University of Santo Tomas–Legazpi

Nurse staffing shortages in Philippine emergency rooms, particularly at ratios exceeding 1:30, compromise patient outcomes through increased burnout, medical errors, and dissatisfaction, as evidenced by global and local studies highlighting the need for optimal staffing to enhance care quality. This descriptive correlational study examined nurse-to-patient ratios in the Emergency Room of Dr. Lorenzo P. Ziga Memorial District Hospital, Tabaco City, Albay, and their relationship to patient outcomes including mortality rates, complications, satisfaction scores, and length of stay, surveying 50 emergency room nurses and 100 patients using validated questionnaires and hospital records analyzed through Pearson's r and chi-square tests (p<0.05). Findings revealed predominant ratios of 1:15 daytime and 1:25 nighttime, with strong negative correlations between optimal ratios and complications (r=-0.62), mortality risk (r=-0.58), and length of stay (r=-0.55), alongside positive associations with patient satisfaction (r=0.71), moderated by nurse burnout that exacerbated adverse effects at higher ratios. Lower nurse-to-patient ratios significantly improve emergency room patient outcomes, warranting mandated 1:12 ratios, targeted burnout interventions, and policy alignment with Republic Act No. 9173 to enhance staffing standards and care delivery.

Background:The Mediterranean diet (MD) and low-fat diet (LFD) were well-known dietary interventions for cardiovascular disease prevention. However, there is an ongoing debate about the relative efficacy of improving cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and clinical outcomes between the 2. This systematic review aims to evaluate and summarize findings from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that directly compare the MD and LFD concerning CV risk factors and clinical outcomes.Methods:Per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines, a comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, Science Direct, and RCTs that compared MD and LFD in adults, and reported data on CV risk factors or clinical outcomes were included.Results:Our systematic review includes 11 RCTs with 5942 participants. MD significantly reduced the formation of procoagulant and prothrombotic microvesicles. Studies have also reported that MD has resulted in greater reductions in total cholesterol, cholesterol-high-density lipoproteins ratios, insulin levels, blood glucose levels, leukocyte count, and body mass index compared to LFD.Conclusion:MD demonstrates superior efficacy over LFD in improving CV risk factors and outcomes. These findings could support the preferential recommendation of MD over LFD for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Further research should explore the long-term adherence and implementation of these dietary interventions in diverse populations.

Background & Objective: There is an increasing rate of stroke mimics being identified in code stroke pathways, which adds to hospital staff workload and increased financial costs for patients. This study aims to identify clinical predictors that distinguish a true acute stroke from a stroke mimic in code stroke cases and to determine which neurological signs and symptoms are more strongly associated with a confirmed stroke diagnosis. Methods: A single-center retrospective cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among code stroke patients seen in the Makati Medical Center emergency room from January 2024 to December 2024. Clinical history, baseline characteristics, neurological symptoms, and neurological signs were collected and compared between patients with acute strokes and stroke mimics. Results: A total of 209 patients (66.77%) were true acute strokes and 104 patients (33.23%) were stroke mimics. Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Atrial fibrillation were more frequently observed in true acute strokes, while a history of epilepsy and psychiatric disorder were more frequently observed in stroke mimics. Dysarthria, hemiparesis, and facial asymmetry, were significant predictors of a true stroke diagnosis. While symptoms of seizure like movements, sensory deficits in one arm or one leg, and loss of consciousness were significantly associated with stroke mimics. Conclusions: This study highlights the high prevalence of stroke mimics in code stroke activations and reinforces the diagnostic value of key neurologic signs and symptoms that are associated with a true stroke. Incorporating evidence-based screening tools like FAST into stroke pathways may help reduce mimic cases and ease the burden on hospital resources.

This study addressed the persistent difficulty elementary learners experience with fractions and the limited classroom-based evidence on short Concrete–Representational–Abstract (CRA) interventions in Philippine public schools. This study aimed to determine the effects of a five-week CRA intervention on Grade 6 students’ achievement in fractions and attitudes toward learning fractions. Using a quasi-experimental one-group pretest posttest design, the study involved one intact Grade 6 class (N = 45). Matched pretest–posttest data were available for 39 students on the researcher assembled fraction achievement test based on released TIMSS-style items (35 points) and for 40 students on the adapted Mathematics Attitude Scale. Lessons progressed from hands-on fraction models to drawings and then to symbols and procedures, with explicit bridging across stages. Achievement scores increased from M = 5.92 (SD = 4.03) to M = 13.18 (SD = 6.05), t(38) = 12.63, p < .001, dz = 2.02. Attitude ratings improved from M = 3.52 (SD = 0.62) to M = 3.88 (SD = 0.40), t(39) = 5.49, p < .001, dz = 0.87. The CRA approach was effective in improving both fraction achievement and class attitudes, indicating that sequenced and connected representations can support conceptual understanding and learner confidence. These findings highlight CRA as a practical, classroom-feasible instructional strategy for elementary mathematics instruction.

