Assessment of patient satisfaction with the preoperative anaesthetic evaluation

Preoperative anaesthetic evaluation is important in the perioperative care. The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of satisfaction and factors affecting patient satisfaction in the preanaesthetic clinic (PAC). A total of 304 patients who attended PAC for preoperative evaluation were recruited into this study. A bilanguage validated Patient Satisfaction Survey in English and Bahasa Malaysia with total questions of 18 examining non-provider factors (NPF) (facilities and appropriateness of waiting time) and provider factors (PF) (doctor, counter services, nurses and supporting staff) were utilized. The survey form was graded in a strongly agree/ disagree five-point Likert scale format for patients’ level of satisfaction. Overall satisfaction of preoperative evaluation was reported as 98.7% with mean scores from doctor (4.49 + 0.60), counter service (4.48 + 0.61), support staff (4.47 + 0.62) and the NPF (4.40 + 0.62), respectively. All factors were found to be significantly correlated with the overall patients’ satisfaction (p<0.001) and waiting time shown to be the independent predictor affecting the level of satisfaction. Overall majority of the patients were satisfied with the preoperative evaluation provided at PAC and both non-provider and provider factors were shown to have a significant impact on patient satisfaction

Fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity of oils from two cultivars of Cantaloupe extracted by supercritical fluid extraction

The effect of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) fractionation of three oil fractions (1st, 2nd, 3rd fraction) on the fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity of oils from two cultivars of cantaloupe were investigated. Rock melon oil (RMO) and Golden Langkawi oil (GLO) were extracted using SFE and the major fatty acids for both cultivars were linoleic, oleic, palmitic, and stearic acid. The SFA decreased from 15.78 to 14.14% in RMO 1st fraction, and MUFA decreased from 18.30 to 16.56% in RMO 2nd fraction, while PUFA increased from 65.9 to 69.30% in RMO 3rd fraction. On the other hand SFA decreased from 16.35 to 13.91% in GLO 1st fraction, and MUFA decreased from 17.50 to 15.57% in GLO 2nd fraction, while PUFA increased from 66.15 to 70.52% in GLO 3rd fraction. The different fractions of the two oils showed high antioxidant activity in reducing the oxidation of pi-carotene in beta-carotene bleaching assay (BCB) and the quenching of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)

Robust Control Strategy for Pneumatic Drive System via Enhanced Nonlinear PID Controller

This paper presents the pneumatic positioning system controlled by Enhanced Nonlinear PID (NPID) controller. The characteristic of rate variation of the nonlinear gain that are readily available in NPID controller is utilized to improve the performance of the controller. A Self-regulation Nonlinear Function (SNF) is used to reprocess the error signals with the purpose of continuously generating the values for the rate variation. Subsequently, the controller has successfully been implemented on dynamically changing loads and pressures. The comparison with the other available method such as. NPID and conventional PID are performed and evaluated.  The effectiveness of this method with Dead Zone Compensator (DZC) has also been successfully demonstrated and proven through simulations and experimental studies.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v4i5.685

Practical robust control using Self-regulation Nonlinear PID controller for pneumatic positioning system

This paper investigates the robustness of the pneumatic positioning system controlled by Self-regulation Nonlinear PID (SNPID) controller. This controller is executed by utilizing the characteristic of rate variation of the nonlinear gain that are readily available in Nonlinear PID (NPID) controller. A Self-regulation Nonlinear Function (SNF) is used to reprocess the error signal with the purpose to generate the value of the rate variation, continuously. Simulation and experimental tests are conducted. The controller is implemented to a variably loads and pressures. The comparison with the other existing method i.e. NPID and conventional PID are performed and evaluated. The effectiveness of SNPID + Dead Zone Compensator (DZC) has been successfully demonstrated and proved through simulation and experimental studie

Nucleotide diversity and association genetics of Xyloglucan Endotransglycosylase/hydrolase (XTH) and cellulose synthase (CesA) genes in Neolamarckia cadamba.

