1,721,028 research outputs found
A preliminary study of job satisfaction and motivation among the Malaysian primary healthcare professionals
No full textAim: This study aimed to examine the relationship between personal or work-based characteristics and job satisfaction and motivation in Malaysian primary healthcare professionals.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey conducted during the 15th Family Medicine Scientific Conference in June 2011 using the Warr-Cook-Wall scales. The questionnaires included demography and work-related items and were self-distributed and returned at the end of the conference. Independent risk factors were identified using multiple linear regressions.
Results: A total of 149 conference participants completed the survey, with a response rate of 33.1%. They were mainly females (85.2%), Malay (83.2%), and married (83.9%) in almost equal proportions of practice location (urban 57.8% and rural 42.2%). Majority of them were working at community-based health clinics (74.0%) and in public sectors (94.4%). The respondents were mainly doctors (91.4%). The mean age of the participants was 39.1 years (SD 8.0), with a mean duration of service of 9 years (SD 6.9). Family medicine specialty (FMSt) residents had lower job satisfaction (B = -8.0, 95% CI -14.61 to -1.40, p = 0.02). Family medicine specialists (FMSs) had higher satisfaction with working conditions (B = 1.95, 95% CI 0.50 to 3.41, p = 0.01). A male worker had on average 2.8 (95% CI -4.7 to -0.9, p = 0.005) lower points in the total intrinsic job motivation scale. There was a positive relationship between the duration of working and job motivation (B = 0.10, 95% CI 0.004 to 0.2, p = 0.04).
Conclusion: FMSt residents might have the least job satisfaction, but FMSs were generally satisfied with their working conditions regardless of the location of their clinics. Men and those who were novice in primary healthcare may need more support for motivation
The 3D characterization of corrosion in aluminium alloys
No full textCorrosion is an ongoing problem till date. Lots of attention has been given to it as it has already cost governments millions of dollars in damage and also many human lives. Structural integrity is deeply affected when the structures undergo cyclic loading. This results in fatigue failure as corrosion may act as defects and cause propagation of cracks periodically.
This paper focuses on characterizing pitting corrosion three dimensionally on two materials, aluminium alloy 7075 and 2524 that are mainly used in aircraft structures due to their high strength to weight ratio. Volumetric analysis and stress analysis are used to characterize pit shapes.
Three shapes, truncated sphere, half ellipsoid and elliptical cone, were analyzed in volumetric analysis using several software like ImageJ, MATLAB, and Microsoft Excel. It was found that elliptical cone provides the best estimate in terms of volume. However, elliptical cone was not used in the subsequent stress analysis as the tip of the cone acts as a major stress concentrator which will incur huge stress.
In the finite element analysis, truncated sphere and half ellipsoid were used as ideal pits in comparison to the actual pits. It was found that both shapes provided relatively close results to the actual pits, with half ellipsoid providing a closer estimate in comparing the corrosion time of 240 hours.
From this report, it can be concluded that AA7075 is less corrosion resistant than AA2524, and corrosion on AA7075 will cause a worse impact on the structure integrity due to higher stress concentration factor found in the pits compared to AA2524Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace Engineering
Handling emotional distress in Malaysian adults with type 2 diabetes
Full text linkType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has negative impacts on many aspects of life and living of people suffering from it, a challenge in good self-care, a continuous struggle to be adherent to medical treatments and demands regular readjustment in life routines according to clinical outcomes. It is recognized that psychological health such as diabetes-related distress (DD) and depressive symptoms in people with T2DM affects treatment effectiveness, disease control, complications, quality of life, and thus needs more attention. This thesis was conducted in Asian population in Malaysia, examining the prevalence of and factors associated with DD and depressive symptoms. The endeavour of this thesis includes examining the current literature for psychological interventions and conceptual framework that work for DD, developing a relatively short and culturally appropriate intervention programme to reduce DD, testing the programme effectiveness, translating and validating a Malay version of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire for Malay-speaking people with T2DM. DD and depression were common in Asian adults with T2DM at the primary care level in Malaysia. Having a Chinese origin or being young was associated with having DD. Being divorced or separated and having microvascular complications was associated with depression in individuals with T2DM. These types of patients require extra clinical attention for a better identification of emotional problems and efficient management of resources. The three different DD scales, namely the DDS-17, the DDS-2 and the PAID-5, showed differential associations with the patient-reported outcomes. Only DD measured with DDS-2 showed significant independent associations with SBP, DBP and BP target < 140/90 mmHg; while the PAID-5 questionnaire with medication adherence (MMAS, continuous and categorical forms) and self-care activities (SDSCA, categorical form). Low DD may predispose to more depressive symptoms some years later, and no or only a few depressive symptoms do not prevent a higher DD level at a later stage. These longitudinal relations signify significant opposite changes in DD and depressive symptoms at the personal level rather than a status quo. Therefore, higher degrees of these feelings and symptoms should not a priori be considered as negative, as the names of these constructs imply because they could be manifestations of initial coping behaviours. Nevertheless, vigilant monitoring of DD and depressive symptoms and additional support if necessary seem reasonable approaches in clinical care. For effective screening and monitoring of DD, DD should be diagnosed with the short DDS-2 or PAID-5 questionnaires. These short questionnaires may identify patients who are distressed, which offers an opportunity to engage the person with T2DM in the formulation of an individualised diabetes management plan. With regard to psychological support or intervention for patients with DD, a general discussion of diabetes-related health issues is equally effective in reducing DD compared to the VEMOFIT programme at six months follow-up. Both interventions decreased DD significantly. For such a ‘general discussion of diabetes-related health issues’ to be effective, at least two group-based meetings on top of usual standard diabetes care are necessary. This could be implemented quicker and easier compared to the VEMOFIT programme
