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Author: Yukihiro Ikeda
Journal: The Open Waste Management Journal
Infectious medical waste management in hospitals is very important. The potential impacts of infectious medical waste discharged from hospitals on populations and society are considered greater than those of general industrial waste. Therefore, the estimation of infectious medical waste discharged from healthcare facilities should be accurate. The present study reports the quantity of infectious medical waste discharged per ward per day per inpatient by weight.
In medical wards, the digestive surgery ward discharged the most infectious medical waste. In addition, the digestive surgery ward had the highest quantity of infectious medical waste per day per inpatient. Infectious medical waste quantity estimates based on beds were lower than those based on inpatients, with minimum and maximum underestimates of 6% and 21%, respectively.
Infectious medical waste discharged per patient per day was low in the outpatient department. The operating room and the emergency department discharged 10-fold more infectious medical waste than the wards. The operating room, the emergency department, and the clinical inspection department accounted for 60% of infectious medical waste discharged from hospitals.
Notably, there are considerable differences among departments when evaluating hospital waste, particularly in hospitals with surgery and critical care departments, which is different in the case of evaluations based on bed counts.
Author: Juliana S. Link
Journal: The Open Public Health Journal
Hospitalised patients are often surrounded by microorganisms, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens are a major and growing threat to public health.
This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology and the risk factors for colonisation by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in a Brazilian hospital.
Patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who underwent nasal and rectal swab cultures for the surveillance of colonisation by MDROs were evaluated in a retrospective study. MDROs were determined by routine microbiological cultures.
Of the 785 patients included in this study, 86 presented positive results for MDRO colonisation. Overall, the most frequently isolated organism was Klebsiella pneumoniae (41.9%), followed by Escherichia coli (33.7%). The main type of resistance was the production of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL). The prevalence of MDRO infections was significantly associated with the patient’s origin (community or hospital-acquired). Having been submitted to previous antimicrobial drug therapy was significantly associated with MDRO infection (relative risk [RR]: 4.02 [2.60 – 6.23]).
MDRO ICU colonisation was variable, with similar frequencies as other centres, and important factors, including previous hospital stay and antibiotic use, were closely related to MDRO colonisation. Therefore, control interventions should reduce their rates, especially considering the particularities of each geographic centre.
https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOPHJ-12-449
Author: Mohd Rizaimy Shaharudin
Journal: The Open Transportation Journal
This study aims to minimise the travelling distance, operation cost in terms of fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions. It introduces the Time-Dependency Pollution-Routing Problem (TDPRP) with the implementation of the time-dependency and emission model, including constraints such as the limitation of vehicle capacity and vehicle’s speed during different time periods in Thailand. Furthermore, the time window constraint is applied for representing a more realistic model. The main objective is to minimise the total pollution generated because of transportation.
The Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Tabu Search (TS) methods have been used to generate the optimal solution with a variety of experiments. The best solutions from all the experiments have been compared to the original solution in terms of the quality of the solution and the computation time.
The best solution was generated by using the TS method with 30,000 trials. The minimum of the total CO2 emissions was 183.9846 kilograms produced from all of the vehicles during transportation, nearly half from the current transportation plan, which produced 320.94 kilograms of CO2 emissions.
The proposed model optimised both the route and schedules (multiple time periods) for a number of vehicles, for which the transportation during a fixed congestion period could be predicted to avoid traffic congestion and reduce the CO2 emission. Future research is suggested to add other specific algorithms as well as constraints in order to make the model more realistic.
https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOTJ-13-203
Author: Ayobami A Busari
Journal: The Open Transportation Journal
Walking as a parent mode of transportation has received little or no attention regarding planning, design, and development, thereby leading to chaotic outcomes when it comes to controlling and future estimation in most sub-Saharan Africa countries. This necessitated the research on the pertinent factors and variables that affect walking as a means of transportation in the study area, a semi-urban industrial cluster in South-Western Nigeria.
One Thousand five hundred (1500) information cards were distributed for seven months. This was done to accumulate information on trip patterns, modal split, walk trip volume and so on. The data obtained was analysed using SPSS version 23.
The result revealed that 53.2% of the respondent engages in a walk trip every day either to access mode, access sub-mode or for recreation purposes. The commercial zone showed the highest percentage of walk trips of 40%. The mathematical model showed that age and walk trips are inversely proportional. Based on the result of the analysis, cost, safety and exercise are the primary reason why people engage in a walking trip. The R2 value of 0.83 established the robustness of the model.
The created model can be utilized for anticipating the future modular part by inputting anticipated future estimation of exploratory variables, which will also aid the planning of a better transport system for the locality. The lack of essential infrastructure poses a big problem for the utilisation of this mode of transportation.
https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOTJ-13-194
Author: Fawaz Kurdali
Journal: The Open Agriculture Journal
During the freezing or canning preparation process of green grain leguminous, large amounts of shell pods are considered as agricultural organic wastes, which may be used as Green Manure (GM) for plant growth enhancement.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of soil amended with shell pod wastes of pea (PGM) or faba bean (FGM) as GM on growth, nitrogen and phosphorus uptake in sorghum plants.
