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Sample records for hlc visit candice

  1. Candice Lin: paisaje, territorio y fronteras (Candice Lin: Landscape, Territory and Boundaries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Baltodano Román

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Se analizan los contenidos ideológicos de la acuarela «Nacimiento de una nación» (2008, de Candice Lin. A partir de nociones como territorio, tropo caníbal, tipo botánico tropical y pensamiento fronterizo, se plantea una interpretación de esa paisajística pictórica, en que la artista-activista reflexiona sobre el régimen de representación visual. Mediante diversos procedimientos formales, Lin pone en entredicho preceptos centrales de la mentalidad colonialista, que contrapone a las concepciones indigenistas. Abstract An analysis is provided of the ideological contents of the watercolor “Birth of a Nation” (2008, by Candice Lin. This interpretation of this pictorial landscape is based on notions such as territory, cannibal tropes, tropical botanical types and border thinking. The artist activist reflects here on the regime of visual representation. Using different formal procedures, Lin questions central precepts of the colonialist mentality, in contrast with indigenous conceptions.

  2. HLC/pullulan and pullulan hydrogels: their microstructure, engineering process and biocompatibility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Xian [College of chemistry & materials science, Northwest University, Taibai North Road 229, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Taibai North Road 229, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Xue, Wenjiao [Shannxi provincial institute of microbiology, Xi’ an 710043 (China); Liu, Yannan; Li, Weina [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Taibai North Road 229, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Fan, Daidi, E-mail: fandaidi@nwu.edu.cn [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Taibai North Road 229, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Zhu, Chenhui [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Taibai North Road 229, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Wang, Yaoyu, E-mail: wyaoyu@nwu.edu.cn [College of chemistry & materials science, Northwest University, Taibai North Road 229, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710069 (China)

    2016-01-01

    New locally injectable biomaterials that are suitable for use as soft tissue fillers are needed to address a significant unmet medical need. In this study, we used pullulan and human-like collagen (HLC) based hydrogels with various molecular weights (MWs) in combination therapy against tissue defects. Briefly, pullulan was crosslinked with NaIO{sub 4} to form a pullulan hydrogel and then may coupled with HLC using the reaction between the –NH{sub 2} end-group of HLC and the –CHO group present on the aldehyde pullulan to form the HLC/pullulan hydrogel, wherein the NaIO{sub 4} acted as the crosslinking and oxidizing agent. The good miscibility of pullulan and HLC in the hydrogels was confirmed via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, compression testing, enzyme degradation testing, cell adhesions, live/dead staining and subcutaneous filling assays. Here, pullulan hydrogels with various MWs were fabricated and physicochemically characterized. Limitations of the pullulan hydrogels included inflammation, poor mechanical strength, and degradation. By contrast, the properties of the HLC/pullulan hydrogels strongly enhanced. The efficacy of these hydrogels was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicate that HLC/pullulan hydrogels may have therapeutic value as efficient soft tissue fillers, with reduced inflammation, improved cell adhesion and delayed hydrogel degradation. - Graphical abstract: The HLC/pullulan hydrogels were prepared by dialysis, wet granulation and UV radiation after various MWs of pullulan and HLC were crosslinked with NaIO{sub 4}, and injected subcutaneously into Kunming mouse. The formation of HLC/pullulan hydrogels is due to the amide bond linkage with the amino group of HLC and the aldehyde groups in pullulan aqueous media after crosslinking by NaIO{sub 4}. HLC/pullulan hydrogels may have therapeutic value as efficient soft tissue fillers, with reduced inflammation, improved cell adhesion and

  3. Analytical verification and quality assessment of the Tosoh HLC-723GX HbA1c analyzer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marko Ris

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography (IE-HPLC has long been used as a reproducible and versatile analytical tool for HbA1c measurement.In this study, we performed analytical verification and quality assessment of the recently introduced small IE-HPLC Tosoh HLC-723GX HbA1c analyzer, and a comparison of results to immunoassay (IA and capillary electrophoresis (CE. Design and methods: The total imprecision of Tosoh HLC-723GX was verified according to CLSI EP15-A2 protocol using commercial control materials (C-QC and pooled human whole blood samples (HWB. The Sigma metric was used for the evaluation of quality targets. HbA1c results were compared to automated CE (MiniCap Flex Piercing, Sebia, France and IA (Tina-quant HbA1c Gen 2, Cobas Integra 400+, Roche Diagnostics, USA procedures. Results: The total imprecision of Tosoh HLC-723GX-HbA1c for IFCC(mmol/mol and NGSP(% units was: 1.91/1.25% (HbA1c=31 mmol/mol/5.0% and 0.51/0.63% (HbA1c=84 mmol/mol/9.8% for C-QC, and 0.39/0.2% (HbA1c=47 mmol/mol/6.5% and 0.77/0.46% (HbA1c=94 mmol/mol/10.8% in HWB samples, respectively. Bland-Altman analysis did not reveal any deviation of the results between Tosoh HLC-723GX and CE: mean difference 0.0% (95%CI: −0.02927 to 0.02653%, while the mean HbA1c difference against IA was −0.07% (95%CI: −0.1039 to −0.02765. At the selected HbA1c clinical decision level (48 mmol/mol/6,5%, six sigma analysis gave σ value of 3.91, within a desirable classification of performance. Conclusion: The analytical performance of the Tosoh HLC-723GX complies with the rigorous quality criteria for clinical use of HbA1c, with the results comparable to the CE procedure. Tosoh HLC-723GX provides a plausible analytical choice for reliable HbA1c measurement in low-volume laboratories. Keywords: HbA1c, Quality targets, Six sigma, Tosoh HLC-723GX analyzer

  4. Evaluation of the hemoglobin A1c-analyzer TOSOH HLC-723 G7.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gremmels, Heinz-Detlef; Richter, Anja; Watzke, Ivonne

    2003-01-01

    The TOSOH HLC-723 G7 is a compact analyzer designed for the measurement of HbA1c under routine laboratory conditions. The analyzer has an automatic blood tube supply and positive sample identification. Samples are transported automatically via racks in a continuous-load mode, cap piercing is optional. Tests devoted to the assessment of reproducibility and accuracy of analytical results indicated that over a test period of 17 days, the intra-assay variation (CV) was 1.79%, and the inter-assay variation 2.60%, respectively. A comparison with the predecessor model G5 showed a very good correlation (r = 0.997, y = 1.0041x - 0.00172; n = 149). The presence of high triglyceride, bilirubin or urea concentrations in patient samples did not influence the analytical precision. The labile HbA1c fraction (L-A1c) is clearly separated during chromatography and thus does not compromise HbA1c analysis. With a protocol of 1.2 minutes, the TOSOH G7 is a very fast analyzer, designed for laboratories with a high throughput of samples.

  5. Sick-visit immunizations and delayed well-baby visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robison, Steve G

    2013-07-01

    Giving recommended immunizations during sick visits for minor and acute illness such as acute otitis media has long been an American Academy of Pediatrics/Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice recommendation. An addition to the American Academy of Pediatrics policy in 2010 advised considering whether giving immunizations at the sick visit would discourage making up missed well-baby visits. This study quantifies the potential tradeoff between sick-visit immunizations and well-baby visits. This study was a retrospective cohort analysis with a case-control component of sick visits for acute otitis media that supplanted normal well-baby visits at age 2, 4, or 6 months. Infants were stratified for sick-visit immunization, no sick-visit immunization but quick makeup well-baby visits, or no sick-visit immunizations or quick makeup visits. Immunization rates and well-baby visit rates were assessed through 24 months of age. For 1060 study cases, no significant difference was detected in immunization rates or well-baby visits through 24 months of age between those with or without sick-visit immunizations. Thirty-nine percent of infants without a sick-visit shot failed to return for a quick makeup well-baby visit; this delayed group was significantly less likely to be up-to-date for immunizations (relative risk: 0.66) and had fewer well-baby visits (mean: 3.8) from 2 through 24 months of age compared with those with sick-visit shots (mean: 4.7). The substantial risk that infants will not return for a timely makeup well-baby visit after a sick visit should be included in any consideration of whether to delay immunizations.

  6. The preparation and characterization of novel human-like collagen metal chelates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, Chenhui; Sun, Yan [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, School of Chemical Engineering Northwest University, Xi' an 710069 (China); Shaanxi R and D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, Xi' an 710069 (China); Wang, Yaoyu [Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecule Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Xi' an 710069 (China); Luo, Yane, E-mail: luoyane@nwu.edu.cn [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, School of Chemical Engineering Northwest University, Xi' an 710069 (China); Shaanxi R and D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, Xi' an 710069 (China); Fan, Daidi, E-mail: fandaidi@nwu.edu.cn [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, School of Chemical Engineering Northwest University, Xi' an 710069 (China); Shaanxi R and D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, Xi' an 710069 (China)

    2013-07-01

    In order to develop the nutritional trace elements which could be absorbed and utilized effectively, protein chelates were adopted. Calcium, copper and manganese were considered based on their physiological functions, and the new chelates of HLC-Ca, HLC-Cu and HLC-Mn were formed in MOPS or MES buffer and purified by gel chromatography, and then freeze-dried. And they were detected and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, ultraviolet–visible absorption (UV–vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, fluorescence quenching method, circular dichroism (CD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that some chemical reactions happened between HLC and the three metal ions to form new chemical compounds. The thermodynamic parameters, ∆H, ∆G and ∆S, showed that the chelation process between HLC and metal ions was performed spontaneously. Fluorescence quenching spectra of HLC indicated that the quenching mechanism was static in nature. According to the data of DSC, the new chelates were more stable than the free HLC. And HLC-metal complex was non-toxic to the BHK21 cell through MTT assay. - Highlights: ► HLC-Ca, HLC-Cu and HLC-Mn were new chemical compounds and different to free HLC. ► Possible sites for Ca{sup 2+}, Cu{sup 2+} and Mn{sup 2+} to bind with HLC were presented. ► The chelation process between HLC and metal ions was performed spontaneously. ► The thermodynamic stability of the new chelates was higher than that of free HLC.

  7. The CERN Visits Service proposes: Lab Visits for CERN People

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    The CMS assembly hall at point 5 - one of the new Visits Service itineraries. Discover the new visits itineraries of your laboratory with the Visits Service! The recently completed visitors platform in the CMS detector assembly hall at point 5, first of a series of new visit tours, will be the destination for special summer visits organised by the Visits Service for CERN people. Each week the Visits Service will reserve a slot to take CERN people to visit the CMS assembly hall and get first hand experience of the magnitude of the LHC endeavour. Tours will be shorter than the public visit programme, and will include a short introduction in the bus along with a guided tour of the CMS visitor platform. Visits will start at 3.30 pm from the visits meeting point in the reception of building 33, and the bus will be back at reception at 5 pm. Up to 24 people can take part in each visit. The calendar for the coming weeks is: Friday 27 July in French Thursday 2 August in English Wednesday 8 August in French Booking...

  8. The CERN Visits Service proposes: Lab Visits for CERN People

    CERN Document Server

    2001-01-01

    The CMS assembly hall at point 5 - one of the new Visits Service itineraries. Discover the new visits itineraries of your laboratory with the Visits Service! The recently completed visitors platform in the CMS detector assembly hall at point 5, first of a series of new visit itineraries, will be the destination for special summer visits organised by the Visits Service for CERN people. Each week the Visits Service will reserve a slot to take CERN people to visit the CMS assembly hall and get first hand experience of the magnitude of the LHC endeavour. Tours will be shorter than the public visit programme, and will include a short introduction in the bus along with a guided tour of the CMS visitor platform. Visits will start at 3.30 pm from the reception of building 33, and the bus will be back at reception at 5 pm. Up to 22 people can take part in each visit. The calendar for the coming weeks is: Wednesday 15 August in English Wednesday 22 August in French Wednesday 29 August in English Bookings should be m...

  9. The CERN Visits Service proposes: Lab Visits for CERN People

    CERN Document Server

    2001-01-01

    The CMS assembly hall at point 5 - one of the new Visits Service itineraries. Discover the new visits itineraries of your laboratory with the Visits Service! The recently completed visitors platform in the CMS detector assembly hall at point 5, first of a series of new visit itineraries, will be the destination for special summer visits organised by the Visits Service for CERN people. Each week the Visits Service will reserve a slot to take CERN people to visit the CMS assembly hall and get first hand experience of the magnitude of the LHC endeavour. Tours will be shorter than the public visit programme, and will include a short introduction in the bus along with a guided tour of the CMS visitor platform. Visits will start at 3.30 pm from the reception of building 33, and the bus will be back at reception at 5 pm. Up to 22 people can take part in each visit. The calendar for the coming weeks is: Wednesday 8 August in French Wednesday 15 August in English Wednesday 22 August in French Bookings should be mad...

  10. The CERN Visits Service proposes: Lab Visits for CERN People

    CERN Document Server

    2001-01-01

    The CMS assembly hall at point 5 - one of the new Visits Service itineraries. Discover the new visits itineraries of your laboratory with the Visits Service! The recently completed visitors platform in the CMS detector assembly hall at point 5, first of a series of new visit itineraries, will be the destination for special summer visits organised by the Visits Service for CERN people. Each week the Visits Service will reserve a slot to take CERN people to visit the CMS assembly hall and get first hand experience of the magnitude of the LHC endeavour. Tours will be shorter than the public visit programme, and will include a short introduction in the bus along with a guided tour of the CMS visitor platform. Visits will start at 3.30 pm from the reception of building 33, and the bus will be back at reception at 5 pm. Up to 22 people can take part in each visit. The calendar for the coming weeks is: Thursday 2 August in English Wednesday 8 August in French Wednesday 15 August in English Bookings should be made...

  11. Visit safety

    CERN Document Server

    2012-01-01

    Experiment areas, offices, workshops: it is possible to have co-workers or friends visit these places.     You already know about the official visits service, the VIP office, and professional visits. But do you know about the safety instruction GSI-OHS1, “Visits on the CERN site”? This is a mandatory General Safety Instruction that was created to assist you in ensuring safety for all your visits, whatever their nature—especially those that are non-official. Questions? The HSE Unit will be happy to answer them. Write to safety-general@cern.ch.   The HSE Unit

  12. A systematic review of nonsurgical single-visit versus multiple-visit endodontic treatment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wong AWY

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Amy WY Wong, Chengfei Zhang, Chun-hung Chu Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China Abstract: Conventional endodontic treatment used to require multiple visits, but some clinicians have suggested that single-visit treatment is superior. Single-visit endodontic treatment and multiple-visit endodontic treatment both have their advantages and disadvantages. This paper is a literature review of the research on nonsurgical single-visit versus multiple-visit endodontic treatment. The PubMed database was searched using the keywords (endodontic treatment OR endodontic therapy OR root canal treatment OR root canal therapy AND (single-visit OR one-visit OR 1-visit. Review papers, case reports, data studies, and irrelevant reports were excluded, and 47 papers on clinical trials were reviewed. The studies generally had small sample sizes, and the endodontic procedures varied among the studies. Meta-analysis on the selected studies was performed, and the results showed that the postoperative complications of the single-visit and multiple-visit endodontic treatment were similar. Furthermore, neither single-visit endodontic treatment nor multiple-visit treatment had superior results over the other in terms of healing or success rate. Results of limited studies on disinfection of the root canals using low-energy laser photodynamic therapy is inconclusive, and further studies are necessary to show whether laser should be used in endodontic treatment. This review also found that that neither single-visit endodontic treatment nor multiple-visit treatment could guarantee the absence of postoperative pain. Since the study design of many studies displayed significant limitation and the materials and equipment used in endodontic treatment have dramatically changed in recent years, prospective randomized clinical trials are needed to further verify the postoperative pain and success rates of

  13. Mass-gathering Medicine: Risks and Patient Presentations at a 2-Day Electronic Dance Music Event.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lund, Adam; Turris, Sheila A

    2015-06-01

    Music festivals, including electronic dance music events (EDMEs), increasingly are common in Canada and internationally. Part of a US $4.5 billion industry annually, the target audience is youth and young adults aged 15-25 years. Little is known about the impact of these events on local emergency departments (EDs). Drawing on prospective data over a 2-day EDME, the authors of this study employed mixed methods to describe the case mix and prospectively compared patient presentation rate (PPR) and ambulance transfer rate (ATR) between a first aid (FA) only and a higher level of care (HLC) model. There were 20,301 ticketed attendees. Seventy patient encounters were recorded over two days. The average age was 19.1 years. Roughly 69% were female (n=48/70). Forty-six percent of those seen in the main medical area were under the age of 19 years (n=32/70). The average length of stay in the main medical area was 70.8 minutes. The overall PPR was 4.09 per 1,000 attendees. The ATR with FA only would have been 1.98; ATR with HLC model was 0.52. The presence of an on-site HLC team had a significant positive effect on avoiding ambulance transfers. Twenty-nine ambulance transfers and ED visits were avoided by the presence of an on-site HLC medical team. Reduction of impact to the public health care system was substantial. Electronic dance music events have predictable risks and patient presentations, and appropriate on-site health care resources may reduce significantly the impact on the prehospital and emergency health resources in the host community.

  14. Visit ISOLDE!

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    2013-01-01

    CERN Internal Communication is organising a visit to ISOLDE – an opportunity for you to see the CERN set-up that can produce over 1000 different isotopes!   If you wish to participate, you can sign up for a visit by sending us an e-mail. Note that the visits will take place between 18 and 22 February, and will be open only to CERN access-card holders.   The visit will include an introduction by experts and a tour of the ISOLDE set-up. NB: For security reason, pregnant women and kids under the age of 16 can not take the tour.  

  15. Formation and characterization of iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen as a potential iron supplement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deng, Jianjun; Chen, Fei; Fan, Daidi; Zhu, Chenhui; Ma, Xiaoxuan; Xue, Wenjiao

    2013-01-01

    Iron incorporated into food can induce precipitation and unwanted interaction with other components in food. Iron-binding proteins represent a possibility to avoid these problems and other side effects, as the iron is protected. However, there are several technical problems associated with protein–iron complex formation. In this paper, the iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen (Fe-G6P-HLC) was prepared under physiological conditions through phosphorylated modification. One molecule of Fe-G6P-HLC possesses about 24 atoms of Fe. Spectroscopy analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and equilibrium dialysis techniques were employed to investigate the characteristics of the Fe-G6P-HLC. The binding sites (n b ) and apparent association constant (K app ) between iron and phosphorylated HLC were measured at n b = 23.7 and log K app = 4.57, respectively. The amount of iron (Fe 2+ sulfate) binding to phosphorylated HLC was found to be a function of pH and phosphate content. In addition, the solubility and thermal stability of HLC were not significantly affected. The results should facilitate the utilization of HLC as a bioactive iron supplement in the food and medical industry and provide an important theoretical evidence for the application of HLC chelates. - Highlights: • The iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen (Fe-G6P-HLC) was prepared. • One molecule of Fe-G6P-HLC possesses about 24 atoms of Fe. • The binding properties could be modulated through alterations in pH and phosphate content presented in HLC. • A novel strategy for preparing iron-binding proteins was provided

  16. A novel thiolated human-like collage zinc complex as a promising zinc supplement: physicochemical characteristics and biocompatibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Chenhui; Ma, Xiaoxuan; Wang, Yonghui; Mi, Yu; Fan, Daidi; Deng, Jianjun; Xue, Wenjiao

    2014-11-01

    To improve zinc binding ability to human-like collagen (HLC) and stability of metal complex, HLC was thiolated by mercaptosuccinylation reaction with S-acetylmercaptosuccinic anhydride (S-AMSA) at pH8.0. One mole of thiolated HLC-Zn (SHLC-Zn) complex possessed 24.3mol zinc ions when pH was 8.0 and zinc concentration was 15 mM. The physicochemical properties and biocompatibility of thiolated HLC-Zn (SHLC-Zn) complex were investigated by UV-vis, CD, electrophoresis analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and cell viability assay, respectively. The results showed that SHLC-Zn complex(1) exhibited higher zinc ions than that of native HLC and still maintained the secondary structure of HLC though interaction occurred between SHLC and zinc ions, (2) increased the apparent molecular weight when compared with native HLC, (3) exhibited greater thermal stability than native HLC, and (4) presented toxicity free for BHK cells. This study suggests that the SHLC-Zn complex is a potential nutrition as well as zinc supplement in the medical application. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Formation and characterization of iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen as a potential iron supplement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng, Jianjun; Chen, Fei; Fan, Daidi, E-mail: fandaidi@nwu.edu.cn; Zhu, Chenhui; Ma, Xiaoxuan; Xue, Wenjiao

    2013-10-01

    Iron incorporated into food can induce precipitation and unwanted interaction with other components in food. Iron-binding proteins represent a possibility to avoid these problems and other side effects, as the iron is protected. However, there are several technical problems associated with protein–iron complex formation. In this paper, the iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen (Fe-G6P-HLC) was prepared under physiological conditions through phosphorylated modification. One molecule of Fe-G6P-HLC possesses about 24 atoms of Fe. Spectroscopy analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and equilibrium dialysis techniques were employed to investigate the characteristics of the Fe-G6P-HLC. The binding sites (n{sub b}) and apparent association constant (K{sub app}) between iron and phosphorylated HLC were measured at n{sub b} = 23.7 and log K{sub app} = 4.57, respectively. The amount of iron (Fe{sup 2+} sulfate) binding to phosphorylated HLC was found to be a function of pH and phosphate content. In addition, the solubility and thermal stability of HLC were not significantly affected. The results should facilitate the utilization of HLC as a bioactive iron supplement in the food and medical industry and provide an important theoretical evidence for the application of HLC chelates. - Highlights: • The iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen (Fe-G6P-HLC) was prepared. • One molecule of Fe-G6P-HLC possesses about 24 atoms of Fe. • The binding properties could be modulated through alterations in pH and phosphate content presented in HLC. • A novel strategy for preparing iron-binding proteins was provided.

  18. [The value of serum heavy/light chain immunoassay to assess therapeutic response in patients with multiple myeloma].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, X C; Su, W; Zhuang, J L

    2018-04-14

    Objective: To assess the value of immunoglobulin heavy/light chain (HLC) immunoassay on therapeutic response in patients with multiple myeloma(MM). Methods: A total of 45 newly diagnosed MM patients were retrospectively enrolled in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 2013 to 2016, whose 115 serum samples were consecutively collected. HLC was tested to evaluate response and compare with other methods for M protein detection. Results: ①There were 30 males and 15 females in total of whom the monoclonal immunoglobulin was IgG in 27 (IgGκ∶IgGλ 12∶15) and IgA (IgAκ∶IgAλ 9∶9) in 18. The arerage age of the studied population was 59 (range 43-80) . ② In 34 patients with serum sample at diagnosis, 32 (94.1%) had abnormal HLC ratio (rHLC) while 2 patients with IgG had normal rHLC. The percentages of abnormal rHLC was 81.8% (18/22) at partial response、50.0%(9/18) at very good complete response and 16.0%(4/25) at complete response. ③In 25 patients reaching CR, there were 13 with IgG and 12 with IgA. 4 patients equally split of IgG and IgA had abnormal rHLC at complete response. ④By monitoring the rHLC of some patients consecutively, we found that the remission of rHLC was to some extent behind the remission of SPE and IEF, or even rFLC. Conclusion: Immunoglobulin HLC detection is one feasible method for minimal residual disease detection.

  19. [Relationships between smoking and the health locus of control among junior high school students].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshida, Yumi; Takagi, Hirofumi; Inaba, Yutaka

    2007-10-01

    To clarify effects of the Health Locus of Control (HLC) on smoking behavior, relationships between smoking and HLC among junior high school students were examined. The subjects of the initial study, conducted in 1991, were public elementary schoolchildren in their 3rd year (11-12 years old). We then investigated the same children again in 1994 and 1997. We here mainly used data for 265 students (136 males and 129 females) obtained in 1997 when they were public junior high school students in their 3rd year (14-15 years old). Questionnaires included items on smoking experience, smoking intention and the Parcel & Meyer's Children's HLC scales. 1. Smoking experience was not associated with the HLC. 2. Concerning smoking intention among boys, the neutral group expressed stronger beliefs in the powerful others HLC in 1994 and 1997 than the positive group. In addition, the positive group expressed weaker beliefs in the powerful others HLC in 1994 than the negative group. 3. Concerning smoking intention among girls, the neutral group expressed stronger belifs in the powerful others HLC in 1997 than the negative group. Smoking experience was not associated with the HLC. However, smoking intention was significantly associated with beliefs in the powerful others HLC. In this regard, the neutral group tended to have strong beliefs in the powerful others HLC suggesting that students in this group might be easily affected by other people in both positive and negative ways. In other words, they must be guided in a good fashion through appropriate health education.

  20. VISIT - Virtual visits to nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mollaret, Jean-Christophe

    2001-01-01

    For more than twenty years, EDFs Communication Division has conducted a policy of opening its generation sites to the general public. Around 300,000 people visit a nuclear power plant every year. However, for the security of persons and the safety of facilities, those parts of the plant situated in controlled areas are not accessible to visitors. For the sake of transparency, EDF has taken an interest in the technologies offered by virtual reality to show the general public what a nuclear power plant is really like, so as to initiate dialogue on nuclear energy, particularly with young people. Visit has been developed with virtual reality technologies. It serves to show the invisible (voyage to the core of fission), the inaccessible and to immerse the visitors in environments which are usually closed to the general public (discovery of the controlled area of a nuclear power plant). Visit is used in Public Information Centres which receive visitors to EDF power plants and during international exhibitions and conferences. Visit allows a virtual tour of the following controlled areas: locker room hot area/cold area, a necessary passage before entering the controlled areas; reactor building; fuel building; waste auxiliary building (liquid, solid and gaseous effluents). It also includes a tour of the rooms or equipment usually accessible to the general public: control room, turbine hall, transformer, air cooling tower

  1. Relationship between Health Locus of Control and Risky Sexual Behaviors among Nigerian Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pharr, Jennifer; Enejoh, Victor; Mavegam, Bertille Octavie; Olutola, Ayodotun; Karick, Haruna; Ezeanolue, Echezona E

    2015-06-01

    HIV/AIDS knowledge has been rated as the most important factor for HIV prevention. However, studies have also shown that knowledge alone does not always translate into reduced risky sexual behavior (RSB). Health locus of control (HLC) categorized as perceived control over health status (internal locus of control) or attribution of health status to chance or fate (external health locus of control) is a psychological construct that has been shown to impact health outcomes including RSB. This study thus investigated the relationship between HLC and RSB among Nigerian adolescents. A cross-sectional survey design was employed among 361 adolescents from nine senior secondary schools selected through stratified random sampling from Jos, Plateau State Nigeria. Data were collected between August and October of 2008. Health Locus of Control Scale was used to categorize individuals into having either an internal or external HLC. RSB was assessed using the Brief HIV Screener (BHS). Descriptive statistics were computed and Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine differences in BHS scores by HLC categories. Odds ratios and adjusted odds ratios were calculated for individual BHS question responses based on HLC. Participants were 169 males (46.8%) and 192 females (53.2%) with a mean age of 16.9. When grouped into HLC categories, 141 were internal and 220 were external. The mean score on the BHS showed statistically significant difference based on HLC (p=0.01). Odds for using a condom during sexual intercourse were higher for adolescents with an internal HLC while adolescents with an external HLC had significantly higher RSB scores. Prevention programs targeted at adolescents should also aim to internalize their HLC.

  2. Formation and characterization of iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen as a potential iron supplement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Jianjun; Chen, Fei; Fan, Daidi; Zhu, Chenhui; Ma, Xiaoxuan; Xue, Wenjiao

    2013-10-01

    Iron incorporated into food can induce precipitation and unwanted interaction with other components in food. Iron-binding proteins represent a possibility to avoid these problems and other side effects, as the iron is protected. However, there are several technical problems associated with protein-iron complex formation. In this paper, the iron-binding phosphorylated human-like collagen (Fe-G6P-HLC) was prepared under physiological conditions through phosphorylated modification. One molecule of Fe-G6P-HLC possesses about 24 atoms of Fe. Spectroscopy analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and equilibrium dialysis techniques were employed to investigate the characteristics of the Fe-G6P-HLC. The binding sites (nb) and apparent association constant (Kapp) between iron and phosphorylated HLC were measured at nb=23.7 and log Kapp=4.57, respectively. The amount of iron (Fe(2+) sulfate) binding to phosphorylated HLC was found to be a function of pH and phosphate content. In addition, the solubility and thermal stability of HLC were not significantly affected. The results should facilitate the utilization of HLC as a bioactive iron supplement in the food and medical industry and provide an important theoretical evidence for the application of HLC chelates. © 2013.

