Blood donation is important for lives saving and the need is unceasing. However, the shortage of blood supply
is a common issue. While the public is the main source of blood donation, it is unknown whether they are
aware about it. This study was carried out to determine the public's knowledge, perceptions and barriers
towards blood donation. Atotal of 384 male and female respondents were conveniently selected to participate
in this study. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS software
version 22.0. Most of the respondents (60.9%) had never donated blood but their knowledge towards blood
donation was high (79.9%). Some misconceptions were indicated among respondents. Afraid of the needle
prick, pain or discomfort were the top barriers among non-donors respondents (45.3%). The majority of the
respondents believed that blood donation is a practice or selfless concern for the well-being of others (98.7%).
A significant relationship was indicated between age and level of education with status of blood donation
(p
Background: The identification, situation, background, assessment and recommendation (ISBAR) is a handoff tool that plays an important role in transferring responsibility and accountability in patient care from outgoing shifts to incoming shifts. Many researchers believe that handoff is very important among nurses. Nurses had the responsibility to ensure patients' correct information which were shared among themselves during handoff. It also delivers the best patient care by improving the transfer of clinical information globally and systematically. Purpose: The aim of the study is to determine nurse's perception and compliance on ISBAR tool for handoff communication in tertiary hospital, Dammam. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in oncology unit at tertiary hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Total sample size was 70. Questionnaire was the instrument tool in the study to measure nurse's perception and compliance on ISBAR tools. Result: The overall perception mean score achieved was 38.64±1.455 and compliance score was 7.73±0.588. This showed nurses had good perception and compliance on ISBAR tools and none of them had poor perception and compliance regarding the same. There was statistically significant relationship (P=0.000) between perception and compliance on ISBAR tools. Conclusion: ISBAR is reliable and effective handoff communication tools to promote patient safety. However, continuous education should be maintained to ensure all nurses competent in ISBAR tool. Further studies will be necessary to evaluate relationship between nurses' perception and compliance on ISBAR tool.
Anomaly is a congenital disorder. It is a medical condition that is present since birth. But the word congenital neither applies nor excludes genetic disorder. Congenital anomalies due to environmental factors are called as Teratogens. Infections, deficiency in the diet and toxins are environmental causes. Maternal folic acid deficiency may cause spina bifida. Intake of alcohol, and certain prescribed drugs like phenytoin may cause congenital anomalies or defects. Apart from physical anomalies, other types of congenital disorders are inborn errors of metabolism (Kumar, Abbas and Fausto, 2005). About 15% to 25% of anomalies are due to chromosomal factors or single gene factors, 8% to 12% anomalies are said to be due to environmental factors, 25% are said to be due to multifactorial inheritance 40% to 60% of anomalies are of unknown origin (Stevenson, 1993 ; Nelson and Holmes, 1984). Congenital anomalies are present since birth with structural deformity found immediately after birth or their presence may be detected by signs and symptoms later on (Holland and Brew, 1991). Congenital Anomalies are seen in 2% of population as major abnormality. There are two types of abnormalities, namely malformations where growth disturbances occur during embryogenesis and the other is deformation. It is late change that appears in a structure which was normal earlier (Roizen and Patterson, 2003).
Viability of cultured mammalian cells is evaluated by a variety of techniques. In this study, experimental results
of fast cell viability assays were compared to reveal the most suitable method for determination of
hyperthermia effect on viability of human breast cancer Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) cell line. The
cells were exposed to heat at 42˚C for 2 hours to estimate the percentage of cell viability using four assays
(trypan blue, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and crystal violet, (CV). There was a mild decrease in percentage
of cell viability as the duration of heat exposure increased. Of the three counting techniques, the crystal violet
nuclei showed consistent and significantly higher value (70.58±1.97) than trypan blue and LDH assay
(81.07±20.12 and 77.06±11.84 respectively) (p< 0.05). This study reveals that CVwas the most sensitive assay
for adherent cell. It is also very effective; simple; and permits many samples to be analyzed rapidly and
simultaneously.
Globally, the spread of HIV/AIDS is a major public health challenge because of its pandemic magnitudes. Despite the fact that people of any age are susceptible to HIV, the younger population is more susceptible to be infected because of their lifestyle choices. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent of HIV/AIDS knowledge level among health science undergraduate university students as they play a primary role within the health care system of a country. A cross-sectional study was conducted by using a semi structured, self-administered, especially design questionnaire. Out of total one hundred fifty undergraduate university students, there were 96 males (64%) and 54 females (36%) with the age ranging from 19-25 years. All the students were able to write the acronym of HIV (100%) and AIDS (100%). Common routes of transmission and prevention measure were known by majority of the students. Students stated correctly regarding HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child through pregnancy (18.02%), delivery (15.31%) and breast feeding (11.30%) which was very low level of knowledge. Most of the medical, dental and physiotherapy students had correct knowledge on high risk populace for HIV/AIDS; like singles, intravenous drug user, multiple sex partners and commercial sexual partner. Regarding the preventive measure as hand washing, use of facial mask and sexual abstinent was correctly mentioned by only 31.34%, 34.02% and 28.01% total students respectively. However other safety measure like condom use, effectiveness of condom use, screening of blood was widely known by the students. However, regarding the knowledge on treatment issue of HIV/AIDS, majority of the students (85.30%) correctly knew that HIV/AIDS was not curable, whereas only 15.31% and 20.01% correctly knew that the treatment was very expensive and available respectively. So, this study focus the educational endeavors that could be broadened to emphasis on its general knowledge on HIV/AIDS.
Study site: Medical, Dental and Physiotherapy Faculties at a private university college in Malaysia.