RESULT: The screening of six physical conditions by Plackett-Burman Design has identified pH, inoculum size and incubation time as exerting significant effects on lipase production. These three conditions were further optimised using, Box-Behnken Design of Response Surface Methodology, which predicted an optimum medium comprising pH 6, 24 h incubation time and 2% inoculum size. T1 lipase activity of 2.0 U/mL was produced with a biomass of OD600 23.0.
CONCLUSION: The process of using RSM for optimisation yielded a 3-fold increase of T1 lipase over medium before optimisation. Therefore, this result has proven that T1 lipase can be produced at a higher yield in P. guilliermondii.
METHOD: This study employed an experimental design and involved a total of 122 nurses, with 59 in the experimental group and 63 in the control group. Participants were selected from palliative care wards associated with Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Nurses in the experimental group underwent a two-week educational module on nursing spiritual care, while nurses in the control group attended a single lecture on spiritual care provided by the hospital.
RESULTS: The results indicated no significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics between the two groups. A significant difference in spiritual care competence within the intervention group and the control group over time (p-value = 0.001), between the two groups (p-value = 0.038), and in the interaction between time and group (p-value = 0.001).
CONCLUSION: The Nursing Spiritual Care Module is crucial in aiding nurses and healthcare professionals in cultivating the appropriate and wholesome attitudes and practices necessary to address the spiritual needs of patients.
Methods: We adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology to identify global COPD research priorities.
Results: 62 experts contributed 230 research ideas, which were scored by 34 researchers according to six pre-defined criteria: answerability, effectiveness, feasibility, deliverability, burden reduction, and equity. The top-ranked research priority was the need for new effective strategies to support smoking cessation. Of the top 20 overall research priorities, six were focused on feasible and cost-effective pulmonary rehabilitation delivery and access, particularly in primary/community care and low-resource settings. Three of the top 10 overall priorities called for research on improved screening and accurate diagnostic methods for COPD in low-resource primary care settings. Further ideas that drew support involved a better understanding of risk factors for COPD, development of effective training programmes for health workers and physicians in low resource settings, and evaluation of novel interventions to encourage physical activity.
Conclusions: The experts agreed that the most pressing feasible research questions to address in the next decade for COPD reduction were on prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation of COPD, especially in low resource settings. The largest gains should be expected in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) settings, as the large majority of COPD deaths occur in those settings. Research priorities identified by this systematic international process should inform and motivate policymakers, funders, and researchers to support and conduct research to reduce the global burden of COPD.