  3. DTAGs SRKW - Using DTAGs to study vessel sound exposure & effects on behavior in southern resident killer whales

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Drs. Marla Holt, Brad Hanson, and Candice Emmons of the NWFSC, along with collaborators from Cascadia Research Collective and UC Davis, are currently conducting a...

  4. European visit

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    The European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik, (on the right) visited the CMS assembly hall accompanied by Jim Virdee, Deputy Spokesman of CMS (on the left), and Robert Aymar, Director-General of CERN. The European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik, visited CERN on Tuesday 31 January. He was welcomed by the Director-General, Robert Aymar, who described the missions and current activities of CERN to him, in particular the realisation of the LHC with its three components: accelerator, detectors, storage and processing of data. The European Commissioner then visited the CMS assembly hall, then the hall for testing the LHC magnets and the ATLAS cavern. During this first visit since his appointment at the end of 2004, Janez Potočnik appeared very interested by the operation of CERN, an example of successful scientific co-operation on a European scale. The many projects (30 on average) that CERN and the European Commission carry out jointly for the benefit of res...

  5. Harbor porpoise - Passive acoustic monitoring of harbor porpoises in Puget Sound

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Drs. Marla Holt, Brad Hanson, and Candice Emmons of the NWFSC, along with efforts from the NWFSC dive team (coordinated by Nick Tolimieri), are currently conducting...

  6. Flare-up rate in pulpally necrotic molars in one-visit versus two-visit endodontic treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eleazer, P D; Eleazer, K R

    1998-09-01

    This retrospective study compared one-visit versus two-visit endodontic treatment. The same technique and materials were used before and after making the sole change to one-visit endodontic treatment in 1991. Treatment records of 402 consecutive patients with pulpally necrotic first and second molars were compared. In 201 patients, treatment was provided by debridement and instrumentation, followed by obturation at a second visit; whereas the second group received single visit therapy. Flare-ups were defined as either patient reports of pain not controlled with over-the-counter medication or as increasing swelling. Sixteen flare-ups (8%) occurred in the two-visit group versus six flare-ups (3%) for the one-visit group. This showed an advantage for one-visit treatment at a 95% confidence level. In a second comparison, one-visit patients who had previously received two-visit treatment for a different pulpally necrotic molar served as their own control. No significant differences were present in this subgroup of 17 patients.

  7. Flare-up rate in molars with periapical radiolucency in one-visit vs two-visit endodontic treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbar, Iftikhar; Iqbal, Azhar; Al-Omiri, Mahmoud K

    2013-05-01

    The objective of this study was to compare postobturation flare-ups following single and two-visit endodontic treatment of molar teeth with periapical radiolucency. A total of 100 patients with asymptomatic molar teeth with periapical radiolucency were selected. They were randomly allocated into two groups. Fifty patients received complete endodontic treatment in one-visit. Fifty patients received treatment by debridement and instrumentation at the first visit followed by obturation at the second visit. 10% of patients had flare-ups in the single visit group and 8% of patients had flare-ups in the two-visit group. Number of visits did not affect the success of endodontic treatment (p>0.05). Age, gender and tooth type had no effects on the occurrence of flare-ups regardless the number of visits (p>0.05). One-visit endodontic treatment was as successful as two-visit endodontic treatment as evaluated by rate of flareups in asymptomatic molar teeth with periapical radiolucency.

  8. k-visit Attribute Grammars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielson, Hanne Riis; Skyum, S.

    1981-01-01

    It is shown that any well-defined attribute grammar is k-visit for some k. Furthermore, it is shown that given a well-defined grammar G and an integer k, it is decidable whether G is k-visit. Finally it is shown that the k-visit grammars specify a proper hierarchy with respect to translations...

  9. Lifestyle counseling in hypertension-related visits – analysis of video-taped general practice visits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Dulmen Sandra

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The general practitioner (GP can play an important role in promoting a healthy lifestyle, which is especially relevant in people with an elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases due to hypertension. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the frequency and content of lifestyle counseling about weight loss, nutrition, physical activity, and smoking by GPs in hypertension-related visits. A distinction was made between the assessment of lifestyle (gathering information or measuring weight or waist circumference and giving lifestyle advice (giving a specific advice to change the patient's behavior or referring the patient to other sources of information or other health professionals. Methods For this study, we observed 212 video recordings of hypertension-related visits collected within the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice in 2000/2001. Results The mean duration of visits was 9.8 minutes (range 2.5 to 30 minutes. In 40% of the visits lifestyle was discussed (n = 84, but in 81% of these visits this discussion lasted shorter than a quarter of the visit. An assessment of lifestyle was made in 77 visits (36%, most commonly regarding body weight and nutrition. In most cases the patient initiated the discussion about nutrition and physical activity, whereas the assessment of weight and smoking status was mostly initiated by the GP. In 35 visits (17% the GP gave lifestyle advice, but in only one fifth of these visits the patient's motivation or perceived barriers for changing behavior were assessed. Supporting factors were not discussed at all. Conclusion In 40% of the hypertension-related visits lifestyle topics were discussed. However, both the frequency and quality of lifestyle advice can be improved.

  10. Effect of Tris-acetate buffer on endotoxin removal from human-like collagen used biomaterials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Huizhi; Fan, Daidi; Deng, Jianjun; Zhu, Chenghui; Hui, Junfeng; Ma, Xiaoxuan

    2014-01-01

    Protein preparation, which has active ingredients designated for the use of biomaterials and therapeutical protein, is obtained by genetic engineering, but products of genetic engineering are often contaminated by endotoxins. Because endotoxin is a ubiquitous and potent proinflammatory agent, endotoxin removal or depletion from protein is essential for researching any biomaterials. In this study, we have used Tris-acetate (TA) buffer of neutral pH value to evaluate endotoxins absorbed on the Pierce high-capacity endotoxin removal resin. The effects of TA buffer on pH, ionic strength, incubation time as well as human-like collagen (HLC) concentration on eliminating endotoxins are investigated. In the present experiments, we design an optimal method for TA buffer to remove endotoxin from recombinant collagen and use a chromogenic tachypleus amebocyte lysate (TAL) test kit to measure the endotoxin level of HLC. The present results show that, the endotoxins of HLC is dropped to 8.3 EU/ml at 25 mM TA buffer (pH 7.8) with 150 mM NaCl when setting incubation time at 6 h, and HLC recovery is about 96%. Under this experimental condition, it is proved to exhibit high efficiencies of both endotoxin removal and collagen recovery. The structure of treated HLC was explored by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), demonstrating that the property and structure of HLC treated by TA buffer are maintained. Compared to the most widely used endotoxin removal method, Triton X-114 extraction, using TA buffer can obtain the non-toxic HLC without extra treatment for removing the toxic substances in Triton X-114. In addition, the present study aims at establishing a foundation for further work in laboratory animal science and providing a foundation for medical grade biomaterials. - Graphical abstract: The processes of endotoxins adsorbed from HLC. - Highlights: • TA buffer is a mild buffer system for endotoxins removal of HLC. • TA buffer may facilitate endotoxins adsorbed on the

  11. Anti-bacterial, free radical scavenging activity and cytotoxicity of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2017-09-03

    Sep 3, 2017 ... Stella Makgabo Lamola1, Jean Paul Dzoyem1,2, Francien Botha1, Candice van Wyk3 ... Conclusion: Acetone extract of leaves and roots of Grewia flava contain anti-microbial ..... Sekirov I, Russels SL, Antunes CA, Finlay BB.

  12. How to effectively design public health interventions: Implications from the interaction effects between socioeconomic status and health locus of control beliefs on healthy dietary behaviours among US adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Kyungeun; Baek, Young Min

    2018-04-16

    This study investigated whether individuals with different socioeconomic status (SES) should be provided differently tailored health messages to promote healthy dietary behaviour (HDB). Prior research has suggested that people with different SESs tend to exhibit different types of beliefs about health, but it remains unclear how SES interacts with these beliefs to influence health outcomes. To better understand the differences in HDB between high- and low-SES populations and propose effective intervention strategies, we examined (i) how SES is associated with HDB, (ii) how internal health locus of control (HLC) and powerful others HLC are associated with HDB, and (iii) how SES interacts with internal and powerful others HLC to influence HDB. Using data from the Annenberg National Health Communication Survey, collected from 2005 to 2012 (N = 6,262) in the United States, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. Education level was found to be positively associated with HDB, while income level was not. Both internal and powerful others HLC beliefs were positively associated with HDB. The positive relationship between internal HLC and HDB strengthened as the level of education and income increased, whereas the positive relationship between powerful others HLC and HDB weakened as respondents' education level increased. These results suggest that the design and delivery of communication messages should be tailored to populations' specific SES and HLC beliefs for effective public health interventions. For example, messages enhancing internal HLC (e.g. providing specific skills and knowledge about health behaviours) might be more helpful for the richer and more-educated, while messages appealing to one's powerful others HLC beliefs (e.g. advice on health lifestyles given by well-known health professionals) might be more effective for less-educated people. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. NOTE FROM VISITS SERVICE

    CERN Multimedia

    ETT Division; Division ETT; Service des visites

    2000-01-01

    The Visit Service noticed that for many years countries such as Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries visit CERN less than other member countries and that is due to the high price of the trip for the students. To improve the situation the Visit Service plans to create a network of 'Family-Accommodation' ('Famille-Accueil') in Geneva and in France nearbywith the aim to facilitate the trip to foreign students especially from the more distant member countries and to encourage them to visit our unique laboratory. We expect this exchange to be an interesting experience for both the students and the welcoming family ('famille d'accueil'). If you are interested in participating in this family network, please fill in the questionnaire below. The questionnaire is to be returned to the Visit Service, Mrs Christine Fromm, e-mail Christine.Fromm@cern.ch.Name: First name: CERN address: E-mail: Portable phone number: Home address...

  14. Polish visit

    CERN Document Server

    2003-01-01

    On 6 October, Professor Michal Kleiber, Polish Minister of Science and Chairman of the State Committee for Scientific Research, visited CERN and met both the current and designated Director General, Luciano Maiani and Robert Aymar. Professor Kleiber visited the CMS and ATLAS detector assembly halls, the underground cavern for ATLAS, and the LHC superconducting magnet string test hall. Michal Kleiber (left), Polish minister of science and Jan Krolikowski, scientist at Warsaw University and working for CMS, who shows the prototypes of the Muon Trigger board of CMS.

  15. Risk factors associated with visiting or not visiting the accident & emergency department after a fall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheffer, Alice C; van Hensbroek, Pieter Boele; van Dijk, Nynke; Luitse, Jan S K; Goslings, Johannes C; Luigies, René H; de Rooij, Sophia E

    2013-07-26

    Little is known about the prevalence of modifiable risk factors of falling in elderly persons with a fall-history who do not visit the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department after one or more falls. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of modifiable risk factors in a population that visited the A&E Department after a fall (A&E group) and in a community-dwelling population of elderly individuals with a fall history who did not visit the A&E Department after a fall (non-A&E group). Two cohorts were included in this study. The first cohort included 547 individuals 65 years and older who were visited at home by a mobile fall prevention team. The participants in this cohort had fall histories but did not visit the A&E Department after a previous fall. These participants were age- and gender-matched to persons who visited the A&E Department for care after a fall. All participants were asked to complete the CAREFALL Triage Instrument. The mean number of modifiable risk factors in patients who did not visit the A&E Department was 2.9, compared to 3.8 in the group that visited the A&E Department (pfalling, impaired vision, mood and high risk of osteoporosis were all independently associated with visiting the A&E Department. All modifiable risk factors for falling were found to be shared between community-dwelling elderly individuals with a fall history who visited the A&E Department and those who did not visit the Department, although the prevalence of these factors was somewhat lower in the A&E group. Preventive strategies aimed both at patients presenting to the A&E Department after a fall and those not presenting after a fall could perhaps reduce the number of recurrent falls, the occurrence of injury and the frequency of visits to the A&E Department.

  16. First tooth, first visit, zero cavities: a practical approach to the infant oral health visit

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Fitzgerald, Kirsten

    2017-04-01

    The IDA adopted a formal policy on children’s oral health in 2011. There is increasing evidence to support early dental visits for children. The background to the infant oral health visit is discussed and a systematic approach to the practicalities of the visit is offered. General dental practitioners are encouraged to offer the first oral health visit before the first birthday, and this paper aims to give them practical advice concerning this visit. The feature is accompanied by a companion paper that reviews the literature pertaining to the topic, and serves to complement the recent clinical feature published in the Journal of the Irish Dental Association.

  17. VisitSense: Sensing Place Visit Patterns from Ambient Radio on Smartphones for Targeted Mobile Ads in Shopping Malls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Byoungjip; Kang, Seungwoo; Ha, Jin-Young; Song, Junehwa

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce a novel smartphone framework called VisitSense that automatically detects and predicts a smartphone user’s place visits from ambient radio to enable behavioral targeting for mobile ads in large shopping malls. VisitSense enables mobile app developers to adopt visit-pattern-aware mobile advertising for shopping mall visitors in their apps. It also benefits mobile users by allowing them to receive highly relevant mobile ads that are aware of their place visit patterns in shopping malls. To achieve the goal, VisitSense employs accurate visit detection and prediction methods. For accurate visit detection, we develop a change-based detection method to take into consideration the stability change of ambient radio and the mobility change of users. It performs well in large shopping malls where ambient radio is quite noisy and causes existing algorithms to easily fail. In addition, we proposed a causality-based visit prediction model to capture the causality in the sequential visit patterns for effective prediction. We have developed a VisitSense prototype system, and a visit-pattern-aware mobile advertising application that is based on it. Furthermore, we deploy the system in the COEX Mall, one of the largest shopping malls in Korea, and conduct diverse experiments to show the effectiveness of VisitSense. PMID:26193275

  18. VisitSense: Sensing Place Visit Patterns from Ambient Radio on Smartphones for Targeted Mobile Ads in Shopping Malls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Byoungjip; Kang, Seungwoo; Ha, Jin-Young; Song, Junehwa

    2015-07-16

    In this paper, we introduce a novel smartphone framework called VisitSense that automatically detects and predicts a smartphone user's place visits from ambient radio to enable behavioral targeting for mobile ads in large shopping malls. VisitSense enables mobile app developers to adopt visit-pattern-aware mobile advertising for shopping mall visitors in their apps. It also benefits mobile users by allowing them to receive highly relevant mobile ads that are aware of their place visit patterns in shopping malls. To achieve the goal, VisitSense employs accurate visit detection and prediction methods. For accurate visit detection, we develop a change-based detection method to take into consideration the stability change of ambient radio and the mobility change of users. It performs well in large shopping malls where ambient radio is quite noisy and causes existing algorithms to easily fail. In addition, we proposed a causality-based visit prediction model to capture the causality in the sequential visit patterns for effective prediction. We have developed a VisitSense prototype system, and a visit-pattern-aware mobile advertising application that is based on it. Furthermore, we deploy the system in the COEX Mall, one of the largest shopping malls in Korea, and conduct diverse experiments to show the effectiveness of VisitSense.

  19. Croatian visit

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    On 11 December, President Stjepan Mesic of the Republic of Croatia visited CERN. He was welcomed by Director General, Robert Aymar, and the President of CERN Council, Maurice Bourquin. Afterwards he met, among others, the Directors of CERN and Croatian scientists working here. He finished his tour by visiting the underground cavern for the ATLAS experiment. The arrival at CERN of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic. In the first row, from left to right: Maurice Bourquin, President of CERN Council, Stjepan Mesic, President of the Republic of Croatia and Robert Aymar, Director General of CERN.

  20. VisitSense: Sensing Place Visit Patterns from Ambient Radio on Smartphones for Targeted Mobile Ads in Shopping Malls

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Byoungjip Kim

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we introduce a novel smartphone framework called VisitSense that automatically detects and predicts a smartphone user’s place visits from ambient radio to enable behavioral targeting for mobile ads in large shopping malls. VisitSense enables mobile app developers to adopt visit-pattern-aware mobile advertising for shopping mall visitors in their apps. It also benefits mobile users by allowing them to receive highly relevant mobile ads that are aware of their place visit patterns in shopping malls. To achieve the goal, VisitSense employs accurate visit detection and prediction methods. For accurate visit detection, we develop a change-based detection method to take into consideration the stability change of ambient radio and the mobility change of users. It performs well in large shopping malls where ambient radio is quite noisy and causes existing algorithms to easily fail. In addition, we proposed a causality-based visit prediction model to capture the causality in the sequential visit patterns for effective prediction. We have developed a VisitSense prototype system, and a visit-pattern-aware mobile advertising application that is based on it. Furthermore, we deploy the system in the COEX Mall, one of the largest shopping malls in Korea, and conduct diverse experiments to show the effectiveness of VisitSense.

  1. Visualization of Client-Side Web Browsing and Email Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-06-01

    mantenimiento the amazing race dustin & candice oskar schindler mythbusters femjoy 080814-kathi in peace anna_ac_-_elixia miley cyrus mapa linea 12 metro... mantenimiento www.google.com.mx alcohol isopropilico www.google.com.mx descargas rapidshare corta final firefox www.google.com.mx desactivar

  2. 42 CFR 409.48 - Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... INSURANCE BENEFITS Home Health Services Under Hospital Insurance § 409.48 Visits. (a) Number of allowable... home health visits. All Medicare home health services are covered under hospital insurance unless there... 42 Public Health 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Visits. 409.48 Section 409.48 Public Health CENTERS...

  3. Prognostic value of serum heavy/light chain ratios in patients with POEMS syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chen; Su, Wei; Cai, Qian-Qian; Cai, Hao; Ji, Wei; Di, Qian; Duan, Ming-Hui; Cao, Xin-Xin; Zhou, Dao-Bin; Li, Jian

    2016-07-01

    POEMS syndrome is a rare plasma cell dyscrasia. Serum concentrations of the monoclonal protein in this disorder are typically low, and inapplicable to monitor disease activity in most cases, resulting in limited practical and prognostic values. Novel immunoassays measuring isotype-specific heavy/light chain (HLC) pairs showed its utility in disease monitoring and outcome prediction in several plasma cell dyscrasias. We report results of HLC measurements in 90 patients with POEMS syndrome. Sixty-six patients (73%; 95% confidence interval, 63-82%) had an abnormal HLC ratio at baseline. It could stratify the risk of disease relapse and was strongly associated with worse progression-free survival in a multivariate analysis (P = 0.021; hazard ratio [HR] 6.89, 95% CI 1.34-35.43). After therapy, HLC ratios improved, with 43 patients (48%) remaining abnormal. The post-therapeutic HLC ratio, if abnormal, also remained as an independent prognostic factor associated with worse progression-free survival (P = 0.019; HR 4.30, 95% CI 1.27-14.56). These results suggest the prognostic utility of HLC ratios in clinical management of POEMS patients. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colburn, Jessica L; Nothelle, Stephanie

    2018-02-01

    The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit is an annual preventive health benefit, which was created in 2011 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The visit provides an opportunity for clinicians to review preventive health recommendations and screen for geriatric syndromes. In this article, the authors review the requirements of the Annual Wellness Visit, discuss ways to use the Annual Wellness Visit to improve the care of geriatric patients, and provide suggestions for how to incorporate this benefit into a busy clinic. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. 28 CFR 540.41 - Visiting facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Visiting facilities. 540.41 Section 540... WITH PERSONS IN THE COMMUNITY Visiting Regulations § 540.41 Visiting facilities. The Warden shall have... have a portion of the visiting room equipped and set up to provide facilities for the children of...

  6. Visiting Vehicle Ground Trajectory Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamm, Dustin

    2013-01-01

    The International Space Station (ISS) Visiting Vehicle Group needed a targeting tool for vehicles that rendezvous with the ISS. The Visiting Vehicle Ground Trajectory targeting tool provides the ability to perform both realtime and planning operations for the Visiting Vehicle Group. This tool provides a highly reconfigurable base, which allows the Visiting Vehicle Group to perform their work. The application is composed of a telemetry processing function, a relative motion function, a targeting function, a vector view, and 2D/3D world map type graphics. The software tool provides the ability to plan a rendezvous trajectory for vehicles that visit the ISS. It models these relative trajectories using planned and realtime data from the vehicle. The tool monitors ongoing rendezvous trajectory relative motion, and ensures visiting vehicles stay within agreed corridors. The software provides the ability to update or re-plan a rendezvous to support contingency operations. Adding new parameters and incorporating them into the system was previously not available on-the-fly. If an unanticipated capability wasn't discovered until the vehicle was flying, there was no way to update things.

  7. Relationships among depression during pregnancy, social support and health locus of control among Iranian pregnant women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moshki, Mahdi; Cheravi, Khadijeh

    2016-03-01

    Prenatal depression is a significant predictor of postpartum depression and is detrimental to fetal development. To examine whether depression during pregnancy is associated with social support and health locus of control (HLC). Data were collected from a sample of 208 Iranian pregnant women using a demographic questionnaire, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the multidimensional HLC Scale and the social support appraisals. Depression was experienced by 37% of participants. Overall, women reported higher level of family support (6.88 ± 1.15) than other supports (6.87 ± 1.29). Protective supports from other resources (6.87 ± 1.29) were higher than those from friends (5.94 ± 1.5). Internal, powerful others and chance beliefs had the highest mean scores. Social support and chance HLC significantly influenced the proposed mediator (depressive mood) in the linear regression model. Bivariate analysis showed significant associations between social support (friend, family and others) and depressive mood. Internal HLC had a significant association with social support and powerful others HLC. However, Pearson correlation coefficient was not significant between depressive mood and all dimensions of HLC. Clinicians could assess social support and chance HLC to identify and treat women at risk of prenatal depression. By providing support during pregnancy, depression levels in women and its effects on the fetus may be decreased, which could prevent postpartum depression. © The Author(s) 2015.

  8. Health-related behavior, profile of health locus of control and acceptance of illness in patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Konrad Janowski

    Full Text Available PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to determine health-related behaviors, profile of health locus of control (HLC, and to assess the relationships between these constructs among patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three-hundred adult patients suffering from various chronic diseases participated in the study. The patients' mean age was 54.6 years (SD = 17.57. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found between the different clinical groups in health-related behavior, acceptance of illness, internal HLC or chance HLC. Patients with neurologic conditions showed slightly lower powerful others HLC than did some other clinical groups. Health-related behavior was significantly positively related to all three categories of HLC, with most prominent associations observed with powerful others HLC. Only one type of health-related behavior--preventive behavior--correlated significantly and negatively with acceptance of illness. Differences in the frequency of health-related behavior were also found due to gender (women showing more healthy nutritional habits than men, age (older subjects showing more frequent health-promoting behavior, education (higher education was associated with less frequent health-promoting behavior and marital status (widowed subjects reporting more frequent health-promoting behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Health-related behavior in patients with chronic diseases seems to be unrelated to a specific diagnosis; however it shows associations with both internal and external HLC. Sociodemographic factors are also crucial factors determining frequency of health-related behavior in such patients.

  9. Visit by two Ministers

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    Last December CERN received visits from two Ministers. Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Education, Daniel Vylchev, visited the CMS experiment in the company of the CMS Spokesman, T. Virdee, and several Bulgarian physicists. From left to right: J. Stamenov, M. Mateev, S. Stavrev, T. Virdee, V. Genchev, the Minister Daniel Vylchev, A. Hristova Vutsova, L. Litov and G. Soultanov. CERN Director-General, Robert Aymar, and Montenegro’s Minister of Education and Science, Slobodan Backović. On 18 December, Robert Aymar welcomed Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Education, Daniel Vylchev. A particular highlight of his visit was a tour of the CMS site, during which he met the many Bulgarian physicists working on the experiment. He also attended a presentation of the LHC Computing Grid and visited the Computer Centre. Bulgaria has been a CERN ...

  10. Single-visit or multiple-visit root canal treatment: systematic review, meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwendicke, Falk; Göstemeyer, Gerd

    2017-02-01

    Single-visit root canal treatment has some advantages over conventional multivisit treatment, but might increase the risk of complications. We systematically evaluated the risk of complications after single-visit or multiple-visit root canal treatment using meta-analysis and trial-sequential analysis. Controlled trials comparing single-visit versus multiple-visit root canal treatment of permanent teeth were included. Trials needed to assess the risk of long-term complications (pain, infection, new/persisting/increasing periapical lesions ≥1 year after treatment), short-term pain or flare-up (acute exacerbation of initiation or continuation of root canal treatment). Electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central) were screened, random-effects meta-analyses performed and trial-sequential analysis used to control for risk of random errors. Evidence was graded according to GRADE. 29 trials (4341 patients) were included, all but 6 showing high risk of bias. Based on 10 trials (1257 teeth), risk of complications was not significantly different in single-visit versus multiple-visit treatment (risk ratio (RR) 1.00 (95% CI 0.75 to 1.35); weak evidence). Based on 20 studies (3008 teeth), risk of pain did not significantly differ between treatments (RR 0.99 (95% CI 0.76 to 1.30); moderate evidence). Risk of flare-up was recorded by 8 studies (1110 teeth) and was significantly higher after single-visit versus multiple-visit treatment (RR 2.13 (95% CI 1.16 to 3.89); very weak evidence). Trial-sequential analysis revealed that firm evidence for benefit, harm or futility was not reached for any of the outcomes. There is insufficient evidence to rule out whether important differences between both strategies exist. Dentists can provide root canal treatment in 1 or multiple visits. Given the possibly increased risk of flare-ups, multiple-visit treatment might be preferred for certain teeth (eg, those with periapical lesions). Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited

  11. 150 Bulgarian students visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Alizée Dauvergne

    2010-01-01

    Between 27 March and 8 April 2010, 150 Bulgarian students from the Astronomical Observatory in Varna visited CERN as part of the “From Galileo to CERN” programme. Bulgarian students participating in the "From Galileo to CERN" educational programme. “It’s interesting to combine astronomy and particle physics”, explains Svejina Dimitrova, organiser of the programme and Director of Varna Astronomical Observatory. The three groups, each one comprising 50 students, first visited Pisa, Padua and other places in Italy  related to Galileo’s life. “Thanks to the visit, students understood telescopes and why Galileo is such an important scientist”, says Svejina. After Italy, they came to CERN for three days and visited several sites: Linac, the Computer Centre CCC, etc. Another group of Bulgarian students in their visit to CERN. “They became aware that particle physics is not only the...

  12. Thomas Kibble visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Rosaria Marraffino

    2014-01-01

    Emeritus Professor Sir Thomas W.B. Kibble, from Imperial College London visited LHC for the first time last week and delivered a colloquium on the genesis of electroweak unification and the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism.   From left to right: Jim Virdee, Tiziano Camporesi, Tom Kibble and Austin Ball on the visit to CMS. On his way back from Trieste, where he received the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics' Dirac Medal, Tom Kibble stopped by CERN for his first visit to the LHC. Kibble had a standing invitation from Jim Virdee, former CMS spokesperson, who is also a researcher from Imperial College London. Peter Jenni (left) and Tom Kibble tour the ATLAS detector. (Image: Erwan Bertrand) Kibble made the trip to CERN a family outing and brought along 14 relatives,  including his children and grandchildren. He visited the ATLAS detector with Peter Jenni, its former spokesperson, on Friday 10 October. In the afternoon, Kibble delivered a colloquium in the...

