Innovation in forestry education is needed to address changing contexts of the positionality of forests.This is particularly signifi cant in the Asia–Pacifi c region,where deforestation and degradation are high.Howev...Innovation in forestry education is needed to address changing contexts of the positionality of forests.This is particularly signifi cant in the Asia–Pacifi c region,where deforestation and degradation are high.However,the accessibility of high-quality forestry education to address changing regional and global contexts is lacking.A series of innovative sustainable forest management(SFM)open education resource(OER)courses were developed and implemented to improve the accessibility of SFM education to enhance teaching quality,curriculum,and research capacity of universities in the Asia-Pacifi c Region.To evaluate the SFM-OER program in terms of student experiences,this study investigated student achievement,perceived success of the pedagogical approach and instructional design,and perceived eff ectiveness of the learning activities in promoting active and transformative learning through the assessment of a 1,191-course feedback survey between 2018 and 2020,including the global pandemic.This study revealed that the program attracted diverse student demographics,including a higher proportion of female students majoring in forestry,ecology,and other environmental studies.Their primary motivation to participate in the courses was to gain international experience,followed by the fl exibility of online learning,mandatory course requirements,and earning course credits.Students were satisfi ed with the Canvas learning management system.Most students spent less than 5 to 10 h of their weekly time in the course and agreed or strongly agreed that the workloads were manageable.Students refl ected positively on various learning activities and assignments,such as watching lecture videos,taking quizzes,reading and summarizing,having discussions,and peer review writing.However,they did not clearly prefer specifi c learning activities,signifying the importance of using diverse learning activities to satisfy diverse individual learning styles in online settings.This analysis contributes to the further development of student-centered pedagogical development for online learning and provides insight into the ways forward for online higher forestry education,while repurposing existing OER courses in a post-Covid-19 era.展开更多
In this paper,we investigate geothermal exploration and production in 189 hydrothermal projects and 42 hot dry rock projects around the world.The hydrothermal fields for a working hydrothermal system to generate elect...In this paper,we investigate geothermal exploration and production in 189 hydrothermal projects and 42 hot dry rock projects around the world.The hydrothermal fields for a working hydrothermal system to generate electricity should have the elements of heat source,water-saturated porous or fractured reservoir,caprock,heat transfer pathway,and good heat preservation condition and geothermal power energy intensity of 10-20 MW per km^(2)within at least 5 km^(2)area in tectonically active region.The hot water or steam flow rate in this hydrothermal system is normally larger than 40 L/s with temperature of 150℃or above.The power generated from enhanced geothermal system(EGS)in hot dry rock projects are generally less than 2 MW because the flow rate in most cases is much less than 40 L/s even with the hydraulic fractures using the modern stimulation technology learned from the oil and gas industry.The natural fracture in the subsurface is generally beneficial to the hydraulic fracturing and heat recovery in the hot dry rock.Moreover,the hydraulic fracture parameters,injection rate and well spacing,drilling strategy should be properly designed to avoid the short-circuit between injector and producer and low heat productivity.In the future,CO^(2)enhanced geothermal recovery associated with CO^(2)sequestration in the high temperature oil,gas,and geothermal fields maybe a good choice.On the other hand,both nearreal-time seismic monitoring to limit the pumping rate and the closed-loop of the Eavor-Loop style system without hydraulic fracture can contribute greatly to heat recovery of hot dry rocks and mitigate the risks of the hydraulic fracturing induced earthquake.Furthermore,the hybrid solar and geothermal system performs better than the stand-alone geothermal system.展开更多
在英语学习中,Free talk是说的能力,书面表达是写的能力,二者互相联系又相互促进,要有机融合,才能促进英语水平的有效提高。一、初中英语书面表达现状。在初中英语质量检测中,学生词汇贫乏、句型单一、结构松散、逻辑混乱的问题普遍存...在英语学习中,Free talk是说的能力,书面表达是写的能力,二者互相联系又相互促进,要有机融合,才能促进英语水平的有效提高。一、初中英语书面表达现状。在初中英语质量检测中,学生词汇贫乏、句型单一、结构松散、逻辑混乱的问题普遍存在。第一,受母语的影响导致汉语式英语,类似“I by bike to school every day”的表达司空见惯。展开更多
English teaching is an integral part of education,which shoulders the responsibility of rendering rudimentary knowledge of English to the students,providing the students with the listening,speaking,reading and writing...English teaching is an integral part of education,which shoulders the responsibility of rendering rudimentary knowledge of English to the students,providing the students with the listening,speaking,reading and writing ability,as well as the obligation of carrying out ideological education and cultivating their noble and healthy sentiment.In teaching,the teachers should pay special attention to the students' thirst for English learning and give full play to their initiative,which demands enough lead-in preparation before class.The lead-in of new lessons bears a direct impact on the quality of the classroom teaching.This thesis will make an analysis of this problem in two aspects.展开更多
