Why doesn't this code output anything from the database?

[rka]

I have a problem where my code wont output anything on my webpage from the database, all I can see are the different variables. Please help\[code\]<?php require "db_conn.php"; $q=mysql_query('select * from personnel order by id'); echo '<table>'; echo '<thead>'; echo '<tr><th>Full&nbsp;Name</th><th>Username</th><th>Email</th><th>Action</th></tr>'; echo '</thead>'; while($nt=mysql_fetch_array($q)){ echo '<tbody>'; echo '<tr><td>$nt[first]&nbsp;$nt[last]</td><td>$nt[username]</td><td>$nt</td><td><a href="" class="table-actions-button ic-table-edit"></a><a href="" class="table-actions-button ic-table-delete"></a></td></tr>'; echo '</tbody>'; } echo '</table>'; ?>\[/code\]