  13. One-visit endodontics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashkenaz, P J

    1984-10-01

    I would like to conclude with some personal observations and comments on the use of single-visit endodontics in private practice based on my 12 years of experience utilizing this procedure. I cannot stress in strong enough terms that one-visit endodontics should not be undertaken by the novice. As an evolutionary philosophy of treatment, its use grows out of a full understanding of fundamental endodontic principles by the experienced practitioner. It is only after considering all of the indications and contraindications in each case on an individual basis, that a decision should be made as to whether or not it can be completed in a single visit. However, it is also important for the practitioner to have a clinical sense of what can be accomplished once the rubber dam has been placed and work commenced on the tooth. I submit to you that this very important clinical sense can be gained only after many years of clinical experience. Therefore, the endodontic competence of the practicing dentist becomes the overriding factor in determining the outcome of any one particular case. This is not to say that only a specialized few can and should perform this procedure. However, it does mean that a high degree of clinical skill is necessary to perform it in a successful manner. The performance of better endodontics in multiple visits will ensure success in single visits. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the individual practitioner to objectively evaluate his or her endodontic skills. The clinician should critically evaluate every aspect of his or her endodontic practice by determining the incidences of biomechanical errors such as ledging, perforations, overinstrumentation, broken instruments, interappointment flare-ups, and failures. For only after evaluating these areas will the clinician have an indication as to his or her level of endodontic skill and whether or not future study and practice need be done in one or more specific aspects of endodontic practice. Once a high

  14. Dutch ministerial visit

    CERN Multimedia

    2007-01-01

    Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science R. Plasterk (third from left) in the ATLAS cavern with NIKHEF Director F. Linde, CERN Chief Scientific Officer J. Engelen, Ambassador J. van Eenennaam, ATLAS Collaboration Spokesperson P. Jenni, Mission Representative G. Vrielink and ATLAS Magnet Project Leader H. ten Kate.Minister of Education, Culture and Science from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ronald Plasterk, visited CERN on 25th October. With Jos Engelen, CERN Scientific Director, as his guide he visited Point 1 of the LHC tunnel and ATLAS, where Nikhef (the national institute for subatomic physics, a Dutch government and university collaboration) constructed all 96 of the largest muon drift chambers in the barrel as well as parts of the magnet system, the inner detector, the DAQ and triggering. Overall the Netherlands contribute 4.5% to the annual CERN budget and the minister’s visit celebrated the contributions of the 79 ...

  15. UN Secretary General visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    UN Secretary General praises CERN in recent visit. Ban Ki-moon, Robert Aymar, CERN Director-General, and Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva at the CMS site.On Sunday 31 August, Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, made an important visit to CERN. Arriving in the late afternoon, he was warmly greeted at Point 5 by Robert Aymar, the Director-General, and the Sous-préfet of Gex, Olivier Laurens-Bernard. Accompanied by a UN delegation, Ban Ki-moon was also introduced to Jos Engelen, the Chief Scientific Officer, and Jim Virdee, the CMS spokesperson. He then took the opportunity to visit CMS and the machine tunnel. At the end of his short trip, Ban Ki-moon signed the Guest Book in the tradition of important dignitaries visiting CERN. Expressing his admiration for CERN’s spirit of collaboration, Ban Ki-moon said, "I am very honored to visit CERN, an invaluable scientific institution a...

  16. The data on health locus of control and its relationship with quality of life in HIV-positive patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Mostafavian

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Locus of control is a concept defined based on social learning theory, and focuses on individuals' beliefs regarding factors that influence their health status. Health Locus of Control (HLC and its relationship with Quality of Life (QOL in HIV positive patients in local population were studied. This was a cross-sectional study on 80 HIV-positive patients. Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC Scale and Medical Outcome Study Short-Form Health Survey (MOS-SF-36 used to measure patients' HLC and QOL, respectively. Internal, external, and chance HLC mean ± SD scores were 30.31±3.87, 24.17±5.03, and 32.01±4.49, respectively. Positive correlation was found between internal HLC scores and both physical (p <0.001, r = 0.53 and mental quality of life (p <0.001, r = 0.48. Multiple regression analysis showed that internal HLC was the only significant predictor of quality of life. HIV-positive patients who believe their health is mostly influenced by individual's actions and behaviors (internal HLC showed a higher quality of life. These findings suggest that modifying health locus of control beliefs, hypothetically could influence patients' quality of life. Keywords: HIV, Health locus of control, Quality of life, Medicine

  17. Visiting Filmmakers: Why Bother?

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonald, Scott

    1995-01-01

    Argues that visits by independent filmmakers to campus are exciting and intellectually invigorating for students and teachers, and these visits add to the cultural energy of the college. Notes that a commitment to independent cinema challenges the assumptions and the economics of conventional cinema. Discusses how much independent filmmakers are…

  18. Visiting CERN… like “common people”

    CERN Multimedia

    Antonella del Rosso

    2012-01-01

    Paul Young, the British pop star who made his name in the 80s, came to visit CERN on 17 December. His son brought him here because of his passion for science in general and physics in particular. Father and son found the visit exciting and CERN’s activities really thrilling. We could even expect a surprise for Paul's next visit…   The visiting group in the CMS Control Room (Photo credit: P. Geeraert, ESO). Paul Young, famous for his interpretation of “Love of the Common People”, came to CERN because his teenage son is going to be studying A-level physics at school next year and wanted to visit the Laboratory. “I was fascinated by the visit. CERN is a place I didn’t know much about, but my son knows a lot more about science than I do. The explanations we got were great. We enjoyed the visit very much,” he said enthusiastically. Paul Young and his son visited the CMS underground cavern with Michael Hoch. &...

  19. Berliner Philarmoniker ATLAS visit

    CERN Multimedia

    ATLAS Collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The Berliner Philarmoniker in on tour through Europe. They stopped on June 27th in Geneva, for a concert at the Victoria Hall. An ATLAS visit was organised the morning after, lead by the ATLAS spokesperson Karl Jakobs (welcome and overview talk) and two ATLAS guides (AVC visit and 3D movie).

  20. Integrating mental health into adolescent annual visits: impact of previsit comprehensive screening on within-visit processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gadomski, Anne M; Fothergill, Kate E; Larson, Susan; Wissow, Lawrence S; Winegrad, Heather; Nagykaldi, Zsolt J; Olson, Ardis L; Roter, Debra L

    2015-03-01

    To evaluate how a comprehensive, computerized, self-administered adolescent screener, the DartScreen, affects within-visit patient-doctor interactions such as data gathering, advice giving, counseling, and discussion of mental health issues. Patient-doctor interaction was compared between visits without screening and those with the DartScreen completed before the visit. Teens, aged 15-19 years scheduled for an annual visit, were recruited at one urban and one rural pediatric primary care clinic. The doctor acted as his/her own control, first using his/her usual routine for five to six adolescent annual visits. Then, the DartScreen was introduced for five visits where at the beginning of the visit, the doctor received a summary report of the screening results. All visits were audio recorded and analyzed using the Roter interaction analysis system. Doctor and teen dialogue and topics discussed were compared between the two groups. Seven midcareer doctors and 72 adolescents participated; 37 visits without DartScreen and 35 with DartScreen were audio recorded. The Roter interaction analysis system defined medically related data gathering (mean, 36.8 vs. 32.7 statements; p = .03) and counseling (mean, 36.8 vs. 32.7 statements; p = .01) decreased with DartScreen; however, doctor responsiveness and engagement improved with DartScreen (mean, 4.8 vs. 5.1 statements; p = .00). Teens completing the DartScreen offered more psychosocial information (mean, 18.5 vs. 10.6 statements; p = .01), and mental health was discussed more after the DartScreen (mean, 93.7 vs. 43.5 statements; p = .03). Discussion of somatic and substance abuse topics did not change. Doctors reported that screening improved visit organization and efficiency. Use of the screener increased discussion of mental health but not at the expense of other adolescent health topics. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. 28 CFR 540.62 - Institutional visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ....62 Judicial Administration BUREAU OF PRISONS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT CONTACT WITH PERSONS IN THE COMMUNITY Contact With News Media § 540.62 Institutional visits. (a) A media representative shall make advance appointments for visits. (b) When media representatives visit the institutions...

  2. “VICO”, Visiting Colleagues

    CERN Multimedia

    Staff Association

    2017-01-01

    “Hello, I am your delegate” – have you heard this line? Maybe you have already had the pleasure of receiving a visit from a Staff Association delegate – then you know what this is all about. As for those of you, who have not yet heard these words, it’s time to get curious. The Staff Association has decided to embark upon an adventure called “VICO”, Visiting Colleagues. From past experience, we have understood the value of personal, direct contact with the people we represent. We believe that the best way to achieve this is to knock on your office door and pay you a short visit.  We do not want to make you fill in yet another online questionnaire and would much rather collect your feedback in a short conversation face to face. Of course, we have prepared ourselves thoroughly for these visit rounds, because we do not want to waste your time. We welcome criticism because it can make us aware of our shortcomings, tell us about how y...

  3. LB01.06: VISIT-TO-VISIT BLOOD PRESSURE VARIABILITY AND CARDIOVASCULAR OUTCOMES IN FELODIPINE EVENT REDUCTION STUDY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Y; Zhang, X; Liu, L; Zanchetti, A

    2015-06-01

    Many antihypertensive outcome trials have shown that visit-to-visit blood pressure variability is correlated closely with clinical outcomes in hypertensive patients. The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between visit-to-visit blood pressure variability (BPV) and the major cardiovascular outcomes in the Chinese hypertensive patients. Felodipine Event Reduction (FEVER) study was a double-blind, randomized trial on 9711 Chinese hypertensive patients, in whom cardiovascular outcomes were significantly reduced by more intense therapy achieving a mean of 138 mmHg SBP compared with less-intense therapy achieving a mean of 142 mmHg. Visit-to-visit BPV during the follow-up period [defined as standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV), and average real variability(ARV)] was derived from casual cuff BP measures after six months follow-up until the end of the study. Hazard ratios (HRs), for the incidence of CVD associated with SD, CV, and ARV of SBP and DBP were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models. Overall predictive power [area under receiver operating characteristic (AUC ROC) curve] of the level of blood pressure, blood pressure variability and other baseline characteristics was calculated. In FEVER study, visit-to-visit variability in SBP were significant predictors of subsequent stroke [eg, hazard ratios [HR] for ARV, SD and CV was 1.071 (95% CI: 1.025-1.118), 1.373 (95% CI: 1.159-1.626) and 0.572 (95% CI: 0.451-0,726)]. Visit-to-visit variability in DBP were also showed similar trend [eg, HR for ARV, SD and CV was 1.066 (95% CI: 0.992-1.145), 1.931 (95% CI: 1.435-2.598) and 0.558 (95% CI: 0.438-0,710)]. However, using the analysis of AUC ROC analysis, the risk importance sequence of the stroke events in this cohort was level of SBP, age, level of DBP ARV, SD, sex, CV and treatment. Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability has some effects on the cardiovascular outcomes in the Chinese hypertensive patents in the cohort in

  4. Three European ministers visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2007-01-01

    There have been three ministerial visits to CERN this month. Gediminas Kirkilas, Prime Minister of Lithuania, and Robert Aymar, CERN’s Director-General.On 2 July, the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Gediminas Kirkilas, was welcomed by CERN’s Director-General, Robert Aymar, before being taken on a visit of the ATLAS cavern at Point 2 and the LHC tunnel. Michal Sewerynski, Poland’s Minister for Science and Higher Education, and Robert Aymar, CERN’s Director-General.Ten days later, Poland’s Minister for Science and Higher Education, Michal Sewerynski, visited the CMS cavern and assembly hall and the LHC tunnel. He was also given a tour of the LHC Computer Centre and the CERN Control Centre. His visit was rounded off with a presentation of Polish companies involved in CERN’s activities, followed by a meeting with Polish personnel working at CERN. J�...

  5. Impaired Glucose Metabolism Is Associated with Visit-to-Visit Blood Pressure Variability in Participants without Cardiovascular Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nobuo Sasaki

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We evaluated data from 10,088 participants without cardiovascular disease (CVD who underwent 75 g oral glucose tolerance tests and had more than four visits during the first 5 years following the test to investigate the association between impaired glucose metabolism and visit-to-visit blood pressure (BP variability. Participants were classified into groups of normal glucose tolerance (NGT, impaired fasting glucose (IFG, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, and diabetes. Visit-to-visit BP variability was estimated for each individual using standard deviation (SD and coefficients of variation (CV, defined as SD/mean. SDs and CVs of systolic BP (SBP values were divided into quartiles. The samples falling in the highest quartile were considered as having high SD/CV. The adjusted odds ratio (OR for high SD of SBP in the IFG (OR, 1.39; P<0.003, IGT (OR, 1.26; P<0.001, and diabetes (OR, 1.54; P<0.001 groups was significantly higher than that for high SD of SBP in the NGT group. Similarly, the OR for high CV of SBP in the IGT and diabetes groups was significantly higher than that for high CV of SBP in the NGT group. In participants without CVD, impaired glucose metabolism may modulate visit-to-visit BP variability.

  6. Visit Itinerary

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    The visit itinerary includes five area of halls 191 and 180:. End-Cap Toroid Integration Area . Barrel Toroid Integration Area . Cryogenic Test Facility for Toroid Magnets and Helium Pumps . Liquid Argon Cryostats Assembly Area . Central Solenoid Magnet Test Station

  7. Monitoring Quality Across Home Visiting Models: A Field Test of Michigan's Home Visiting Quality Assurance System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heany, Julia; Torres, Jennifer; Zagar, Cynthia; Kostelec, Tiffany

    2018-06-05

    Introduction In order to achieve the positive outcomes with parents and children demonstrated by many home visiting models, home visiting services must be well implemented. The Michigan Home Visiting Initiative developed a tool and procedure for monitoring implementation quality across models referred to as Michigan's Home Visiting Quality Assurance System (MHVQAS). This study field tested the MHVQAS. This article focuses on one of the study's evaluation questions: Can the MHVQAS be applied across models? Methods Eight local implementing agencies (LIAs) from four home visiting models (Healthy Families America, Early Head Start-Home Based, Parents as Teachers, Maternal Infant Health Program) and five reviewers participated in the study by completing site visits, tracking their time and costs, and completing surveys about the process. LIAs also submitted their most recent review by their model developer. The researchers conducted participant observation of the review process. Results Ratings on the MHVQAS were not significantly different between models. There were some differences in interrater reliability and perceived reliability between models. There were no significant differences between models in perceived validity, satisfaction with the review process, or cost to participate. Observational data suggested that cross-model applicability could be improved by assisting sites in relating the requirements of the tool to the specifics of their model. Discussion The MHVQAS shows promise as a tool and process to monitor implementation quality of home visiting services across models. The results of the study will be used to make improvements before the MHVQAS is used in practice.

  8. Visit-to-Visit Variability in Blood Pressure and Kidney and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Nephropathy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McMullan, Ciaran J; Lambers Heerspink, Hiddo J; Parving, Hans-Henrik

    2014-01-01

    -to-visit variability was calculated from the SD of the systolic blood pressure from 4 visits occurring 3-12 months postrandomization. OUTCOMES: The kidney disease outcome was defined as time to confirmed doubling of serum creatinine level, end-stage renal disease, or death; the cardiovascular outcome was defined......BACKGROUND: Increased systolic blood pressure variability between outpatient visits is associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular end points. However, few studies have examined the association of visit-to-visit variability in systolic blood pressure with clinically relevant kidney...... disease outcomes. We analyzed the association of systolic blood pressure visit-to-visit variability with renal and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among individuals with diabetes and nephropathy. STUDY DESIGN: Observational analysis of IDNT (Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial) and the RENAAL...

  9. SM18 Visits and Access

    CERN Multimedia

    2012-01-01

      VISITS The rules and conditions to be followed for visits in the SM18 Hall are laid out in the EDMS 1205328 document. No visit is allowed without prior reservation.   ACCESS Special access right is needed ONLY from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and during week-ends. From 1 December, the current SM18 access database will be closed and a new one “SM18-OWH outside normal hours” started from scratch. Requests, via EDH SM18-OWH, will have to be duly justified.   For further information, please contact Evelyne Delucinge.

  10. President of Ecuador visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Rosaria Marraffino

    2014-01-01

    On Friday, 24 October, Dr. Rafael Correa Delgado, President of the Republic of Ecuador, visited CERN.   Visiting Geneva to deliver a lecture at the UN, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa Delgado seized the chance to have a short but intense visit of the Laboratory. The President was met at LHC Point 1 by the Director for Research and Scientific Computing Sergio Bertolucci, who gave him an introduction to CERN’s activities.He was also introduced to the Director for Accelerators and Technology, Frédérick Bordry, and Department Heads José Miguel Jiménez (TE), Livio Mapelli (PH) and Roberto Saban (EN). President Correa Delgado also met with Martijn Mulders, co-organiser of the CERN Latin America School of High-Energy Physics, which will be held in Ecuador from 4 to 17 March 2015. Shortly after that, he visited the ATLAS experimental cavern which he toured with ATLAS Collaboration Spokesperson David Charlton and Fernando Monticelli of t...

  11. Preceptor Perceptions of Virtual Quality Assurance Experiential Site Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Cheryl L; Schott, Kathryn A; Arnold, Austin D

    2018-05-01

    Objective. To determine preceptor perceptions of the value of experiential quality assurance site visits between virtual and onsite visits, and to gauge preceptor opinions of the optimal method of site visits based on the type of visit received. Methods. Site visits (12 virtual and 17 onsite) were conducted with 29 APPE sites located at least 200 miles from campus. Participating preceptors were invited to complete an online post-visit survey adapted from a previously validated and published survey tool measuring preceptor perceptions of the value of traditional onsite visits. Results. Likert-type score averages for survey questions ranged from 4.2 to 4.6 in the virtual group and from 4.3 to 4.7 in the onsite group. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups. Preceptors were more inclined to prefer the type of visit they received. Preceptors receiving onsite visits were also more likely to indicate no visit type preference. Conclusion. Preceptors perceived value from both onsite and virtual site visits. Preceptors who experienced virtual site visits highly preferred that methodology. This study suggests that virtual site visits may be a viable alternative for providing experiential quality assurance site visits from a preceptor's perspective.

  12. Child-Visiting and Domestic Abuse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepard, Melanie

    1992-01-01

    Explains problems with child visiting in cases of domestic abuse. Data on domestic abuse, child care concerns, and child adjustment problems were collected from 25 mothers and 22 fathers at a child visiting program serving separated and abusive families. Psychological abuse of mothers correlated with child adjustment problems. (BB)

  13. Effect of Tris-acetate buffer on endotoxin removal from human-like collagen used biomaterials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Huizhi; Fan, Daidi; Deng, Jianjun; Zhu, Chenghui; Hui, Junfeng; Ma, Xiaoxuan

    2014-09-01

    Protein preparation, which has active ingredients designated for the use of biomaterials and therapeutical protein, is obtained by genetic engineering, but products of genetic engineering are often contaminated by endotoxins. Because endotoxin is a ubiquitous and potent proinflammatory agent, endotoxin removal or depletion from protein is essential for researching any biomaterials. In this study, we have used Tris-acetate (TA) buffer of neutral pH value to evaluate endotoxins absorbed on the Pierce high-capacity endotoxin removal resin. The effects of TA buffer on pH, ionic strength, incubation time as well as human-like collagen (HLC) concentration on eliminating endotoxins are investigated. In the present experiments, we design an optimal method for TA buffer to remove endotoxin from recombinant collagen and use a chromogenic tachypleus amebocyte lysate (TAL) test kit to measure the endotoxin level of HLC. The present results show that, the endotoxins of HLC is dropped to 8.3EU/ml at 25 mM TA buffer (pH7.8) with 150 mM NaCl when setting incubation time at 6h, and HLC recovery is about 96%. Under this experimental condition, it is proved to exhibit high efficiencies of both endotoxin removal and collagen recovery. The structure of treated HLC was explored by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), demonstrating that the property and structure of HLC treated by TA buffer are maintained. Compared to the most widely used endotoxin removal method, Triton X-114 extraction, using TA buffer can obtain the non-toxic HLC without extra treatment for removing the toxic substances in Triton X-114. In addition, the present study aims at establishing a foundation for further work in laboratory animal science and providing a foundation for medical grade biomaterials. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. SPK Rekomendasi Pemilihan Kandidat Pejabat Struktural Menggunakan Metode Profile Matching (Studi Kasus: Pemerintah Kota Tarakan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ria Astriratma

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Through the State Civil Apparatus Law, the Government attempt to reduce nepotism by creating an open competition system among civil servants in the process of filling positions. Regional Civil Service Agency (BKD Tarakan already has personnel database and decision support system that can combine the existing database with the scoring model to get the candicate profile who fit with vacant positions is needed to support more objective performance. The Application of profile matching method in this decision support system is expected to help the candidate selection process on structural officer in the Government of Tarakan comply with the ability of a required field in a position. From the research we concluded that the change in the value of the candicate profile, and the number of subcriteria that used to categorize the positions can affect the closeness of candidates with vacant position and the use of profile matching method for case that the highest value is the best value requires that the ideal value used is the value the maximum in order to avoid exceeding the expectations of ideal.

  15. The visit is the medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haller, P [Electricite de France (EDF), 75 - Paris (France). Service de la Production Thermique

    1990-12-31

    In France the number of visitors to nuclear plants every year is comparable to the number of annual visitors to the Musee de l`Homme (approximately 300,000). Plant visits play an important role in the nuclear industry`s commnications and should be made as effective as possible. An appropriate discourse consisting of the following should be available: a warm reception; an open attitude; an ability to listen; and a willingness to inform. During the tour, the message received by the public should be positive. This message should consist of the benefits of electronuclear energy, and that the people working within the industry are ordinary people with concerns similar to the public. The words used during the visit should be chosen to avoid words with negative connotations. The use of measurement figures should be put in a comparative mode that can be understoood by the visitors. The site itself should be well signed with various amenities available. There are two stages to any visit: getting to the site and the actual site visit. Proper signage to the visitor center is important. Once there, two types of signage are important: directional and informationl. For the visit, have someone available to greet visitors. The visitor should receive an itinerary of the tour, with the end providing an opportunity for questions and answers, and refreshments. An adequate program for children should be available.

  16. Spanish Visit

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    On 23 January, CERN welcomed a visit by Pedro Morenés Eulate, Spanish Secretary of State for Scientific and Technological Policy. He was taken on a tour of the LHC Superconducting test facility, the CMS magnet assembly hall and the civil engineering works at Point 5. After a brief presentation on the AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) experiment, delivered by Sam Ting, and lunch hosted by Director General Robert Aymar, he continued his tour of the ATLAS assembly hall and the ISOLDE experimental hall. Pedro Morenés finished his visit by meeting with the Spanish scientific community working at CERN. From left to right: Juan-Antonio Rubio, CERN, Responsible for the Education & Communication, Technology transfer and Scientific Information groups; Gonzalo León, General Secretary of the Spanish Ministry; Joaquín Pérez-Villanueva y Tovar, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations Office; Robert Aymar, CERN Director General; Maria-José Garcia-Borge, ISOLDE and NTOF, CSIC Madrid Tea...

  17. Cosmic visits

    CERN Multimedia

    Stefania Pandolfi

    2015-01-01

    On Saturday, 19 September, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and Amalia Ercoli Finzi, Principal Investigator of the SD2 experiment on board the ESA Rosetta spacecraft, visited the AMS Control Centre and other CERN installations.   From left to right: Sergio Bertolucci (CERN Director of Research and Computing), Amalia Ercoli Finzi (Emeritus Professor in the Aerospace department of the Polytechnic University of Milan and Principal Investigator of the SD2 experiment on board the ESA Rosetta spacecraft), Maurice Bourquin (AMS-02 Senior Scientist and Honorary Professor in the Nuclear and Corpuscular Physics department of the University of Geneva) and Luca Parmitano (Major in the Italian Air Force and European Space Agency astronaut) in the AMS Payload and Operation Control Centre. They were welcomed in the early morning by Sergio Bertolucci and then headed to the Prévessin site to visit the CERN Control Centre and the Payload and Operation Control Centre (POCC) of the Alpha Magnetic Sp...

  18. Home visits: why do rates vary so much?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Stewart, P

    2012-03-01

    Data including information on patient age, gender, who initiated the visit and call classification was collected during office hours from 12 G.P. rural teaching practices with a combined GMS patient population of 24,720, over a 2 month period. There were a total of 603 home visits, giving an annual visiting rate of 143\\/1000. Visiting rates varied between practices from 45 to 305\\/1000 per year. When high visiting practices (>210\\/1000\\/year) were compared to low visiting rate practices (>90\\/1000\\/year), patients tended to be older (79.7 v. 74.5 years) and calls were 12 times more likely to be doctor initiated (16.6% v. 1.4%) or classified as routine( 50.7% v. 44.9%). The variation between practices was related in part to patient age but appears largely due to differences in doctor home visiting behaviour. There are no recent figures on home visiting in Ireland.

  19. Weather and Prey Predict Mammals' Visitation to Water.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grant Harris

    Full Text Available Throughout many arid lands of Africa, Australia and the United States, wildlife agencies provide water year-round for increasing game populations and enhancing biodiversity, despite concerns that water provisioning may favor species more dependent on water, increase predation, and reduce biodiversity. In part, understanding the effects of water provisioning requires identifying why and when animals visit water. Employing this information, by matching water provisioning with use by target species, could assist wildlife management objectives while mitigating unintended consequences of year-round watering regimes. Therefore, we examined if weather variables (maximum temperature, relative humidity [RH], vapor pressure deficit [VPD], long and short-term precipitation and predator-prey relationships (i.e., prey presence predicted water visitation by 9 mammals. We modeled visitation as recorded by trail cameras at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, USA (June 2009 to September 2014 using generalized linear modeling. For 3 native ungulates, elk (Cervus Canadensis, mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus, and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana, less long-term precipitation and higher maximum temperatures increased visitation, including RH for mule deer. Less long-term precipitation and higher VPD increased oryx (Oryx gazella and desert cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus audubonii visitation. Long-term precipitation, with RH or VPD, predicted visitation for black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus. Standardized model coefficients demonstrated that the amount of long-term precipitation influenced herbivore visitation most. Weather (especially maximum temperature and prey (cottontails and jackrabbits predicted bobcat (Lynx rufus visitation. Mule deer visitation had the largest influence on coyote (Canis latrans visitation. Puma (Puma concolor visitation was solely predicted by prey visitation (elk, mule deer, oryx. Most ungulate visitation peaked during

  20. Weather and Prey Predict Mammals’ Visitation to Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Grant; Sanderson, James G.; Erz, Jon; Lehnen, Sarah E.; Butler, Matthew J.

    2015-01-01

    Throughout many arid lands of Africa, Australia and the United States, wildlife agencies provide water year-round for increasing game populations and enhancing biodiversity, despite concerns that water provisioning may favor species more dependent on water, increase predation, and reduce biodiversity. In part, understanding the effects of water provisioning requires identifying why and when animals visit water. Employing this information, by matching water provisioning with use by target species, could assist wildlife management objectives while mitigating unintended consequences of year-round watering regimes. Therefore, we examined if weather variables (maximum temperature, relative humidity [RH], vapor pressure deficit [VPD], long and short-term precipitation) and predator-prey relationships (i.e., prey presence) predicted water visitation by 9 mammals. We modeled visitation as recorded by trail cameras at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, USA (June 2009 to September 2014) using generalized linear modeling. For 3 native ungulates, elk (Cervus Canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), less long-term precipitation and higher maximum temperatures increased visitation, including RH for mule deer. Less long-term precipitation and higher VPD increased oryx (Oryx gazella) and desert cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus audubonii) visitation. Long-term precipitation, with RH or VPD, predicted visitation for black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus). Standardized model coefficients demonstrated that the amount of long-term precipitation influenced herbivore visitation most. Weather (especially maximum temperature) and prey (cottontails and jackrabbits) predicted bobcat (Lynx rufus) visitation. Mule deer visitation had the largest influence on coyote (Canis latrans) visitation. Puma (Puma concolor) visitation was solely predicted by prey visitation (elk, mule deer, oryx). Most ungulate visitation peaked during May and

  1. Visiting Mom: A pilot evaluation of a prison-based visiting program serving incarcerated mothers and their minor children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schubert, Erin C; Duininck, Megan; Shlafer, Rebecca J

    2016-01-01

    We describe an evaluation of a prison visiting program, Extended Visiting (EV), for incarcerated mothers and their children. Mothers ( N = 24) and caregivers ( N = 19) were interviewed regarding experiences with the program. Mothers identified benefits including maintaining a relationship with children, physical contact, motivation, privacy, peer support, and personal growth. Caregivers echoed mothers' appreciation for the opportunity to maintain mother-child relationships and physical contact. Mothers identified barriers including desire for overnight visits and more age-appropriate activities. Caregivers perceived travel time and costs and children's adverse reactions as barriers. When comparing EV to typical visiting, participants unanimously preferred EV.

  2. Serbian President visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Katarina Anthony

    2012-01-01

    On Tuesday 10 January, Serbian President Boris Tadić visited the Laboratory to sign the Agreement of granting the status of Associate Membership as the pre-stage to full Membership of CERN.    Before the signing ceremony, the President, welcomed by Director-General Rolf Heuer at CERN’s Point 5, took the opportunity to visit CERN. After a general introduction, the President took advantage of the shutdown to visit the LHC’s underground caverns. Leading the President through their respective experiments were spokespersons Fabiola Gianotti (ATLAS) and Joe Incandela (CMS).  After a morning of tours, President Tadić and Rolf Heuer signed the Agreement. Serbia’s status as an Associate Member as pre-stage to full Membership is expected to come into force following ratification by the Serbian Parliament. After a maximum period of five years, the CERN Council will decide on the admission of Serbia to full Membership. This new agreement continues Serbia&a...