This paper describes some special features of the Wenchuan earthquake that affected dam safety. Damage and performance of dams, primarily for four dams over 100 m high located in the affected earthquake area, are brie...This paper describes some special features of the Wenchuan earthquake that affected dam safety. Damage and performance of dams, primarily for four dams over 100 m high located in the affected earthquake area, are briefly described. Lessons learned related to dam safety from this devastating earthquake are preliminarily drawn. As the seismic safety of high dams during strong earthquakes has gained more attention around the world, some critical issues related to dam construction in China are considered and extensively discussed. Questions such as "Why is dam construction necessary in earthquake prone countries such as China?", "Can we accurately evaluate the seismic safety of high dams in China?", "Did reservoir impounding of the Zipingpu and Three Gorges Projects trigger the Wenchuan Earthquake in some way?" and "What is the strategic priority of dam safety for large dams in China?" are discussed. Finally, the corresponding tactics with response to the challenge are suggested and recent preliminary progress mainly achieved in IWHR is briefly introduced.展开更多
Exercise is a potent force of nature with significant potential for extending longevity and boosting physical fitness. It is also be- ing increasingly used as a prophylactic and curative measure for various physical a...Exercise is a potent force of nature with significant potential for extending longevity and boosting physical fitness. It is also be- ing increasingly used as a prophylactic and curative measure for various physical ailments, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.展开更多
Retinal ganglions cells (RGCs) are responsible for propagating electrochemical information from the eye to the brain along their axons which make up the optic nerve. The loss of RGCs is characteristic in several con...Retinal ganglions cells (RGCs) are responsible for propagating electrochemical information from the eye to the brain along their axons which make up the optic nerve. The loss of RGCs is characteristic in several conditions such as glaucoma and trau- matic optic neuropathy and leads to visual loss and blindness. While no therapy exists to directly treat RGCs, the use of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) has shown promise in eliciting significant RGC neuroprotection.展开更多
The intestinal microbiome has emerged as an important component involved in various diseases.Therefore,the interest in understanding the factors shaping its composition is growing.The gut microbiome,often defined as a...The intestinal microbiome has emerged as an important component involved in various diseases.Therefore,the interest in understanding the factors shaping its composition is growing.The gut microbiome,often defined as a complex trait,contains diverse components and its properties are determined by a combination of external and internal effects.Although much effort has been invested so far,it is still difficult to evaluate the extent to which human genetics shape the composition of the gut microbiota.However,in mouse studies,where the environmental factors are better controlled,the effect of the genetic background was significant.The purpose of this paper is to provide a current assessment of the role of human host genetics in shaping the gut microbiome composition.Despite the inconsistency of the reported results,it can be estimated that the genetic factor affects a portion of the microbiome.However,this effect is currently lower than the initial estimates,and it is difficult to separate the genetic influence from the environmental effect.Additionally,despite the differences between the microbial composition of humans and mice,results from mouse models can strengthen our knowledge of host genetics underlying the human gut microbial variation.展开更多
On April 14,2010,an earthquake reaching Richter scale 7.1 struck Jiegu Town of Yushu,a mountain rescue operation promptly launched. All injurers had a direct assess to take medical care,and were immediately rescued an...On April 14,2010,an earthquake reaching Richter scale 7.1 struck Jiegu Town of Yushu,a mountain rescue operation promptly launched. All injurers had a direct assess to take medical care,and were immediately rescued and rapidly evacuated by air to Xining and Golmud at lower altitudes and admitted to advanced hospitals. Almost all of the injurers have been completely recovered. Yushu Earthquake was one of the highest earthquakes in the world,with a high incidence of acute altitude illness,which was observed in about 80 % of the lowland rescuers at an altitude of 4 000 m."Rescue the rescuers"became the major task of Qinghai-Tibetan rescue teams,all the severe patients were rapidly descended to Xining and treated promptly and effectively. The outcome was excellent,all patients survived. After the earthquake,it