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Ethnic groups difference in discriminatory attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients among medical students: a cross-sectional study
Full text linkMedical students are future doctors who are trained to treat all kinds of diseases including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) without prejudice. Teaching basic scientific knowledge and technical skills is no longer adequate for today’s medical students. There is also a need for them to be provided with high personal and professional values. This study examined stigmatizing attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) among the medical students in a public medical school. The participants were stratified to preclinical-year (year 1 and year 2) and clinical-year (year 3 and year 4) medical students. Simple random sampling was carried out to select 170 participants from each category of students. Self-administered questionnaires captured socio-demographic data, HIV/AIDS knowledge and stigmatisation attitudes towards PLWHA. Multiple linear regressions was used to assess the relationship between ethnic groups and stigmatization attitude. Three hundred and forty participants were recruited. Malay medical students who did not have previous encounter with PLWHA were associated with stigmatizing attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients, whereas clinical-year medical students who had no clinical encounter with PLWHA were more likely to feel uncomfortable with PLWHA. Malay ethnicity and medical students in clinical years who had not encounter a PLWHA were more likely to have stigmatizing attitude towards PLWHA
Assessing HIV/AIDS knowledge and stigmatizing attitudes among medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia
Full text linkOBJECTIVE: Medical students are future doctors who are trained to treat all kind of diseases including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) without prejudice. This study was to determine the factors associated with knowledge on HIV/AIDS and stigma towards PLWHA among medical students.
METHODS: This was a cross sectional study with stratified random sampling conducted in a public university, Malaysia. The participants were preclinical-year (year 1 and year 2) and clinical-year (year 3 and year 4) medical students. Simple randomisation was carried out after stratification of medical students into preclinical and clinical-year. The selfadministered questionnaires were consisted of sociodemographic data, items assessing HIV/AIDS knowledge and items assessing stigmatisation attitudes towards PLWHA.
RESULTS: We had 100% response rate of 340 participants. Pre-clinical and clinical year medical students each contributed 170 (50%). Majority was female (64.1%). About two-thirds (60.6%) was Malay, followed by Chinese (31.2%) and Indian (7.1%). Pre-clinical students were significantly more stigmatizing in subscale of "attitudes towards imposed measures" (t=3.917, p<0.001), even with adjustment for previous encounter and ethnicity (B= 1.2, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.83, p=0.001). On the other hand, clinical students were found to be significantly less comfortable in handling HIV/AIDS cases (t=0.039, p=0.039), even after controlled for previous encounter and ethnicity (B=0.6, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.98, p< 0.001).
CONCLUSION: Clinical encounter with PLWHA was associated with higher knowledge in HIV/AIDS. Medical students in preclinical years were having stigmatizing attitude towards imposed measures compared to the clinical years who had more stigmatizing attitude in being less comfortable with PLWHA
Primary care for cancers at diagnosis and follow-up: a narrative review
No full textThis paper is concerned about the family physician’s role in early cancer diagnosis and follow-up with his/hers patients who have just been diagnosed with cancer; treatment modalities for cancer; and family physician continuous roles for patients who are under definitive cancer treatment, experiencing side-effects of cancer treatment; some of the effective means to reduce these side-effects during cancer treatment and management of oncologic emergencies. Having some knowledge on the current cancer therapies would undoubtedly help family physicians to follow up patients with cancer more confidently, to appreciate their side-effects, symptomatic treatment, recognize the limit of primary care and be even useful for counseling and consultation with patients or their family members with a family history of cancer. Systematic searches with terms comprised “cancer”, “malignancy”, “primary care”, “general practice”, “cancer AND diagnosis” and “cancer AND follow-up” were done in the major databases such as Pubmed, ScienceDirect and Ovid. We employed selective searches with the above terms and their combination in some of the major journal such as The Lancet Oncology, The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, etc. These were followed by snowballing the relevant articles from the citation of references in those selected papers. The goal of this narrative review is not to provide exhaustive documentation of sound evidence for practice of primary care for cancer patients at diagnosis and follow-up. It mainly aims to provide specific evidence-based information and suggestions that are thought to be relevant for primary care professionals and policymakers
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