Electroviscous resistance of nanofluidic bends.

Analysis tools that quantify the pressure and potential changes occurring over pressure-driven electrokinetic device elements are necessary for the design of optimal laboratory-on-a-chip devices. In this study, the resistance of a nanofluidic silica channel with negatively charged walls containing a 90^{∘} bend to the electroviscous flow of a potassium chloride salt solution is quantified in terms of two equivalent lengths using numerical analysis. One equivalent length is based on the excess pressure drop and the other on the excess potential rise. Over the entire range of simulations conducted, these equivalent lengths are relatively independent of salt concentration, flow velocity, channel size, and surface charge, remaining within the approximate ranges of 1.3-1.5 for the pressure equivalent length and 0.8-1.05 for the potential equivalent length.

Utilization of information technology in medical education: a questionnaire survey of students in a Malaysian institution.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this survey was to obtain a self-reported assessment of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by medical students at the International Medical University, Malaysia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Students' perceived skills and extent of usage of ICT were evaluated using a questionnaire. Chi-square analysis were performed to ascertain the association between variables. Further statistical testing using Chi-square test for trend was done when one of the variables was ordered, and Spearman rank correlation when both variables were ordered. RESULTS: Overall, (98%) of students responded to the questionnaire. Twenty seven students (5.7%) did not use a computer either in the university or at home. Most students surveyed reported adequate skills at word processing (55%), e-mailing (78%) and surfing the internet (67%). CONCLUSION: The results suggests that in order to increase the level of computer literacy among medical students, positive steps would need to be taken, for example the formal inclusion of ICT instruction in the teaching of undergraduate medicine. This will enhance medical students' ability to acquire, appraise, and use information in order to solve clinical and other problems quickly and efficiently in the course of their studies, and more importantly when they graduate.

Socio-cultural perspectives on the image of nursing: the Hong Kong dimension.

Using structured interviews a study was undertaken with 19 high school students in Hong Kong to elicit their perceptions of nursing as a profession. The study also sought to gauge the extent of the students' intentions on pursuing a career in nursing. Responses were content analysed to determine the extent of knowledge and understanding held, intentions on choosing nursing as a career and their reasons. Findings suggest the image of nursing to be poor and that nursing as a career is far from desirable amongst the teenagers of Hong Kong. The reasons appear to be related to the notion of monetary rewards and status within the Hong Kong community. There is also a lack of knowledge as to what nurses do. The implications of such findings include the lost potential for recruitment of candidates of high calibre with a lot to offer the profession and their society. It suggests the need for the profession to find ways of publicizing and marketing the positive aspects with elements of realism which the general population in that part of the world could relate to more readily.

Attitudes of Hong Kong high school students towards the nursing profession.

The increased development of hospital services in Hong Kong over the last decade has given rise in the demand for more recruits to join the nursing profession. Despite the advancement in education and the improvement in the working conditions, the problems of attracting sufficient new recruits remain critical. This study aimed to examine high school students' attitudes towards the nursing profession and to identify the contributing factors affecting shortage of nurses within the context of Hong Kong. A convenience sample of 375 high school students was recruited. A questionnaire was used to measure their knowledge, attitudes and intention to study nursing. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe their career preferences and to compare knowledge, attitudes and intention scales between gender and nursing exposure groups. Results indicated that the students were generally knowledgeable about nursing but were reluctant to pursue nursing as a career. However, students who were socially acquainted with a nurse demonstrated a slightly more positive attitude towards nursing and slightly higher intention to pursue nursing as a career compared with those having no social acquaintance with a nurse. Implications for promotion of nursing profession and limitations of the study were discussed.

Potential prognostic factors of relapse-free survival in childhood optic pathway glioma: a multivariate analysis.

There is still no consensus on the natural history and optimal management of optic pathway gliomas (OPG) in children. In order to tackle optimal management issues, we need to clearly understand the prognostic and confounding factors affecting relapse of OPG. We propose the use of the Cox proportional hazards (PH) model in a retrospective study of childhood OPG of 69 children seen from 1977 to 1994. We have developed a comprehensive model capable of multivariate analyses and handling time-dependencies. Our studies showed that relapse-free survival improves with increasing age, the presence of neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1), and chemotherapy and radiotherapy (p < 0.0005). Sex, tumor position and surgery do not significantly affect survival. Older children with NF1 have extremely good prognosis. We noted behavior that departs from the strictly proportional hazards model, but results were inconclusive.

Modelling time-dependent interaction in a time-varying covariate and its application to rejection episodes and kidney transplant failure.

Acute rejection episodes are thought to be prognostic of eventual kidney graft failure. The influence of rejection events on the hazard of transplant failure appears to be a complex function of how long after transplantation the rejection event occurs as well as the time elapsed since the rejection event. To examine the nature of this relationship, we propose a penalized likelihood approach to estimate the parameters of a two-dimensional rectanglewise constant hazard model. The approach appears to be fairly successful at modelling time dependency in a time-varying covariate. The approach is equally applicable for modelling fixed covariates that act in a jointly nonproportional (non-log-linear) and time-dependent manner.

An exploration of the psychosocial perspectives on educational/developmental opportunities for enrolled nurses: the forgotten species?

The provision of further education opportunities is generally known to be limited for enrolled nurses. With the phasing out of the enrolled nurse qualification, it appears that many of them have to compete for limited places on conversion courses. Such a situation which has been placed on them appears to create problems in their lives. This study was undertaken with a randomized sample of 30 enrolled nurses to find out what the psychosocial problems may be for them who have not yet been able to convert to registered nurse status. The findings reveal a sense of betrayal, frustration, anger and helplessness at being coerced into getting onto conversion courses. That is compounded by the fact that places on such courses are extremely limited. Superimposed on those, fears were also expressed for their jobs. That was particularly so in the case of nurses from the area of learning disabilities. Although there are suggestions that they need to get onto conversion courses, there is a sense of disillusionment as places on the courses are extremely limited. Whilst the intention to convert may be present, many feel prevented from doing so because of their family commitments. In many instances, those commitments were non-existent when they first embarked on their nurse education/training. At the very least, the findings suggest a moral responsibility on the part of the relevant authorities to undertake a coordinated effort to help this group of nurses. After all it may be suggested that their predicament is not of their own making.

Eosinophil-induced chronic active hepatitis in the idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome.

A 19-yr-old man had features of chronic hepatitis with piecemeal necrosis as the sole clinical feature of the idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome. Liver biopsy specimens demonstrated the presence of activated eosinophils and, by immunohistochemical staining, major basic protein in areas of hepatic cell damage. The case demonstrates the clinical presentation of the idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome as chronic hepatitis and the association between eosinophil infiltration and degranulation with the presence of hepatocyte necrosis.