Search

Alcoholic beverages have long been one of the most popular commodities. They have been mass-produced worldwide because of their popularity and demand. On a survey by Statista in 2021, alcohol consumption is projected to increase in the Philippines. Thus, the popularity of numerous alcoholic beverages piqued the curiosity of consumers and researchers alike. This study used conjoint analysis that aims to have a better understanding of consumer preferences for alcohol consumption among youths. Additionally, the study considered the following attributes: (1) type of alcoholic beverage, (2) oral sensation, (3) flavor, (4) origin, (5) color, and (6) price. Results revealed that the product's price is the most crucial attribute influencing consumer preferences by 26.311%, followed by the type of alcoholic beverage with an importance score of 26.237%. The least considered attribute is the product's color, having an importance score of 7.790%. These were supported by two statistical tests, the Pearson's Correlation Test and Kendall's Tau Test, which both obtained a value higher than 0.8. Managerial implications were presented in the study to help provide strategies and development for alcoholic beverage distribution in the Philippines based on the findings of this study, which relate to young consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal conductivity and mechanical effects of silicon carbide nanoparticles uniformly dispersed in water were investigated. Mean size of SiC particles was 170 nm with a polydispersity of ∼30% as determined from small-angle x-ray scattering and dynamic light scattering techniques. Room temperature viscosity of the nanofluids ranged from 2 to 3 cP for nominal nanoparticle loadings 4–7 vol %. On a normalized basis with water, viscosity of the nanofluids did not significantly change with the test temperature up to 85 °C. Optical microscopy of diluted nanofluid showed no agglomeration of the nanoparticles. Thermal conductivity of the fluid was measured as a function of the nominal nanoparticle loading ranging from 1 to 7 vol %. Enhancement in thermal conductivity was approximately 28% over that of water at 7 vol % particle loadings under ambient conditions. Enhancements in thermal conductivities for the nanofluids with varying nanoparticle loadings were maintained at test temperatures up to 70 °C. Results of thermal conductivity have been rationalized based on the existing theories of heat transfer in fluids. Implications of using this nanofluid for engineering cooling applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer experiments were performed with water and ethylene glycol/water mixtures at five flow velocities and four fluid inlet temperatures. Both turbulent flow and laminar flow were tested in a special test facility with its experimental test section heated from the bottom surface only. Boiling curves and subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficients of the tested fluids were determined from the experimental measurements. Predictive correlations of the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficients were developed based on the experimental data. Comparisons are presented of wall temperatures between the experimental measurements and the correlation predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To determine how increases in surgical patient volume will affect emergency department (ED) access to inpatient cardiac services. To compare how strategies to increase cardiology inpatient throughput can either accommodate increases in surgical volume or improve ED patient access. Methods A stochastic discrete event simulation was created to model patient flow through a cardiology inpatient system within a US, urban, academic hospital. The simulation used survival analysis to examine the relationship between anticipated increases in surgical volume and ED patient boarding time (ie, time interval from cardiology admission request to inpatient bed placement). Results ED patients boarded for a telemetry and cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) bed had a mean boarding time of 5.3 (median 3.1, interquartile range 1.5–6.9) h and 2.7 (median 1.7, interquartile range 0.8–3.0) h, respectively. Each 10% incremental increase in surgical volume resulted in a 37 and 33 min increase in mean boarding time to the telemetry unit and CVICU, respectively. Strategies to increase cardiology inpatient throughput by increasing capacity and decreasing length of stay for specific inpatients was compared. Increasing cardiology capacity by one telemetry and CVICU bed or decreasing length of stay by 1 h resulted in a 7–9 min decrease in average boarding time or an 11–19% increase in surgical patient volume accommodation. Conclusions Simulating competition dynamics for hospital admissions provides prospective planning (ie, decision making) information and demonstrates how interventions to increase inpatient throughput will have a much greater effect on higher priority surgical admissions compared with ED admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Context Bureaucratic organisational culture is less favourable to quality improvement, whereas organisations with group (teamwork) culture are better aligned for quality improvement. Objective To determine if an organisational group culture shows better alignment with patient safety climate. Design Cross-sectional administration of questionnaires. Setting 40 Hospital Corporation of America hospitals. Participants 1406 nurses, ancillary staff, allied staff and physicians. Main outcome measures Competing Values Measure of Organisational Culture, Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), Safety Climate Survey (SCSc) and Information and Analysis (IA). Results The Cronbach alpha was 0.81 for the group culture scale and 0.72 for the hierarchical culture scale. Group culture was positively correlated with SAQ and its subscales (from correlation coefficient r=0.44 to 0.55, except situational recognition), ScSc (r=0.47) and IA (r=0.33). Hierarchical culture was negatively correlated with the SAQ scales, SCSc and IA. Among the 40 hospitals, 37.5% had a hierarchical dominant culture, 37.5% a dominant group culture and 25% a balanced culture. Group culture hospitals had significantly higher safety climate scores than hierarchical culture hospitals. The magnitude of these relationships was not affected