is a long and arduous task to reconstruct what has been destroyed. Medical teams continue to work in the Yushu Earthquake area because about 30 000 workers and carders are now here for rebuilding the earthquake center. Thus the prevention and treatment of altitude illness are still critical tasks for medical teams. Although all the fights are successful,there are more experiences and lessons we have learned from the medical mountain rescue during the earthquake and the reconstruction,and reports here are to sum up our experiences from the medical mountain rescue operation in Yushu Earthquake and draw the lessons that we should learn. With the increasing of earthquake probability occurring in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,we also should prepare against earthquake disasters and for further rescue training in the high mountains.展开更多
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a mechanical injury to brain tissue that leads to an impairment of function and a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities; often, it is followed by diffuse axonal injury, which ca...Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a mechanical injury to brain tissue that leads to an impairment of function and a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities; often, it is followed by diffuse axonal injury, which causes denaturation of the white matter and axon retraction, leaving patients with severe brain damage or even in a persistent vegetative state.展开更多
Introduction: Tuberculosis remains a major public health issue in Nigeria with the country ranking seventh among the 30 high TB burden countries. Nigeria is among the three countries that account for half of the 4.3 m...Introduction: Tuberculosis remains a major public health issue in Nigeria with the country ranking seventh among the 30 high TB burden countries. Nigeria is among the three countries that account for half of the 4.3 million “missing” TB cases globally. One untreated TB case is able to infect about 10 - 20 people annually. Hence, it is pertinent that TB is controlled effectively through the use of active case finding strategies to find the missing TB cases. Objective: This article highlights the best practices and key lessons learnt during the implementation of the active house to house TB case finding strategy in Nigeria. Lessons Learnt and Recommendations: Strategic community engagement, massive awareness creation using mass media and local means of communication, mapping of locations where registered TB cases live, to inform home visits for contact tracing and strengthening of laboratory systems, are viable mechanisms to improve TB case finding. Conclusion: Active TB case finding interventions should be implemented in the context of a strengthened diagnostics system, strategic community engagement and media involvement.展开更多
Background: Bacteriologically-confirmed tuberculosis (TB) cases used in calculating TB prevalence in a country are obtained through laboratory examination of sputum specimens. Objective: This article describes laborat...Background: Bacteriologically-confirmed tuberculosis (TB) cases used in calculating TB prevalence in a country are obtained through laboratory examination of sputum specimens. Objective: This article describes laboratory processing of specimens, results overview, conclusions and key lessons learnt from the perspective of laboratory personnel involved in the conduct of TB disease prevalence survey in Ghana in 2013. Methods: Symptoms screening and Chest X-ray suggestive of TB were used to select participants who produced sputum to confirm TB cases using microscopy, culture and Xpert®MTB/RIF assay (GeneXpert). Results: A total of 15,935 single and paired sputum specimens were received from eligible participants. About half of Ziehl-Nielsen (129/263) and Auramine O (122/246) stained smear positives were scanty positive. Culture positivity rate for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was 266/14,994 (1.7%) and 100/15,179 (0.7%) in Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) and Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) media respectively;while non-tuberculous mycobacterium was 294/14,994 (1.96%) and 167/15,179 (1.1%). Total contamination rates in MGIT (5.4%) were higher than in LJ (1.7%). Prevalence of smear positive TB and bacteriologically confirmed TB among adult population (≥15 years) was estimated at 111 (95% CI: 76 - 145) and 356 (95% CI: 288 - 425) per 100,000 population respectively. Conclusions and Lessons Learnt: Direct supervision of specimen collection by well-trained laboratory personnel, timely transportation of specimens from field to laboratory, prompt specimen processing and use of electronic data management systems are essential for a reliable TB disease prevalence survey data. More importantly, strengthening human and logistical capacity of the laboratory must be of utmost priority.展开更多
Healthcare institutions are vulnerable to disruptionfrom events such as earthquakes, fires, and floods, andthe damage incurred can endanger the lives of patientsin the hospital.[1] In this type of scenario hospital st...Healthcare institutions are vulnerable to disruptionfrom events such as earthquakes, fires, and floods, andthe damage incurred can endanger the lives of patientsin the hospital.[1] In this type of scenario hospital staffhave primary responsibility for the hospitalized patients'safety, since patients are neither fit to respond to sucha disaster, nor do they know how to respond.[2,3] Thesituation becomes more difficult and challenging if thedisaster occurs in critical care areas such as intensivecare units (ICUs) and operating rooms.展开更多
