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Our objective was to assess the acceptability and feasibility of using sermons for health promotion in American Muslim mosque communities by deploying a tailored sermon in two mosque communities. With input from a community advisory board and resident imams, sermons communicated four health-related themes: (i) good health is a grant from Allah, (ii) one’s body is trust and must be cared for, (iii) trusting in God’s plan does not preclude taking actions to care for oneself, and (iv) community members are caretakers of one another. Self-administered, post-sermon questionnaires asked attendees about the acceptability of the sermon and the sermon-giver, and to identify survey themes. Data analyses involved descriptive statistics and regression modeling to assess variance in acceptability across race/ethnicity and gender. Of the 235 respondents, the majority found the sermon content acceptable and desired to hear health-based sermons more often (72 and 67% respectively). There were no significant differences in acceptability of sermon or sermon-giver by gender or race/ethnicity. Our study demonstrates that theologically-framed health messaging is acceptable within sermons in American Muslim mosque communities. This study underscores the potential utility of mosque sermons for health education programs and for health behavior interventions in American mosques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 2013, local authorities gained responsibility for commissioning sexual health services in England. With many services going out to tender and resultant change in services or service provider, there is anecdotal evidence that this has impacted on the education, training and morale of genitourinary medicine (GUM) trainees. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of tendering on GUM trainees. An electronic survey designed by the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV Trainees' Collaborative for Audit, Research and Quality Improvement Projects (T-CARQ) was distributed to GUM trainees and newly appointed consultants. Eighty-two individuals responded (74% GUM trainees, 25% newly appointed consultants, 1% locum appointed for service). Sixty-three per cent (45/72) had experience of training within a service which was being tendered. Of these, 59% (24/41) felt their training was not considered during the tendering process and 20% (8/41) felt that it was. Forty-four per cent (18/41) felt adequately supported. Thirty per cent (12/40) reported active participation in the tendering process. On a scale of 0 (no impact) to 5 (major impact), the median score for impact of tendering on training was 2. The positive/negative impact of tendering on different training elements was rated: other than management experience the overall impact on all parameters was negative, namely morale, senior support and education. In conclusion, this survey describes the variable impact of service tendering on GUM training. Our recommendations for maintaining training standards despite tendering include actively involving trainees and education partners, inclusion of specialist GUM training in service specifications, development of guidance for commissioners and services for the management of GUM training within tendering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study was designed to evaluate the role of music therapy on the level of stress in children undergoing repair of congenital heart disease. Design Prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. Setting Children’s university hospital. Participants Fifty children aged 4 to 12 years undergoing repair of congenital heart disease. Interventions Patients were randomized into 2 equal groups (control group and music group); in the control group, patients listened to a blank CD, and in the music group, patients listened to a recorded CD of music and songs preferred by the child. Demographic data, clinical data, and preoperative vital signs were recorded. Baseline stress markers (blood glucose and cortisol levels) were sampled. Patients were assessed intraoperatively until extubation for vital signs and stress markers and after extubation for pain and sedation scales. An interview was conducted within the first postoperative week with the patients and their parents for assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder and negative postoperative behavior changes. Measurements and Main Results There were no significant differences in demographic characteristics, clinical data, vital signs, preoperative and at-extubation blood glucose levels, and preoperative blood cortisol levels between groups. Significant differences were found between groups in blood glucose levels and cortisol levels at all intraoperative times, but only in cortisol blood levels at extubation. Significant differences were found in pain score, sedation score, occurrence of child post-traumatic stress disorder, and occurrence of negative postoperative behavior. Conclusion Listening to favorable music by children undergoing repair for congenital heart disease resulted in less stress and more relaxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Central venous catheter-related infection (CVC-RI) is considered a common cause of increased morbidity, mortality, and medical care costs in intensive care units (ICUs). The objective in this descriptive study was to assess the knowledge of health care workers in ICUs about guidelines for the prevention of CVC-RI and their adherence to these guidelines in practices. Methods Health care workers were assessed for their actual practices during central venous catheter (CVC) insertion and care. Then a questionnaire was distributed to the health care workers to assess their knowledge regarding the prevention of CVC-RI. Results All the health