DSpace Repository (University of the Philippines Manila)
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The doctor is out: physician brain drain in the three medical schools (1960-2013).
No full textFor a country known for its abundant labor force, it is puzzling how it still finds itself with doctorless towns and municipalities. This says a lot about the health human resource management of the country. It also points to a deep-rooted problem of physician exportation. Since the 1960s, the Philippines has seen a large number of physicians seeking for better opportunities abroad. Through the years, different waves of physician outmigration have occurred with similar results: worsening of the country's health situation. Different factors can be attributed to a lot of doctors going abroad such as better economic opportunities abroad, professional growth, and peaceful political situation, to name a few. Another reason is the orientation of medical education in the Philippines. UPCM, UST and UERM have been around since the first wave of physician outmigration. Their differences in character and management mean different rates in physician retention. Despite UPCM being a public university, it still suffers from a high physician outmigration rate. This has led them to institute the Return Service Obligation Program and Regionalization Program which requires their graduates to stay in the country for a number of years. Rather than contracts which oblige graduates to stay, what needs to be changed is the orientation of medical education. It must be community-oriented and geared for the needs of the country. The overall health care situation as a whole must also be improved to encourage doctors to stay in the country
Bioaccumulation of lead in Volema (Pugilina) cochlidium from Bacoor Bay, Cavite
No full textThis study focused on determining the lead concentration of the water and sediment obtained from the coastline of Sangley Point, Bacoor Bay, Cavite, and in the shells and hepatopancreas of the gastropod, Volema (Pugilina) cochlidium collected from the site. All samples were acid digested and underwent atomic absorption spectroscopic analysis to determine the lead concentration. Results of the ANOVA performed showed no significant difference between the lead concentration present in the snail shells and hepatopancreas and that present in the water and sediment samples, suggesting that the snail species is an efficient biological indicator
Dirty, dangerous and deadly energy: coal-fired plant in Mariveles, Bataan and its impacts to the community.
No full textThe growing demand for electric supply has spurred a lot of power-generating plants to arise. Coal is the cheapest source of energy and one of the most abundant in the Philippines, which attracts companies to invest in this business. The Department of Energy actually promotes coal-fired plants as one of the possible solutions in alleviating the country’s energy crisis. However, the dangers that coal-fired plants bring cannot be undermined. People often approve of coal-fired plants because of the belief that they will be given alternative livelihood aside from farming and fishing. The residents were promised jobs. However, coal-fired plants require highly-skilled workers because of the nature of the job. This means that most of the residents might not be hired. Their belief that the construction of such plants will lower electricity rates has also been disproved, as they have said that electricity rates soared from before. If nuclear energy is the most dangerous of all energies, coal energy is said to be the dirtiest. It has caused numerous deaths, occurrence of acid rains, destruction of crops, death of corals, mangroves and seaweeds, noise pollution, pulmonary and respiratory diseases, and destruction of the environment. Opposing the construction of coal-fired plants does not mean that people are opposing development. Coal was indeed one of the sources of energy which has contributed a lot in our development. However, because of the changing times, the people have identified the negative impacts of using coal. People have been exposed to the number of hazards that coal has caused the world. Coal is very toxic. It has poisoned the health of the people, it has poisoned the environment, and it has poisoned the community
Determination of chlorophyll-a and phosphate concentration from selected sites in Manila Bay.
No full textThis study determined the relationship between chlorophyll-a and phosphate concentrations in the waters of Manila Bay. Grab water sampling for three consecutive months at 4 heterogeneous locations in the Las Piñas – Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) was conducted. Physicochemical parameters (temperature, pH, salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen) were likewise assessed to determine the water quality of Manila bay. Results showed a significant positive relationship between chlorophyll-a and phosphate (p<0.05). Significant spatial and temporal differences also exist in the physicochemical parameters, chl – a and phosphate concentrations tested (p<0.05). Continuous water monitoring is recommended to continuously assess the water quality of Manila Bay
Molecular characterization of marine fungi isolated from Manila Bay, Philippines.