Our phenotype includes not only physical features,but also behavioral outputs such as motor schemes and learned skills,and is the result of a complex interaction between genetic background and environment.In fact,a go...Our phenotype includes not only physical features,but also behavioral outputs such as motor schemes and learned skills,and is the result of a complex interaction between genetic background and environment.In fact,a good fraction of last decades’biomedical efforts were dedicated to understanding how different elements(e.g.,genetic polymorphisms,lifestyle components)participate in this interplay,ultimately contributing to affect a given phenotype up to the point of steering it towards pathology.Genetic and epigenetic elements are relatively easy to analyze individually using a reductionist approach,for instance via loss-or gain-of-function studies in cellular and animal models;the effects of nutrients,drugs,pollutants can be similarly tested as single specific stimuli.展开更多
<strong>Background:</strong> Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) dramatically impacted institutions of higher education. The effect was acute in the practice disciplines such as medicine, medical laboratory science,...<strong>Background:</strong> Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) dramatically impacted institutions of higher education. The effect was acute in the practice disciplines such as medicine, medical laboratory science, and nursing. The purpose is to describe how an interdisciplinary team, led by nursing faculty, adapted to the changes driven by COVID-19 and the lessons that were learned for nursing and other disciplines in higher education. <strong>Method:</strong> The interdisciplinary group created a comprehensive list which captured the impact of COVID-19 on their academic disciplines. Similarities and differences between the disciplines regarding faculty experiences, teaching, and responding to student concerns were discovered. <strong>Results:</strong> Collective review resulted in the identification of four inclusive thematic categories and several sub-categories. These were: academic considerations (didactic, lab, clinical), perceptions (faculty, student), ethical considerations, and social determinants affecting the learning environment. Lessons Learned: This project utilized an innovative interdisciplinary approach to identify common COVID-19 effects on higher education. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Nursing and other health-related disciplines should pursue interdisciplinary collaboration to address common academic issues that arise during the COVID.展开更多
基金Asia-Pacifi c Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation SFM-ORE-2018。
文摘Innovation in forestry education is needed to address changing contexts of the positionality of forests.This is particularly signifi cant in the Asia–Pacifi c region,where deforestation and degradation are high.However,the accessibility of high-quality forestry education to address changing regional and global contexts is lacking.A series of innovative sustainable forest management(SFM)open education resource(OER)courses were developed and implemented to improve the accessibility of SFM education to enhance teaching quality,curriculum,and research capacity of universities in the Asia-Pacifi c Region.To evaluate the SFM-OER program in terms of student experiences,this study investigated student achievement,perceived success of the pedagogical approach and instructional design,and perceived eff ectiveness of the learning activities in promoting active and transformative learning through the assessment of a 1,191-course feedback survey between 2018 and 2020,including the global pandemic.This study revealed that the program attracted diverse student demographics,including a higher proportion of female students majoring in forestry,ecology,and other environmental studies.Their primary motivation to participate in the courses was to gain international experience,followed by the fl exibility of online learning,mandatory course requirements,and earning course credits.Students were satisfi ed with the Canvas learning management system.Most students spent less than 5 to 10 h of their weekly time in the course and agreed or strongly agreed that the workloads were manageable.Students refl ected positively on various learning activities and assignments,such as watching lecture videos,taking quizzes,reading and summarizing,having discussions,and peer review writing.However,they did not clearly prefer specifi c learning activities,signifying the importance of using diverse learning activities to satisfy diverse individual learning styles in online settings.This analysis contributes to the further development of student-centered pedagogical development for online learning and provides insight into the ways forward for online higher forestry education,while repurposing existing OER courses in a post-Covid-19 era.
