METHODS: A qualitative research design was employed, utilising one-on-one interviews with pharmacy students at a university in Malaysia. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview guide and analysed using thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Thematic analysis revealed five core themes: student involvement in curriculum design, perceived benefits in students as partners, challenges in active learning environments, suggestions to improve relational pedagogy, and empowerment through student involvement in curriculum design. Students mentioned that the relationship as partners with educators will be beneficial and mentioned challenges, such as hierarchical barriers and communication issues. They suggested increased training and support, more frequent feedback mechanisms, and clearer communication channels to foster effective partnerships.
CONCLUSION: Students perceived that their engagement could lead to significant changes in their academic journeys. This participatory approach aligns with outcome-based educational goals and enhances the overall learning experience by making the content more relevant to students' needs and aspirations. The SaP approach has transformative potential in higher education.
METHOD: This is a single-center descriptive and retrospective study in the quaternary Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Japan. All pediatric patients who underwent liver transplantation from 2019 to 2021 were eligible. The patients were divided into two groups based on culture positivity: the positive culture group and the negative culture group.
RESULTS: A total of 152 pediatric patients were included in the study. The median age was 11 months, and 86% of cases underwent living donor liver transplantation. Among the 152 cases, 18% showed positive bacterial culture results. The timing of positive culture varied bimodally, with 34% occurring after postoperative day 15. Among the positive cultures, 84% were bacterial, and 20% were fungal. Factors associated with positive culture were analyzed, and as a result, re-laparotomy and a higher graft recipient weight ratio (GRWR) were identified as factors associated with infection.
CONCLUSIONS: We reported the frequency and patterns of infections in pediatric patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation and demonstrated that factors associated with positive culture were re-laparotomy and GRWR. This study provides important clinical data for infection management after liver transplantation.
METHODS: Databases were searched from inception to Aug 2023, comparing molecular targeted therapies (MTT) with conventional chemotherapy, chemotherapy or surgery. Study screening, data extraction, and data analysis were conducted independently by two investigators. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool 1.0 was used for the quality of the studies.
RESULTS: There was a total of ten eligible studies with 471 participants in the treatment arm and 469 participants in the control arm. Most studies had an unclear risk of bias assessment. Upon network meta-analysis, cetuximab was found to be the most effective regimen for complete response (CR), bevacizumab was found to be the most effective regimen for partial response (PR), nimotuzumab was found to be the most effective regimen for overall survival rate (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Pairwise meta-analysis showed that MTT had a significantly better response than conventional therapies in complete response. GRADE analysis reported low certainty of evidence for CR and very low certainty of evidence for other efficacy outcomes. There was a higher chance of bleeding with MTT and was statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: It was observed that targeted therapies were found to be a promising strategy for NPC especially recurrent and/or metastatic NPC, but the most appropriate therapy still needs to be evaluated.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered with the International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols (INPLASY) with a registration number of INPLASY202380024.
SCOPE AND FINDINGS: This project aimed to understand the challenges of engaging a diverse, multilingual population in setting oral health research priorities. While not a comprehensive priority-setting effort, we modified James Lind Alliance's (JLA) methods and used thematic analysis to establish a list of priority research topics and questions. This was accomplished by conducting interviews with 40 community participants and 14 dentists from various ethnic backgrounds in Malaysia. The interview language depended on participant preferences, including English, Malay, and Mandarin, with translations handled collaboratively by bilingual research assistants. The process involved thematic analysis, discussion with a research committee, and necessary modifications. Our interpretations revealed distinct categories of participant statements: explicit, complicated, implicit and incomplete. In this study, we identified a three-step approach to translate research ideas that are presented either as explicit statements or as complicated narratives.
CONCLUSIONS: Translating community research priorities poses inherent challenges. Our model, although not exhaustive, provides a valuable tool to assist research priority-setting groups in translating these priorities into meaningful research topics and questions, facilitating the equitable inclusion of diverse perspectives. Future research priority-setting endeavours should document their translation processes, thus aiding researchers in understanding and tackling the intricacies of this task.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The majority of classical antihypertensive drugs were mainly focused on the RAAS signaling pathways. Though these antihypertensive drugs control blood pressure (BP), they have mild to severe life-threatening effects. Unrevealing effective hypertensive targets for BP management is essential. The effective targets could emerge either from RAAS-dependent or RAAS-independent pathways and/or through the cross-talks among them.
RESULTS: Analyzing the physiopathological mechanisms of hypertension has the benefit of understanding the interactions between these systems which helps in better understanding of drug targets and the importance of emergence of novel therapeutics.
CONCLUSION: This review is about the signaling pathways involved in hypertension pathogenesis and their cross-talks and it contributes to a better understanding of the etiology of hypertension.
METHODS: Fe₃O₄-SiO₂ was prepared using a modified Stober method and used as a heterogeneous catalyst in an ultrasound-assisted transesterification reaction to produce biodiesel. The tests were designed by the Response surface methodology by considering the molar ratio of methanol to oil (M/O), catalyst weight percentage, and sonication time as independent factors. The produced biodiesel in diesel generator engines and the emission of pollutants were evaluated.