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is one of the top server-side scripting languages used worldwide; taking 78.3% of the server-side programming language. It has become the de-facto for web programming not just in the Philippines but around the globe. Programming skills are vital to academics and professionals. It empowers the ability to analyze, manipulate, create and support this digital landscape as a way of solving complex problems. This quantitative research investigates the competencies of the Bicol University College of Science, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) in terms of their self-assessed familiarity with PHP of fifty one (51) BSIT students. The researcher made use of Likert scale in Student’s Demographic, Attitude towards Web Programming and Practice in Web Programming to measure the PHP Programming familiarity of the students. Analyzed data revealed an average level of familiarity of 3.16 indicating moderate competency in PHP programming. Gender distribution was balanced with 27 male and 24 female respondents and an average level of programming attitude of 2.75 indicating a fair level of time devoted to PHP practices. Additionally, 43 out of 44 students reported experience in developing PHP applications. Confidence was highest for locally hosted environments but declined for cloud-hosted applications. There is a high-level of hands-on experience in terms of building PHP projects which shows that majority of the students have created web applications. Further, this highlights potential curriculum gaps in hands-on PHP projects and advanced programming topics and recommends the need for curriculum enhancement and exposure to cloud-hosted applications to better equip students with the necessary skills for real-world web development challenges.

The study looked into the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy (BSA) program of the University of Santo Tomas—Legazpi, specifically the provision of services classified into two major aspects: contextual and administration and management support, geared towards improving the performance of its graduates in the Licensure Examination for Certified Public Accountants (LECPA). Contextual aspects include classroom conditions, curriculum and instruction, admission and retention policies, internship requirements, off-campus activities, and library resources. Administration and management consist of moral and spiritual upliftment, financial support, facilities and services provision, and academic policies. It made use of the descriptive method with thirty-two (32) BSA graduating students surveyed through an electronically mailed researcher-prepared questionnaire. Frequency count, percentage, and weighted mean utilizing Likert scale were employed as statistical tools. A five-point rating scale for determining the learning environment's status and its effect on the respondents' readiness for the licensure examination was utilized. The results reveal that the institution has adequate and functional provisions in all aspects except in the areas of curriculum and instruction considered to be only moderate/acceptable. The areas of instructional competence and instruction were studied as having a very high impact, with a relationship existing between the latter and the readiness to take the board examination. The study recommends adopting intervention measures that include the modification of the existing curriculum; the objective evaluation and upgrade of admission and retention requirements to reasonable levels; and the continuous review, appraisal, and improvement of existing standards of instruction.

The development of AI assistants has become increasingly sophisticated, as evidenced by their growing adoption in assisting humans with various tasks. In particular, AI assistants have demonstrated potential in the field of sentiment analysis, where they can automate the labeling of text data. Traditionally, this labeling process has been performed manually by humans or using tools like the VADER Lexicon. This study is imperative to evaluate the performance of AI Assistants in sentiment labeling, as compared to traditional human-based labeling and the application of the VADER sentiment analysis algorithm. The methodology involves comparing the labeling results of Gemini and You AI with those of human labeling and VADER. Performance is evaluated using the Naive Bayes and K- Nearest Neighbour algorithms, and K-Fold Cross Validation is employed for evaluation. The results indicate that the performance of both AI assistants can closely approximate the performance of human labeling. Gemini's best accuracy is achieved with the k-NN algorithm at 53.71%, while You AI's best accuracy is achieved with the Naive Bayes algorithm at 48.30%. These results are close to the accuracy of human labeling (61.12%) using the k-NN algorithm and VADER (54.29%) using the Naive Bayes algorithm. This suggests that AI assistants can serve as an alternative for text data labeling, as the differences in performance are not statistically significant.

The General Data Protection Law (LGPD) aims to bring greater transparency and responsibility to the use of personal data of individuals and legal entities throughout the national territory. With the advent of the Law, the processing of data that was carried out in an uncontrolled way is now regulated and with specific purposes, uniting Brazilian legislation with the global concept of data privacy. Within the scope of the business activity of micro and small companies (MSEs), compliance with the Law can be quite challenging, considering that the planned measures can generate such high costs that these companies need to paralyze their activities. Therefore, the objective of this study is to report on the challenges for the application of the Law in Brazil, with a focus on flexibility for small companies, a sector that has the greatest difficulty in adapting to the norms. And emphasize how the implementation of the Law within organizations can bring opportunities for growth, since the ethical use of data linked to a culture of good practices can increase trust between companies and customers.

This study represents the first molecular survey of the ichthyofauna of Taal Lake and the first DNA barcoding attempt in Philippine fishes. Taal Lake, the third largest lake in the Philippines, is considered a very important fisheries resource and is home to the world's only freshwater sardine, Sardinella tawilis. However, overexploitation and introduction of exotic fishes have caused a massive decline in the diversity of native species as well as in overall productivity of the lake. In this study, 118 individuals of 23 native, endemic and introduced fishes of Taal Lake were barcoded using the partial DNA sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. These species belong to 21 genera, 17 families and 9 orders. Divergence of sequences within and between species was determined using Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) distance model, and a neighbour-joining tree was generated with 1000 bootstrap replications using the K2P model. All COI sequences for each of the 23 species were clearly discriminated among genera. The average within species, within genus, within family and within order percent genetic divergence was 0.60%, 11.07%, 17.67% and 24.08%, respectively. Our results provide evidence that COI DNA barcodes are effective for the rapid and accurate identification of fishes and for identifying certain species that need further taxonomic investigation.