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Copyright of Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper describes the development of a hybrid solution that improves air dehumidification. It comprises the integration of a composite desiccant and a nano-woven membrane for air dehumidifcation. The solution compliments any building HVAC project where the removing moisture from the air via an energy-efficient means is a concern. Longer sustainable performance of the desiccant is achieved as the non-regenerative membrane assists in partial air dehumidification. Accordingly, the hybrid system requires a lower regenerating temperature while producing air of very low humidity. In sum, the proposed hybrid solution involves the composite desiccant and membrane to work hand-in-hand in order to achieve enhanced moisture removal efficiency and improved energy efficiency by up to 40% compared to the best grade commercial silica-gel desiccant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of air conditioning mechanical ventilation (ACMV) system affects the building energy performance and the indoor pollutant removal process. The present study aims to reduce energy consumption on ACMV systems by employing a renewable air treatment system (ATS). The ATS is able to purify the recirculated air through the ozone-based oxidation process and air scrubbing devices. The air purification performance of primary equipment in the ATS has been studied in order to demonstrate the capability to remove indoor air pollutants. Due to the air purification process, the ATS allows a reduced supply of outdoor-air translating to a lower cooling load. In addition, the reduced outdoor-air fraction results in an improved chiller efficiency. Therefore, the ATS is capable of achieving marked energy savings because of the reduced cooling load for conditioning outdoor airflow. The proposed ATS is particular adept during a period when Singapore faces periodic bad haze situations. Activating the ATS while decreasing the outdoor-air fraction can be an attractive solution. Based on Singapore climatic condition, an energy consumption analysis has been carried out to estimate the energy saving potential of the proposed ATS with varying outdoor-air intake. The "plug-and-play" ATS can be easily integrated into any new or existing ACMV systems to realize immediate improvement in indoor air quality and building energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the root cause for chain of catastrophic heart diseases such as Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD), Myocardial Infarction (MI) or Heart Attack (HA) and Heart Failure (HF). Early detection and treatment of this CAD condition is essential and may help in preventing it from progressing further. However, faster and accurate identification of CAD from Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals using manual interpretations is not an easy task to achieve. Thus, computer-aided techniques are necessary for the automated characterization of CAD condition. Therefore, this work proposes application of Higher-Order Statistics and Spectra (HOS) for an automated classification of normal and CAD conditions using ECG signals. In this paper, 182,013 beats (137,587 normal beats and 44,426 beats with CAD) ECG beats are used. HOS bispectrum and cumulant features are extracted from each ECG beat. The features extracted are applied to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) dimension reduction technique. Then PCA coefficients are ranked using Bhattacharyya method, entropy, fuzzy Max-Relevancy and Min-Redundancy (mRMR), Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC), t -test, Wilcoxon ranking methods. All ranked features are subjected to k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Decision Tree (DT) classifiers to obtain the highest classification performance. The proposed methodology has achieved 98.17% accuracy, 94.57% sensitivity, and 99.34% specificity, using KNN classifier using 13 bispectrum features. Similarly, we have obtained 98.99% average accuracy, 97.75% sensitivity, and 99.39% specificity using DT classifier with 31 cumulant features. In addition, we have formulated and developed an integrated index called Coronary Artery Disease Index (CADI) for automated characterization of normal and ECG signals with CAD condition using a single number. This proposed CADI works efficiently to discriminate normal and CAD ECG classes for the any dataset with priory knowledge of the database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/Background The H-Man robot, a table-top, portable, 2D planar, end-effector with virtual reality feedback was designed to deliver self-paced, repetitive reaching arm movements. Preliminary results of a randomized clinical trial of 26/44 strokes with hemiparetic arm weakness are presented. Material and method Inclusion criteria included first-stroke, > 4 months duration with Fugl Meyer Assessment Scale (FMA) 20–50/66) without contraindications to robot-aided therapy. Following