RESULTS: The optimal production conditions were determined using the response surface methodology, which included a molar ratio of 8.30, a catalyst weight percentage of 5.30, and a sonication time of 30.02 min. The Pareto analysis indicated that the sonication time is the most important factor in the sono-catalytic transesterification of waste oil. The evaluation of the produced fuel showed that with an increase in the percentage of biodiesel in the engine's fuel input, CO emissions decreased by 0.027 % and smoke levels by 24 %, while NOx levels increased by 495 ppm. Additionally, the increase in biodiesel percentage led to a rise in brake-specific power by 44.6 kW and brake-specific fuel consumption by 89 g/kWh though brake torque decreased by 87 Nm.
CONCLUSION: The study introduces significant advancements in biodiesel production technology through combining heterogeneous catalysis and ultrasound processing, optimizing production parameters for efficiency and sustainability while demonstrating improved environmental performance in diesel engines.
METHODS: The proposed MPa-DCAE model leverages the hierarchical feature extraction capabilities of VGG19 within a DCAE framework, designed to capture intricate patterns in histopathology images. By using a multi-patch approach, regions of interest are extracted from pathology images to facilitate localized feature learning, enhancing the model's discriminatory power. The auto-encoder component enables unsupervised feature learning, increasing resilience and adaptability to variations in image features. Experiments were conducted at various magnifications on the CBIS-DDSM and MIAS datasets to validate model performance.
RESULTS: Experimental results demonstrated that the MPa-DCAE model outperformed existing methods. For the CBIS-DDSM dataset, the model achieved a precision of 97.96%, a recall of 94.85%, and an accuracy of 98.36%. For the MIAS dataset, it achieved a precision of 97.99%, a recall of 97.2%, and an accuracy of 98.95%. These results highlight the model's robustness and potential for clinical application in computer-assisted diagnosis.
CONCLUSION: The MPa-DCAE model, integrating VGG19 and DCAE, proves to be an effective, automated approach for diagnosing breast cancer. Its high accuracy and generalizability make it a promising tool for clinical practice, potentially improving patient care in histopathology-based breast cancer diagnosis.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to design and develop the ChestCare mobile Health app using user-centred design (UCD) approach. Thus, it provided PTR for patients with COPD, enhancing their self-management of symptoms and improving their compliance with PR programs.
METHODS: In this mixed-methods sequential research, we deployed the UCD iterative design through the prototype app design and development sequence. The first phase was built based on the results of a previous needs assessment study and an analysis of related apps. This produced the initial mock-up, the foundation for the focus group discussions with physiotherapists and patients. Six physiotherapists with cardiorespiratory specialisation evaluated each app module and item of the latest mock-up using the content validity index (CVI) document. The I-CVI (S-CVI/Ave) and (S-CVI/UA) were computed. Qualitative and quantitative data were integrated, and decisions were made by comparing their results.
RESULTS: The UCD iterative design through sequential MMR has generated four mock-up app versions. The latest version identified 13 modules through 150 items validated by six experts using a CVI document. The I-CVI calculation of 145 items was 1, while 0.83 for the remaining items, was within accepted values. The S-CVI scored 99.4, indicating an overall validity of the ChestCare app as a PTR system for patients with COPD.
CONCLUSIONS: The development and validation of the ChestCare app resulted from conducting UCD iterative design and sequential MMR, which identified 13 functionalities, including symptom assessment, tracking lung volume, functional capacity test, action plan, intervention program, COPD education, COPD community, monitoring and reminders.
METHODS: PubMed, the Excerpta Medica dataBASE (EMBASE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Google Advanced Search, and Turning Research Into Practice (TRIP) Database were systematically searched from inception to August 2023. The primary outcomes were knowledge level, knowledge scores, participation in shared decision-making (SDM), decisional conflict, and preference for SDM participation. Secondary outcomes were the proportion of subjects who underwent screening (actual screening utilisation) and the proportion of subjects who intended to be screened (intention to undergo screening). Network and pairwise meta-analyses were performed using random-effects models.
RESULTS: Seven systematic reviews were included. Network meta-analysis found that multimedia (relative risk [RR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-2.24), print (RR 1.82, 95% CI 1.23-2.69), and website-based (RR 1.99, 95% CI 1.32-3.01) DAs significantly increased participation in SDM compared to the computer-based DA. There was a significant reduction in the actual screening utilisation in the computer DA arm compared to the other delivery modes. No significant differences between all delivery modes were noted on knowledge levels, knowledge scores, decisional conflict, preference for SDM participation, and intention to undergo screening. The highest mean surface under the cumulative ranking curve for all primary outcomes showed that website-based was the most effective delivery mode, followed by print-based DA. The pairwise meta-analysis showed a significant increase in participants' knowledge level, knowledge scores, a reduced intention to undergo screening and actual screening utilisation compared to UC.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that different types of DAs have varying levels of effectiveness in increasing knowledge level, knowledge scores, participation in SDM, and influencing screening behaviours. While website-based DA appeared the most effective, employing the print-based DA could be a practical solution in settings with limited resources.