  3. Spanish Visit to CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    Last week CERN was visited by the Spanish Minister of Science and Technology, Josep Piqué i Camps. While here, he was able to visit the ATLAS assembly hall where many items of equipment are being built in collaboration with Spanish academic institutions or firms. These include the vacuum vessels for the ATLAS barrel toroid magnets supplied by the Spanish firm Felguera Construcciones Mechanics. Similarly, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid is participating in the manufacture of the electromagnetic calorimeter endcaps, while the Barcelona Institute for High Energy Physics and the Valencia IFIC (Instituto de Física Corpuscular) are highly involved in the production of barrel modules for the tile calorimeter. The delegation, accompanied by Spanish scientists at CERN, also visited the LHC superconducting magnet test hall (photo). From left to right: Felix Rodriguez Mateos of CERN LHC Division, Josep Piqué i Camps, Spanish Minister of Science and Technology, César Dopazo, Director-General of CIEMAT (Spanish ...

  4. EU Commissioner visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    European Commissioner Viviane Reding in front of one of the computers showing how the Grid works and, from left to right, Robert Aymar, CERN's Director-General, Wolfgang von Rüden, Head of the Information Technology Department, and Bob Jones, the newly appointed director of the EGEE project since 1st November. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, visited CERN on 28 October. Accompanied throughout by CERN's Director-General, Robert Aymar, and the Head of the Information Technology Department, Wolfgang von Rüden, the Commissioner visited the ATLAS cavern before going on to the Information Technology Department, where she was given a complete overview of CERN's activities in the strategic field of Grid computing. Viviane Reding's visit coincided with the end of the EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE) conference, which took place in Pisa in Italy. Co-ordinated by CERN and funded by the European Commission, the EGEE project aims to set up a worldwide grid infrastructure for sc...

  5. A boost to visits

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    Several guides were rewarded by CERN's Director-General and Secretary-General for their contributions in 2004. Left to right: Géraldine Chuste, the Director-General Robert Aymar, Klaus Batzner, Philippe Moret, Joanna Weng, Alberto Ribon, Head of the Visits Service, Emma Sanders, and the Secretary-General, Maximilian Metzger. Three other guides not in the photograph, Antonio Francano, Christoph Ilgner and Tzanko Spassoff, were also rewarded for their contributions. As every year, the CERN Visits Service has paid tribute to its guides, all of whom are volunteers and devote some of their time to showing people around their Laboratory. The guides were invited to a get-together in Microcosm during which the Director-General, Robert Aymar, expressed his special gratitude for their efforts and presented awards to the most dedicated among them. He encouraged members of the Laboratory to become guides and underlined that 2004 had been an exceptional year for visits, which had risen by 15% to almost 22,000. Including ...

  6. EUCYS prizewinner visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Jennifer Toes

    2016-01-01

    Young Turkish student Baris Volkan Gürses visited CERN from 4 to 8 July after winning the prize in the 2015 European Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS).    Baris Volkan Gürses, EUCYS prizewinner, visiting the Microcosm. After winning both regional and national competitions in Turkey, 18-year-old student Baris Volkan Gürses competed against 169 young scientists and was awarded a visit to CERN by EIROforum for his physics project in EUCYS 2015. His project, entitled “Generation of artificial gravity by using electrostatic force for prevention of muscle atrophy and osteoporosis occurring in gravity-free environments”, focused on the design of a mechanism to help with the impact of spaceflight on the human body. “My objective was to eliminate the negative effects of a gravity-free environment on astronauts who stay in space for longer periods of time, like in the International Space Station,” explained Volkan. &...

  7. Evolving health information technology and the timely availability of visit diagnoses from ambulatory visits: a natural experiment in an integrated delivery system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bardach, Naomi S; Huang, Jie; Brand, Richard; Hsu, John

    2009-07-17

    Health information technology (HIT) may improve health care quality and outcomes, in part by making information available in a timelier manner. However, there are few studies documenting the changes in timely availability of data with the use of a sophisticated electronic medical record (EMR), nor a description of how the timely availability of data might differ with different types of EMRs. We hypothesized that timely availability of data would improve with use of increasingly sophisticated forms of HIT. We used an historical observation design (2004-2006) using electronic data from office visits in an integrated delivery system with three types of HIT: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. We calculated the monthly percentage of visits using the various types of HIT for entry of visit diagnoses into the delivery system's electronic database, and the time between the visit and the availability of the visit diagnoses in the database. In January 2004, when only Basic HIT was available, 10% of office visits had diagnoses entered on the same day as the visit and 90% within a week; 85% of office visits used paper forms for recording visit diagnoses, 16% used Basic at that time. By December 2006, 95% of all office visits had diagnoses available on the same day as the visit, when 98% of office visits used some form of HIT for entry of visit diagnoses (Advanced HIT for 67% of visits). Use of HIT systems is associated with dramatic increases in the timely availability of diagnostic information, though the effects may vary by sophistication of HIT system. Timely clinical data are critical for real-time population surveillance, and valuable for routine clinical care.

  8. First dental visit of a child

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meera R

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the common chief complaints of the Indian children and the average age group at which they report for in their first dental visit. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was carried out using the case records of 716 children who reported to the postgraduate section of Department of Pediatric dentistry, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College, Chennai, in 2007. The age groups of the children were divided into three categories 0-3 years, 3-6 years and 6-12 years. The various chief complaints were categorised as follows, Orientation to prevention, Routine visit, Deposits / Discoloration, Habits, Unerupted / Missing or Extra Tooth, Pain, Dental caries, Malocclusion, Trauma, others. The average age group and most common complaint at the first dental visit was assessed. A prospective study was done in January 2008, were 215 children were screened. The assessment was made as explained above. Results: Retrospective study Maximum number of children who reported for their first dental visit was between 6-12 years (59.08%. Most common chief complaint for the visit was pain (42.04%. Second common complaint being dental caries (28.49%. Prospective study Maximum number of children who reported for their first dental visit was between 6-12 years (69.77%. Most common chief complaint was dental caries (34.88%. Second common complaint being pain (27.91%. Conclusion: Children report for the first dental visit most commonly only after 6 years and for complaints like pain and dental caries. Orientation to prevention is not considered and preventive dentistry is yet to reach the common population in India.

  9. A new methodology for sampling blackflies for the entomological surveillance of onchocerciasis in Brazil.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Érika S do Nascimento-Carvalho

    Full Text Available The effectiveness of the MosqTent® trap was evaluated in endemic area to onchocerciasis in Brazil. This study seeks to provide subsidies for the monitoring of the onchocerciasis transmission in the country. The study was carried out at the Homoxi and Thirei villages, located in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in the state of Roraima. This area presents hyperendemicity, high blackflies densities, large population migrations and mining activities. The Homoxi and Thirei villages are assisted by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. To conduct the present study, the village leader, health leaders and the Brazilian Ethics Committee were consulted. Blackflies captures were carried out simultaneously at the Homoxi and Thirei, using systematized methods to allow for comparisons between the traditional Human Landing Catch (HLC and HLC protected by the MosqTent®. The female blackflies were captured at two equidistant capture stations per locality, by two collectors per station, for five consecutive days. Individuals captured by interval/station/day were counted, identified and maintained at -20°C. The underlying probability distributions and the differences between the methods for the independent sample data were verified in a comparative statistical analysis between the use of the MosqTent® and the HLC. A total of 10,855 antropophilic blackflies were captured by both methodologies. A total of 7,367 (67.87% blackflies belonging to seven species were captured by MosqTent® -Simulium incrustatum s.l (99.06%; S. guianense s.l (0.74%, S. oyapockense s.l (0.01%, S. exiguum (0.10%, S. metallicum (0.05%, S. ochraceum (0.03% and S. minusculum s.l (0.01%. Moreover, 3,488 (32.14% blackflies belonging to four species were captured by HLC-S. incrustatum s.l (98.33%; S. guianense s.l (1.38%, S. oyapockense s.l (0.26% and S. metallicum (0.03%. The MosqTent® was more effective and efficient when compared to HLC. When comparing total blackflies captured/day, the Mosq

  10. A new methodology for sampling blackflies for the entomological surveillance of onchocerciasis in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nascimento-Carvalho, Érika S do; Cesário, Raquel de Andrade; do Vale, Vladimir Fazito; Aranda, Arion Tulio; Valente, Ana Carolina Dos Santos; Maia-Herzog, Marilza

    2017-01-01

    The effectiveness of the MosqTent® trap was evaluated in endemic area to onchocerciasis in Brazil. This study seeks to provide subsidies for the monitoring of the onchocerciasis transmission in the country. The study was carried out at the Homoxi and Thirei villages, located in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in the state of Roraima. This area presents hyperendemicity, high blackflies densities, large population migrations and mining activities. The Homoxi and Thirei villages are assisted by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. To conduct the present study, the village leader, health leaders and the Brazilian Ethics Committee were consulted. Blackflies captures were carried out simultaneously at the Homoxi and Thirei, using systematized methods to allow for comparisons between the traditional Human Landing Catch (HLC) and HLC protected by the MosqTent®. The female blackflies were captured at two equidistant capture stations per locality, by two collectors per station, for five consecutive days. Individuals captured by interval/station/day were counted, identified and maintained at -20°C. The underlying probability distributions and the differences between the methods for the independent sample data were verified in a comparative statistical analysis between the use of the MosqTent® and the HLC. A total of 10,855 antropophilic blackflies were captured by both methodologies. A total of 7,367 (67.87%) blackflies belonging to seven species were captured by MosqTent® -Simulium incrustatum s.l (99.06%); S. guianense s.l (0.74%), S. oyapockense s.l (0.01%), S. exiguum (0.10%), S. metallicum (0.05%), S. ochraceum (0.03%) and S. minusculum s.l (0.01%). Moreover, 3,488 (32.14%) blackflies belonging to four species were captured by HLC-S. incrustatum s.l (98.33%); S. guianense s.l (1.38%), S. oyapockense s.l (0.26%) and S. metallicum (0.03%). The MosqTent® was more effective and efficient when compared to HLC. When comparing total blackflies captured/day, the MosqTent® was

  11. Evolving health information technology and the timely availability of visit diagnoses from ambulatory visits: A natural experiment in an integrated delivery system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brand Richard

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Health information technology (HIT may improve health care quality and outcomes, in part by making information available in a timelier manner. However, there are few studies documenting the changes in timely availability of data with the use of a sophisticated electronic medical record (EMR, nor a description of how the timely availability of data might differ with different types of EMRs. We hypothesized that timely availability of data would improve with use of increasingly sophisticated forms of HIT. Methods We used an historical observation design (2004–2006 using electronic data from office visits in an integrated delivery system with three types of HIT: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. We calculated the monthly percentage of visits using the various types of HIT for entry of visit diagnoses into the delivery system's electronic database, and the time between the visit and the availability of the visit diagnoses in the database. Results In January 2004, when only Basic HIT was available, 10% of office visits had diagnoses entered on the same day as the visit and 90% within a week; 85% of office visits used paper forms for recording visit diagnoses, 16% used Basic at that time. By December 2006, 95% of all office visits had diagnoses available on the same day as the visit, when 98% of office visits used some form of HIT for entry of visit diagnoses (Advanced HIT for 67% of visits. Conclusion Use of HIT systems is associated with dramatic increases in the timely availability of diagnostic information, though the effects may vary by sophistication of HIT system. Timely clinical data are critical for real-time population surveillance, and valuable for routine clinical care.

  12. Nonurgent Emergency Department Visits by Insured and Uninsured Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Searing, Lisabeth M; Cantlin, Kelly A

    2016-01-01

    To compare nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits by insured and uninsured adults in a Midwest community. Records for this secondary data analysis included 84,877 nonurgent visits to a Midwest ED from September 2004 to January 2012. Insured versus uninsured visits were analyzed using t tests for continuous variables and chi-squared tests for categorical variables. Standardized residuals were compared to determine if changes over time were statistically significant. Variables included demographic characteristics of patients, payment source, patients' access to primary care, acuity rating, time of visit, and the stated reason for the visit. Of all nonurgent visits, 77.9% were made by insured adults. Insured nonurgent visits were more often made by adults who were female, older, White, and had a primary care provider (PCP). Nonurgent visits on weekdays between the hours of 09:00 and 18:00 were more likely to be uninsured visits. Dental issues were the fourth most common issue for uninsured visits. Nonurgent ED visits occur when more appropriate options for prompt care are available in the community. Interventions should target both patients and PCPs. While patients should contact their PCP when in need of prompt care, PCPs should refer patients to facilities other than the ED when medically appropriate. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. Preventive home visits to elderly people in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hendriksen, C; Vass, M

    2005-01-01

    During the last 20 years several randomised controlled trials have been published about preventive home visits to old people, but the benefit of the visits is still controversial and under debate. Based on a state law from the Ministry of Social Affairs in 1998, the municipalities in Denmark are ......, manageable and ongoing educational intervention towards professionals working with preventive home visits is feasible and improves older people's functional mobility.......During the last 20 years several randomised controlled trials have been published about preventive home visits to old people, but the benefit of the visits is still controversial and under debate. Based on a state law from the Ministry of Social Affairs in 1998, the municipalities in Denmark...... are obliged to offer home visits twice a year to all citizens 75 years and older. After six years with this law, there is still variation of how the law is managed and implemented. About 60% of the elderly people accept and receive the visits. Less than 50% of the municipalities have made specific guidelines...

  14. Visits from Croatia and Belarus

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    On 23 September, CERN was visited by two Ministers, Anatoly Rusetsky, Chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus, and Professor Gvozden Flego, Croatian Minister of Science and Technology. Mr Rusetsky met with Roger Cashmore, Research Director for Collider Programmes, and Michel Della Negra, spokesperson of the CMS experiment, and visited the CMS detector assembly hall. Professor Flego also met Mr Cashmore and visited the NA49 and CAST experiments, the LHC superconducting magnet test hall, the ALICE experiment cavern, and the assembly hall for the CMS experiment. From left to right: Nikola Godinovic, working at CMS, Jürgen Schukraft, ALICE spokesperson, Gordan Markotic, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Croatia to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva, Professor Gvozden Flego, Minister of Science and Technology, Republic of Croatia.

  15. "Carol I" Central University Library Continuous Training Program through Documentary Visits. A Documentary Visit to Cotroceni Museum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emanuela Florea-Paraipan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this essay we aim to emphasize the role of documentary visits in continuous training programs of library professionals. As alternative form of continuous training, the "Carol I" Central University Library runs an annual program of documentary visits to Bucharest museums, in order to identify from the historical, biographical, literary, artistic and scientific perspective, the manner in which evolved Romanian spirituality nationally and beyond. As a form of initial training for national inheritance understanding, the professional visits to cultural institutions allows the discovery of the categories of collections, the structure and their pedagogical value in learning, teaching and training.

  16. Making home visits: Creativity and the embodied practices of home visiting in social work and child protection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferguson, Harry

    2018-01-01

    Although the home is the most common place where social work goes on, research has largely ignored the home visit. Drawing on a participant observation study of child protection work, this article reveals the complex hidden practices of social work on home visits. It is argued that home visits do not simply involve an extension of the social work organisation, policies and procedures into the domestic domain but the home constitutes a distinct sphere of practice and experience in its own right. Home visiting is shown to be a deeply embodied practice in which all the senses and emotions come into play and movement is central. Through the use of creativity, craft and improvisation practitioners 'make' home visits by skilfully enacting a series of transitions from the office to the doorstep, and into the house, where complex interactions with service users and their domestic space and other objects occur. Looking around houses and working with children alone in their bedrooms were common. Drawing upon sensory and mobile methods and a material culture studies approach, the article shows how effective practice was sometimes blocked and also how the home was skilfully negotiated, moved around and creatively used by social workers to ensure parents were engaged with and children seen, held and kept safe.

  17. Health Locus of Control in Indonesian Women with Breast Cancer: a Comparison with Healthy Women

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Iskandarsyah, A.; de Klerk, C.; Suardi, D.R.; Sadarjoen, S.S.; Passchier, J.

    2014-01-01

    The aims of this study were to assess whether Indonesian women with breast cancer havea higher external health locus of control (HLC) than healthy women, and to explore the association between HLC and symptoms of anxiety and depression. In this study, 120 consecutive women with breast cancer were

  18. Visualization Software for VisIT Java Client

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2017-01-01

    The VisIT Java Client (JVC) library is a lightweight thin client that is designed and written purely in the native language of Java (the Python & JavaScript versions of the library use the same concept) and communicates with any new unmodified standalone version of VisIT, a high performance computing parallel visualization toolkit, over traditional or web sockets and dynamically determines capabilities of the running VisIT instance whether local or remote.

  19. Belgian Firms Visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    Fifteen Belgian firms visited CERN last 2 and 3 April to present their know-how. Industrial sectors ranging from precision machining to electrical engineering and electronics were represented. And for the first time, companies from the Flemish and Brussels regions of the country joined their Walloon compatriots, who have come to CERN before. The visit was organised by Mr J.-M. Warêgne, economic and commercial attaché at the Belgian permanent mission for the French-speaking region, Mr J. Van de Vondel, his opposite number for the Flemish region, and Mrs E. Solowianiuk, economic and commercial counsellor at the Belgian permanent mission for the Brussels-Capital region.

  20. Notes on collecting flower-visiting insects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Willemstein, S.C.

    1974-01-01

    Flower-visiting insects may play a role in the pollination of the flowers they visit. An important indication for this is the pollen they carry on their body. The transport of pollen does not prove pollination without observations of the behaviour of the insects on the flowers, but at least it

  1. Father Attendance in Nurse Home Visitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmberg, John R.; Olds, David L.

    2015-01-01

    Our aim was to examine the rates and predictors of father attendance at nurse home visits in replication sites of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP). Early childhood programs can facilitate father involvement in the lives of their children, but program improvements require an understanding of factors that predict father involvement. The sample consisted of 29,109 low-income, first-time mothers who received services from 694 nurses from 80 sites. We conducted mixed-model multiple regression analyses to identify population, implementation, site, and nurse influences on father attendance. Predictors of father attendance included a count of maternal visits (B = 0.12, SE = 0.01, F = 3101.77), frequent contact between parents (B = 0.61, SE = 0.02, F = 708.02), cohabitation (B = 1.41, SE = 0.07, F = 631.51), White maternal race (B = 0.77, SE = 0.06, F = 190.12), and marriage (B = 0.42, SE = 0.08, F = 30.08). Random effects for sites and nurses predicted father-visit participation (2.7 & 6.7% of the variance, respectively), even after controlling for population sociodemographic characteristics. These findings suggest that factors operating at the levels of sites and nurses influence father attendance at home visits, even after controlling for differences in populations served. Further inquiry about these influences on father visit attendance is likely to inform program-improvement efforts. PMID:25521707

  2. Visit of Spanish Government delegation

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN PhotoLab

    1982-01-01

    A Spanish Government delegation visited CERN before Spain rejoined CERN as a Member State(in 1983). Delegates interested in advanced technologies visited the ISR workshop clean room, where Romeo Perin explained fabrication and properties of stainless steel, titanium and inconel components of vacuum chambers for experiments at the ISR. Left to right: Technical Director Giorgio Brianti, the Spanish Minister of Industry and Energy Mr.Ignacio Bayon Marine , Romeo Perin, a delegate and Director-General Herwig Schopper. See also 8202369.

  3. Characteristics of Office-based Physician Visits, 2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashman, Jill J; Rui, Pinyao; Okeyode, Titilayo

    2018-06-01

    In 2015, most Americans had a usual place to receive health care (85% of adults and 96% of children) (1,2). The majority of children and adults listed a doctor's office as the usual place they received care (1,2). In 2015, there were an estimated 990.8 million office-based physician visits in the United States (3,4). This report examines visit rates by age and sex. It also examines visit characteristics-including insurance status, reason for visit, and services-by age. Estimates use data from the 2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.

  4. Italy's Prime Minister visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Stefania Pandolfi

    2015-01-01

    On Tuesday, 7 July 2015, the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic, Matteo Renzi, visited CERN. He was accompanied by a delegation that included Italy's Minister for Education, University and Research, Stefania Giannini.   From left to right: Fernando Ferroni, President of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN); Sergio Bertolucci, CERN Director for Research and Scientific Computing; Stefania Giannini, Italy's Minister of Education, University and Research; Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister of the Italian Republic; Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General Designate; Rolf Heuer, CERN Director-General.   The Prime Minister was welcomed by members of the CERN Management together with former CERN Director-General and Senator for Life of the Italian Republic, Carlo Rubbia. After a brief general introduction to CERN’s activities by Rolf Heuer, the Italian delegation visited LHC Point 1. After a tour of the ATLAS control room, they donned helmets to visit th...

  5. About an Optimal Visiting Problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bagagiolo, Fabio, E-mail: bagagiol@science.unitn.it; Benetton, Michela [Unversita di Trento, Dipartimento di Matematica (Italy)

    2012-02-15

    In this paper we are concerned with the optimal control problem consisting in minimizing the time for reaching (visiting) a fixed number of target sets, in particular more than one target. Such a problem is of course reminiscent of the famous 'Traveling Salesman Problem' and brings all its computational difficulties. Our aim is to apply the dynamic programming technique in order to characterize the value function of the problem as the unique viscosity solution of a suitable Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We introduce some 'external' variables, one per target, which keep in memory whether the corresponding target is already visited or not, and we transform the visiting problem in a suitable Mayer problem. This fact allows us to overcome the lacking of the Dynamic Programming Principle for the originary problem. The external variables evolve with a hysteresis law and the Hamilton-Jacobi equation turns out to be discontinuous.

  6. Duration of patients’ visits to the hospital emergency department

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karaca Zeynal

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Length of stay is an important indicator of quality of care in Emergency Departments (ED. This study explores the duration of patients’ visits to the ED for which they are treated and released (T&R. Methods Retrospective data analysis and multivariate regression analysis were conducted to investigate the duration of T&R ED visits. Duration for each visit was computed by taking the difference between admission and discharge times. The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD for 2008 were used in the analysis. Results The mean duration of T&R ED visit was 195.7 minutes. The average duration of ED visits increased from 8 a.m. until noon, then decreased until midnight at which we observed an approximately 70-minute spike in average duration. We found a substantial difference in mean duration of ED visits (over 90 minutes between Mondays and other weekdays during the transition time from the evening of the day before to the early morning hours. Black / African American patients had a 21.4-minute longer mean duration of visits compared to white patients. The mean duration of visits at teaching hospitals was substantially longer than at non-teaching hospitals (243.8 versus 175.6 minutes. Hospitals with large bed size were associated with longer duration of visits (222.2 minutes when compared to hospitals with small bed size (172.4 minutes or those with medium bed size (166.5 minutes. The risk-adjusted results show that mean duration of visits on Mondays are longer by about 4 and 9 percents when compared to mean duration of visits on non-Monday workdays and weekends, respectively. Conclusions The duration of T&R ED visits varied significantly by admission hour, day of the week, patient volume, patient characteristics, hospital characteristics and area characteristics.

  7. Factors affecting yearly and monthly visits to Taipei Zoo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Ai-Tsen; Lin, Yann-Jou

    2018-02-01

    This study investigated factors affecting yearly and monthly numbers of visits to Taipei Zoo. Both linear and nonlinear regression models were used to estimate yearly visits. The results of both models showed that the "opening effect" and "animal star effect" had a significantly positive effect on yearly visits, while a SARS outbreak had a negative effect. The number of years had a significant influence on yearly visits. Results showed that the nonlinear model had better explanatory power and fitted the variations of visits better. Results of monthly model showed that monthly visits were significantly influenced by time fluctuations, weather conditions, and the animal star effect. Chinese New Year, summer vacation, numbers of holidays, and animal star exhibitions increased the number of monthly visits, while the number of days with temperatures at or below 15 °C, the number of days with temperatures at or above 30 °C, and the number of rainy days had significantly negative effects. Furthermore, the model of monthly visits showed that the animal star effect could last for over two quarters. The results of this study clarify the factors affecting visits to an outdoor recreation site and confirm the importance of meteorological factors to recreation use.

  8. Fabrication of novel biodegradable porous bone scaffolds based on amphiphilic hydroxyapatite nanorods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zheng, Xiaoyan; Hui, Junfeng [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Shaanxi R& D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, School of Chemical and Engineering, Northwest University, Xi' an 710069, Shaanxi, PR China2 (China); Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecule Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Physico-Inorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi' an 710069, Shaanxi (China); Li, Hui; Zhu, Chenhui [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Shaanxi R& D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, School of Chemical and Engineering, Northwest University, Xi' an 710069, Shaanxi, PR China2 (China); Hua, Xiufu, E-mail: hua_xiufu@163.com [Department of Scientific Research and Development, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Ma, Haixia, E-mail: mahx@nwu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecule Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Physico-Inorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi' an 710069, Shaanxi (China); Fan, Daidi, E-mail: fandaidi@nwu.edu.cn [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Shaanxi R& D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, School of Chemical and Engineering, Northwest University, Xi' an 710069, Shaanxi, PR China2 (China)

    2017-06-01

    This paper describes a new synthetic strategy and biological application for novel amphiphilic hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanorods. The prepared HAp nanorods were able to be dispersed in water, ethyl alcohol and cyclohexane. The co-anchoring of the multidentate ligands of PEG 20000 and hydrophobic oleic acid (OA) on the rods' surfaces endowed them with excellent amphibious properties. Utilizing amphiphilic HAp nanorods with excellent biocompatibility as the inorganic phase, human-like collagen (HLC) as the organic phase and natural genipin as the cross-linker, optimal HLC/HAp porous scaffolds (HLC: HAp = 1:4, w/w) were fabricated. The compression stress and three-point bending strength of the scaffolds with pore diameters of 150 to 200 μm reached approximately 3.4 MPa and 5.4 MPa, respectively, and their porosity was 77.35 ± 3.75%. Cytological tests showed that HLC/HAp scaffolds could contribute to cell proliferation and differentiation. The results indicated that these novel amphiphilic HAp nanorods can be expected to become recognized as an excellent inorganic material for the porous scaffolds used in repairing bone and related applications. - Highlights: • A simple and effective hydrothermal method was developed for preparing uniform HAp nanorods with amphiphilic surfaces. • The synthesized amphiphilic HAp nanorods could be dispersed in water, ethyl alcohol or cyclohexane. • The prepared HLC/HAp porous scaffolds had good mechanical properties, biocompatibility and osteoconductive etc.

  9. Fabrication of novel biodegradable porous bone scaffolds based on amphiphilic hydroxyapatite nanorods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng, Xiaoyan; Hui, Junfeng; Li, Hui; Zhu, Chenhui; Hua, Xiufu; Ma, Haixia; Fan, Daidi

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes a new synthetic strategy and biological application for novel amphiphilic hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanorods. The prepared HAp nanorods were able to be dispersed in water, ethyl alcohol and cyclohexane. The co-anchoring of the multidentate ligands of PEG 20000 and hydrophobic oleic acid (OA) on the rods' surfaces endowed them with excellent amphibious properties. Utilizing amphiphilic HAp nanorods with excellent biocompatibility as the inorganic phase, human-like collagen (HLC) as the organic phase and natural genipin as the cross-linker, optimal HLC/HAp porous scaffolds (HLC: HAp = 1:4, w/w) were fabricated. The compression stress and three-point bending strength of the scaffolds with pore diameters of 150 to 200 μm reached approximately 3.4 MPa and 5.4 MPa, respectively, and their porosity was 77.35 ± 3.75%. Cytological tests showed that HLC/HAp scaffolds could contribute to cell proliferation and differentiation. The results indicated that these novel amphiphilic HAp nanorods can be expected to become recognized as an excellent inorganic material for the porous scaffolds used in repairing bone and related applications. - Highlights: • A simple and effective hydrothermal method was developed for preparing uniform HAp nanorods with amphiphilic surfaces. • The synthesized amphiphilic HAp nanorods could be dispersed in water, ethyl alcohol or cyclohexane. • The prepared HLC/HAp porous scaffolds had good mechanical properties, biocompatibility and osteoconductive etc.

