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Fulltext Patient satisfaction with medication therapy adherence clinic services in a district hospital: a cross-sectional study

Sim YC, Mohd-Rosli IS, Lau BT, Ng SY

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2021 06 02;19(2):2353.
PMID: 34221203 DOI: 10.18549/PharmPract.2021.2.2353

Background: Patient satisfaction is one of the essential indicators for assessing the quality of healthcare services being delivered, including pharmacy ambulatory care service, as it determines the practicability and sustainability of the service provided. As such, pharmaceutical care services provided during medication therapy adherence clinic (MTAC) sessions need to be assessed to maximise its effectiveness and benefits to the patients.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the association between patient satisfaction and socio-demographic characteristics, as well as the predictors for patient satisfaction.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the medical outpatient department in Hospital Port Dickson from January until October 2019. Convenience sampling method was used to recruit potential study participants. Patient satisfaction was measured using Validated Patient Satisfaction with Pharmacist Services Questionnaire (PSPSQ2.0), consisted of quality of care and interpersonal relationship between pharmacist and patient domains. Descriptive data were presented as mean and standard deviation or numbers and percentages, while Independent Sample t-test, ANOVA and post-hoc analysis, and multiple linear regression were used for inferential data analysis.
Results: There were 37 (25%) diabetes MTAC, 36 (24.3%) respiratory MTAC, and 75 (50.7%) warfarin MTAC patients recruited. On average, the mean overall satisfaction score was 3.30(SD=0.43). The mean satisfaction score in the interpersonal relationship domain [3.35(SD=0.44)] was higher than the quality of care domain [3.26(SD=0.45)]. There was a significant association between gender, education level, and patient satisfaction towards pharmaceutical care service (p<0.05). Gender and education level statistically predicted respondents' satisfaction with MTAC services (p<0.001).
Conclusions: The overall patient satisfaction towards MTAC services in this setting was high. Gender and education level were significant predictors for patient satisfaction. These findings could potentially contribute to the planning of MTAC services in the future.
The missing link: introducing travel medicine into the undergraduate medical curriculum

Flaherty G, Thong Zi Yi C, Browne R

J Travel Med, 2016 May;23(5).
PMID: 27378364 DOI: 10.1093/jtm/taw038
Fulltext Reference Frame Unification of IMU-Based Joint Angle Estimation: The Experimental Investigation and a Novel Method

Yi C, Jiang F, Yang C, Chen Z, Ding Z, Liu J

Sensors (Basel), 2021 Mar 05;21(5).
PMID: 33807746 DOI: 10.3390/s21051813

Inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based joint angle estimation is an increasingly mature technique that has a broad range of applications in clinics, biomechanics and robotics. However, the deviations of different IMUs' reference frames, referring to IMUs' individual orientations estimating errors, is still a challenge for improving the angle estimation accuracy due to conceptual confusion, relatively simple metrics and the lack of systematical investigation. In this paper, we clarify the determination of reference frame unification, experimentally study the time-varying characteristics of reference frames' deviations and accordingly propose a novel method with a comprehensive metric to unify reference frames. To be specific, we firstly define the reference frame unification (RFU) and distinguish it with drift correction that has always been confused with the term RFU. Secondly, we design a mechanical gimbal-based experiment to study the deviations, where sensor-to-body alignment and rotation-caused differences of orientations are excluded. Thirdly, based on the findings of the experiment, we propose a novel method to utilize the consistency of the joint axis under the hinge-joint constraint, gravity acceleration and local magnetic field to comprehensively unify reference frames, which meets the nonlinear time-varying characteristics of the deviations. The results on ten human subjects reveal the feasibility of our proposed method and the improvement from previous methods. This work contributes to a relatively new perspective of considering and improving the accuracy of IMU-based joint angle estimation.
Fulltext Harnessing the Challenges and Solutions to Improve Security Warnings: A Review

Zaaba ZF, Lim Xin Yi C, Amran A, Omar MA

Sensors (Basel), 2021 Nov 03;21(21).
PMID: 34770621 DOI: 10.3390/s21217313

The security warning is a representation of communication that is used to warn and to inform a person whether security menaces have been discovered in order to prevent any consequences of damage from taking place. The purpose of a security warning is to provide a legitimate alert (to notify and to warn) to the users so that a secure manner of action is safely conducted. It is worth noting that the majority of computer users prefer to dismiss security warnings due to lack of attention, the use of technical words, and the deficiency of information provided. This paper determines to achieve two outcomes: firstly, a thorough review of problems, challenges, and approaches to improving security warnings. Our work complements the previous classifications in the identification of problems and challenges in security warnings by value-adding a new classification, namely immersion in the primary task. Then, we add other related works within the known classifications accordingly. In addition, our work also presents the classifications of approaches to improving security warnings. Secondly, we propose two timelines by addressing the problems, challenges, and approaches to improving security warnings. It is expected that the outcomes of this research will be useful to researchers within the niche area for analysing trends and providing the groundwork in security warning studies, respectively.
Regulating tumor microenvironments by a lymph node-targeting adjuvant via tumor-specific CTL-derived IFNγ

Xu X, Yi C, Feng T, Ge Y, Liu M, Wu C, et al.

Clin Immunol, 2023 Aug;253:109685.
PMID: 37406980 DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2023.109685

Inducing tumor-specific T cell responses and regulating suppressive tumor microenvironments have been a challenge for effective tumor therapy. CpG (ODN), the Toll-like receptor 9 agonist, has been widely used as adjuvants of cancer vaccines to induce T cell responses. We developed a novel adjuvant to improve the targeting of lymph nodes. CpG were modified with lipid and glycopolymers by the combination of photo-induced RAFT polymerization and click chemistry, and the novel adjuvant was termed as lipid-glycoadjuvant@AuNPs (LCpG). OVA protein was used as model antigen and melanoma model was established to test the immunotherapy effect of the adjuvant. In tumor model, the antitumor effect and mechanism of LCpG on the response of CTLs were examined by flow cytometry and cell cytotoxicity assay. The effects of LCpG on macrophage polarization and Tregs differentiation in tumor microenvironment were also studied by cell depletion assay and cytokine neutralization assay. We also tested the therapeutic effect of the combination of the adjuvant and anti-PD-1 treatment. LCpG could be rapidly transported to and retained longer in the lymphoid nodes than unmodified CpG. In melanoma model, LCpG controlled both primary tumor and its metastasis, and established long-term memory. In spleen and tumor draining lymphoid nodes, LCpG activated tumor-specific Tc1 responses, with increased CD8+ T-cell proliferation, antigen-specific Tc1 cytokine production and specific-tumor killing capacity. In tumor microenvironments, antigen-specific Tc1 induced by the LCpG promoted CTL infiltration, skewed tumor associated macrophages to M1 phenotype, regulated Treg and induced proinflammatory cytokines production in a CTL-derived IFN-γ-dependent manner. In vivo cell depletion and adoptive transfer experiments confirmed that antitumor activity of LCpG included vaccine was mainly dependent on CTL-derived IFN-γ. The anti-tumor efficacy of LCpG was dramatically enhanced when combined with anti-PD1 immunotherapy. LCpG was a promising adjuvant for vaccine formulation which could augment tumor-specific Tc1 activity, and regulate tumor microenvironments.
Fulltext Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1

Klionsky DJ, Abdel-Aziz AK, Abdelfatah S, Abdellatif M, Abdoli A, Abel S, et al.

Autophagy, 2021 Jan;17(1):1-382.
PMID: 33634751 DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2020.1797280

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.