reflection 6 - Gavin

This week to catch up on our IPW project me and Justin went to Yueh Hwa's house. We thought of survey questions and how we would present them. We decided on multiple choices and in Yes and No choices. below the Yes and No choices also had some other choices and a free answer choice. We are now waiting for Yueh Hwa to send us the soft copies and print some hard copies as well. I think we did fairly well this week for the IPW project.

Reflection 6 - Justin

This week, Gavin and I went to Yueh Hwa's house to complete the survey questions.
So whats left is survey some people. Both Yueh Hwa and I have completed the research, i am unsure of the progress of of Gavin and Malcolm though. Anyways the CA's are here so we will be taking a short break from IPW for a while. Hopefully we can complete everything after the exams...

Dengue Fever Research - Signs and Symtoms - Lim Yueh hwa

This is manifested by a sudden onset of severe headache, muscle and joint pains (myalgias and arthralgias—severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease), fever, and rash.^[5] The dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechiae and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest; in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associatedabdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.

Some cases develop much milder symptoms which can be misdiagnosed as influenza or other viral infection when no rash is present. Thus travelers from tropical areas may pass on dengue in their home countries inadvertently, having not been properly diagnosed at the height of their illness. Patients with dengue can pass on the infection only through mosquitoes or blood products and only while they are still febrile.

The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the disease (the so-called biphasic pattern). Clinically, the platelet count will drop until the patient's temperature is normal.

Cases of DHF also show higher fever, variable haemorrhagic phenomena, thrombocytopenia, and haemoconcentration. A small proportion of cases lead to dengue shock syndrome (DSS) which has a high mortality rate.

DHF combined with a cirrhotic liver has been suspected in rapid development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma . Given the DEN virus is related to the Hepatitis C virus this is an avenue for further research as HCC is the top 5 leading Cancer cause of death outside of Europe and North America . Normally HCC does not normally occur in a cirrhotic liver for 10+ years after the cessation of the poisioning agent. DHF patients can develop HCC within one year of cessation of abuse.

Grace Blog Reflection 6 - Lim Yueh Hwa

This week, we will continue to come up with more survey questions and improve and edit our survey further to make it more neat and presentable so that our viewers will be able to give us their comments and feedback on the topic that we are researching on. 

Malcolm Wu Week 6

Today, we focus on the survey skills in creating the survey table and thinking of survey questions to ask the people of Singapore. We also have to go around interviewing about 20 people which includes students, teachers and the people that work in the civil service and adults by the end of this week.Our survey questions need to have a balance of open-ended questions and multiple choice. 

Malcolm Wu Week 5

Malcolm Wu Week 5

In week 5, my team and i decided to get down to work and finish up the project planner A which Justin did and the survey questions. We also did the distribution of work and research and i was supposed to do the research of the life cycle on dengue mosquitoes and such.

research - justin (how climate affects the breeding of mosquitoes)

Mosquitoes transmit dengue viruses. The virus replicates in the mosquito, this process takes one to two weeks from the time a mosquito imbibes infected human blood until the virus reaches the salivary gland of the mosquito and replicates to titer high enough to be transmitted. This incubation period in the mosquito is shorter if the ambient temperature is warmer. This is found most in mosquitoes that live near human dwellings, in flowerpots, water storage jars, cisterns, metal cans, discarded tires, and any other fresh water containers that people leave standing. The mosquito does not survive freezing weather and, thus, is primarily a tropical vector. One description of a dengue epidemic is that of Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia in 1780. The mosquito and dengue virus were imported to Philadelphia during the summer, but the mosquito did not live over the winter and the disease disappeared. The mosquito lives in the tropics wherever people live. The mosquito thrives in areas of high rainfall, but it also paradoxically thrives in desert areas because people often provide water containers for breeding. Mosquitoes cannot stand freezing weather, thus, it is limited to tropical and subtropical regions. Global warming is said tt oaffect regions in the tropics and has a greater effect at night. All these conditions are favourable for the mosquitoes as their breeding rate is always increasing. The risk of dengue outbreak is enhacned by two factors. Firstly, dengue multiplies more in high temperatures than in low ones. Secondly, the mosquito also grows rapidly in high temperatures than in low ones. This combination is condusive to a very short incubation period in the mosquito and rapid mosquito population increase. A short incubation in the mosquito along with rapid population increase inturn can lead to more rapid, and sometimes explosice transmissions in the human population. This prediction, however, should be accompanied by a caution. Warmer temperaturesalso leads to a shorter life span of the mosquito, and shorter life means less time to transmit the virus to another person.

Reflection 5 - Justin

This week we discussed more on survey questions, we also discussed a bit on who we were planning to ask the survey questions to. We decided to ask teachers, parents and friends. I have begun my research on how the climate effects the breeding of dengue mosquitoes. The topics of reserach have alreadly been deceided by the project planner. Malcolm has agreed to research the life cycle of mosquitoe while Gavin is researching the governments actions against the breeding of mosquitoes and finaly Yueh Hwa will researching about dengue fever and its symtomps. However i am not sure if we can meet the research deadline due to the approaching common test in the late feb to early march ...

Reflection 4 - Justin

Having problems with signing in lately, so this is a rather late post.
Last week, we were required to complete project planner A and B and also come up with survey questions. Well both Yueh Hwa and I have completed the project planners so we are left with survey questions and research. However due to comming exams i do not think we will be able to complete it so soon.

Project Planner A

What do we have to do?	Who will do it?	What resources are required?	When we do we start?	When will we complete it?	When was it completed?
Research on life cycle of mosquitoes in detail.	Malcolm	Mac book Wikipedia Library Parents The public	9/2/09	22/2/09	22/2/09
How different climates affect the breeding of aides mosquitoes.	Justin	Mac book Wikipedia Library Parents The public	9/2/09	22/2/09	22/2/09
The governments actions against dengue breeding.	Gavin	Mac book Wikipedia Library Parents The public	2/9/09	22/2/09	22/2/09
Dengue fever	Yueh Hwa	Mac book Wikipedia Library Parents The public	2/9/09	22/2/09	22/2/09

reflection 5 - Gavin

Today we discussed more on the survey questions and when we would get together for more group work outside school. The main topic is about wether the government had done enough for Singapore against dengue and wether anything more should be done. I think we should be able to complete the project rather soon.

Project Planner B

                                            Our Project Planner B

Class: 2A              Project Title: Dengue Fever                   Group Name: Chestnut

(1)  In your groups, identify the tasks you have to carry out** and the person assigned to be in charge.

(2)  Shade the appropriate boxes in the “week” column to show how much time your group needs to complete the task.

Detailed tasks	Person in charge	Resources	Week
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Research	Gavin Lau	Wikipedia
Project Planner A	Malcolm Wu
Project Planner B	Lim Yueh hwa
Project Task Allocation Form	Justin Lim