  10. Multidimensional health locus of control and depressive symptoms in the multi-ethnic population of the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Dijk, Tobias K; Dijkshoorn, Henriëtte; van Dijk, Ad; Cremer, Stephan; Agyemang, Charles

    2013-12-01

    Ethnic inequalities in health in Western societies are well-documented but poorly understood. We examined associations between health locus of control (HLC) and depressive symptoms among native and non-native Dutch people in the Netherlands. We used hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses on a representative sample of the multi-ethnic population of Amsterdam and The Hague (n = 10,302). HLC was measured with the multidimensional health locus of control scale. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Kessler Psychological Distress scale. Multivariate analyses showed that HLC contributes to ethnic differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms. Respondents who scored high on external locus of control (PHLC) were more likely to have depressive symptoms than those with a low score on PHLC (β = 0.133, p locus of control (IHLC) were less likely to have depressive symptoms compared to those scoring low on IHLC (β = -0.134, p < 0.001). The associations were most pronounced among Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch respondents. Our findings suggest that HLC contributes to ethnic inequalities in depressive symptoms, especially among Turkish and Moroccan ethnic groups. Professionals (e.g. clinicians and policy makers) need to take HLC into account when assessing and treating depression among ethnic minority groups, particularly in Turkish and Moroccan populations. Future research should look further into the associations within these groups.

  11. Visit of the Italian President

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    "CERN stands as the demonstration of the great results that science can achieve [...] when it succeeds in getting all the main players in international scientific cooperation involved," stated the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, in front of an overcrowded and enthusiastic Main Auditorium. The President visited CERN on 2nd December, and met the CERN directorate as well as the Italians at CERN. With about 1500 Italians working at CERN, which is one sixth of the total personnel, they are the second largest nationality at CERN. The Italian President visited the CMS assembly hall and the LHC superconducting magnet test hall before meeting the CERN community, in particular Italian personnel, in the main auditorium. There he emphasised the role of CERN as a transnational model for research which not only achieved great results in science but is also a powerful vehicle for progress in other fields. President Ciampi visits the LHC superconducting test hall together with Luciano Maiani and Lu...

  12. Piloting a Statewide Home Visiting Quality Improvement Learning Collaborative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goyal, Neera K; Rome, Martha G; Massie, Julie A; Mangeot, Colleen; Ammerman, Robert T; Breckenridge, Jye; Lannon, Carole M

    2017-02-01

    Objective To pilot test a statewide quality improvement (QI) collaborative learning network of home visiting agencies. Methods Project timeline was June 2014-May 2015. Overall objectives of this 8-month initiative were to assess the use of collaborative QI to engage local home visiting agencies and to test the use of statewide home visiting data for QI. Outcome measures were mean time from referral to first home visit, percentage of families with at least three home visits per month, mean duration of participation, and exit rate among infants learning. A statewide data system was used to generate monthly run charts. Results Mean time from referral to first home visit was 16.7 days, and 9.4% of families received ≥3 visits per month. Mean participation was 11.7 months, and the exit rate among infants learning network, agencies tested and measured changes using statewide and internal data. Potential next steps are to develop and test new metrics with current pilot sites and a larger collaborative.

  13. Visiting Again? Subjective Well-Being of Children in Elementary School and Repeated Visits to School Health Nurses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leaver, Cynthia A.

    2014-01-01

    Background: Children with vague complaints are without chronic illness, and who repeatedly visit the school nurse may be at risk for limited academic success. This study compares student reports of subjective well-being between children who do and do not repeatedly visit the school nurse with vague complaints. Methods: Children in grades 4 through…

  14. A royal visit

    CERN Multimedia

    Katarina Anthony

    2014-01-01

    On Wednesday, 21 May, CERN received His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians, for a full-day visit of the Laboratory.   From left to right: Tiziano Camporesi, CMS Spokesperson; François Englert, Nobel Prize in Physics 2013; Rolf Heuer, CERN Director-General; His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians; Philippe Courard, Belgium's State Secretary for Scientific Policy and Walter Van Doninck, CERN Council Vice-President. Director-General Rolf Heuer welcomed King Philippe to CERN at Point 5 (Cessy). This was to be no small visit, with His Majesty accompanied by a host of diplomats, prominent Belgian physicists - including François Englert - and even members of Belgium's press corps. After quick introductions, the morning began with a tour of the CMS underground experimental area and the LHC tunnel at Point 5, guided by the CMS Collaboration Spokesperson, Tiziano Camporesi, and the Director for Accelerators and Technology, Frédérick Bord...

  15. VA Outpatient Visits by Administrative Parent, FY2010-2014

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Veterans Affairs — Outpatient visits by Administrative Parent. A visit is counted as a visit to one or more clinics or units within 1 calendar day at the site of care level. A patient...

  16. The ED use and non-urgent visits of elderly patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulacti, Umut; Lok, Ugur; Celik, Murat; Aktas, Nurettin; Polat, Haci

    2016-12-01

    To evaluate the use of the emergency department (ED) by elderly patients, their non-urgent visits and the prevalence of main disease for ED visits. This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients aged 65 years and over who visited the ED of a tertiary care university hospital in Turkey between January 2015 and January 2016 retrospectively. A total of 36,369 elderly patients who visited the ED were included in the study. The rate of ED visits by elderly patients was higher than their representation within the general population (p elderly patients visiting polyclinics was 15.8%, the rate of elderly patients visiting the ED was 24.3% (p elderly age groups (p elderly population (17.5%, CI: 17.1-17.9). The proportion of ED visits for non-urgent conditions was 23.4%. Most of the ED visits were during the non-business hours (51.1%), and they were highest in the winter season (25.9%) and in January (10.2%). The hospitalization rate was 9.4%, and 37.9% of hospitalized patients were admitted to intensive care units. The proportion of ED visits by elderly patients was higher than their representation within the general population. Elderly patients often visited the ED instead of a polyclinic. The rate of inappropriate ED use by elderly patients in this hospital was higher than in other countries.

  17. Virtual Visits in Home Health Care for Older Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Marie Lunde Husebø

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. This review identifies the content of virtual visits in community nursing services to older adults and explores the manner in which service users and the nurses use virtual visits. Design. An integrative literature review. Method. Data collection comprised a literature search in three databases: Cinahl, Medline, and PubMed. In addition, a manual search of reference lists and expert consultation were performed. A total of 12 articles met the inclusion criteria. The articles were reviewed in terms of study characteristics, service content and utilization, and patient and health care provider experience. Results. Our review shows that in most studies the service is delivered on a daily basis and in combination with in-person visits. The findings suggest that older home-dwelling patients can benefit from virtual visits in terms of enhanced social inclusion and medication compliance. Service users and their nurses found virtual visits satisfactory and suitable for care delivery in home care to the elderly. Evidence for cost-saving benefits of virtual visits was not found. Conclusions. The findings can inform the planning of virtual visits in home health care as a complementary service to in-person visits, in order to meet the increasingly complex needs of older adults living at home.

  18. Hydrocarbon footprints as a record of bumblebee flower visitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witjes, Sebastian; Eltz, Thomas

    2009-11-01

    Bumblebees leave traces of cuticular hydrocarbons on flowers they visit, with the amount deposited being positively related to the number of visits. We asked whether such footprint hydrocarbons are retained on flowers for sufficiently long periods of time so as to reflect bee visitation in pollination studies. In laboratory experiments, flower corollae (Primula veris, Digitalis grandiflora) visited by Bombus terrestris workers retained bee-derived nonacosenes (C(29)H(58)) in near-unchanged quantities for 24 hours, both at 15 and 25 degrees C. Additionally, synthetic (Z)-9-tricosene applied to flower corollae of the deadnettle Lamium maculatum was retained for 48 hours in an unchanged quantity. In a field survey, the amount of footprint alkenes on flowers of comfrey (Symphytum officinale) plants was positively correlated with the number of bumblebee visits that those plants had received during the day. Together, these data suggest that flowers retain a long-term quantitative record of bumblebee visitation. The analysis of petal extracts by gas chromatography could provide a cheap and reliable way of quantifying bumblebee visits in landscape scale studies of pollination.

  19. The ED use and non-urgent visits of elderly patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Umut Gulacti

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the use of the emergency department (ED by elderly patients, their non-urgent visits and the prevalence of main disease for ED visits. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients aged 65 years and over who visited the ED of a tertiary care university hospital in Turkey between January 2015 and January 2016 retrospectively. Results: A total of 36,369 elderly patients who visited the ED were included in the study. The rate of ED visits by elderly patients was higher than their representation within the general population (p < 0.001. While the rate of elderly patients visiting polyclinics was 15.8%, the rate of elderly patients visiting the ED was 24.3% (p < 0.001. For both genders, the rates of ED visits for patients between 65 and 74 years old was higher than for other elderly age groups (p < 0.001. The prevalence of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI was the highest within the elderly population (17.5%, CI: 17.1–17.9. The proportion of ED visits for non-urgent conditions was 23.4%. Most of the ED visits were during the non-business hours (51.1%, and they were highest in the winter season (25.9% and in January (10.2%. The hospitalization rate was 9.4%, and 37.9% of hospitalized patients were admitted to intensive care units. Conclusion: The proportion of ED visits by elderly patients was higher than their representation within the general population. Elderly patients often visited the ED instead of a polyclinic. The rate of inappropriate ED use by elderly patients in this hospital was higher than in other countries. Keywords: Non-urgent, Prevalence, Visit, Main disease, Elderly patient, Emergency department

  20. Examination of office visit patient preferences for the after-visit summary (AVS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neuberger, Marolee; Dontje, Katherine; Holzman, Greg; Corser, Bill; Keskimaki, Abigail; Chant, Ericka

    2014-01-01

    The federal government advocates the practice of routinely providing an after-visit summary (AVS) to patients after each office-based visit as an element of stage 1 meaningful use. A significant potential benefit of the AVS is improved patient engagement achieved by enabling patients and family members to better understand and retain key health information. The methodology for this study was a mixed-methods pilot study to examine, through the perspectives of adult primary care patients, how relevant and actionable data can be better formatted in the AVS. Results of this study suggest that the goal of the AVS to serve as a communication tool to engage and support patients is frequently not being met. Further study is needed to understand, from the viewpoints of patients and providers, what barriers are keeping them from optimally providing and using the information on the AVS.

  1. Life satisfaction and frequency of doctor visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Eric S; Park, Nansook; Sun, Jennifer K; Smith, Jacqui; Peterson, Christopher

    2014-01-01

    Identifying positive psychological factors that reduce health care use may lead to innovative efforts that help build a more sustainable and high-quality health care system. Prospective studies indicate that life satisfaction is associated with good health behaviors, enhanced health, and longer life, but little information about the association between life satisfaction and health care use is available. We tested whether higher life satisfaction was prospectively associated with fewer doctor visits. We also examined potential interactions between life satisfaction and health behaviors. Participants were 6379 adults from the Health and Retirement Study, a prospective and nationally representative panel study of American adults older than 50 years. Participants were tracked for 4 years. We analyzed the data using a generalized linear model with a gamma distribution and log link. Higher life satisfaction was associated with fewer doctor visits. On a 6-point life satisfaction scale, each unit increase in life satisfaction was associated with an 11% decrease in doctor visits--after adjusting for sociodemographic factors (relative risk = 0.89, 95% confidence interval = 0.86-0.93). The most satisfied respondents (n = 1121; 17.58%) made 44% fewer doctor visits than did the least satisfied (n = 182; 2.85%). The association between higher life satisfaction and reduced doctor visits remained even after adjusting for baseline health and a wide range of sociodemographic, psychosocial, and health-related covariates (relative risk = 0.96, 95% confidence interval = 0.93-0.99). Higher life satisfaction is associated with fewer doctor visits, which may have important implications for reducing health care costs.

  2. Environmental lead exposure is associated with visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure variability in the US adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faramawi, Mohammed F; Delongchamp, Robert; Lin, Yu-Sheng; Liu, Youcheng; Abouelenien, Saly; Fischbach, Lori; Jadhav, Supriya

    2015-04-01

    The association between environmental lead exposure and blood pressure variability, an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is unexplored and unknown. The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis that lead exposure is associated with blood pressure variability. American participants 17 years of age or older from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III were included in the analysis. Participants' blood lead concentrations expressed as micrograms per deciliter were determined. The standard deviations of visit-to-visit systolic and diastolic blood pressure were calculated to determine blood pressure variability. Multivariable regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, race, smoking and socioeconomic status were employed. The participants' mean age and mean blood lead concentration were 42.72 years and 3.44 mcg/dl, respectively. Systolic blood pressure variability was significantly associated with environmental lead exposure after adjusting for the effect of the confounders. The unadjusted and adjusted means of visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure variability and the β coefficient of lead exposure were 3.44, 3.33 mcg/dl, β coefficient = 0.07, P variability. Screening adults with fluctuating blood pressure for lead exposure could be warranted.

  3. CERT TST December 2015 Visit Summary

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Little, Robert Currier [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Bailey, Teresa S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Gamblin, G. Todd [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Olinger, Chad Tracy [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Pautz, Shawn D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Williams, Alan B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2016-01-25

    The annual PSAAP II TST visit to Texas A&M’s CERT Center was held on December 1-3, 2015. The agenda for the visit is attached. Non-TAMU attendees were: TST Members – Teresa Bailey (LLNL), Todd Gamblin (LLNL), Bob Little (LANL) – Chair, Chad Olinger (LANL), Shawn Pautz (SNL), Alan Williams (SNL);Other Lab staff – Skip Kahler (LANL), Ana Kupresanin (LLNL), and Rob Lowrie (LANL); AST Members – Nelson Hoffman (LANL) and Bob Voigt (Leidos) The TST wishes to express our appreciation to all involved with CERT for the high-quality posters and presentations and for the attention to logistics that enabled a successful visit. We have broken our comments into four sections: (1) Kudos, (2) Recommendations, (3) Feedback on Priorities for April Review, and (4) Follow-Up Activities with Labs.

  4. Mapping and Visiting in Functional and Object-oriented Programming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørmark, Kurt; Thomsen, Bent; Thomsen, Lone Leth

    2008-01-01

    Mapping and visiting represent different programming styles for traversals of collections of data.  Mapping is rooted in the functional programming paradigm, and visiting is rooted in the object-oriented programming paradigm.  This paper explores the similarities and differences between mapping...... and visiting, seen across the traditions in the two different programming paradigms. The paper is concluded with recommendations for mapping and visiting in programming languages that support both the functional and the object-oriented paradigms....

  5. Applications and limitations of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention miniature light traps for measuring biting densities of African malaria vector populations: a pooled-analysis of 13 comparisons with human landing catches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briët, Olivier J T; Huho, Bernadette J; Gimnig, John E; Bayoh, Nabie; Seyoum, Aklilu; Sikaala, Chadwick H; Govella, Nicodem; Diallo, Diadier A; Abdullah, Salim; Smith, Thomas A; Killeen, Gerry F

    2015-06-18

    Measurement of densities of host-seeking malaria vectors is important for estimating levels of disease transmission, for appropriately allocating interventions, and for quantifying their impact. The gold standard for estimating mosquito-human contact rates is the human landing catch (HLC), where human volunteers catch mosquitoes that land on their exposed body parts. This approach necessitates exposure to potentially infectious mosquitoes, and is very labour intensive. There are several safer and less labour-intensive methods, with Centers for Disease Control light traps (LT) placed indoors near occupied bed nets being the most widely used. This paper presents analyses of 13 studies with paired mosquito collections of LT and HLC to evaluate these methods for their consistency in sampling indoor-feeding mosquitoes belonging to the two major taxa of malaria vectors across Africa, the Anopheles gambiae sensu lato complex and the Anopheles funestus s.l. group. Both overall and study-specific sampling efficiencies of LT compared with HLC were computed, and regression methods that allow for the substantial variations in mosquito counts made by either method were used to test whether the sampling efficacy varies with mosquito density. Generally, LT were able to collect similar numbers of mosquitoes to the HLC indoors, although the relative sampling efficacy, measured by the ratio of LT:HLC varied considerably between studies. The overall best estimate for An. gambiae s.l. was 1.06 (95% credible interval: 0.68-1.64) and for An. funestus s.l. was 1.37 (0.70-2.68). Local calibration exercises are not reproducible, since only in a few studies did LT sample proportionally to HLC, and there was no geographical pattern or consistent trend with average density in the tendency for LT to either under- or over-sample. LT are a crude tool at best, but are relatively easy to deploy on a large scale. Spatial and temporal variation in mosquito densities and human malaria transmission

  6. The Elixir of Visiting: A Qualitative Study on the Experiences of Conscious Mechanically Ventilated Patients in Intensive Care Units Regarding Visiting Family Members

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatemeh Hajiabadi

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Visiting family members is one of the basic human needs; however, there is contradictory evidence about the advantages and disadvantages of the existing visiting systems.  Therefore, the investigation of patients’ preferences for the visiting strategies, and achievement of their authentic experiences can significantly contribute to decision-making about the type of acceptable and approved policies in this domain. Aim: The aim of this study was to explain the experiences of conscious patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in Intensive Care Units regarding their visits with their family members. Method: This qualitative study was conducted on 15 conscious mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in Iran in 2017. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and observations. The sampling was performed through purposive sampling technique, which was continued until data saturation to select the individuals with rich experiences about the subject under investigation. The data were analyzed through the conventional type of qualitative content analysis. Results: Out of the initial 385 codes, 11 subthemes and 5 main themes were extracted during the analysis process, all of which were placed under the general concept of “the elixir of visiting”. The five main themes included visiting as a healing agent, visiting as an agent for the enhancement of perceived support, visiting as an agent for gaining hope, visiting as the patient’s urgent need, and preference for planed visiting. Implications for Practice: The results of the present study showed that visiting was like an elixir for the conscious patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in the Intensive Care Units. This practice could allay lots of their pains and lead to numerous valuable effects, such as elimination of loneliness and sadness, increased hope for survival and recovery, and enhancement of a sense of support. Therefore, nursing

  7. Unplanned Hospital Visits - National

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Unplanned Hospital Visits – national data. This data set includes national-level data for the hospital return days (or excess days in acute care) measures, the...

  8. UK school visit: Alfriston School for girls

    CERN Multimedia

    Sophie Louise Hetherton

    2014-01-01

    Pupils with learning disabilities from Alfriston School in the UK visited the CMS detector last week. This visit was funded by the UK's Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) as part of a grant awarded to support activities that will help to build the girls’ self-esteem and interest in physics.   Alfriston School students at CMS. On Friday, 10 October, pupils from Alfriston School – a UK secondary school catering for girls with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities – paid a special visit to CERN. Dave Waterman, a science teacher at the school, recently received a Public Engagement Small Award from the STFC, which enabled the group of girls and accompanying teachers to travel to Switzerland and visit CERN. The awards form part of a project to boost the girls’ confidence and interest in physics. The aim is to create enthusiastic role models with first-hand experience of science who can inspire their peers back hom...

  9. Nobel prize-winner Heinrich Rohrer visits CERN

    CERN Document Server

    2008-01-01

    The Nobel prize-winner Heinrich Rohrer met young scientists on a recent visit to the Laboratory. From left to right: Xavier Gréhant (CERN Openlab), Ewa Stanecka (ATLAS), Magda Kowalska (ISOLDE), Heinrich Rohrer, Stéphanie Beauceron (CMS) and Ana Gago Da Silva (UNOSAT).Heinrich Rohrer, who shared the 1986 Nobel prize for physics with Gerd Binnig for the design of the scanning tunnelling microscope, visited CERN on 25 June. Welcomed by the Director-General, Robert Aymar, he visited the ATLAS cavern and control room, the Computer Centre, the Unosat project, the Antimatter Decelerator and ISOLDE. At the end of his visit, he voiced his admiration for CERN and its personnel. As a renowned Nobel prize-winner Heinrich Rohrer has the opportunity to pass on his experience and enthusiasm to young scientists. During the evening meal, at which he met five young physicists and computer scientists, who were delighted with the chance to talk to him, he stressed the importance for re...

  10. Managing ecotourism visitation in protected areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marion, J.L.; Farrell, T.A.; Lindberg, Kreg; Wood, Megan Epler; Engeldrum, David

    1998-01-01

    Ecotourism management seeks to integrate and balance several potentially conflicting objectives: protection of natural and cultural resources, provision of recreation opportunities and generation of economic benefits. In the absence of effective planning and management, ecotourism can lead to significant negative impacts on vegetation, soil, water, wildlife, historic resources, cultures, and visitor experiences. This chapter reviews visitor-related natural resource and experience impacts associated with ecotourism within protected areas. The influence of factors that control the nature and extent of impacts are also reviewed, including type and amount of use, the variable resistance and resilience of environmental attributes such as vegetation and soil types, and the role of management in shaping visitation, resources and facilities to support visitation while minimizing associated impacts. Implications for managing the effects of protected area visitation are highlighted, including carrying capacity decision frameworks and selecting management strategies and tactics.

  11. Armenian visit

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    During his visit to CERN on 4 July 2003, Karen Chshmaritian, Armenian Minister for Trade and Economic Development, toured the ATLAS experimental cavern and assembly hall. From left to right: Aram Kotzinian, from the international organization JINR from Dubna, Marzio Nessi from ATLAS, Karen Chshmaritian, Armenian Minister for Trade and Economic Development, Zohrab Mnatsakanian, Ambassador at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations in Geneva, Alexandre Sissakian, Vice-Director of JINR and Peter Jenni, ATLAS spokesman.

  12. The ED use and non-urgent visits of elderly patients

    OpenAIRE

    Gulacti, Umut; Lok, Ugur; Celik, Murat; Aktas, Nurettin; Polat, Haci

    2016-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the use of the emergency department (ED) by elderly patients, their non-urgent visits and the prevalence of main disease for ED visits. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients aged 65 years and over who visited the ED of a tertiary care university hospital in Turkey between January 2015 and January 2016 retrospectively. Results: A total of 36,369 elderly patients who visited the ED were included in the study. The rate of ED visits by elderly patien...

  13. Visit-to-visit cholesterol variability correlates with coronary atheroma progression and clinical outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Donald; Nicholls, Stephen J; St John, Julie; Elshazly, Mohamed B; Kapadia, Samir R; Tuzcu, E Murat; Nissen, Steven E; Puri, Rishi

    2018-04-21

    Utilizing serial intravascular ultrasonography (IVUS), we aimed to exam the association of intra-individual lipid variability, coronary atheroma progression, and clinical outcomes. We performed a post hoc patient-level analysis of nine clinical trials involving 4976 patients with coronary artery disease who underwent serial coronary IVUS in the setting of a range of medical therapies. We assessed the associations between progression in percent atheroma volume (ΔPAV), clinical outcomes, and visit-to-visit lipid variability including low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), non-HDL-C, total cholesterol (TC)/HDL-C, and apolipoprotein B (ApoB). Variability of lipid parameters was measured using intra-individual standard deviation over 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Atherogenic lipoprotein variability significantly associated with ΔPAV [odds ratio (95% confidence interval; P-value), LDL-C: 1.09 (1.02, 1.17, P = 0.01); non-HDL-C: 1.10 (1.02, 1.18, P = 0.01); TC/HDL-C: 1.14 (1.06, 1.24, P = 0.001); ApoB: 1.13 (1.03, 1.24, P = 0.01)]. Survival curves revealed significant stepwise relationships between cumulative major adverse cardiovascular events and increasing quartiles of atherogenic lipoprotein variability at 24-months follow-up (log-rank P C). Stronger associations were noted between achieved lipoprotein levels and ΔPAV [LDL-C: 1.27 (1.17, 1.39; P C: 1.32 (1.21, 1.45; P C: 1.31 (1.19, 1.45; P < 0.001); ApoB: 1.20 (1.07, 1.35; P = 0.003)]. Greater visit-to-visit variability in atherogenic lipoprotein levels significantly associates with coronary atheroma progression and clinical outcomes, although the association between achieved atherogenic lipoproteins and atheroma progression appears stronger. These data highlight the importance of achieving low and consistent atherogenic lipoprotein levels to promote plaque regression and improve clinical outcomes.

  14. Visit to China's ARJ21 Aircraft Manufacturing Facility

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Balut, Stephen J; McNicol, David L; Nelson, J. R; Harmon, Bruce R; Holder, Stephen G

    2008-01-01

    During a December 2007 visit to China to share information about civilian aircraft costs, a delegation from IDA visited the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Facility where the commercial chinese ARJ21...

  15. An examination of constraints to wilderness visitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gary T. Green; J. Michael Bowker; Cassandra Y. Johnson; H. Ken Cordell; Xiongfei Wang

    2007-01-01

    Certain social groups appear notably less in wilderness visitation surveys than their population proportion. This study examines whether different social groups in American society (minorities, women, rural dwellers, low income and less educated populations) perceive more constraints to wilderness visitation than other groups. Logistic regressions were fit to data from...

  16. Tourists' motivations for visiting Kakum National Park, Ghana ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Tourists' motivations for visiting Kakum National Park, Ghana. ... four main motivations of tourists who visited the park, namely adventure, education, ... Park were influenced by varied combinations of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors.

  17. Stennis visits Lake Cormorant school

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Alexis Harry, assistant director of Astro Camp at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, talks with students at Lake Cormorant (Miss.) Elementary School during a 'Living and Working in Space' presentation March 30. Stennis hosted the school presentation during a visit to the Oxford area. Harry, who also is a high school biology teacher in Slidell, La., spent time discussing space travel with students and answering questions they had about the experience, including queries about how astronauts eat, sleep and drink in space. The presentation was sponsored by the NASA Office of External Affairs and Education at Stennis. For more information about NASA education initiatives, visit: http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/.

  18. Pharmacist home visits: A 1-year experience from a community pharmacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monte, Scott V; Passafiume, Sarah N; Kufel, Wesley D; Comerford, Patrick; Trzewieczynski, Dean P; Andrus, Kenneth; Brody, Peter M

    2016-01-01

    To provide experience on the methods and costs for delivering a large-scale community pharmacist home visit service. Independent urban community pharmacy, Buffalo, NY. Mobile Pharmacy Solutions provides traditional community pharmacy walk-in service and a suite of clinically oriented services, including outbound adherence calls linked to home delivery, payment planning, medication refill synchronization, adherence packaging, and pharmacist home visits. Pharmacist daily staffing included three dispensing pharmacists, one residency-trained pharmacist, and two postgraduate year 1 community pharmacy residents. A large-scale community pharmacy home visit service delivered over a 1-year period. Pharmacist time and cost to administer the home visit service as well as home visit request sources and description of patient demographics. A total of 172 visits were conducted (137 initial, 35 follow-up). Patients who received a home visit averaged 9.8 ± 5.2 medications and 3.0 ± 1.6 chronic disease states. On average, a home visit required 2.0 ± 0.8 hours, which included travel time. The percentages of visits completed by pharmacists and residents were 60% and 40%, respectively. The amounts of time to complete a visit were similar. Average home visit cost including pharmacist time and travel was $119 ($147 for a pharmacist, $77 for a resident). In this community pharmacy-based home visit service, costs are an important factor, with each pharmacist visit requiring 2 hours to complete. This experience provides a blueprint and real-world perspective for community pharmacies endeavoring to implement a home visit service and sets a foundation for future prospective trials to evaluate the impact of the service on important indicators of health and cost. Copyright © 2016 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. President of the Slovak Republic visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Caroline Duc

    2012-01-01

    On 11 September 2012, the President of the Slovak Republic, Ivan Gašparovič, visited CERN accompanied by the First Lady and a delegation of 67, including the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Economy and the Ambassadors of the Slovak Republic to Switzerland, France and the Office of the United Nations. The visit by representatives of the Slovak Republic follows the Slovak Republic’s hosting of the CERN Accelerator School in the region of Bratislava. After being welcomed to CERN in the morning by CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer, the members of the Slovak government were given the opportunity to get a glimpse of the LHC and to visit the ALICE experiment at Point 2. The President and other members of the Slovak delegation then met representatives of Slovak universities and industries at an exhibition of their work in the hall of Building 500. The President then briefly spoke to Slovak journalists and signed the VIP visitors book. The visit last...

  20. Injury patterns in children with frequent emergency department visits

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laursen, B

    2006-01-01

    -14 years. Information on all ED visits was obtained from the Danish National Patient Registry. Injury type, place of accident, injury mechanism, admission, and distance to ED were compared between children with frequent ED visits (five or more during the three years) and children with only one visit...... less severe injuries and more dislocations, sprains, and strains....