Determination of the impact of adding four rates of nitrogen (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg N ha-1) in the form of pea (PGM) or faba bean (FGM) shell pod wastes as GM on the performance of sorghum using the indirect 15N isotopic dilution technique.
Sorghum plants responded positively and differently to the soil amendments with either GMs used, particularly, the PGM. In comparison with the control (N0), soil amendment with an equivalent rate of 3.5 t ha-1 of PGM (PGM100) or with 6.5 t ha-1 of FGM (FGM150) almost doubled dry weight, N and P uptake in different plant parts of sorghum. Regardless of the GM used, estimated values of %Ndfgm in sorghum plants ranged from 35% to 55% indicating that the use of pod shells as GM provided substantial portions and amounts of N requirements for sorghum. Moreover, nitrogen recoveries of added GM (%NUEgm) ranged from 29 to 45% indicating that N in both of GM forms were used effectively. Accordingly, equivalent amounts to 17 – 48 kg N ha-1 of inorganic fertilizer may be saved. The beneficial effect of incorporating pod shells in soil on sorghum N was mainly attributed to their N availability, besides to their effects on the improvement of soil N uptake, particularly when using PGM.
The agricultural by-products of faba bean and pea pod shells could be used as GM for sorghum growth improvement by enhancing N and P uptake from soil and from the organic source.
Author: Krystyna Pyrzynska
Journal: Open Chemistry Journal
The antioxidant interactions between the commonly used pharmaceuticals (diclofenac, ibuprofen and naproxen) and green tea polyphenols were evaluated.
The antioxidant properties of the mixtures were evaluated by a scavenging effect on the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical.
The mixtures contained green tea extract and each drug exhibited lower antioxidant activity than the mathematical sum of the results obtained for individual components showing antagonistic effect. The results were obtained using isobolographic analysis and interaction factors also suggested the antagonistic type of interaction. Only when the concentration of the green tea infusion was relatively high (in comparison to the drug), an additive effect could be concluded.
The high concentration of green tea infusion in comparison to the drug should be used in developing the new formulations as it can help in the therapy due to their antioxidant properties.
Author: Zeineb Tbini
Journal: Open Medicine Journal
The purpose of this study was to compare T1 and T2 relaxation times of normal and pathologic Achilles Tendon (AT) in order to evaluate the ability of these methods to detect early Achilles tendon tendinosis.
Forty-eight subjects were included in this study. Twenty-two subjects were classified as normal group and twenty-six subjects as patient group with tendinosis. MR examination was performed by 3 Tesla scanner using a 12 channel head coil. For relaxation times quantification, we used a sagittal 3D FLASH variable flip angle gradient echo UTE sequence (3D VFA-GE UTE) for T1 mapping and a sagittal Multi Echo Spin Echo sequence (MESE) for T2 mapping. Relaxation times were quantified using two different algorithms written in MATLAB. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Our results showed a statistically significant difference in T1 and T2 values for the normal group compared to the patient group (p<0.05). Mean values of T1 and T2 were 571.69 ms and 24.16 ms for the normal group and 818.10 ms and 32.43 ms for the patient group, respectively. Results reported no correlation (r=0.193) for T1 mapping and a positive significant moderate correlation (r=0.542, p=0.000) for T2 mapping between the normal and patient groups. T1 and T2 showed no correlation in the normal group (r= 0.091, p=0.489) and a positive significant weak correlation in the patient group (r=0.263, p=0.048).
We concluded that T1 and T2 relaxation times are relatively sensitive to diagnosis degenerative changes in the AT and T1 is more sensitive to AT tendinosis compared to T2.
Author: Hussain Alsarraf
Journal: The Open Atmospheric Science Journal
The mesoscale circulation over Kuwait is an important influence on changes in surface temperatures and soil temperatures.
This paper presents two common summertime atmospheric features over Kuwait linking wind circulation to soil temperatures.
In this study, we use the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts ECMWF reanalysis ERA-Interim dataset to investigate effects of the synoptic scale and mesoscale circulations.
The results show that a large-scale pressure gradient in summer typically leads to northerly winds over Kuwait, while a weak synoptic-scale pressure gradient leads to light easterly humid winds from the Persian Gulf, consistent with a mesoscale circulation.
The results demonstrate the significance of wind circulations in driving the Soil Temperature (SOILT). Using the Era-Interim/Land reanalysis dataset for August 2015 over Kuwait, the average SOILT on days of sea breeze is higher than the average SOILT on days dominated by a synoptic-scale pressure gradient.
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