基金This research is funded by the Deep-time Digital Earth(DDE)Big Science Program(DDE Program).
文摘In this paper,we investigate geothermal exploration and production in 189 hydrothermal projects and 42 hot dry rock projects around the world.The hydrothermal fields for a working hydrothermal system to generate electricity should have the elements of heat source,water-saturated porous or fractured reservoir,caprock,heat transfer pathway,and good heat preservation condition and geothermal power energy intensity of 10-20 MW per km^(2)within at least 5 km^(2)area in tectonically active region.The hot water or steam flow rate in this hydrothermal system is normally larger than 40 L/s with temperature of 150℃or above.The power generated from enhanced geothermal system(EGS)in hot dry rock projects are generally less than 2 MW because the flow rate in most cases is much less than 40 L/s even with the hydraulic fractures using the modern stimulation technology learned from the oil and gas industry.The natural fracture in the subsurface is generally beneficial to the hydraulic fracturing and heat recovery in the hot dry rock.Moreover,the hydraulic fracture parameters,injection rate and well spacing,drilling strategy should be properly designed to avoid the short-circuit between injector and producer and low heat productivity.In the future,CO^(2)enhanced geothermal recovery associated with CO^(2)sequestration in the high temperature oil,gas,and geothermal fields maybe a good choice.On the other hand,both nearreal-time seismic monitoring to limit the pumping rate and the closed-loop of the Eavor-Loop style system without hydraulic fracture can contribute greatly to heat recovery of hot dry rocks and mitigate the risks of the hydraulic fracturing induced earthquake.Furthermore,the hybrid solar and geothermal system performs better than the stand-alone geothermal system.
文摘在英语学习中,Free talk是说的能力,书面表达是写的能力,二者互相联系又相互促进,要有机融合,才能促进英语水平的有效提高。一、初中英语书面表达现状。在初中英语质量检测中,学生词汇贫乏、句型单一、结构松散、逻辑混乱的问题普遍存在。第一,受母语的影响导致汉语式英语,类似“I by bike to school every day”的表达司空见惯。
文摘English teaching is an integral part of education,which shoulders the responsibility of rendering rudimentary knowledge of English to the students,providing the students with the listening,speaking,reading and writing ability,as well as the obligation of carrying out ideological education and cultivating their noble and healthy sentiment.In teaching,the teachers should pay special attention to the students' thirst for English learning and give full play to their initiative,which demands enough lead-in preparation before class.The lead-in of new lessons bears a direct impact on the quality of the classroom teaching.This thesis will make an analysis of this problem in two aspects.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China Under Grant No.90510017Public Welfare Project in Water Conservancy Under Grant No. 200701004
文摘This paper describes some special features of the Wenchuan earthquake that affected dam safety. Damage and performance of dams, primarily for four dams over 100 m high located in the affected earthquake area, are briefly described. Lessons learned related to dam safety from this devastating earthquake are preliminarily drawn. As the seismic safety of high dams during strong earthquakes has gained more attention around the world, some critical issues related to dam construction in China are considered and extensively discussed. Questions such as "Why is dam construction necessary in earthquake prone countries such as China?", "Can we accurately evaluate the seismic safety of high dams in China?", "Did reservoir impounding of the Zipingpu and Three Gorges Projects trigger the Wenchuan Earthquake in some way?" and "What is the strategic priority of dam safety for large dams in China?" are discussed. Finally, the corresponding tactics with response to the challenge are suggested and recent preliminary progress mainly achieved in IWHR is briefly introduced.
文摘Exercise is a potent force of nature with significant potential for extending longevity and boosting physical fitness. It is also be- ing increasingly used as a prophylactic and curative measure for various physical ailments, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
基金supported by the Intramural Research Programs of the National Eye Institutethe European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No.749346.