informed consent, subjects were randomized into 2 groups: H-Man-conventional (HCT) group received 18 sessions over 6 weeks of 60 minutes of H-man training then 30 minutes of conventional therapy (CT), while control group (CG) received a similar intensity of 90 minutes of CT. Blinded outcome assessments at weeks 0 (baseline), 3, 6 (end-training), 12 and 24 (follow-up). The primary outcome measure was FMA change at week 6. Parametric analysis was used and level of significance was P < 0.05. Results Altogether, data from 26 out of 44 subjects were analyzed. (13 HCT, 13 CG). Mean age was 54.0 years (SD 10.9), 14/26 were male, 15/26 had hemorrhagic strokes, mean stroke duration 227.2 days (SD 207.2), and mean baseline FMA 38.6 (SD 11.1). The HCT group achieved significantly better FMA gains compared to CG (4.15 HCT vs. 1.69 CG, P = 0.03) at week 6 (post-training), and at week 24 (5.77 HCT vs 2.61 CG, P = 0.03). There were no adverse side effects or drop outs. Robotic kinematic measures of line and circle temporal tracing correlated with FMA scores at Week 0. Conclusion Combinatory arm rehabilitation with H-Man robot was superior to CT and well tolerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Background: b Penicillin allergy is a significant public health issue impacting patients and the appropriate use of antimicrobials. Penicillin allergy decision support tools are urgently required to identify low risk allergies that do not require skin testing. PEN-FAST: A validated penicillin allergy clinical decision rule - Implications for prescribing. [Extracted from the article]

Background: We aimed to characterise stage-specific colorectal carcinoma tumour-specific proteomic profiles in Malaysian patients with colorectal carcinoma as a starting point for the development of local screening, diagnostic, or treatment scheme. Methods: Stringent criteria were applied for patients' selection--i.e., newly-diagnosed cases without personal history of cancer or family history of colorectal carcinoma, with no known hereditary colorectal carcinoma syndrome, and not receiving any neoadjuvant chemo- or radiotherapy. Ten stage II, five stage III, and five stage IV colorectal carcinoma patients were recruited for our comparative protein expression analysis via a combination of 2-D DIGE and LC-MS/MS. Findings: Twenty protein spots of interest were reported in the stage II colorectal carcinoma group (p<0.01; average volume ratio ≼-2 or ≥2). Hsp60, RPLP0, PPas, NCC27, TCTP, nucleophosmin, SGN8, NM23, stathmin, S100A9, keratin (type I cytoskeletal 20), ACTC1, ACTSA, HSP27, LC20, and LC17 were aberrantly regulated. There were no statistically significant changes in global protein abundance between the advanced stage colorectal carcinomas (stages III and IV) and distally located ostensibly normal colonic mucosa (p>0.05). Interpretation: Our failure to identify aberrantly regulated proteins in advanced stage colorectal adenocarcinomas warrants further investigation. One of the possibilities is that, the adjacent histologically normal colonic mucosa might experience certain molecular changes to create a permissive microenvironment for tumour invasion and metastasis. If this is confirmed, the use of adjacent macroscopically normal colonic mucosa as a normal control in pair-wise analyses of colorectal carcinomas needs to be re-evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pine oil, synthesized from pine oleoresin, is recently being viewed as a potential renewable source of fuel for diesel engine application. Significantly, the estimated physical and thermal properties of pine oil are suited for its use in diesel engine, with the notable advantages of lower viscosity, boiling point and comparable calorific value with diesel. In this study, we decidedly conceived a strategy to blend it with a biodiesel, instead of diesel, so as to look out for double biofuel, a measure aimed at complete replacement of fossil fuels. As such, in the current investigation, KME (kapok methyl ester), a biodiesel derived from kapok oil, was blended with pine oil in various proportions such as B25P75, B50P50 and B75P25. Significantly, up on blending pine oil with KME, the viscosity, boiling point, cetane number and other properties of the resultant blends were found to be appropriate, as the merits and demerits of one biofuel over the other are mutually balanced. Therefore, the reported blends were subsequently tested for its combustion, performance and emission characteristics in a single cylinder diesel engine. From the experimental investigation, B50P50 blend was found to be amenable for its use in diesel engine without any modification, as the performance and combustion characteristics of the engine was found to be comparable with diesel. Further, the major emissions such as HC (hydrocarbon), CO (carbon monoxide) and smoke for B50P50 were observed to be 8.1%, 18.9% and 12.5% lower than diesel at full load condition, while NO X (oxides of nitrogen) emission was in par with diesel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]