The Use of Animations Depicting Cardiac Electrical Activity to Improve Confidence in Understanding of Cardiac Pathology and Electrocardiography Traces Among Final-Year Medical Students: Nonrandomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Electrocardiography (ECG) interpretation is a fundamental skill for medical students and practicing medical professionals. Recognizing ECG pathologies promptly allows for quick intervention, especially in acute settings where urgent care is needed. However, many medical students find ECG interpretation and understanding of the underlying pathology challenging, with teaching methods varying greatly.

Novel anionic surfactant-modified chlorhexidine and its potent antimicrobial properties.

Chlorhexidine dodecyl sulfate (CHX-DS) was synthesized and characterized single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD), H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, H nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY), and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The solid-state structure, comprising a 1 : 2 stoichiometric ratio of chlorhexidine cations [CHClN] to dodecyl sulfate anions [CHSO], is the first report of chlorhexidine isolated with a surfactant. CHX-DS exhibits broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and demonstrates superior efficacy for reducing bacteria-generated volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) as compared to chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG).

Recalibration of Framingham risk for a local population of Sri Lanka.

Background: Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) account for the highest number of deaths and disability globally and within Sri Lanka. A CVD risk prediction tool is a simple means of early identification of high-risk groups which is a cost-effective preventive strategy, especially for resource-poor countries. Distribution of risk factor levels varies in different regions even within the same country, thus a common risk estimation tool for the country may give false local predictions.

Temperature-Enhanced Exciton Emission from GaAs Cone-Shell Quantum Dots.

The temperature-dependent intensities of the exciton (X) and biexciton (XX) peaks from single GaAs cone-shell quantum dots (QDs) are studied with micro photoluminescence (PL) at varied excitation power and QD size. The QDs are fabricated by filling self-assembled nanoholes, which are drilled in an AlGaAs barrier by local droplet etching (LDE) during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). This method allows the fabrication of strain-free QDs with sizes precisely controlled by the amount of material deposited for hole filling.