care workers (N = 100; 40 physicians, 60 nurses) in the ICUs (levels I and III and triage) of Alexandria Main University Hospital participated in the present study. The response rate was 100%. The total percentage of correct answers of the health care workers about the guidelines for the prevention of CVC-RI was low. There was no significant difference between physicians' and nurses' knowledge regarding the total score on the questionnaire ( P = .134). However, physicians had a significantly higher knowledge about the pathophysiology of CVC-RI and skin antisepsis items than nurses. There were no significant differences between the knowledge of physicians and nurses in other items except for CVC care, where nurses showed significantly higher knowledge than physicians ( P = .001). Conclusion The results of the present study revealed health care worker's low knowledge regarding the prevention of CVC-RI and low compliance with the standard guidelines of CVC care. Therefore, health care workers should be periodically evaluated for their knowledge and practices regarding guidelines for the prevention of CVC-RI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the possible involvement of human B cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), CD4+ cells, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), as biomarkers in early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), activities of these biomarkers in serum were demonstrated by the method of Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay. Two groups of subjects (60 for each), were examined in this study; healthy controls and patients with HCC. The present results declare that, significant decrease in Bcl-2 ( p ≤ 0.0001), and CD 4+ ( p ≤ 0.001), while significant increase in HGF and MMP-9 ( p ≤ 0.05). These findings imply an influence of these biomarkers by the existence of hepatic carcinoma that might reflect the progression of disease and a distinction between the pathological mechanisms involved in hepatic carcinoma. Since, the serum MMP-9 activity was significantly varied between each stage of HCC. An individual profile of the present investigated parameters was detected that might serve as an easy accessing serum marker to monitor the progression of hepatic cell disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The golden summer of sport is now over, but what is the legacy of London 2012 for disabled people? Nadia Ahmed, a disabled student, discusses the difficulties she has faced in finding accessible accommodation in London. She argues that while the Games are over, the United Kingdom still has lots of hurdles to leap when it comes to disability. The article focuses on her own personal experience of not being able to get wheelchair-accessible accommodation in Tower Hamlets, a London borough that is a close neighbour of Stratford where the Olympic and Paralympic games were held. The article raises questions about disability equality following the Paralympics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the depletion of oil, coal, gas and other fossil energy, and the increasingly serious environmental pollution, all countries in the world are developing clean and renewable energy, such as wind energy, water energy, solar energy, etc., to alleviate the current energy crisis. Tidal current energy belongs to the marine renewable energy. It is clean, pollution-free, and abundant, with a good prospect of development due to its similarity with wind energy. This paper firstly analyses the reserves and distribution of tidal current energy in China. Then the early exploration of Tidal Current Power Generation System (TCPGS) in China is briefly introduced. Subsequently, it gives the details of the devices and experimental platforms of TCPGS that were researched and developed by various universities, research institutes and enterprises in China. The information mainly includes: the size and the capacity of the system, the support structure, turbine type, the selection of generator, and some river and offshore test information, etc. Finally, it discusses the similarities and differences between China and other countries in tidal current power generation technology, and summaries the current development status and gives the prospect of the TCPGS technology in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thrust allocation is one of the key technologies in dynamic positioning (DP) systems. Accurately allocating the thrust and angle of each thruster will achieve the desired force and moment of the ships, which is crucial for improving the positioning accuracy and positioning performance of marine ships. This paper develops an improved Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) to handle thrust allocation problem of dynamic positioning (DP) system in rough sea conditions. Firstly, the multi-objective optimisation model is built considering the thrust prohibited area, output angle, output thrust, angle change rate and thrust change rate as the constraints, and considering the power consumption, thrust error and thruster wear, and singular structure penalty term as the optimisation objectives simultaneously. Then, an improved NSGA-II algorithm is proposed to optimise the selection process of Pareto-optimal solution. Finally, multiple simulation results show that improved NSGA-II has better optimisation performance compared with basic NSGA-II. All of the comparisons could fully be conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed algorithm.Abbreviations: DP: Dynamic Positioning; NSGA-II: Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm; SQP: Sequential Quadratic Programming; GA: Genetic Algorithm; PSO: Particle Swarm Optimisation; ABC: Artificial Bee Colony; AHABC: Adaptive Hybrid Artificial Bee Colony [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]