The Impact of Education via Short Message Service (SMS) versus that of by e-mail: A Quasi-Experimental Study Among Parents of Children with Leukemia in Shiraz, Iran

Educating parents of children with leukemia increases the quality of provided care to pediatric patients. This study has been designed to determine the impact of education via email and Short Message Service (SMS) on caring knowledge of chemotherapy complications in parents of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The valid and reliable questionnaire consisted of personal information and knowledge of the effects of chemotherapy in children with leukemia. Seventy four SMS were sent to the parents in form of 5 categories of education about how to care complications of chemotherapy during 10 weeks of the study. The findings of this study indicated that, the awareness of parents increased significantly within a week and a month after the education (

Characterization of Bacteria in Ballast Water Using MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry

To evaluate a rapid and cost-effective method for monitoring bacteria in ballast water, several marine bacterial isolates were characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Since International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations are concerned with the unintended transportation of pathogenic bacteria through ballast water, emphasis was placed on detecting species of Vibrio, enterococci and coliforms. Seawater samples collected from the North Sea were incubated in steel ballast tanks and the presence of potentially harmful species of Pseudomonas was also investigated. At the genus-level, the identification of thirty six isolates using MALDI-TOF MS produced similar results to those obtained by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. No pathogenic species were detected either by 16S rRNA gene analysis or by MALDI-TOF MS except for the opportunistically pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, in house software that calculated the correlation coefficient values (CCV) of the mass spectral raw data and their variation was developed and used to allow the rapid and efficient identification of marine bacteria in ballast water for the first time

Remote temperature monitoring device using a multiple patients-coordinator set design approach

This paper aims to develop a prototype for a web-based wireless remote temperature monitoring device for patients. This device uses a patient and coordinator set design approach involving the measurement, transmission, receipt and recording of patients’ temperatures via the MiWi wireless network. The results of experimental tests on the proposed system indicated a wider distance coverage and reasonable temperature resolution and standard deviation. The system could display the temperature and patient information remotely via a graphical-user interface as shown in the tests on three healthy participants. By continuously monitoring participants’ temperatures, this device will likely improve the quality of the health care of the patients in normal ward as less human workload is involved

Proteomic-based biotyping reveals hidden diversity within a microalgae culture collection: An example using Dunaliella

Accurate and defendable taxonomic identification of microalgae strains is vital for culture collections, industry and academia; particularly when addressing issues of intellectual property. We demonstrate the remarkable effectiveness of Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) biotyping to deliver rapid and accurate strain separation, even in situations where standard molecular tools prove ineffective. Highly distinctive MALDI spectra were obtained for thirty two biotechnologically interesting Dunaliella strains plus strains of Arthrospira, Chlorella, Isochrysis, Tetraselmis and a range of culturable co-occurring bacteria. Spectra were directly compared with genomic DNA sequences (internal transcribed spacer, ITS). Within individual Dunaliella isolates MALDI discriminated between strains with identical ITS sequences, thereby emphasising and enhancing knowledge of the diversity within microalgae culture collections. Further, MALDI spectra did not vary with culture age or growth stage during the course of the experiment; therefore MALDI presents stable and accurate strain-specific signature spectra. Bacterial contamination did not affect MALDI’s discriminating power. Biotyping by MALDI-TOF-MS will prove effective in situations wherein precise strain identification is vital, for example in cases involving intellectual property disputes and in monitoring and safeguarding biosecurity. MALDI should be accepted as a biotyping tool to complement and enhance standard molecular taxonomy for microalgae

An Intelligent Sensor Validation and Fault Diagnostic Technique for Diesel Engines

Abstract An intelligent sensor validation and on-line fault diagnosis technique for a 6 cylinder turbocharged diesel engine is proposed and studied. A single auto-associative 3-layer Artificial Neural Network (ANN), is trained to examine the accuracy of the measured data and allocate a confidence level to each signal. The same ANN is used to recover the missing or faulty data with a close approximation. For on-line fault detection a feed-forward ANN is trained to classify and consequently recognize faulty and healthy behavior of the engine for a wide range of operating conditions. The proposed technique is also equipped with an on-line learning mechanism, which is activated when the confidence level in predicted fault is poor. It is hoped that a feasible, practical, and reliable sensor reading, as well as highly accurate fault diagnosis system, would be achieved.</jats:p

Methodology for the sustainability assessment of marine technologies

This contribution presents an integrated quantitative approach for the holistic assessment of the sustainability of technologies. The methodology envisages environmental, economic and social sustainability assessments separately, then collates them to obtain a single measure of sustainability. Standard life cycle assessment and economic evaluation methods are used to provide quantitative measures for environmental and economic parameters. A new method is used to evaluate the social sustainability, enabling the quantitative integration of all three indices. Individual indices are developed and combined to provide a single performance index of sustainability. This particular tool allows technology stakeholders to incorporate sustainability principles to their design and operation activities. It provides also a benchmark platform for comparing various technologies from a sustainability standpoint. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This paper and the work presented have been possible thanks to a PhD Scholarship from the Department of Education, Universities and Research, of the Basque Government (Scholarship Programs for Researchers Training), and the Stanley Gray Fellowship Award of IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science \& Technology). All financial support and reviewers guidance are gratefully acknowledged. The comments of the series of anonymous reviewers have assisted in the improvement of the original text. Likewise, we thank Prof. Michael Collins (SOES, University of Southampton and AZTI-Tecnalia) for his comments and advice on the manuscript. This paper is contribution no 566 from AZTI-Tecnalia (Marine Research)