文摘Retinal ganglions cells (RGCs) are responsible for propagating electrochemical information from the eye to the brain along their axons which make up the optic nerve. The loss of RGCs is characteristic in several conditions such as glaucoma and trau- matic optic neuropathy and leads to visual loss and blindness. While no therapy exists to directly treat RGCs, the use of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) has shown promise in eliciting significant RGC neuroprotection.
基金Binational Science Foundation(BSF)grant number 2015077German Israeli Science Foundation(GIF)grant I-63-410.20-2017,Israeli Science Foundation(ISF)grant 1085/18,and Core Fund Form Tel-Aviv University.
文摘The intestinal microbiome has emerged as an important component involved in various diseases.Therefore,the interest in understanding the factors shaping its composition is growing.The gut microbiome,often defined as a complex trait,contains diverse components and its properties are determined by a combination of external and internal effects.Although much effort has been invested so far,it is still difficult to evaluate the extent to which human genetics shape the composition of the gut microbiota.However,in mouse studies,where the environmental factors are better controlled,the effect of the genetic background was significant.The purpose of this paper is to provide a current assessment of the role of human host genetics in shaping the gut microbiome composition.Despite the inconsistency of the reported results,it can be estimated that the genetic factor affects a portion of the microbiome.However,this effect is currently lower than the initial estimates,and it is difficult to separate the genetic influence from the environmental effect.Additionally,despite the differences between the microbial composition of humans and mice,results from mouse models can strengthen our knowledge of host genetics underlying the human gut microbial variation.
基金"973"National Key Basic Research and Development Program(No.2012CB518202)Project of Qinghai Development of Science and Technology(No.2011-N-150)
文摘On April 14,2010,an earthquake reaching Richter scale 7.1 struck Jiegu Town of Yushu,a mountain rescue operation promptly launched. All injurers had a direct assess to take medical care,and were immediately rescued and rapidly evacuated by air to Xining and Golmud at lower altitudes and admitted to advanced hospitals. Almost all of the injurers have been completely recovered. Yushu Earthquake was one of the highest earthquakes in the world,with a high incidence of acute altitude illness,which was observed in about 80 % of the lowland rescuers at an altitude of 4 000 m."Rescue the rescuers"became the major task of Qinghai-Tibetan rescue teams,all the severe patients were rapidly descended to Xining and treated promptly and effectively. The outcome was excellent,all patients survived. After the earthquake,it is a long and arduous task to reconstruct what has been destroyed. Medical teams continue to work in the Yushu Earthquake area because about 30 000 workers and carders are now here for rebuilding the earthquake center. Thus the prevention and treatment of altitude illness are still critical tasks for medical teams. Although all the fights are successful,there are more experiences and lessons we have learned from the medical mountain rescue during the earthquake and the reconstruction,and reports here are to sum up our experiences from the medical mountain rescue operation in Yushu Earthquake and draw the lessons that we should learn. With the increasing of earthquake probability occurring in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,we also should prepare against earthquake disasters and for further rescue training in the high mountains.
基金supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivenessthe European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013(BFU2014-56300-P)+4 种基金the Xunta de Galicia(GPC2014/030)supported by a grant from the Xunta de Galicia(2016-PG008)a grant from the crowdfunding platform Precipita(FECYTSpanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivenessgrant number 2017-CP081)
文摘Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a mechanical injury to brain tissue that leads to an impairment of function and a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities; often, it is followed by diffuse axonal injury, which causes denaturation of the white matter and axon retraction, leaving patients with severe brain damage or even in a persistent vegetative state.
文摘Introduction: Tuberculosis remains a major public health issue in Nigeria with the country ranking seventh among the 30 high TB burden countries. Nigeria is among the three countries that account for half of the 4.3 million “missing” TB cases globally. One untreated TB case is able to infect about 10 - 20 people annually. Hence, it is pertinent that TB is controlled effectively through the use of active case finding strategies to find the missing TB cases. Objective: This article highlights the best practices and key lessons learnt during the implementation of the active house to house TB case finding strategy in Nigeria. Lessons Learnt and Recommendations: Strategic community engagement, massive awareness creation using mass media and local means of communication, mapping of locations where registered TB cases live, to inform home visits for contact tracing and strengthening of laboratory systems, are viable mechanisms to improve TB case finding. Conclusion: Active TB case finding interventions should be implemented in the context of a strengthened diagnostics system, strategic community engagement and media involvement.