A detailed study was carried out to discover single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from Neolamarckia cadamba partial XTH (~1283bp) and CesA (778bp) DNA sequences and further associates those SNPs with basic wood density. Primers were designed in flanking the partial XTH and CesA genes from 15 N. cadamba trees. The amplified DNA fragments were sequenced and the basic wood density measurements were determined for each tree. The sequence variation analyses revealed that 34 SNPs (2.65% occurrence) and 3 SNPs (0.39% occurrence) were found in 15 partial genomic DNA sequences of NcXTH1 and NcCesA1, respectively. All the SNPs were discovered in both exon and intron regions. NcXTH1 examined sites showed higher nucleotide diversities of π = 0.00402 and θw = 8.919 when compared to NcCesA1 (π = 0.00127; θw = 0.9226). The LD decayed slowly with distance of polymorphic sites in a linear pattern with the mean R2 value of 0.000687. Association genetics study showed that 2 SNPs from NcXTH1 genes were significantly associated with basic wood density (p<0.05) of N. cadamba. Once the gene-associated SNP markers in NcXTH1 genes are validated, it could be potentially used as a tool in Gene-Assisted Selection (GAS) of N. cadamba trees. This study has also demonstrated that the candidate-gene based association genetics is a powerful approach to dissect complex adaptive traits for organism lacking a genome sequence or reference genomic resources

The ELPAT Living Organ Donor Psychosocial Assessment Tool (EPAT): from 'What' to 'How' of Psychosocial Screening - a Pilot Study

Thorough psychosocial screening of donor candidates is required in order to minimize potential negative consequences and to strive for optimal safety within living donation programmes. We aimed to develop an evidence-based tool to standardize the psychosocial screening process. Key concepts of psychosocial screening were used to structure our tool: motivation and decision-making, personal resources, psychopathology, social resources, ethical and legal factors and information and risk processing. We (i) discussed how each item per concept could be measured, (ii) reviewed and rated available validated tools, (iii) where necessary developed new items, (iv) assessed content validity and (v) pilot-tested the new items. The resulting ELPAT living organ donor Psychosocial Assessment Tool (EPAT) consists of a selection of validated questionnaires (28 items in total), a semi-structured interview (43 questions) and a Red Flag Checklist. We outline optimal procedures and conditions for implementing this tool. The EPAT and user manual are available from the authors. Use of this tool will standardize the psychosocial screening procedure ensuring that no psychosocial issues are overlooked and ensure that comparable selection criteria are used and facilitate generation of comparable psychosocial data on living donor candidates.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

After the colonial: Tina Rimmer the Borneon artist

James Williamson in his 2nd edition of A Short History of British Expansion (1931) drew his readers attention to the dwindling numbers of European colonials particularly the British colonials in the colonies which numbered 1.5 million in 1921 and then 1.4 million in December 192715. Imperialism was at its closure after the world war and the world was in depression. Those who lived after the war returned home even those who were at the fringes of the British colonies. This article explores the social transformation of post imperial colonials who did not return after imperialism especially in the fringes of non-white former colonies like the North Borneo of Malaysia. The question that begs is the resistance or insistence of the imperial mindset of these colonials who did not return home after imperialism. Since there are few who are still alive to answer this question, the one important respondent that has been identified in this research is Tina Rimmer or Mary Christina Rimmer née Lewin, a much loved Borneo[n] artist who  will turn a 100 in August 20171

Actividad antioxidante y composición de ácidos grasos de aceites de semilla de melón de dos variedades extraídos mediante extracción con fluido supercrítico