after adjusting for provider job type and hospital characteristics. Conclusions Hospitals vary in organisational culture, and the type of culture relates to the safety climate within the hospital. In combination with prior studies, these results suggest that a healthcare organisation's culture is a critical factor in the development of its patient safety climate and in the successful implementation of quality improvement initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Women with urge urinary incontinence are commonly treated with antimuscarinic medications, but many discontinue therapy.Objective: To determine whether combining antimuscarinic drug therapy with supervised behavioral training, compared with drug therapy alone, improves the ability of women with urge incontinence to achieve clinically important reductions in incontinence episodes and to sustain these improvements after discontinuing drug therapy.Design: 2-stage, multicenter, randomized clinical trial conducted from July 2004 to January 2006.Setting: 9 university-affiliated outpatient clinics.Patients: 307 women with urge-predominant incontinence.Intervention: 10 weeks of open-label, extended-release tolterodine alone (n = 153) or combined with behavioral training (n = 154), followed by discontinuation of therapy and follow-up at 8 months.Measurements: The primary outcome, measured at 8 months, was no receipt of drugs or other therapy for urge incontinence and a 70% or greater reduction in frequency of incontinence episodes. Secondary outcomes were reduction in incontinence, self-reported satisfaction and improvement, and scores on validated questionnaires measuring symptom distress and bother and health-related quality of life. Study staff who performed outcome evaluations, but not participants and interventionists, were blinded to group assignment.Results: 237 participants completed the trial. According to life-table estimates, the rate of successful discontinuation of therapy at 8 months was the same in the combination therapy and drug therapy alone groups (41% in both groups; difference, 0 percentage points [95% CI, -12 to 12 percentage points]). A higher proportion of participants who received combination therapy than drug therapy alone achieved a 70% or greater reduction in incontinence at 10 weeks (69% vs. 58%; difference, 11 percentage points [CI, -0.3 to 22.1 percentage points]). Combination therapy yielded better outcomes over time on the Urogenital Distress Inventory and the Overactive Bladder Questionnaire (both P <0.001) at both time points for patient satisfaction and perceived improvement but not health-related quality of life. Adverse events were uncommon (12 events in 6 participants [3 in each group]).Limitations: Behavioral therapy components (daily bladder diary and recommendations for fluid management) in the group receiving drug therapy alone may have attenuated between-group differences. Assigned treatment was completed by 68% of participants, whereas 8-month outcome status was assessed on 77%.Conclusion: The addition of behavioral training to drug therapy may reduce incontinence frequency during active treatment but does not improve the ability to discontinue drug therapy and maintain improvement in urinary incontinence. Combination therapy has a beneficial effect on patient satisfaction, perceived improvement, and reduction of other bladder symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The densities of T6 antigen-bearing Langerhans cells in 112 biopsies of human skin from sixteen surgical out-patients and four cadavers were determined for eight anatomical regions. The regional mean densities (±s.e.m.) of epidermal Langerhans cells per mm2 were: head and neck, 489±27; chest, 466±22; back, 466±11; upper extremities, 458±25; lower extremities, 431±30; buttocks, 411±11; genitalia, 298±45; soles, 58±12. No statistically significant differences were found between any of these Langerhans cell densities except for that of the soles which was lower than those of all other regions (P<0.002). No significant differences were detected between the mean densities of patients and cadavers, Caucasians and Hispanics or males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat transfer rate was experimentally determined in the post-CHF region of a steady-state two-phase flow of a refrigerant in a vertical tube with swirl induced by twisted-tape inserts. Experiments were performed with the vertical flow of refrigerant-113 in a tube with inside diameter of 7.75 mm, a heated length of 3.66 m and mass flux of 375-535 kg/ms for swirl flow at a pressure of 0.184 MPa. Four tapes were used with twist-ratio of 2.5 to 9.2 for swirl flow. Liquid heating produced the low wall-superheat in the post-CHF region at steady-state, which is typical of heat exchanger operation. Superheated vapor measured at the test section exit in most tests ensured that entire post-CHF region was included. All refrigerant-113 data were compared with the data of water and refrigerant-12. The existing post-CHF heat transfer correlation of swirl flow was modified to predict the magnitude and trends of the data of the three fluids such as water, R-12 and R-113. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat transfer enhancement criteria for nanofluids over their base fluids are presented based on three separate considerations: Reynolds number, flow velocity, and pumping power. Analyses presented show that, among the three comparisons, the constant pumping power comparison is the most unambiguous; the constant flow velocity comparison can be quite reasonable under certain conditions but the constant Reynolds number comparison (the most commonly used in the engineering literature for nanofluids) distorts the physical situation, and therefore, should not be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the case study of patients suffering from erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) with hepatic involvement. This patient initially presented in the summer of 1958, aged 18 months, with intermittent redness and swelling of the face and hands. A liver biopsy performed in 1978 was normal apart from minimal pigment deposition. The hepatic histopathological and ultrastructural features observed in this case are characteristic of EPP. Hepatic fibrosis can frequently be present in the absence of abnormal liver function tests and may herald the onset of cirrhosis.