  1. Perceived health locus of control, self-esteem, and its relations to psychological well-being status in Iranian students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moshki, M; Ashtarian, H

    2010-01-01

    Health locus of control (HLC) has been associated with a variety of ailments and health outcomes and designed to predict behaviors and cognitive processes relevant to mental and physical health. This study investigated the relationships between perceived health locus of control, self-esteem, and mental health status among Iranian students. In this analytical study the subjects were recruited from students in Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Iran, who studied in the first year (N=154). Students completed the questionnaires for assessing demographic, perceived health locus of control, self - esteem and psychological well- being data. The statistical analysis revealed a negative relationship between perceived Internal HLC and self-esteem with psychological well-being. The positive correlation of the perceived Chance HLC with psychological well-being was statistically significant (r= 0.21, Pself-esteem was statistically significant (r= 0.25, Plow perceived Internal HLC, self-esteem and psychological problems was found among these students. The findings will be addressed in relation to their implications for effective mental health education based on health locus of control especially internal and powerful others beliefs associated with self-esteem for students. This will require additional monitoring and uninterrupted trying in order to be effective.

  2. Development of the BG-Malaria trap as an alternative to human-landing catches for the capture of Anopheles darlingi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renata Antonaci Gama

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Although the human-landing catch (HLC method is the most effective for collecting anthropophilic anophelines, it has been increasingly abandoned, primarily for ethical considerations. The objective of the present study was to develop a new trap for the collection of Anopheles darlingi . The initial trials were conducted using the BG-Sentinel trap as a standard for further trap development based on colour, airflow direction and illumination. The performance of the trap was then compared with those of the CDC, Fay-Prince, counterflow geometry trap (CFG and HLC. All trials were conducted outdoors between 06:00 pm-08:00 pm. Female specimens of An. darlingi were dissected to determine their parity. A total of 8,334 anophelines were captured, of which 4,945 were identified as An. darlingi . The best trap configuration was an all-white version, with an upward airflow and no required light source. This configuration was subsequently named BG-Malaria (BGM. The BGM captured significantly more anophelines than any of the other traps tested and was similar to HLC with respect to the number and parity of anophelines. The BGM trap can be used as an alternative to HLC for collecting anophelines.

  3. Electronic medical records and efficiency and productivity during office visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furukawa, Michael F

    2011-04-01

    To estimate the relationship between electronic medical record (EMR) use and efficiency of utilization and provider productivity during visits to US office-based physicians. Cross-sectional analysis of the 2006-2007 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The sample included 62,710 patient visits to 2625 physicians. EMR systems included demographics, clinical notes, prescription orders, and laboratory and imaging results. Efficiency was measured as utilization of examinations, laboratory tests, radiology procedures, health education, nonmedication treatments, and medications. Productivity was measured as total services provided per 20-minute period. Survey-weighted regressions estimated association of EMR use with services provided, visit intensity/duration, and productivity. Marginal effects were estimated by averaging across all visits and by major reason for visit. EMR use was associated with higher probability of any examination (7.7%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4%, 13.1%); any laboratory test (5.7%, 95% CI = 2.6%, 8.8%); any health education (4.9%, 95% CI = 0.2%, 9.6%); and fewer laboratory tests (-7.1%, 95% CI = -14.2%, -0.1%). During pre/post surgery visits, EMR use was associated with 7.3% (95% CI= -12.9%, -1.8%) fewer radiology procedures. EMR use was not associated with utilization of nonmedication treatments and medications, or visit duration. During routine visits for a chronic problem, EMR use was associated with 11.2% (95% CI = 5.7%, 16.8%) more diagnostic/screening services provided per 20-minute period. EMR use had a mixed association with efficiency and productivity during office visits. EMRs may improve provider productivity, especially during visits for a new problem and routine chronic care.

  4. Iranian and Kazakh representatives visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    On 1st and 4th March respectively, CERN received visits from Asset Issekeshev, Kazakhstan's Vice-Minister of Industry and Trade, and Reza Mansouri, Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Asset Issekeshev and his delegation came to CERN with the aim of learning "the European way of building strong and effective ties between science and the industrial sector". Welcomed by Maximilian Metzger, CERN's Secretary-General, he visited the ATLAS assembly hall and the CLIC installations before signing the visitors' book. After a short visit to Point 5 (CMS), Reza Mansouri met CERN's Director-General, Robert Aymar, before talking to Iranian PhD students working on their theses at CERN. Asset Issekeshev, Kazakhstan's Vice-Minister of Industry and Trade, signs the visitors' book, watched by Maximilian Metzger, CERN's Secretary-General.From left to right: Mojtaba Mohammadi and Majid Hashemi (Iranian PhD students at CERN); Dr Daniel Denegri (CMS), Professor Re...

  5. Nobel laureate in literature visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2015-01-01

    Gao Xingjian, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000, was invited to visit CERN as part of European Researchers’ Night. During his visit to the Laboratory, he took time out to give us a dose of his optimism.   Gao Xingjian in IdeaSquare's bus during his visit to CERN.   “The idea of bringing scientists and artists together is wonderful!” An enthusiastic first-time visitor to the Laboratory, Gao Xingjian regaled his audience with his thoughts on human reality at the conference 'Made of Shadow and Light', in which he took part on 24 September, alongside Sergio Bertolucci, CERN’s Director for Research and Computing. Interested in science since his childhood (his marks in physics and maths at school were excellent, he explains with a smile), he draws an interesting parallel between human consciousness and dark matter: “The concept of dark matter makes complete sense to me,”&nbs...

  6. Visits to Tier-1 Computing Centres

    CERN Multimedia

    Dario Barberis

    At the beginning of 2007 it became clear that an enhanced level of communication is needed between the ATLAS computing organisation and the Tier-1 centres. Most usual meetings are ATLAS-centric and cannot address the issues of each Tier-1; therefore we decided to organise a series of visits to the Tier-1 centres and focus on site issues. For us, ATLAS computing management, it is most useful to realize how each Tier-1 centre is organised, and its relation to the associated Tier-2s; indeed their presence at these visits is also very useful. We hope it is also useful for sites... at least, we are told so! The usual participation includes, from the ATLAS side: computing management, operations, data placement, resources, accounting and database deployment coordinators; and from the Tier-1 side: computer centre management, system managers, Grid infrastructure people, network, storage and database experts, local ATLAS liaison people and representatives of the associated Tier-2s. Visiting Tier-1 centres (1-4). ...

  7. ITU World Youth Forum visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2009-01-01

    About 250 students selected by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to participate in the 2009 Youth Forum made CERN a primary destination for this year’s World Youth Forum event. The 250 students participating in the 2009 Youth Forum attend a presentation in the Globe of Science and Innovation.On Tuesday 6 October, the group visited several sites including the Microcosm exhibition and the ATLAS cavern to get a glimpse of what CERN does and the exciting science that is studied here. Since 2001 and every three years, the ITU World Forum brings together young men and women, aged 18-23, to learn about new technologies and the world around them. This year’s group included participants from one hundred and twenty-five different countries. This was the first time that the event involved a visit to CERN. When asked why CERN was a destination, Pascal Biner, organizer of the visit for ITU, explained that CERN was a necessary stop given the Forum’s base in Gen...

  8. 75 FR 60082 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT), National...

  9. 76 FR 2662 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of partially closed meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT...

  10. Auger Physicists visit CMS

    CERN Multimedia

    Hoch, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Visit at CERN P5 CMS in the experimental cavern Alan Watson, Auger Spokesperson Emeritus, University of Leeds; Jim Cronin, Nobel Laureate, Auger Spokesperson Emeritus, University of Chicago; Jim Virdee, CMS Former Spokesperson, Imperial College; Jim Matthews, Auger Co-Spokesperson, Louisiana State University

  11. 76 FR 29195 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee...

  12. 78 FR 57839 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee...

  13. 78 FR 29704 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-21

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee...

  14. 78 FR 292 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-03

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee...

  15. 77 FR 3232 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee...

  16. 76 FR 59659 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee...

  17. 77 FR 32570 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. SUMMARY: The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee...

  18. Visiting 'J' Village

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tomek, J.

    2012-01-01

    Prior to entrance into twenty km evacuated zone of Fukushima Daiichi, there is so called 'J' Village. Until now, it was a centre used by the Japan football representation. Today, employees working at this locality as well as all visits pass this village. They can only enter the evacuated area in a bus, equipped with an electronic dosimeter, with a face mask, gloves, and shoe covers. (author)

  19. An Algerian Minister visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    The Algerian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Rachid Haraoubia, visited CERN on 14 November. His party included the Rector of the University of Blida and the Director of the Algerian Ecole Nationale Polytechnique. Welcomed by CERN's Director-General, Robert Aymar, and Secretary-General, Maximilien Metzger, he signed the VIP Visitors' Book before going on to visit the ATLAS experiment and the LHC tunnel. He then had the opportunity to meet Algerian scientists working at CERN. Some fifteen Algerian physicists attached to European and US institutes are participating in the LHC experiments, in particular ATLAS. A formal collaboration agreement between Algeria and CERN is expected to be drawn up in the near future.

  20. Parental Language and Return Visits to the Emergency Department After Discharge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuels-Kalow, Margaret E; Stack, Anne M; Amico, Kendra; Porter, Stephen C

    2017-06-01

    Return visits to the emergency department (ED) are used as a marker of quality of care. Limited English proficiency, along with other demographic and disease-specific factors, has been associated with increased risk of return visit, but the relationship between language, short-term return visits, and overall ED use has not been well characterized. This is a planned secondary analysis of a prospective cohort examining the ED discharge process for English- or Spanish-speaking parents of children aged 2 months to 2 years with fever and/or respiratory illness. At 1 year after the index visit, a standardized chart review was performed. The primary outcome was the number of ED visits within 72 hours of the index visit. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the relative importance of predictor variables and adjust for confounders. There were 202 parents eligible for inclusion, of whom 23% were Spanish speaking. In addition, 6.9% of the sample had a return visit within 72 hours. After adjustment for confounders, Spanish language was associated with return visit within 72 hours (odds ratio, 3.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-11.90) but decreased risk of a second visit within the year (odds ratio, 0.28; 95% confidence interval, 0.12-0.66). Spanish-speaking parents are at an increased risk of 72-hour return ED visit but do not seem to be at increased risk of ED use during the year after their ED visit.

  1. Training Family Medicine Residents to Perform Home Visits: A CERA Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sairenji, Tomoko; Wilson, Stephen A; D'Amico, Frank; Peterson, Lars E

    2017-02-01

    Home visits have been shown to improve quality of care, save money, and improve outcomes. Primary care physicians are in an ideal position to provide these visits; of note, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education no longer requires home visits as a component of family medicine residency training. To investigate changes in home visit numbers and expectations, attitudes, and approaches to training among family medicine residency program directors. This research used the Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) national survey of family medicine program directors in 2015. Questions addressed home visit practices, teaching and evaluation methods, common types of patient and visit categories, and barriers. There were 252 responses from 455 possible respondents, representing a response rate of 55%. At most programs, residents performed 2 to 5 home visits by graduation in both 2014 (69% of programs, 174 of 252) and 2015 (68%, 172 of 252). The vast majority (68%, 172 of 252) of program directors expect less than one-third of their graduates to provide home visits after graduation. Scheduling difficulties, lack of faculty time, and lack of resident time were the top 3 barriers to residents performing home visits. There appeared to be no decline in resident-performed home visits in family medicine residencies 1 year after they were no longer required. Family medicine program directors may recognize the value of home visits despite a lack of few formal curricula.

  2. Synthesis and characterization of hyaluronic acid/human-like collagen hydrogels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Jingjing; Ma, Xiaoxuan; Fan, Daidi; Zhu, Chenhui; Deng, Jianjun; Hui, Junfeng; Ma, Pei

    2014-01-01

    Injectable hydrogel plays an important role in soft tissue filling and repair. We report an injectable hydrogel based on hyaluronic acid (HA) and human-like collagen (HLC), both with favorable biocompatibility and biodegradability. These two types of biomacromolecules were crosslinked with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether to form a three-dimensional network. The redundant crosslinker was removed by dialysis and distillation. An HA-based hydrogel prepared by the same method was used as a control. The cytocompatibility was studied with a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) test. Carbazole colorimetry was used to analyze the in vitro degradation rate. The histocompatibility was evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining analysis and immunohistochemical analysis. The CCK-8 assay demonstrated that the HA/HLC hydrogel was less cytotoxic than the HA-based hydrogel and could promote baby hamster kidney cell (BHK) proliferation. The cell adhesion indicated that BHK could grow well on the surface of the materials and maintain good cell viability. The in vitro degradation test showed that the HA/HLC hydrogel had a longer degradation time and an excellent antienzyme ability. In vivo injection showed that there was little inflammatory response to HA/HLC after 1, 2, and 4 weeks. Therefore, the HA/HLC hydrogel is a promising biomaterial for soft tissue filling and repair. - Highlights: • Human-like collagen was used with hyaluronic acid to prepare soft tissue filling meterials. • 1,4-Butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE) was introduced to treat the hydrogels. • The addition of human-like collagen could improve the biological properties of hydrogels

  3. Synthesis and characterization of hyaluronic acid/human-like collagen hydrogels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Jingjing; Ma, Xiaoxuan, E-mail: xiaoxuanma@163.com; Fan, Daidi, E-mail: fandaidi@nwu.edu.cn; Zhu, Chenhui; Deng, Jianjun; Hui, Junfeng; Ma, Pei

    2014-10-01

    Injectable hydrogel plays an important role in soft tissue filling and repair. We report an injectable hydrogel based on hyaluronic acid (HA) and human-like collagen (HLC), both with favorable biocompatibility and biodegradability. These two types of biomacromolecules were crosslinked with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether to form a three-dimensional network. The redundant crosslinker was removed by dialysis and distillation. An HA-based hydrogel prepared by the same method was used as a control. The cytocompatibility was studied with a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) test. Carbazole colorimetry was used to analyze the in vitro degradation rate. The histocompatibility was evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining analysis and immunohistochemical analysis. The CCK-8 assay demonstrated that the HA/HLC hydrogel was less cytotoxic than the HA-based hydrogel and could promote baby hamster kidney cell (BHK) proliferation. The cell adhesion indicated that BHK could grow well on the surface of the materials and maintain good cell viability. The in vitro degradation test showed that the HA/HLC hydrogel had a longer degradation time and an excellent antienzyme ability. In vivo injection showed that there was little inflammatory response to HA/HLC after 1, 2, and 4 weeks. Therefore, the HA/HLC hydrogel is a promising biomaterial for soft tissue filling and repair. - Highlights: • Human-like collagen was used with hyaluronic acid to prepare soft tissue filling meterials. • 1,4-Butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE) was introduced to treat the hydrogels. • The addition of human-like collagen could improve the biological properties of hydrogels.

  4. Enhancing the tourist attraction visiting process with gamification: key concepts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Swacha Jakub

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to describe key gamification techniques that can be applied to enhance the tourist attraction visiting process. The paper is based on the methodology of design patterns; particularly it adopts the definition and classification schemes originally proposed and developed in the context of gamification of work to specify gamification techniques related to various aspects of the tourist attraction visiting process. The main result is the selection of twelve gamification techniques for enhancing the tourist attraction visiting process, four for each of the three phases of the visiting process (before, during and after the visit. The paper shows that gamification techniques can be applied to enhance the tourist attraction visiting process. Implementation of the proposed gamification techniques is supposed to both improve visitor experience and give the tourist attraction managers a tool for boosting interest in less popular exhibitions and events.

  5. Leisure time and museums - motives of visits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Medić Sandra

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Leisure time, as the time used to engage in a variety of activities, should provide a sense of satisfaction and relaxation. In order to satisfy the needs of the visitors and their desire to experience something new and authentic in tourist destination, it is very important to know what their choices are with regard to leisure activities. The aim of this paper is to determine how museum public usually spends its leisure time, which factors influence the motivation to visit museums, and to try to find a correlation between the two. The paper is based on the results of the study conducted between the end of May and the end of August, 2014 in the museums in Vojvodina Province (northern part of the Republic of Serbia. The main findings of this paper indicate that spending leisure time is primarily related to socialization and education, and that museums are visited mostly due to their educational role. The findings also indicate that there are differences between the choice of leisure activity and motivation for visiting museums and sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents. Significant correlation has been found between the choice of leisure activity and motivation for visiting museums.

  6. Listening to parents to improve health visiting practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Alison; Hargreaves, Sharon; Taylor, Liz

    2015-05-01

    Listening to the "voice" of the service user is now widely accepted as central to the delivery of high quality healthcare. This paper presents an overview of the importance of service user engagement and personalised care in health visiting with a brief review of recent policy and research. A personalised approach to health visiting practice is recommended to improve service user experience and uptake of the health visiting service offer and this is considered most significant when engaging "hard to reach" groups. A project report on a service user experience strategy within the 0-19 service of a NHS Trust in England is presented which describes initiatives to develop a health visiting and school nursing service that listens to service users. A cyclical service user engagement model which incorporates continuous reviews and service reconfiguration is described with examples of service changes in response to expressed local needs.

  7. Monthly variation of United States pediatric headache emergency department visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kedia, Sita; Ginde, Adit A; Grubenhoff, Joseph A; Kempe, Allison; Hershey, Andrew D; Powers, Scott W

    2014-05-01

    The objective of this article is to determine the monthly variation of emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric headache. We hypothesized youth have increased headache-related ED visits in the months associated with school attendance. Using a United States representative sample of ED visits in the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 1997 to 2009, we estimated number of visits associated with ICD-9 codes related to headache, migraine, status migrainosus, or tension-type headache in 5- to 18-year-olds. Age-stratified multivariate models are presented for month of visit (July as reference). There was a national estimate of 250,000 ED visits annually related to headache (2.1% of total visits) in 5- to 18-year-olds. In 5- to 11-year-olds, the adjusted rate of headache-related visits was lower in April (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.20, 0.88). In 12- to 18-year-olds, there were higher rates in January (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.16, 3.14) and September (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.06, 2.55). In adolescents we found higher ED utilization in January and September, the same months associated with school return from vacation for a majority of children nationally. No significant reduction in the summer suggests that school itself is not the issue, but rather changes in daily lifestyle and transitions.

  8. Life Satisfaction and Frequency of Doctor Visits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Eric S.; Park, Nansook; Sun, Jennifer K.; Smith, Jacqui; Peterson, Christopher

    2015-01-01

    Objective Identifying positive psychological factors that reduce health care use may lead to innovative efforts that help build a more sustainable and high quality health care system. Prospective studies indicate that life satisfaction is associated with good health behaviors, enhanced health, and longer life, but little information is available about the association between life satisfaction and health care use. We tested whether higher life satisfaction was prospectively associated with fewer doctor visits. We also examined potential interactions between life satisfaction and health behaviors. Methods Participants were 6,379 adults from the Health and Retirement Study, a prospective and nationally representative panel study of American adults over the age of 50. Participants were tracked for four years. We analyzed the data using a generalized linear model with a gamma distribution and log link. Results Higher life satisfaction was associated with fewer doctor visits. On a six-point life satisfaction scale, each unit increase in life satisfaction was associated with an 11% decrease in doctor visits—after adjusting for sociodemographic factors (RR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.86 to 0.93). The most satisfied respondents (N=1,121; 17.58%) made 44% fewer doctor visits than the least satisfied (N=182; 2.85%). The association between higher life satisfaction and reduced doctor visits remained even after adjusting for baseline health and a wide range of sociodemographic, psychosocial, and health-related covariates (RR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.93 to 0.99). Conclusions Higher life satisfaction is associated with fewer doctor visits, which may have important implications for reducing health care costs. PMID:24336427

  9. Effects of early dental office visits on dental caries experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beil, Heather; Rozier, R Gary; Preisser, John S; Stearns, Sally C; Lee, Jessica Y

    2014-10-01

    We determined the association between timing of a first dentist office visit before age 5 years and dental disease in kindergarten. We used North Carolina Medicaid claims (1999-2006) linked to state oral health surveillance data to compare caries experience for kindergarten students (2005-2006) who had a visit before age 60 months (n=11,394) to derive overall exposure effects from a zero-inflated negative binomial regression model. We repeated the analysis separately for children who had preventive and tertiary visits. Children who had a visit at age 37 to 48 and 49 to 60 months had significantly less disease than children with a visit by age 24 months (incidence rate ratio [IRR]=0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.81, 0.95; IRR=0.75; 95% CI=0.69, 0.82, respectively). Disease status did not differ between children who had a tertiary visit by age 24 months and other children. Medicaid-enrolled children in our study followed an urgent care type of utilization, and access to dental care was limited. Children at high risk for dental disease should be given priority for a preventive dental visit before age 3 years.

  10. Emergency department visits for pediatric trampoline-related injuries: an update.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linakis, James G; Mello, Michael J; Machan, Jason; Amanullah, Siraj; Palmisciano, Lynne M

    2007-06-01

    To describe the epidemiology of emergency department (ED) visits for trampoline-related injuries among U.S. children from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2005, using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) and to compare recent trampoline injury demographics and injury characteristics with those previously published for 1990-1995 using the same data source. A stratified probability sample of U.S. hospitals providing emergency services in NEISS was utilized for 2000-2005. Nonfatal trampoline-related injury visits to the ED were analyzed for patients from 0 to 18 years of age. In 2000-2005, there was a mean of 88,563 ED visits per year for trampoline-related injuries among 0-18-year-olds, 95% of which occurred at home. This represents a significantly increased number of visits compared with 1990-1995, when there was an average of 41,600 visits per year. Primary diagnosis and principal body part affected remained similar between the two study periods. ED visits for trampoline-related injuries in 2000-2005 increased in frequency by 113% over the number of visits for 1990-1995. Trampoline use at home continues to be a significant source of childhood injury morbidity.

  11. Romanian President Visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    Director General Luciano Maiani watches as Romanian President Ion Iliescu signs the CERN guest book. On Friday the 12th of October, Romanian President Ion Iliescu arrived at CERN and was warmly greeted by Director General Luciano Maiani at the steps of building 500. After initial greetings and a general presentation of the laboratory, President Iliescu and his entourage embarked on a whistle stop tour of the CERN facilities. They visited the CMS magnet assembly hall and civil engineering work where presentations were made by CMS spokesperson Michel Della Negra and the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter where the president was introduced to Romanian physicists working here at CERN. Michel Della Negra explains some of the general principles behind CMS to President Iliescu during his visit last week. The Romanian teams working on CERN projects make very visible contributions, for example to the construction of the ATLAS experiment and to the preparation of its eventual scientific exploitation. 'Those of us on the ATLAS ...

  12. Indian President visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Katarina Anthony

    2011-01-01

    On 1 October, her Excellency Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India, picked CERN as the first stop on her official state visit to Switzerland. Accompanied by a host of Indian journalists, a security team, and a group of presidential delegates, the president left quite an impression when she visited CERN’s Point 2!   Upon arrival, Pratibha Patil was greeted by CERN Director General Rolf Heuer, as well as senior Indian scientists working at CERN, and various department directors. After a quick overview of the Organization, Rolf Heuer and the President addressed India’s future collaboration with CERN. India is currently an Observer State of the Organization, and is considering becoming an Associate Member State. A short stop in LHC operations gave Steve Myers and the Accelerator team the opportunity to take the President on a tour through the LHC tunnel. From there, ALICE’s Tapan Nayak and Spokesperson Paolo Giubellino took Pratibha Patil to the experiment&am...

  13. Steven Weinberg visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2009-01-01

    Steven Weinberg visiting the ATLAS cavern accompanied by Peter JenniIt was no surprise that the CERN audience arrived early in the Globe of Science and Innovation for the colloquium on 7 July. Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg is one of the major contributors to the Standard Model of particle physics. He received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979 for his work on the unified theory of the electromagnetic and weak interactions, one of the essential pillars of the Standard Model. After lunch at CERN and a visit to ATLAS, Weinberg gave a colloquium on "The Quantum Theory of Fields: Effective or Fundamental" to a packed audience. In his talk, he looked at how the use of quantum field theory in particle physics has fluctuated in popularity since Paul Dirac first introduced the approach to describe the interaction of particles with electromagnetic fields in the late 1920s. In particular, he posed the question: Is quantum field theory fundamental or does it a...

  14. German visits to CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2007-01-01

    State secretary to Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Frieder Meyer-Krahmer, with CERN's Director-General Robert Aymar.On 21 February, Professor Frieder Meyer-Krahmer, State Secretary to Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research, came to CERN. He visited the ALICE and ATLAS experiments and the computing centre before meeting the CERN's Director-General, some German physicists and members of the top management. The Minister of Science, Research and the Arts of the Baden-Württemberg regional government, Peter Frankenberg, and CERN's Director-General, Robert Aymar, signing an agreement on education. In the background: Sigurd Lettow, CERN's Director of Finance and Human Resources, and Karl-Heinz Meisel, Rector of the Fachhochschule Karlsruhe. The Minister of Science, Research and the Arts of the Baden-Württemberg regional government, Prof. Peter Frankenberg, visited CERN on 23 February. He was accompanied by the Rector of the Fachhochschule Karlsruhe, Prof. Karl-Heinz Meisel, and b...

  15. Enzyme Triggered Drug Delivery for Graft Targeted Immunosupression and Neuroregeneration after VCA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-05-11

    Banz,6 Mihal A. Constant lnescu,1•2 Jeffrey M. Karp,4 t Praveen Kumar Vemula1 3 t Robert Rieben, 2t Esthe r Vogelin 1’ 2 Curre ntly, syst·emic... Praveen Vemula NAMRU, San Antonio Ms Carrie Crane Ms Candice Angueira i11Stern I) UPMC L𔃻mer.i t ~ uf 1󈧏 1,Jmr~h .\\l r<l1c.1l < c111er ’

  16. Effects of Pet and/or People Visits on Nursing Home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendy, Helen M.

    1987-01-01

    Compared effects of different visiting programs (people, people and pets, pets, no visit) on behaviors of nursing home residents. Found all three visiting programs increased behaviors of smiling and alertness in comparison to control conditions. Close proximity to person-alone visitor was associated with greatest number of positive resident…

  17. Aftercare, Emergency Department Visits, and Readmission in Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlisle, Corine E.; Mamdani, Muhammad; Schachar, Russell; To, Teresa

    2012-01-01

    Objective: U.S. and Canadian data demonstrate decreasing inpatient days, increasing nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits, and short supply of child psychiatrists. Our study aims to determine whether aftercare reduces ED visits and/or readmission in adolescents with first psychiatric hospitalization. Method: We conducted a population-based…

  18. Five schools visit CERN and IceCube virtually

    CERN Multimedia

    Abha Eli Phoboo

    2014-01-01

    The ATLAS and CMS experiments hosted a virtual visit together with the IceCube Experiment in the South Pole for students from five different European schools on 2 October. The visit allowed the students to interact with researchers from both the LHC experiments and the IceCube experiment. The virtual visit was the second event in the Open Discovery Space project’s “Bringing Frontier Science to Schools” series.   Angelos Alexopoulos and Steve Goldfarb connect with the schools. The 380 students and 14 teachers and education specialists who took part in the virtual visit were from the John Atanasoff Sofia Vocational High School of Electronics in Bulgaria, Ellinogermaniki Agogi school in Greece, Leo Baeck High School in Israel, Grigore Moisil National College in Romania and Svetozar Marković Grammar School in Serbia. “It was breathtaking and a great opportunity to have our questions answered by the researchers, also live via chat,” said Marco I...

