this investigation to give an in-depth understanding of highway asset maintenance response. Appropriate data information is extracted from Network Maintenance Management System and complementary information elicited from maintenance experts as well as recommended standards. Safety inspections piloted within the period of 5 years is evaluated using the projected RBI-STOC approach. The RBI incorporates the consequences and likelihood of the defects and the combined STOC techniques utilised defines the actual maintenance interval operated. The RBI-STOC approach proposes reclassification of highway asset defect repair intervals, appropriate maintenance task response and efficient maintenance prioritisation of highway assets in equivalence with contribution to system average mean time to repair and downtime

A visual guide for lower limb prothetic alignment

A novel method to provide an objective visual guide during lower limb prosthetic alignment is proposed. A customized ambulatory device was built to collect kinematic and temporal gait data from 3 subjects walking in four different experiment setups. Multiple gait events within a gait cycle and stride time were derived as feature variables and were pre-processed using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Distinctive clusters due to different walking setups were noticed in a PCA plot in two dimensions. Dispersion of each clusters and distances amongst each other explains the walking variability and differences under different setups

Formulasi Sampo Antiketombe dari Ekstrak Kubis (Brassica Oleracea Var. Capitata L.) Kombinasi Ekstrak Daun Pandan Wangi (Pandanus Amaryllifolius Roxb)

Sampo ekstrak kubis kombinasi daun pandan wangi adalah sediaan kosmetik yang dibuat dari bahan dasar ekstrak kubis dan daun pandan wangi serta penambahan bahan lain yang dapat digunakan pada kulit kepala tanpa menimbulkan iritas. Ekstrak kubis dan daun pandan wangi memiliki senyawa yang berkhasiat menghambat pertumbuhan ketombe pada kulit kepala , penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membuat sediaan sampo antiketombe dari ekstrak kubis kombinasi daun pandan wangi yang dapat memenuhi uji evaluasi fisik sediaan. Penelitian ini dilakukan secara eksperimental dengan beberapa evaluasi fisik sediaan diantaranya yaitu uji organoleptik, berdasarkan warna, bentuk dan aroma sediaan, uji pH, uji tinggi busa, uji homogenitas, dan uji viskositas. Hasil penelitian menunjukan formula sampo antiketombe ekstrak kubis dan daun pandan wangi hasilnya menunjukka bahwa uji evaluasi fisik sediaan sampo antiketombe ekstrak kubis kombinasi daun panan wangi memenuhi syarat secara fisik, pada uji organoleptik warna yang dihasilkan dari ketiga formula yaitu formula A, formula B dan formula C berwarna hijau gelap disebabkan oleh zat aktif yang digunakan yaitu daun pandan wangi, aroma yang dihasilkan adalah aroma dari penambahan pewangi yang digunakan dalam sediaan, pewangi yang digunakan yaitu minyak mawar serta bentuk dari sediaan yaitu kental. Pada uji pH ketiga formulasi telah memenuhi syarat mutu pH kulit kepala yaitu 4,5 – 6,5. Formula yang dihasilkan menghasilkan tinggi busa yang baik. Sediaan sampo yang dibuat dari ketiga formula homogen dan kental

Recurrent stroke in Takayasu arteritis: a case report and review of literature

Takayasu Arteritis is a rare inflammatory vasculitis affecting medium to large blood vessels. Neurologic complications are seen in 10-20% of cases. A 28 year old female came in due to acute onset left sided weakness and numbness, with absent arterial pulses and blood pressure on the left extremities. She had a history of recurrent right-sided weakness and numbness. Imaging showed an infarct on the right thalamus and multiple chronic infarcts. CT aortogram was consistent with Takayasu Arteritis Type V. The patient was started dual antiplatelet consisting of Aspirin and Clopidogrel, and was started on Prednisone and Methotrexate with good clinical response

Efek Hepatoprotektor Ekstrak Terpurifikasi Batang Galing (Cayratia Trifolia L.Domin) pada Tikus Putih Wistar Jantan (Rattus Noervegicus)

Hepatoprotektor adalah suatu senyawa yang dapat memberikan perlindungan pada hati dari kerusakan hati. Salah satu cara untuk mengetahui fungsi hati dengan mengukur aktivitas enzim Serum Glutamic Oxaloacetic Transaminase (SGOT) dan Serum Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase (SGPT). Salah satu bahan alam yang berpotensi memiliki efek hepatoprotektor adalah tumbuhan Galing dan telah dilakukan penelitian bahwa tumbuhan galing mengandung senyawa flavonoid yang berpotensi sebagai antioksidan. Tujuan penelitian untuk mengetahui efek hepatoprotektor dari ekstrak terpurifikasi batang galing dosis 400 mg/ kgBB pada tikus wistar jantan setelah diinduksi Paracetamol dosis toksik. Jenis penelitian adalah eksperimental laboratorium, dengan desain pre  and  post  test  control  group  design  dan menggunakan 12 ekor tikus putih yang dibagi dalam  3 kelompok perlakuan dengan empat kali pengulangan yang diinduksi dengan paracetamol dosis toksik setelah pemberian ekstrak. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pemberian ekstrak terpurifikasi batang galing dengan dosis 400 mg/kgBB, memberikan efek hepatoprotektor yang efektif terhadap peningkatan kadar SGPT setelah diinduksi paracetamol dosis toksi