The effect of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) fractionation of three oil fractions (1st, 2nd, 3rd fraction) on the fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity of oils from two cultivars of cantaloupe were investigated. Rock melon oil (RMO) and Golden Langkawi oil (GLO) were extracted using SFE and the major fatty acids for both cultivars were linoleic, oleic, palmitic, and stearic acid. The SFA decreased from 15.78 to 14.14% in RMO 1st fraction, and MUFA decreased from 18.30 to 16.56% in RMO 2nd fraction, while PUFA increased from 65.9 to 69.30% in RMO 3rd fraction. On the other hand SFA decreased from 16.35 to 13.91% in GLO 1st fraction, and MUFA decreased from 17.50 to 15.57% in GLO 2nd fraction, while PUFA increased from 66.15 to 70.52% in GLO 3rd fraction. The different fractions of the two oils showed high antioxidant activity in reducing the oxidation of β-carotene in beta-carotene bleaching assay (BCB) and the quenching of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH).El efecto del fraccionamiento mediante extracción con fluido supercrítico de tres fracciones (fracción 1ª, 2ª y 3ª) sobre la composición de ácidos grasos y actividad antioxidante de aceites de dos variedades de melón fué investigado. Aceites de melón de los cultivares Rock (RMO) y Golden Langkawi GLO) fueron extraídos usando SFE y los principales ácidos grasos en cada cultivar fueron ácido linoleico, oleico, palmítico y esteárico. Los ácidos grasos saturados (SFA) disminuyeron desde 15.78 a 14.14% en la 1ª fracción de RMO y los ácidos grasos monoinsaturados (MUFA) disminuyeron desde 18.30 a 16.56% en la 2ª fracción de RMO, mientras que los ácidos grasos poliinsaturados (PUFA) aumentaron de 65.9 a 69.30% en la 3ª fracción de RMO. Por otra parte, SFA disminuyo de 16.35 a 13.91% en la primera fracción de GLO y MUFA disminuyo de 17.50 a 15.57% en la 2ª fracción de GLO, mientras que PUFA aumento de 66.15 a 70.52% en la 3ª fracción de GLO. Las diferentes fracciones de los dos aceites mostraron una alta actividad antioxidante al reducir la oxidación del β-caroteno en el ensayo de decoloración de beta-carotene (BCB) y en la eliminación del radical 1,1-difenil-2-picrilhidrazilo (DPPH)

Impact of Environmental Sub-Inhibitory Concentrations of Antibiotics, Heavy Metals, and Biocides on the Emergence of Tolerance and Effects on the Mutant Selection Window in E. coli

Data Availability Statement: All data have been added to the manuscript. Any further data would be provided by the authors upon responsible request.Copyright © 2023 by the authors. Bacteria’s ability to withstand the detrimental effects of antimicrobials could occur as resistance or tolerance with the minimum inhibitory concentration, the mutant prevention concentration, and the mutant selection window as salient concepts. Thus, this study assessed the impact of exposure to extremely high doses of ampicillin on the level of persistence and tolerance development in isolates previously exposed to different concentrations of selected antibiotics, biocides, and heavy metals. These isolates were previously exposed to oxytetracycline (OXYTET), amoxicillin (AMX), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), benzalkonium chloride (BAC) 10, dimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC) 12 and a combination of all the individual pollutants (ALL). The isolates were exposed to very high concentrations (25 × MIC) of ampicillin, and their tolerance was calculated as the time required to kill 99.9% of the bacterial population (MDK99.9). The MDK99.9 increased by 30 to 50% in test isolates (DADMAC, OXYTET, Zinc = 28 h; BAC, Copper = 30 h; amoxycillin, ALL = 26 h) compared to the untreated control. BAC-exposed isolates decreased from 2.5 × 108 CFU/mL to 2.5 × 104 CFU/mL on the second day, displaying the highest tolerance increase. The tolerance appeared to originate from two sources, i.e., stochastic persistence and genetic-induced persistence, involving multiple genes with diverse mechanisms. The mutant selection window of the isolates to ampicillin, amoxicillin, and oxytetracycline also slightly increased compared to the control, indicating the selective survival of persister cells during the 30-day exposure. These findings indicate that bacterial exposure to sub-inhibitory concentrations of environmental chemical stressors may not always result in the development of antimicrobial resistance but could initiate this process by selecting persisters that could evolve into resistant isolates.South African Research Chair Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant No. 98342); South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC); SAMRC Self-Initiated Research Grant