  19. Schedules for home visits in the early postpartum period.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yonemoto, Naohiro; Dowswell, Therese; Nagai, Shuko; Mori, Rintaro

    2017-08-02

    Maternal complications including psychological and mental health problems and neonatal morbidity have been commonly observed in the postpartum period. Home visits by health professionals or lay supporters in the weeks following the birth may prevent health problems from becoming chronic with long-term effects on women, their babies, and their families. To assess outcomes for women and babies of different home-visiting schedules during the early postpartum period. The review focuses on the frequency of home visits, the duration (when visits ended) and intensity, and on different types of home-visiting interventions. We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (28 January 2013) and reference lists of retrieved articles. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (including cluster-RCTs) comparing different types of home-visiting interventions enrolling participants in the early postpartum period (up to 42 days after birth). We excluded studies in which women were enrolled and received an intervention during the antenatal period (even if the intervention continued into the postnatal period) and studies recruiting only women from specific high-risk groups. (e.g. women with alcohol or drug problems). Study eligibility was assessed by at least two review authors. Data extraction and assessment of risk of bias were carried out independently by at least two review authors. Data were entered into Review Manager software. We included data from 12 randomised trials with data for more than 11,000 women. The trials were carried out in countries across the world, and in both high- and low-resource settings. In low-resource settings women receiving usual care may have received no additional postnatal care after early hospital discharge.The interventions and control conditions varied considerably across studies with trials focusing on three broad types of comparisons: schedules involving more versus fewer postnatal home visits (five studies), schedules

  20. Special people visit the ATLAS cavern

    CERN Multimedia

    Muriel

    ATLAS has been host to many important visitors lately. Here are a selected few: Professor Stephen Hawking visits the ATLAS cavern On Tuesday 26 September 2006 the ATLAS Collaboration was honoured by a very special visit to the detector in the underground cavern. We were pleased to guide Professor Stephen Hawking, the famous cosmologist holding the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University (position held by Isaac Newton in the 17th century), on a tour of the ATLAS pit and the LHC tunnel. The visit was accompanied by a few colleagues from the CERN Theory group, and was only possible thanks to the professional assistance of Olga Beltramello and Bernard Lebegue, who had also taken care of all the necessary preparatory work in the cavern. Professor Hawking was very keen to check for himself the status of the detector installation, and he admired, in particular, the spectacular TGC big wheel on side C. (left) Stephen Hawking in the ATLAS cavern side-C (right) and in the LHC tunnel...

  1. Sustainable Energy Business Visits 2009; Duurzame Energie bedrijfsbezoeken 2009

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gielen, J.H. [C Point, DLV Plant, Horst (Netherlands)

    2010-03-15

    Because the Steering Committee for Long-term Agreements on Energy for Mushrooms found the sustainable energy business visits of 2008 very valuable, it was decided in 2009 to assign Cpoint the task of conducting sustainable energy advisory visits, enabling mushroom cultivators to sign up for a free of charge sustainable energy visit. This report summarizes the results of these business visits [Dutch] Omdat de Duurzame Energie (DE) bedrijfsbezoeken van 2008 door de Stuurgroep MJA-e Paddestoelen als erg waardevol zijn ervaren, is er ook voor het jaar 2009 aan Cpoint een opdracht voor het uitvoeren van DE adviesbezoeken verstrekt, waarbij champignontelers zich konden opgeven voor een gratis DE adviesbezoek. In dit rapport wordt verslag gedaan van de resultaten van de bedrijfsbezoeken.

  2. Antenatal care visits and pregnancy outcomes at a Kenyan rural ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: The goal of antenatal care (ANC) is to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. Fewer ANC visits in focused antenatal care (FANC) model can affect maternal and perinatal outcomes in low income settings where the number ANC visits are often low. Objective: To determine the number of ANC visits and their ...

  3. Emergency department visits of Syrian refugees and the cost of their healthcare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulacti, Umut; Lok, Ugur; Polat, Haci

    2017-07-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics of Emergency Department (ED) visits made by Syrian refugees and to assess the cost of their healthcare. This retrospective study was conducted in adult Syrians who visited the ED of Adiyaman University Training and Research Hospital, Adiyaman Province, Turkey, between 01 January and 31 December 2015. We evaluated 10,529 Syrian refugees who visited the ED, of whom 9,842 were included in the study. The number of ED visits significantly increased in 2015 compared with 2010; the increase in the proportion of total ED visits was 8% (n = 11,275, dif: 8%, CI 95%: 7.9- 8.2, p refugees and the remaining 1.5% accounted for the visits made by other individuals. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) were the diseases most frequently presented (n = 4,656; 47.3%), and 68.5% of ED visits were inappropriate (n = 6,749). The median ED length of stay (LOS) of the Syrian refugees was significantly longer than that of the other individuals visiting the ED (p refugees who visited the ED was calculated as US$ 773,374.63. This study showed that Syrian refugees have increased the proportion of ED visits and the financial healthcare burden. The majority of ED visits made by Syrian refugees were inappropriate. In addition, their ED LOS was longer than that of other individuals making ED visits.

  4. This way for the new CERN visits!

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    As the LHC start-up draws near, visits to the underground experiments by members of the public are no longer possible. Still, that doesn’t mean that there will be no more CERN visits. Far from it! Three new itineraries for visits to the above-ground facilities are already available to visitors. Follow the guide… CAST: How a magnet became a telescope. Hunting axions from the sun. Visitors to the CAST experiments will see, among other things, how a prototype dipole magnet built for the LHC has been turned into an unusual telescope that tracks the sun in search of the ‘axion’ particle postulated by theory. SM18: Super-cool magnets. This strategic building, where thousands of superconducting magnets for the LHC were assembled in their cryostats and tested, lets visitors into the secret world of magnet technology, radio frequency and cryogenics, ...

  5. Preventing child maltreatment: Examination of an established statewide home-visiting program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaiyachati, Barbara H; Gaither, Julie R; Hughes, Marcia; Foley-Schain, Karen; Leventhal, John M

    2018-05-01

    Although home visiting has been used in many populations in prevention efforts, the impact of scaled-up home-visiting programs on abuse and neglect remains unclear. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of voluntary participation in an established statewide home-visiting program for socially high-risk families on child maltreatment as identified by Child Protective Services (CPS). Propensity score matching was used to compare socially high-risk families with a child born between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011 who participated in Connecticut's home-visiting program for first-time mothers and a comparison cohort of families who were eligible for the home-visiting program but did not participate. The main outcomes were child maltreatment investigations, substantiations, and out-of-home placements by CPS between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2013. In the unmatched sample, families who participated in home-visiting had significantly higher median risk scores (P home visiting. First substantiations also occurred later in the child's life among home-visited families. There was a trend toward decreased out-of-home placement (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.53-1.02, P = .06). These results from a scaled-up statewide program highlight the potential of home visiting as an important approach to preventing child abuse and neglect. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. 29 CFR 1908.6 - Conduct of a visit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... identified during previous visits. A compliance inspection may in some cases be the basis for a visit limited... between onsite consultation and OSHA enforcement activity, explain the obligation to protect employees in... shall refer the request to the consultation manager for scheduling. In all cases in which the scope of...

  7. Predictors of Frequent Emergency Room Visits among a Homeless Population.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kinna Thakarar

    Full Text Available Homelessness, HIV, and substance use are interwoven problems. Furthermore, homeless individuals are frequent users of emergency services. The main purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for frequent emergency room (ER visits and to examine the effects of housing status and HIV serostatus on ER utilization. The second purpose was to identify risk factors for frequent ER visits in patients with a history of illicit drug use.A retrospective analysis was performed on 412 patients enrolled in a Boston-based health care for the homeless program (HCH. This study population was selected as a 2:1 HIV seronegative versus HIV seropositive match based on age, sex, and housing status. A subgroup analysis was performed on 287 patients with history of illicit drug use. Chart data were analyzed to compare demographics, health characteristics, and health service utilization. Results were stratified by housing status. Logistic models using generalized estimating equations were used to predict frequent ER visits.In homeless patients, hepatitis C was the only predictor of frequent ER visits (OR 4.49, p<0.01. HIV seropositivity was not predictive of frequent ER visits. In patients with history of illicit drug use, mental health (OR 2.53, 95% CI 1.07-5.95 and hepatitis C (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.37-5.93 were predictors of frequent ER use. HIV seropositivity did not predict ER use (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.21 - 0.97.In a HCH population, hepatitis C predicted frequent ER visits in homeless patients. HIV seropositivity did not predict frequent ER visits, likely because HIV seropositive HCH patients are engaged in care. In patients with history of illicit drug use, hepatitis C and mental health disorders predicted frequent ER visits. Supportive housing for patients with mental health disorders and hepatitis C may help prevent unnecessary ER visits in this population.

  8. Dental visits to a North Carolina emergency department: a painful problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hocker, Michael B; Villani, John J; Borawski, Joseph B; Evans, Christopher S; Nelson, Scott M; Gerardo, Charles J; Limkakeng, Alex T

    2012-01-01

    Emergency departments (EDs) act as the safety net and alternative care site for patients without insurance who have dental pain. We conducted a retrospective chart review of visits to an urban teaching hospital ED over a 12-month period, looking at patients who presented with a chief complaint or ICD code indicating dental pain, toothache, or dental abscess. The number of visits to this ED by patients with a dental complaint was 1,013, representing approximately 1.3% of all visits to this ED. Dental patients had a mean age of 32 (+/- 13) years, and 60% of all dental visits were made by African Americans. Dental patients were more likely to be self-pay than all other ED patients (61% versus 22%, P dental ED visits (97%), the patient was treated and discharged; at most visits (90%) no dental procedure was performed. ED treatment typically consisted of pain control and antibiotics; at 81% of visits, the patient received an opiate prescription on discharge, and at 69% of visits, the patient received an antibiotic prescription on discharge. This retrospective chart review covered a limited period of time, included only patients at a large urban academic medical center, and did not incorporate follow-up analysis. Although they make up a small percentage of all ED visits, dental ED visits are more common among the uninsured, seldom result in definitive care or hospital admission, and often result in prescription of an opioid or antibiotic. These findings are cause for concern and have implications for public policy.

  9. Analysis of Patient Visits and Collections After Opening a Satellite Pediatric Emergency Department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nichols, Katherine M; Caperell, Kerry; Cross, Keith; Duncan, Scott; Foster, Ben; Liu, Gil; Pritchard, Hank; Southard, Gary; Shinabery, Ben; Sutton, Brad; Kim, In K

    2018-04-01

    Satellite pediatric emergency departments (PEDs) have emerged as a strategy to increase patient capacity. We sought to determine the impact on patient visits, physician fee collections, and value of emergency department (ED) time at the primary PED after opening a nearby satellite PED. We also illustrate the spatial distribution of patient demographics and overlapping catchment areas for the primary and satellite PEDs using geographical information system. A structured, financial retrospective review was conducted. Aggregate patient demographic data and billing data were collected regarding physician fee charges, collections, and patient visits for both PEDs. All ED visits from January 2009 to December 2013 were analyzed. Geographical information system mapping using ArcGIS mapped ED patient visits. Patient visits at the primary PED were 53,050 in 2009 before the satellite PED opened. The primary PED visits increased after opening the satellite PED to 55,932 in 2013. The satellite PED visits increased to 21,590 in 2013. Collections per visit at the primary PED decreased from $105.13 per visit in 2011 to $86.91 per visit in 2013. Total collections at the satellite PED decreased per visit from $155.41 per visit in 2011 to $128.53 per visit in 2013. After opening a nearby satellite PED, patient visits at the primary PED did not substantially decrease, suggesting that there was a previously unrecognized demand for PED services. The collections per ED visit were greater at the satellite ED, likely due to a higher collection rate.

  10. Preventing infections when visiting

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... need.) When you visit a patient in the hospital, keep your hands away from your face. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or into the crease of your elbow, not into the air. References Calfee DP. Prevention and control of health care-associated infections. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil ...

  11. Arctic Visiting Speakers Series (AVS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, S. E.; Griswold, J.

    2011-12-01

    The Arctic Visiting Speakers (AVS) Series funds researchers and other arctic experts to travel and share their knowledge in communities where they might not otherwise connect. Speakers cover a wide range of arctic research topics and can address a variety of audiences including K-12 students, graduate and undergraduate students, and the general public. Host applications are accepted on an on-going basis, depending on funding availability. Applications need to be submitted at least 1 month prior to the expected tour dates. Interested hosts can choose speakers from an online Speakers Bureau or invite a speaker of their choice. Preference is given to individuals and organizations to host speakers that reach a broad audience and the general public. AVS tours are encouraged to span several days, allowing ample time for interactions with faculty, students, local media, and community members. Applications for both domestic and international visits will be considered. Applications for international visits should involve participation of more than one host organization and must include either a US-based speaker or a US-based organization. This is a small but important program that educates the public about Arctic issues. There have been 27 tours since 2007 that have impacted communities across the globe including: Gatineau, Quebec Canada; St. Petersburg, Russia; Piscataway, New Jersey; Cordova, Alaska; Nuuk, Greenland; Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Oslo, Norway; Inari, Finland; Borgarnes, Iceland; San Francisco, California and Wolcott, Vermont to name a few. Tours have included lectures to K-12 schools, college and university students, tribal organizations, Boy Scout troops, science center and museum patrons, and the general public. There are approximately 300 attendees enjoying each AVS tour, roughly 4100 people have been reached since 2007. The expectations for each tour are extremely manageable. Hosts must submit a schedule of events and a tour summary to be posted online

  12. DPT Researchers’ Visit to Moscow

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Singla, Rashmi; Popova, Margarita

    2018-01-01

    to three colleagues from MSUPE. Our staff members’ presentations focused on presenting Problem-oriented Project Learning and group work, RUC’s Social Psychology of Everyday Life study program, as well as research on diversity, migration and cross-cultural psychology in the joint seminars with MSUPE staff......Four researchers from our department (DPT/IMT) Hans S. Andersen, Margarita Popova, Niklas Chimmiri & Rashmi Singla spent five intellectually, geographically and socially stimulating days at Moscow State University of Psychology and Education (MSUPE), as part of an Erasmus+ staff knowledge exchange...... visit. Conceptually grounded discussions of psychological and educational research projects building on the Cultural-Historical School of Psychology, founded in Russia (L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev, A. R. Luria), formed the main framing for the visit. In April 2017, RUC had already acted as host...

  13. Trends and correlates of cannabis-involved emergency department visits: 2004 to 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, He; Wu, Li-Tzy

    2016-01-01

    Objectives To examine trends and correlates of cannabis-involved emergency department (ED) visits in the United States from 2004 to 2011. Methods Data were obtained from the 2004-2011 Drug Abuse Warning Network. We analyzed trend in cannabis-involved ED visits for persons aged ≥12 years and stratified by type of cannabis involvement (cannabis-only, cannabis-polydrug). We used logistic regressions to determine correlates of cannabis-involved hospitalization versus cannabis-involved ED visits only. Results Between 2004 and 2011, the ED visit rate increased from 51 to 73 visits per 100,000 population aged ≥ 12 years for cannabis-only use (P-value for trend=0.004) and from 63 to 100 for cannabis-polydrug use (P-value for trendcannabis-only-involved ED visit rate (Rate difference=80 per 100,000 adolescents). Across racial/ethnic groups, the most prevalent ED visits were noted among non-Hispanic blacks. Among cannabis-involved visits, the odds of hospitalization (versus ED visits only) increased with age strata compared with aged 12-17 years. Conclusions These findings suggest a notable increase in the ED visit numbers and rates for both the use of cannabis-only and cannabis-polydrug during the studied period, particularly among young people and non-Hispanic blacks. PMID:27574753

  14. Breaking bad news: patients' preferences and health locus of control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martins, Raquel Gomes; Carvalho, Irene Palmares

    2013-07-01

    To identify patients' preferences for models of communicating bad news and to explore how such preferences, and the reasons for the preferences, relate with personality characteristics, specifically patients' health locus of control (HLC): internal/external and 'powerful others' (PO). Seventy-two patients from an oncology clinic watched videotaped scenarios of a breaking bad news moment, selected the model they preferred, filled an HLC scale and were interviewed about their choices. Data were analyzed with Chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. Interviews were content-analyzed. 77.8% preferred an "empathic professional", 12.5% a "distanced expert" and 9.7% an "emotionally burdened expert". Preferences varied significantly with HLC scores (patients with higher internal locus of control (ILC) and lower PO preferred the empathic model), presence of cancer, age and education. Patients explained their preferences through aspects of Caring, Professionalism, Wording, Time and Hope. ILC registered significant differences in regards to Wording and Time, whereas PO was associated with Hope and Time. HLC is an important dimension that can help doctors to better know their patients. Knowing whether patients attribute their health to their own behaviors or to chance/others can help tailor the disclosure of bad news to their specific preferences. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Predictors of Frequent Emergency Room Visits among a Homeless Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thakarar, Kinna; Morgan, Jake R; Gaeta, Jessie M; Hohl, Carole; Drainoni, Mari-Lynn

    2015-01-01

    Homelessness, HIV, and substance use are interwoven problems. Furthermore, homeless individuals are frequent users of emergency services. The main purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for frequent emergency room (ER) visits and to examine the effects of housing status and HIV serostatus on ER utilization. The second purpose was to identify risk factors for frequent ER visits in patients with a history of illicit drug use. A retrospective analysis was performed on 412 patients enrolled in a Boston-based health care for the homeless program (HCH). This study population was selected as a 2:1 HIV seronegative versus HIV seropositive match based on age, sex, and housing status. A subgroup analysis was performed on 287 patients with history of illicit drug use. Chart data were analyzed to compare demographics, health characteristics, and health service utilization. Results were stratified by housing status. Logistic models using generalized estimating equations were used to predict frequent ER visits. In homeless patients, hepatitis C was the only predictor of frequent ER visits (OR 4.49, phomeless patients. HIV seropositivity did not predict frequent ER visits, likely because HIV seropositive HCH patients are engaged in care. In patients with history of illicit drug use, hepatitis C and mental health disorders predicted frequent ER visits. Supportive housing for patients with mental health disorders and hepatitis C may help prevent unnecessary ER visits in this population.

  16. Visiting entertainment venues and sexual health in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Li; Wu, Zunyou; Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane; Guan, Jihui; Yin, Yueping; Detels, Roger; Wu, Sheng; Lee, Sung-Jae; Cao, Haijun; Lin, Chunqing; Rou, Keming; Liu, Zhendong

    2009-10-01

    Entertainment venues in China are associated with risky sexual behavior. Most previous studies related to entertainment venues in China have focused on sex workers and commercial sex, but this study addressed sexual health in a sample of the general urban population. A randomly selected sample of market vendors (n = 4,510) from an eastern city was recruited and assessed to examine relationships between entertainment venue visits and sexual risk. Both behavioral (self-reports of unprotected sex) and biomedical (STD test results) measures were used. About 18% of the sample (26.8% of men and 9% of women) reported visiting entertainment venues in the past 30 days. Those who visited entertainment venues were more likely to be male, younger, single, with higher education, and to have more discretionary income. For both men and women, visiting entertainment venues was a significant predictor for unprotected sex and STD infection. Gender differences were observed in predicting unprotected sex and STD infections. Entertainment venues could be potential sites for place-based intervention programs and outreach for the general population.

  17. THE USE OF INDUSTRIAL VISITS TO ENHANCE LEARNING AT ENGINEERING COURSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    TIRUNELVELI N. P. PADMESH

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Industrial visits represent an important activity in any engineering undergraduate programme that contributes to the achievement of various essential learning outcomes and programme objectives. This paper reports on an attempt to make the industrial visit an integral part of the Engineering Design and Communication course. This is achieved through identifying learning outcomes and a suitable industrial site to achieve them. For this purpose a thermal power plant was indentified as a site to be visited by students. The visit was planned to help students to achieve the learning outcomes. A number of questions in form of surveys, related to the learning outcomes, were prepared and given to the students to answer. The pre-visit, after-visit, and post-visit surveys were aimed at priming the minds of the students, gauging the level of satisfaction, and assessing the level of retention of knowledge, respectively. Students found this method very useful and they were able to remember a fair bit of information after about semester from the trip date. Our assessment of this exercise is the objectives have been achieved.

  18. Kofi Annan visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Katarina Anthony

    2011-01-01

    On Tuesday 13 September, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate Kofi Annan paid a visit to CERN.   Arriving in the early afternoon, Kofi Annan and his family were greeted by Director-General Rolf Heuer on the steps of Building 500. After a quick introduction to the Laboratory, they were whisked off to SM18 for a tour of the LHC’s superconducting magnet test hall, guided by Technology Department Head Frédérick Bordry. After a light lunch in Restaurant 2, Kofi Annan added his signature to CERN’s Guest Book. He is the second UN Secretary-General to add their name to CERN’s roster; his successor Ban Ki-Moon’s visited CERN in 2008.  Kofi Annan was then guided by spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti on a tour of ATLAS’s Visitor Centre. This was an opportunity for some of the younger members of the ATLAS collaboration to meet the former Secretary-General and to answer his questions about the exper...

  19. Report on Follow-up Visit to Ecuador, Part 1

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Combs, Gerald F

    1961-01-01

    ...), National Institutes of Health, who visited Ecuador from January 15th to the 21st, 1961. Dr. Gerald F. Combs, PhD, visited Ecuador to discuss the nutritional survey conducted by ICNND in the summer of 1959...

  20. Darwin-Bali Exchange School Visits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, T.

    1974-01-01

    Describes an exchange program between Indonesian language students and teachers from Darwin and a group of students and teachers from Bali. The visits related to the subject areas of history, geography, Asian studies, and Bahasa Indonesia. (RM)

  1. CMS Virtual Visit from Russia - 16 November 2015

    CERN Multimedia

    Belotelov, Ivan

    2016-01-01

    This event gathered 200+ high school students selected from all over Russia from three places: - high school students from "Experimental Physics Olympics" at Sirius center, Sochi - students from European Gymnasium, Moscow - interested people at "White leaf" lecturing space Pictures show the CMS Virtual Visit, preparation lecture and masterclass activity. CMS Guides for the Virtual Visit: Nikolay Voytishin & Alexey Kamenev

  2. Ants visiting inflorescences of Actinocephalus polyanthus (Bong. Sano (Eriocaulaceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tânia Tarabini Castellani

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Plants from the family Eriocaulaceae have a secretion of nectar in floral structures which promotes insect visitation, including ants. This study evaluated the ant species visiting inflorescences of Actinocephalus polyanthus in coastal dunes in southern Brazil and it checked whether the richness and composition of the visiting assemblies differed between the female and male flowering phenophases, due to the greater supply of resources by male flowers. Comments on the resources used and the visiting behavior were also investigated. We found 15 ant species, belonging to 8 genera and 4 subfamilies. There was no difference with regard to richness and diversity of visiting species associated to the male or female flowering phenophase. However, there was a difference with regard to the similarity of these assemblies, due to the higher occurrence of Camponotus fastigatus in the female flowering. Most species registered belong to genera which, typically, use floral and extrafloral nectar as food resource or they are generalist. Brachymyrmex sp.1, Camponotus fastigatus, and Dorymyrmex sp. were observed with pollen stuck to their body, something which suggests a potential transportation of this pollen between flowers.

  3. Emergency department visits during an Olympic gold medal television broadcast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redelmeier, Donald A; Vermeulen, Marian J

    2011-01-01

    Practice pattern variations are often attributed to physician decision-making with no accounting for patient preferences. To test whether a mass media television broadcast unrelated to health was associated with changes in the rate and characteristics of visits for acute emergency care. Time-series analysis of emergency department visits for any reason. Population-based sample of all patients seeking emergency care in Ontario, Canada. The broadcast day was defined as the Olympic men's gold medal ice hockey game final. The control days were defined as the 6 Sundays before and after the broadcast day. A total of 99 447 visits occurred over the 7 Sundays, of which 13 990 occurred on the broadcast day. Comparing the broadcast day with control days, we found no significant difference in the hourly rate of visits before the broadcast (544 vs 537, p = 0.41) or after the broadcast (647 vs 639, p = 0.55). In contrast, we observed a significant reduction in hourly rate of visits during the broadcast (647 vs 783, p television broadcasts can influence patient preferences and thereby lead to a decrease in emergency department visits.

  4. CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS OF EVIDENCE-BASED HOME-VISITATION MODELS IN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hiratsuka, Vanessa Y; Parker, Myra E; Sanchez, Jenae; Riley, Rebecca; Heath, Debra; Chomo, Julianna C; Beltangady, Moushumi; Sarche, Michelle

    2018-05-01

    The Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (Tribal MIECHV) Program provides federal grants to tribes, tribal consortia, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to implement evidence-based home-visiting services for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families. To date, only one evidence-based home-visiting program has been developed for use in AI/AN communities. The purpose of this article is to describe the steps that four Tribal MIECHV Programs took to assess community needs, select a home-visiting model, and culturally adapt the model for use in AI/AN communities. In these four unique Tribal MIECHV Program settings, each program employed a rigorous needs-assessment process and developed cultural modifications in accordance with community strengths and needs. Adaptations occurred in consultation with model developers, with consideration of the conceptual rationale for the program, while grounding new content in indigenous cultures. Research is needed to improve measurement of home-visiting outcomes in tribal and urban AI/AN settings, develop culturally grounded home-visiting interventions, and assess the effectiveness of home visiting in AI/AN communities. © 2018 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

  5. Ambulatory Care Visits to Pediatricians in Taiwan: A Nationwide Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ling-Yu Yang

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Pediatricians play a key role in the healthy development of children. Nevertheless, the practice patterns of pediatricians have seldom been investigated. The current study analyzed the nationwide profiles of ambulatory visits to pediatricians in Taiwan, using the National Health Insurance Research Database. From a dataset that was randomly sampled one out of every 500 records among a total of 309,880,000 visits in 2012 in the country, 9.8% (n = 60,717 of the visits were found paid to pediatricians. Children and adolescents accounted for only 69.3% of the visits to pediatricians. Male pediatricians provided 80.5% of the services and the main workforces were those aged 40–49 years. The most frequent diagnoses were respiratory tract diseases (64.7% and anti-histamine agents were prescribed in 48.8% of the visits to pediatricians. Our detailed results could contribute to evidence-based discussions on health policymaking.

  6. Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability as a prognostic marker in patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases--relationships and comparisons with vascular markers of atherosclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Kui Kai; Wong, Yuen Kwun; Chan, Yap Hang; Teo, Kay Cheong; Chan, Koon Ho; Wai Li, Leonard Sheung; Cheung, Raymond Tak Fai; Siu, Chung Wah; Ho, Shu Leong; Tse, Hung Fat

    2014-07-01

    Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability (BPV) is a simple surrogate marker for the development of atherosclerotic diseases, cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Nevertheless, the relative prognostic value of BPV in comparison with other established vascular assessments remain uncertain. We prospectively followed-up 656 high-risk patients with diabetes or established cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases for the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). Baseline brachial endothelial function, carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaque burden, ankle-brachial index and arterial stiffness were determined. Visit-to-visit BPV were recorded during a mean 18 ± 9 outpatient clinic visits. After a mean 81 ± 12 month's follow-up, 123 patients (19%) developed MACEs. Patients who developed a MACE had significantly higher systolic BPV, more severe endothelial function, arterial stiffness and systemic atherosclerotic burden compared to patients who did not develop a MACE (all Parea under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) 0.69 ± 0.03, PAUC 0.65 ± 0.03, P<0.01). After adjustment of confounding factors, a high BPV remained a significant independent predictor of MACE (hazards ratio 1.67, 95% confidence interval 1.14-2.43, P<0.01). Compared with established surrogate markers of atherosclerosis, visit-to-visit BPV provides similar prognostic information and may represent a new and simple marker for adverse outcomes in patients with vascular diseases. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Identification of Emergency Department Visits in Medicare Administrative Claims: Approaches and Implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkatesh, Arjun K; Mei, Hao; Kocher, Keith E; Granovsky, Michael; Obermeyer, Ziad; Spatz, Erica S; Rothenberg, Craig; Krumholz, Harlan M; Lin, Zhenqui

    2017-04-01

    Administrative claims data sets are often used for emergency care research and policy investigations of healthcare resource utilization, acute care practices, and evaluation of quality improvement interventions. Despite the high profile of emergency department (ED) visits in analyses using administrative claims, little work has evaluated the degree to which existing definitions based on claims data accurately captures conventionally defined hospital-based ED services. We sought to construct an operational definition for ED visitation using a comprehensive Medicare data set and to compare this definition to existing operational definitions used by researchers and policymakers. We examined four operational definitions of an ED visit commonly used by researchers and policymakers using a 20% sample of the 2012 Medicare Chronic Condition Warehouse (CCW) data set. The CCW data set included all Part A (hospital) and Part B (hospital outpatient, physician) claims for a nationally representative sample of continuously enrolled Medicare fee-for-services beneficiaries. Three definitions were based on published research or existing quality metrics including: 1) provider claims-based definition, 2) facility claims-based definition, and 3) CMS Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) definition. In addition, we developed a fourth operational definition (Yale definition) that sought to incorporate additional coding rules for identifying ED visits. We report levels of agreement and disagreement among the four definitions. Of 10,717,786 beneficiaries included in the sample data set, 22% had evidence of ED use during the study year under any of the ED visit definitions. The definition using provider claims identified a total of 4,199,148 ED visits, the facility definition 4,795,057 visits, the ResDAC definition 5,278,980 ED visits, and the Yale definition 5,192,235 ED visits. The Yale definition identified a statistically different (p < 0.05) collection of ED visits than all other

  8. Calorie labeling, fast food purchasing and restaurant visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elbel, Brian; Mijanovich, Tod; Dixon, L Beth; Abrams, Courtney; Weitzman, Beth; Kersh, Rogan; Auchincloss, Amy H; Ogedegbe, Gbenga

    2013-11-01

    Obesity is a pressing public health problem without proven population-wide solutions. Researchers sought to determine whether a city-mandated policy requiring calorie labeling at fast food restaurants was associated with consumer awareness of labels, calories purchased and fast food restaurant visits. Difference-in-differences design, with data collected from consumers outside fast food restaurants and via a random digit dial telephone survey, before (December 2009) and after (June 2010) labeling in Philadelphia (which implemented mandatory labeling) and Baltimore (matched comparison city). Measures included: self-reported use of calorie information, calories purchased determined via fast food receipts, and self-reported weekly fast-food visits. The consumer sample was predominantly Black (71%), and high school educated (62%). Postlabeling, 38% of Philadelphia consumers noticed the calorie labels for a 33% point (P < 0.001) increase relative to Baltimore. Calories purchased and number of fast food visits did not change in either city over time. While some consumers report noticing and using calorie information, no population level changes were noted in calories purchased or fast food visits. Other controlled studies are needed to examine the longer term impact of labeling as it becomes national law. Copyright © 2013 The Obesity Society.