No full textMarine fungi play vital roles in marine ecosystems. They are the main decomposers in the ecosystem, major component in the food chain, pollution indicators and primarily involved in nutrient cycling. However, inadequate information is available about marine fungi especially those thriving in Manila Bay, Philippines. This thesis aims to molecularly characterize using the 18s rRNA sequences the marine fungi present in Manila Bay, which were previously morphologically identified by Duenas and Roderno (2013). To do this, 3 major activities were performed, namely, DNA optimization, DNA amplification and sequence analysis. Xanthogenate extraction protocol was found to be effective for Aspergillus sp. (UPM001), Aspergillus sp. (UPM002), Aspergillus sp. (UPM003) and Yeast (Non-Candida) species (UPM006). CTAB extraction protocol was found to be effective for Penicillium sp. (UPM004) and Trichoderma sp (UPM005). The marine fungi were phylogenetically identified using reference sequences present in the NCBI GenBank database. Aspergillus sp. (UPM001), previously identified as Aspergillus flavus, was shown to be a relative of Aspergillus sojae. Aspergillus sp. (UPM002), previously identified as Aspergillus fumigatus, was shown to be a distinct species relative of Aspergillus fumigatus. Aspergillus sp. (UPM003), previously identified as a species belonging to the Aspergillus genera, was shown to be a relative of Talaromyces flavus. Penicillium sp. (UPM004), previously identified as Penicillium sp., was shown be a relative of Eupenicillium crustaceum and Penicillium nodositatum. Trichoderma sp. (UPM005), previously identified as Trichoderma sp, was identified to be Trichoderma viridae. Yeast (Non-Candida) (UPM006), previously identified as a Non-Candida species, was shown to be a relative of Kodamaea ohmeri. This study shows that molecular characterization is a more accurate identification tool for microorganisms
Plant Leaf Recognition by Leaf Venation and Shape using Artificial Neural Networks (LeaVeS)
No full textA leaf recognition system for plant classi cation by a leaf's shape and venation
using the centroid-radii model, moment-invariant model, canny edge detection, morpho-
logical operations, image di erence and arti cial neural networks
Workflow Management Module for Dental Information System (DentISt) 3.0
No full textPrevious dental information systems of UPCD, namely Open DentISt and DentISt2.0,
allow the clinicians to store and access patient dental records electronically. Both
systems however only implemented the Oral Diagnosis section of UPCD. It is incon-
venient and impractical to reprogram the entire system to add the 3 other sections or
if there are changes in UPCD in the future. DentISt 3.0 integrated a work
ow man-
agement system to manage the
ow of tasks of clinicians during patient treatment
and to allow the system to adapt to changes in UPCD without the need to reprogram
the entire system.
In DentISt 3.0, the system work
ow can be modi ed and the changes made are
automatically adapted by the system. Forms can also be added dynamically using the
web-based form editor. The system allows clinicians to perform tasks based on their
roles. All clinicians can add and edit section-speci c patient records, set appointment
with patients and refer patients to other UPCD sections. Faculty clinicians can also
approve patient record updates
Lung Nodule Detector and Classifier Tool
No full textLung cancer is the number one cause of death in the Philippines and in the world. Multi-detector
CT scanners provide opportunity to examine thin-section CT images, which improves reader
detection of focal findings and characterization of nodules. However, the sensitivity of manual
detection of cancerous and non-cancerous lung nodules is reported to be 70-75% only. Lung
Nodule Detector and Classifier Tool is decision support software that aims to aid the health
professionals in detecting and classifying lung nodules. LNDCT uses algorithms which include
diffusion, binarization, wavelet edge detection, and morphological operations to automatically
segment the nodules. The tool uses LibSVM, an open source support vector machine software in
classifying malignant from benign nodules. Three testing sets were used to test the accuracy of
detection and classification using LNDCT. Set A contains lung images where most of the sizes
of the cancerous nodules are greater than 200 pixels. Set B contains a combination of different
sizes of cancerous nodules. Set C contains 400 training and 200 testing random data which came
from pre-extracted features computed using LNDCT. The accuracy of the system is reported to
be 93.87%, 81.33%, and 88.57% for sets A, B and C respectively. LNDCT is a tool which can
help health professionals in detection, classification, and feature computations of lung nodules
Filipino Language Learning System (FILLES) for Desktop Computers / Tablets
No full textThe Filipino Language Learning System (FILLES) is a fully-customizable system oriented towards self-instructed and self-directed language learning. The main objective of this system is to make the Filipino language more accessible to people around the world, particularly those with little to no background in the Filipino language and would like to learn the language for different purposes. A variety of both traditional and modern language learning methods are exhibited in this interactive system which utilizes the use of modern web technologies (HTML5). The system allows the integration of these two kinds of methods. While the system is simple in design, it is comprehensive enough to let the users gain proficiency in the language
Isolation and morphological characterization of marine fungi in Manila Bay.
No full textFungi exist in a wide range of habitats, including marine environment. Manila Bay is a natural harbor and is the main economic gateway to Luzon. Manila Bay is a saline alkaline body of water, approximately 1994 square kilometers in area and lies southeast of South China Sea. Grab water samples were collected in duplicates from six designated points throughout the shoreline. Water temperature, pH, salinity, resistivity, conductivity, total dissolved solids and dissolved oxygen were determined. Dilutions of each water sample were plated in potato dextrose agar acidified by tartaric acid. Fungal isolates obtained were cultured at room temperature and exposed to penicillin and streptomycin to inhibit the possible growth of bacteria. Twenty-nine isolates were isolated and morphologically characterized while the isolated yeast was not identified. The fungal isolates were Cladosporium sp., Penicillium sp., Chrysosporium sp., Fusarium sp., Mucor sp., Trichoderma sp., and Aspergillus spp.. The unidentified yeast isolates were found out to be non-Candida yeasts