文摘Background: Bacteriologically-confirmed tuberculosis (TB) cases used in calculating TB prevalence in a country are obtained through laboratory examination of sputum specimens. Objective: This article describes laboratory processing of specimens, results overview, conclusions and key lessons learnt from the perspective of laboratory personnel involved in the conduct of TB disease prevalence survey in Ghana in 2013. Methods: Symptoms screening and Chest X-ray suggestive of TB were used to select participants who produced sputum to confirm TB cases using microscopy, culture and Xpert®MTB/RIF assay (GeneXpert). Results: A total of 15,935 single and paired sputum specimens were received from eligible participants. About half of Ziehl-Nielsen (129/263) and Auramine O (122/246) stained smear positives were scanty positive. Culture positivity rate for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was 266/14,994 (1.7%) and 100/15,179 (0.7%) in Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) and Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) media respectively;while non-tuberculous mycobacterium was 294/14,994 (1.96%) and 167/15,179 (1.1%). Total contamination rates in MGIT (5.4%) were higher than in LJ (1.7%). Prevalence of smear positive TB and bacteriologically confirmed TB among adult population (≥15 years) was estimated at 111 (95% CI: 76 - 145) and 356 (95% CI: 288 - 425) per 100,000 population respectively. Conclusions and Lessons Learnt: Direct supervision of specimen collection by well-trained laboratory personnel, timely transportation of specimens from field to laboratory, prompt specimen processing and use of electronic data management systems are essential for a reliable TB disease prevalence survey data. More importantly, strengthening human and logistical capacity of the laboratory must be of utmost priority.
文摘Healthcare institutions are vulnerable to disruptionfrom events such as earthquakes, fires, and floods, andthe damage incurred can endanger the lives of patientsin the hospital.[1] In this type of scenario hospital staffhave primary responsibility for the hospitalized patients'safety, since patients are neither fit to respond to sucha disaster, nor do they know how to respond.[2,3] Thesituation becomes more difficult and challenging if thedisaster occurs in critical care areas such as intensivecare units (ICUs) and operating rooms.
文摘Our phenotype includes not only physical features,but also behavioral outputs such as motor schemes and learned skills,and is the result of a complex interaction between genetic background and environment.In fact,a good fraction of last decades’biomedical efforts were dedicated to understanding how different elements(e.g.,genetic polymorphisms,lifestyle components)participate in this interplay,ultimately contributing to affect a given phenotype up to the point of steering it towards pathology.Genetic and epigenetic elements are relatively easy to analyze individually using a reductionist approach,for instance via loss-or gain-of-function studies in cellular and animal models;the effects of nutrients,drugs,pollutants can be similarly tested as single specific stimuli.
文摘<strong>Background:</strong> Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) dramatically impacted institutions of higher education. The effect was acute in the practice disciplines such as medicine, medical laboratory science, and nursing. The purpose is to describe how an interdisciplinary team, led by nursing faculty, adapted to the changes driven by COVID-19 and the lessons that were learned for nursing and other disciplines in higher education. <strong>Method:</strong> The interdisciplinary group created a comprehensive list which captured the impact of COVID-19 on their academic disciplines. Similarities and differences between the disciplines regarding faculty experiences, teaching, and responding to student concerns were discovered. <strong>Results:</strong> Collective review resulted in the identification of four inclusive thematic categories and several sub-categories. These were: academic considerations (didactic, lab, clinical), perceptions (faculty, student), ethical considerations, and social determinants affecting the learning environment. Lessons Learned: This project utilized an innovative interdisciplinary approach to identify common COVID-19 effects on higher education. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Nursing and other health-related disciplines should pursue interdisciplinary collaboration to address common academic issues that arise during the COVID.