Finger Vein Template Protection with Directional Bloom Filter

Biometrics has become a widely accepted solution for secure user authentication. However, the use of biometric traits raises serious concerns about the protection of personal data and privacy. Traditional biometric systems are vulnerable to attacks due to the storage of original biometric data in the system. Because biometric data cannot be changed once it has been compromised, the use of a biometric system is limited by the security of its template. To protect biometric templates, this paper proposes the use of directional bloom filters as a cancellable biometric approach to transform the biometric data into a non-invertible template for user authentication purposes. Recently, Bloom filter has been used for template protection due to its efficiency with small template size, alignment invariance, and irreversibility. Directional Bloom Filter improves on the original bloom filter. It generates hash vectors with directional subblocks rather than only a single-column subblock in the original bloom filter. Besides, we make use of multiple fingers to generate a biometric template, which is termed multi-instance biometrics. It helps to improve the performance of the method by providing more information through the use of multiple fingers. The proposed method is tested on three public datasets and achieves an equal error rate (EER) as low as 5.28% in the stolen or constant key scenario. Analysis shows that the proposed method meets the four properties of biometric template protection. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2023-04-02-013 Full Text: PD

Interplay between interfacial energy, contact mechanics, and capillary forces in EGaIn droplets

Eutectic gallium–indium (EGaIn) is increasingly employed as an interfacial conductor material in molecular electronics and wearable healthcare devices owing to its ability to be shaped at room temperature, conductivity, and mechanical stability. Despite this emerging usage, the mechanical and physical mechanisms governing EGaIn interactions with surrounding objects─mainly regulated by surface tension and interfacial adhesion─remain poorly understood. Here, using depth-sensing nanoindentation (DSN) on pristine EGaIn/GaOx surfaces, we uncover how changes in EGaIn/substrate interfacial energies regulate the adhesive and contact mechanic behaviors, notably the evolution of EGaIn capillary bridges with distinct capillary geometries and pressures. Varying the interfacial energy by subjecting EGaIn to different chemical environments and by functionalizing the tip with chemically distinct self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), we show that the adhesion forces between EGaIn and the solid substrate can be increased by up to 2 orders of magnitude, resulting in about a 60-fold increase in the elongation of capillary bridges. Our data reveal that by deploying molecular junctions with SAMs of different terminal groups, the trends of charge transport rates, the resistance of monolayers, and the contact interactions between EGaIn and monolayers from electrical characterizations are governed by the interfacial energies as well. This study provides a key understanding into the role of interfacial energy on geometrical characteristics of EGaIn capillary bridges, offering insights toward the fabrication of EGaIn junctions in a controlled fashion

Reliability and Repeatability of Cone Density Measurements in Patients With Stargardt Disease and RPGR-Associated Retinopathy

PURPOSE: To assess reliability and repeatability of cone density measurements by using confocal and (nonconfocal) split-detector adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) imaging. It will be determined whether cone density values are significantly different between modalities in Stargardt disease (STGD) and retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator (RPGR)–associated retinopathy. METHODS: Twelve patients with STGD (aged 9–52 years) and eight with RPGR-associated retinopathy (aged 11–31 years) were imaged using both confocal and split-detector AOSLO simultaneously. Four graders manually identified cone locations in each image that were used to calculate local densities. Each imaging modality was evaluated independently. The data set consisted of 1584 assessments of 99 STGD images (each image in two modalities and four graders who graded each image twice) and 928 RPGR assessments of 58 images (each image in two modalities and four graders who graded each image twice). RESULTS: For STGD assessments the reliability for confocal and split-detector AOSLO was 67.9% and 95.9%, respectively, and the repeatability was 71.2% and 97.3%, respectively. The differences in the measured cone density values between modalities were statistically significant for one grader. For RPGR assessments the reliability for confocal and split-detector AOSLO was 22.1% and 88.5%, respectively, and repeatability was 63.2% and 94.5%, respectively. The differences in cone density between modalities were statistically significant for all graders. CONCLUSIONS: Split-detector AOSLO greatly improved the reliability and repeatability of cone density measurements in both disorders and will be valuable for natural history studies and clinical trials using AOSLO. However, it appears that these indices may be disease dependent, implying the need for similar investigations in other conditions