  9. Junk food seen at pediatric clinic visits: is it a problem?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frazier, Johnnie P; Land, Megan; Hsieh, Pei-Hsuan; Barratt, Michelle S

    2014-04-01

    To document the prevalence of junk foods seen at clinic visits. A cross-sectional 23-item survey of observed food items were completed by medical staff using a convenience sample of families from June 2, 2011 to March 2, 2012. The study was conducted in pediatric clinics affiliated with the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. A convenience sample consisting of 738 families with children from 4 months to 16 years old presenting for visits were included in the study. Children exclusively breast and formula fed was excluded. Junk food was observed 20.9% at the clinic visits. Junk food was often seen at clinic visits. There was a trend toward higher body mass index in patients whose families had junk food at the visit.

  10. Patient Satisfaction and its Relation to Perceived Visit Duration With a Hand Surgeon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parrish, Raymond C; Menendez, Mariano E; Mudgal, Chaitanya S; Jupiter, Jesse B; Chen, Neal C; Ring, David

    2016-02-01

    To determine whether patient perception of time spent with a hand surgeon relates to patient satisfaction after a single new-patient office visit. Prior to each visit, 112 consecutive new patients predicted how much time they expected to spend with the surgeon. Following the visit, patients were asked to estimate the time spent with the surgeon, indicate whether the surgeon appeared rushed, and rate their overall satisfaction with the surgeon. Wait time and actual visit duration were measured. Patients also completed a sociodemographic survey, the Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure, the Newest Vital Sign Health Literacy test, and 3 Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-based questionnaires: Upper Extremity Function, Pain Interference, and Depression. Multivariable logistic and linear regression models were used to determine predictors of patient satisfaction, patient-perceived surgeon rush, and high previsit expectations of visit duration. Patient satisfaction was not associated with perceived visit duration but did correlate strongly with patient-rated surgeon empathy and symptoms of depression. Neither visit duration nor previsit expectations of visit length were determinants of patient-perceived surgeon rush. Only surgeon empathy was associated. Less-educated patients anticipated needing more time with the surgeon. Patient satisfaction with the surgeon and with the time spent during the office visit was primarily linked to surgeon empathy rather than to visit duration or previsit expectation of visit length. Efforts to make hand surgery office visits more patient-centered should focus on improving dialogue quality, and not necessarily on making visits longer. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Why health visiting? Examining the potential public health benefits from health visiting practice within a universal service: a narrative review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowley, Sarah; Whittaker, Karen; Malone, Mary; Donetto, Sara; Grigulis, Astrida; Maben, Jill

    2015-01-01

    There is increasing international interest in universal, health promoting services for pregnancy and the first three years of life and the concept of proportionate universalism. Drawing on a narrative review of literature, this paper explores mechanisms by which such services might contribute to health improvement and reducing health inequalities. Through a narrative review of empirical literature, to identify: (1) What are the key components of health visiting practice? (2) How are they reflected in implementing the universal service/provision envisaged in the English Health Visitor Implementation Plan (HVIP)? The paper draws upon a scoping study and narrative review. We used three complementary approaches to search the widely dispersed literature: (1) broad, general search, (2) structured search, using topic-specific search terms, (3) seminal paper search. Our key inclusion criterion was information about health visiting practice. We included empirical papers from United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to February 2012 and older seminal papers identified in search (3), identifying a total of 348 papers for inclusion. A thematic content analysis compared the older (up to 2003) with more recent research (2004 onwards). The analysis revealed health visiting practice as potentially characterized by a particular 'orientation to practice.' This embodied the values, skills and attitudes needed to deliver universal health visiting services through salutogenesis (health creation), person-centredness (human valuing) and viewing the person in situation (human ecology). Research about health visiting actions focuses on home visiting, needs assessment and parent-health visitor relationships. The detailed description of health visitors' skills, attitudes, values, and their application in practice, provides an explanation of how universal provision can potentially help to promote health and shift the social gradient of health inequalities. Identification of needs across an

  12. Report on Follow-Up Visit to Ecuador, Part 2

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Pearson, W. N

    1961-01-01

    ...), National Institutes of Health, who visited Ecuador from January 15th to the 21st, 1961. W. N. Pearson, PhD, visited Ecuador from January 15th to the 21st, 1961, to discuss the nutritional survey conducted by ICNND in the summer of 1959...

  13. Impact of ITP on physician visits and workplace productivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarantino, Michael D; Mathias, Susan D; Snyder, Claire F; Isitt, John J; Gernsheimer, Terry; Young, Joan

    2010-02-01

    To assess the impact of immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) on primary care and specialist visits and workplace productivity. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study comparing ITP patients to age- and gender-matched controls. Subjects completed a one-time web-based survey, which included questions on work loss, work productivity, and physician visits. ITP patients and controls were compared on these outcomes. For ITP patients, the relationship between work-related issues and physician visits with clinical characteristics (time since diagnosis, platelet count, number of treatments received, and an ITP-specific health-related quality of life measure, the ITP-PAQ) was explored. A total of 1002 ITP patients and 1031 controls completed the survey. On average, ITP patients were 46 years old, diagnosed 9 years ago, and had platelet counts of 148 x 10(9)/L; 37% had undergone splenectomy. More ITP patients had primary care (20% vs. 11%) and specialist (28% vs. 11%) visits in the past month versus controls (p issues of a cross-sectional study design and recall bias in questionnaire responses. ITP was consistently associated with more physician visits and worse work and productivity outcomes. Future research should build on these findings by calculating a comprehensive cost-of-illness of ITP including both direct and indirect costs.

  14. Shimon Pérès visite le CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Press Office. Geneva

    1995-01-01

    Shimon Peres, Israel's Foreign Minister, made an official visit to CERN on 26 January. He was accompanied by the Israeli Ambassador to the International Organizations in Geneva, Yosef Lamdan, and was received by CERN's Director General, Prof. Christopher Llewellyn Smith. The visit took place at the site of the giant OPAL experiment, on the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP), where there is major Israeli involvement.

  15. Young EIROforum prizewinner visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    2015-01-01

    On 27 to 31 July, CERN welcomed Paul Clarke, an 18-year-old Irish mathematician who won a CERN EIROforum prize (second place) at EUCYS 2014 (European Union Contest for Young Scientists).   Paul Clarke, visiting the new Microcosm exhibit. In addition to a €5000 prize, Paul visited the Laboratory and its experiments, meeting and speaking with CERN physicists and computer scientists. Paul's winning project is entitled "Contributions to cyclic graph theory." As the summary of the project suggests, graph theory is an area of pure mathematics which studies properties of linkages and networks. It has applications in several areas including computing, molecular structure, neuroscience, search engines, engineering etc. This project makes a profound contribution to the study of graphs. It identifies key concepts and provides the methodology to apply them to some long-standing major problems in the subject with great success. Paul has just finished high sc...

  16. Two pioneering artists visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    2015-01-01

    On Monday, 19 January, CERN physicists welcomed musician Tim Blake - progressive rock keyboard and theremin player - and architectural lighting designer Patrice Warrener - inventor of the Chromolithe Polychromatic Illumination system, used in Lyon’s “Fête des Lumières”. Together, they make up the musical duo "Crystal Machine".   The artists visit the Antiproton Decelerator. (Image: Django Manglunki.)   Their visit began with an introduction to CERN by their friend Django Manglunki, project leader for the ion injector chain, and an improvised discussion on the LHC extraction system with Roger Barlow, kicker magnet controls expert and progressive rock fan. This was followed by a quick trip to the CCC, the server room and the SPS RF amplifiers in BA3. Next on the itinerary was a tour of the AD and anti-hydrogen experiments led by Michael Doser, AEgIS Spokesperson. A leisurely lunch followed, in the company ...

  17. Prescriptions, Nonmedical Use, and Emergency Department Visits Involving Prescription Stimulants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Lian-Yu; Crum, Rosa M.; Strain, Eric C.; CalebAlexander, G.; Kaufmann, Christopher; Mojtabai, Ramin

    2018-01-01

    Objective Little is known regarding the temporal trends in prescription, nonmedical use and emergency department (ED) visits involving prescription stimulants in the United States. We aimed to examine the three national trends involving dextroamphetamine-amphetamin (Adderall) and methylphenidate in adults and adolescents. Method Three national surveys conducted between 2006-2011 were used: National Disease and Therapeutic Index (NDTI), a survey of office-based practices, National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a population survey of substance use, and Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), a survey of ED visits. Ordinary least square regression was used to examine temporal changes over time and the associations between these three trends. Results In adolescents, treatment visits involving dextroamphetamine-amphetamine and methylphenidate decreased over time; nonmedical dextroamphetamine-amphetamine use remained stable while nonmedical methylphenidate use declined by 54.4% in 6 years. ED visits involving either medication remained stable. In adults, treatment visits involving dextroamphetamine-amphetamine remained unchanged while nonmedical use went up by 67% and ED visits went up by 156%. These three trends involving methylphenidate remained unchanged. The major source for both medications was a friend or relative across age groups; two-thirds of these friends/relatives had obtained the medication from a physician. Conclusions Trends of prescriptions for stimulants do not correspond to trends in reports of nonmedical use and ED visits. Increased nonmedical stimulant use may not be simply attributed to increased prescribing trends. Future studies should focus on deeper understanding of the proportion, risk factors and motivations for drug diversions. PMID:26890573

  18. Legal and Practical Aspects of Child Custody, Visitation and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Although divorce disrupts the marital bond thereby terminating marital rights and obligations, each parent's obligations to the wellbeing and upbringing of children (custody, visitation rights, and maintenance) persists. This article examines the practice of courts with regard to child custody, visitation rights and obligation to ...

  19. Emergency presurgical visit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfredo Castro Díaz

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available The objective has been to create a Protocol of Structured Presurgical Visit applicable to the patients who are undergoing an emergency surgery, to provide the user and his family all the necessary cares on the basis of those nursing diagnosis that prevail in all the cases of surgical emergency interventions. The used method has been an analysis of the emergency surgical interventions more prevalent from February 2007 until October 2008 in our area (a regional hospital, and statistic of those nursing diagnosis that more frequently appeared in these interventions, the previous moment to the intervention and in addition common to all of them. The results were the following ones: the more frequent emergency operations were: Caesarean, ginecological curettage, laparotomy, help in risk childbirth, orthopaedic surgery and appendectomy. The more frequent nursing diagnosis in all the emergency operations at the previous moment of the intervention were: risk of falls, pain, anxiety, deficit of knowledge, risk of infection, movement stress syndrome, risk of hemorrhage, cutaneous integrity deterioration. The conclusion is that users present at the previous moment to an emergency operation several problems, which force to the emergency surgical ward nurse to the introduction of the nursing methodology, in order to identify the problems, to mark results and to indicate the interventions to achieve those results, besides in a humanitarian way and with quality. This can be obtained by performing a Structured Emergency Presurgical Visit.

  20. Hanford/Tomsk reciprocal site visit: Plutonium agreement compliance talks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Libby, R.A.; Sorenson, R.; Six, D.; Schiegel, S.C.

    1994-11-01

    The objective of the visit to Hanford Site was to: demonstrate equipment, technology, and methods for calculating Pu production, measuring integrated reactor power, and storing and safeguarding PuO 2 ; demonstrate the shutdown of Hanford production reactors; and foster openness and transparency of Hanford operations. The first day's visit was an introduction to Hanford and a review of the history of the reactors. The second day consisted of discussions on the production reactors, reprocessing operations, and PuO 2 storage. The group divided on the third day to tour facilities. Group A toured the N reactor, K-West reactor, K-West Basins, B reactor, and participated in a demonstration and discussion of reactor modeling computer codes. Group B toured the Hanford Pu Storage Facility, 200-East Area, N-cell (oxide loadout station), the Automated Storage Facility, and the Nondestructive Assay Measurement System. Group discussions were held during the last day of the visit, which included scheduling of a US visit to Russia

  1. "Golden Walk" Gets a Makeover from an Auditor of Campus Visits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoover, Eric

    2009-01-01

    A consultant on an endless road trip, Jeff Kallay travels the nation visiting colleges and universities that hire him to conduct a "campus visit audit." After each tour, he discusses his first impressions with admissions officials. Later he sends them a detailed report, with recommendations covering the logistical aspects of visits, such…

  2. Prenatal Care: First Trimester Visits

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... care provider will discuss the importance of proper nutrition and prenatal vitamins. Your first prenatal visit is a good time to discuss exercise, sex during pregnancy and other lifestyle issues. You might also discuss your work environment and the use of medications during pregnancy. If ...

  3. A novel way to grow hemozoin-like crystals in vitro and its use to screen for hemozoin inhibiting antimalarial compounds.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vincent Thomas

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Hemozoin crystals are normally formed in vivo by Plasmodium parasites to detoxify free heme released after hemoglobin digestion during its intraerythrocytic stage. Inhibition of hemozoin formation by various drugs results in free heme concentration toxic for the parasites. As a consequence, in vitro assays have been developed to screen and select candidate antimalarial drugs based on their capacity to inhibit hemozoin formation. In this report we describe new ways to form hemozoin-like crystals that were incidentally discovered during research in the field of prion inactivation. METHODS: We investigated the use of a new assay based on naturally occurring "self-replicating" particles and previously described as presenting resistance to decontamination comparable to prions. The nature of these particles was determined using electron microscopy, Maldi-Tof analysis and X-ray diffraction. They were compared to synthetic hemozoin and to hemozoin obtained from Plasmodium falciparum. We then used the assay to evaluate the capacity of various antimalarial and anti-prion compounds to inhibit "self-replication" (crystallisation of these particles. RESULTS: We identified these particles as being similar to ferriprotoporphyrin IX crystal and confirmed the ability of these particles to serve as nuclei for growth of new hemozoin-like crystals (HLC. HLC are morphologically similar to natural and synthetic hemozoin. Growth of HLC in a simple assay format confirmed inhibition by quinolines antimalarials at potencies described in the literature. Interestingly, artemisinins and tetracyclines also seemed to inhibit HLC growth. CONCLUSIONS: The described HLC assay is simple and easy to perform and may have the potential to be used as an additional tool to screen antimalarial drugs for their hemozoin inhibiting activity. As already described by others, drugs that inhibit hemozoin crystal formation have also the potential to inhibit misfolded proteins

  4. Bavarian Prime Minister to Visit la Silla

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-03-01

    The Bavarian Prime Minister, Dr. Edmund Stoiber , is currently visiting a number of countries in South America. He is accompanied by a high-ranking delegation of representatives of Bavarian politics and industry. During this trip, the Bavarian delegation will visit the Republic of Chile, arriving in Santiago de Chile on Sunday, March 9, 1997. On the same day, Dr. Stoiber and most other members of the delegation, on the invitation of the Director General of ESO, Professor Riccardo Giacconi, will visit the ESO La Silla Observatory , located in an isolated area in the Atacama desert some 600 km north of the Chilean capital. ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomy, with Headquarters in Garching near Munich in Bavaria, welcomes this opportunity to present its high-tech research facilities to Dr. Stoiber and leaders of the Bavarian industry. During the visit, the delegation will learn about the various front-line research projects, now being carried out by astronomers from Germany and other ESO member countries with the large telescopes at La Silla. There will also be a presentation of the ESO VLT project , which will become the world's largest optical astronomical telescope, when it is ready a few years from now. The delegation will be met by the Director of the La Silla Observatory, Dr. Jorge Melnick and his scientific-technical staff which includes several members of German nationality. Also present will be ESO's Head of Administration, Dr. Norbert König (Garching) and the General Manager of ESO in Chile, Mr. Daniel Hofstadt. More information about this visit and the ESO facilities is available from the ESO Education and Public Relations Department (Tel.: +49-89-32006-276; Fax.: +49-89-3202362; email: ips@eso.org; Web: http://www.eso.org../../../epr/ ). Diese Pressemitteilung ist auch in einer Deutschen Fassung vorhanden. How to obtain ESO Press Information ESO Press Information is made available on the World-Wide Web (URL: http://www.eso.org../). ESO Press

  5. Patients who share transparent visit notes with others: characteristics, risks, and benefits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Sara L; Mejilla, Roanne; Darer, Jonathan D; Oster, Natalia V; Ralston, James D; Leveille, Suzanne G; Walker, Jan; Delbanco, Tom; Elmore, Joann G

    2014-11-12

    Inviting patients to read their primary care visit notes may improve communication and help them engage more actively in their health care. Little is known about how patients will use the opportunity to share their visit notes with family members or caregivers, or what the benefits might be. Our goal was to evaluate the characteristics of patients who reported sharing their visit notes during the course of the study, including their views on associated benefits and risks. The OpenNotes study invited patients to access their primary care providers' visit notes in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Pre- and post-intervention surveys assessed patient demographics, standardized measures of patient-doctor communication, sharing of visit notes with others during the study, and specific health behaviors reflecting the potential benefits and risks of offering patients easy access to their visit notes. More than half (55.43%, 2503/4516) of the participants who reported viewing at least one visit note would like the option of letting family members or friends have their own Web access to their visit notes, and 21.70% (980/4516) reported sharing their visit notes with someone during the study year. Men, and those retired or unable to work, were significantly more likely to share visit notes, and those sharing were neither more nor less concerned about their privacy than were non-sharers. Compared to participants who did not share clinic notes, those who shared were more likely to report taking better care of themselves and taking their medications as prescribed, after adjustment for age, gender, employment status, and study site. One in five OpenNotes patients shared a visit note with someone, and those sharing Web access to their visit notes reported better adherence to self-care and medications. As health information technology systems increase patients' ability to access their medical records, facilitating access to caregivers may improve perceived health

  6. Variation in Quality of Urgent Health Care Provided During Commercial Virtual Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schoenfeld, Adam J; Davies, Jason M; Marafino, Ben J; Dean, Mitzi; DeJong, Colette; Bardach, Naomi S; Kazi, Dhruv S; Boscardin, W John; Lin, Grace A; Duseja, Reena; Mei, Y John; Mehrotra, Ateev; Dudley, R Adams

    2016-05-01

    Commercial virtual visits are an increasingly popular model of health care for the management of common acute illnesses. In commercial virtual visits, patients access a website to be connected synchronously-via videoconference, telephone, or webchat-to a physician with whom they have no prior relationship. To date, whether the care delivered through those websites is similar or quality varies among the sites has not been assessed. To assess the variation in the quality of urgent health care among virtual visit companies. This audit study used 67 trained standardized patients who presented to commercial virtual visit companies with the following 6 common acute illnesses: ankle pain, streptococcal pharyngitis, viral pharyngitis, acute rhinosinusitis, low back pain, and recurrent female urinary tract infection. The 8 commercial virtual visit websites with the highest web traffic were selected for audit, for a total of 599 visits. Data were collected from May 1, 2013, to July 30, 2014, and analyzed from July 1, 2014, to September 1, 2015. Completeness of histories and physical examinations, the correct diagnosis (vs an incorrect or no diagnosis), and adherence to guidelines of key management decisions. Sixty-seven standardized patients completed 599 commercial virtual visits during the study period. Histories and physical examinations were complete in 417 visits (69.6%; 95% CI, 67.7%-71.6%); diagnoses were correctly named in 458 visits (76.5%; 95% CI, 72.9%-79.9%), and key management decisions were adherent to guidelines in 325 visits (54.3%; 95% CI, 50.2%-58.3%). Rates of guideline-adherent care ranged from 206 visits (34.4%) to 396 visits (66.1%) across the 8 websites. Variation across websites was significantly greater for viral pharyngitis and acute rhinosinusitis (adjusted rates, 12.8% to 82.1%) than for streptococcal pharyngitis and low back pain (adjusted rates, 74.6% to 96.5%) or ankle pain and recurrent urinary tract infection (adjusted rates, 3.4% to 40

  7. Home Visiting Processes: Relations with Family Characteristics and Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Carla A.; Roggman, Lori A.; Green, Beth; Chazan-Cohen, Rachel; Korfmacher, Jon; McKelvey, Lorraine; Zhang, Dong; Atwater, Jane B.

    2013-01-01

    Variations in dosage, content, and family engagement with Early Head Start (EHS) home visiting services were examined for families participating in the EHS Research and Evaluation Project. Families were grouped by characteristics of maternal age, maternal ethnicity, and level of family risk. All home visiting variables were related differentially…

  8. Comparisons of Website Visit Behavior between Purchase Outcomes and Product Categories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chatpong Tangmanee

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The online retail business has grown substantially. Given distinctive product categories (e.g. search or experience goods, owners must put an effort in the design of websites so every visit may end with a purchase. Clickstream panel data allowing examination into website visiting behavior (i.e. the number of pages viewed (or pageview or the visit duration are increasingly accessible. However, it is unclear whether the differences of the two visiting behavior between purchase outcome or product categories are significant. The present study hopes to fill the void. An analysis of 27,528 visit sessions extracted from ComScore verifies that (1 the difference of page views between purchase outcomes and that between product categories were significant and (2 only the difference of visit duration between the product categories was significant but that between purchase outcomes was insignificant. In addition to theoretical insight into online behavior across purchasing horizons and product categories using clickstream data, online retail practitioners could apply the findings to enhance the possibility of the purchases at their online stores.

  9. Timing and adequate attendance of antenatal care visits among women in Ethiopia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanni Yaya

    Full Text Available Although ANC services are increasingly available to women in low and middle-income countries, their inadequate use persists. This suggests a misalignment between aims of the services and maternal beliefs and circumstances. Owing to the dearth of studies examining the timing and adequacy of content of care, this current study aims to investigate the timing and frequency of ANC visits in Ethiopia.Data was obtained from the nationally representative 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS which used a two-stage cluster sampling design to provide estimates for the health and demographic variables of interest for the country. Our study focused on a sample of 10,896 women with history of at least one childbirth event. Percentages of timing and adequacy of ANC visits were conducted across the levels of selected factors. Variables which were associated at 5% significance level were examined in the multivariable logistic regression model for association between timing and frequency of ANC visits and the explanatory variables while controlling for covariates. Furthermore, we presented the approach to estimate marginal effects involving covariate-adjusted logistic regression with corresponding 95%CI of delayed initiation of ANC visits and inadequate ANC attendance. The method used involved predicted probabilities added up to a weighted average showing the covariate distribution in the population.Results indicate that 66.3% of women did not use ANC at first trimester and 22.3% had ANC less than 4 visits. The results of this study were unique in that the association between delayed ANC visits and adequacy of ANC visits were examined using multivariable logistic model and the marginal effects using predicted probabilities. Results revealed that older age interval has higher odds of inadequate ANC visits. More so, type of place of residence was associated with delayed initiation of ANC visits, with rural women having the higher odds of delayed

  10. Timing and adequate attendance of antenatal care visits among women in Ethiopia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishwajit, Ghose; Ekholuenetale, Michael; Shah, Vaibhav; Kadio, Bernard; Udenigwe, Ogochukwu

    2017-01-01

    Introduction Although ANC services are increasingly available to women in low and middle-income countries, their inadequate use persists. This suggests a misalignment between aims of the services and maternal beliefs and circumstances. Owing to the dearth of studies examining the timing and adequacy of content of care, this current study aims to investigate the timing and frequency of ANC visits in Ethiopia. Methods Data was obtained from the nationally representative 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) which used a two-stage cluster sampling design to provide estimates for the health and demographic variables of interest for the country. Our study focused on a sample of 10,896 women with history of at least one childbirth event. Percentages of timing and adequacy of ANC visits were conducted across the levels of selected factors. Variables which were associated at 5% significance level were examined in the multivariable logistic regression model for association between timing and frequency of ANC visits and the explanatory variables while controlling for covariates. Furthermore, we presented the approach to estimate marginal effects involving covariate-adjusted logistic regression with corresponding 95%CI of delayed initiation of ANC visits and inadequate ANC attendance. The method used involved predicted probabilities added up to a weighted average showing the covariate distribution in the population. Results Results indicate that 66.3% of women did not use ANC at first trimester and 22.3% had ANC less than 4 visits. The results of this study were unique in that the association between delayed ANC visits and adequacy of ANC visits were examined using multivariable logistic model and the marginal effects using predicted probabilities. Results revealed that older age interval has higher odds of inadequate ANC visits. More so, type of place of residence was associated with delayed initiation of ANC visits, with rural women having the higher odds of

  11. An Analysis of Port-Visit Costs of U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-06-01

    Hong Kong are less expensive than visits to Port Klang, Malaysia or Laem Chabang, Thailand. The cost difference between conducting a port visit in...less than a comparable visit to nearby Port Klang, Malaysia . It is understandable that decisions on which ports to visit are governed by more than...to support manpower/efficiency initiatives. • Galley and Food Service equipment modifications to support Large Afloat Franchise Menu will be

  12. Proceedings of the scientific visit on crystalline rock repository development.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mariner, Paul E.; Hardin, Ernest L.; Miksova, Jitka [RAWRA, Czech Republic

    2013-02-01

    A scientific visit on Crystalline Rock Repository Development was held in the Czech Republic on September 24-27, 2012. The visit was hosted by the Czech Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA), co-hosted by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The purpose of the visit was to promote technical information exchange between participants from countries engaged in the investigation and exploration of crystalline rock for the eventual construction of nuclear waste repositories. The visit was designed especially for participants of countries that have recently commenced (or recommenced) national repository programmes in crystalline host rock formations. Discussion topics included repository programme development, site screening and selection, site characterization, disposal concepts in crystalline host rock, regulatory frameworks, and safety assessment methodology. Interest was surveyed in establishing a %E2%80%9Cclub,%E2%80%9D the mission of which would be to identify and address the various technical challenges that confront the disposal of radioactive waste in crystalline rock environments. The idea of a second scientific visit to be held one year later in another host country received popular support. The visit concluded with a trip to the countryside south of Prague where participants were treated to a tour of the laboratory and underground facilities of the Josef Regional Underground Research Centre.

  13. The Use of Travel Guidebooks by Tourist Visiting Yogyakarta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriela Intani Putri

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to know to what extend tourist use travel guidebooks for their visit to Yogyakarta, as one of tourism destination in Indonesia. This research was conducted by taking tourist who has been to or during their visit to Yogyakarta. Qualitative interviews with three travel experts precede this research in order to gather the purpose of using travel guidebooks by tourist visiting Yogyakarta. The results are 31 purposes of using travel guidebooks. After conducting factor analysis and reliability tests, seven factors comprising 26 statements were extracted which are: functional needs, forward-looking needs, learning needs, autonomy needs, tension reduction needs, security needs, and objectification needs.

  14. It's all change at the visit points

    CERN Multimedia

    Laëtitia Pedroso

    2011-01-01

    58,000 people visited CERN in 2010. In spite of this success, the Organization has plans to review the installations at the various visit points with a view to making the links between them clearer and, above all, making tours of the Laboratory more spectacular.   CERN Control Centre. The permanent exhibition in the Globe of Science and Innovation, the "Universe of Particles", attracts large numbers of visitors. A high-tech venue offering an overview of CERN's research goals, tools and impact throughout the world, the Globe acts as a showcase for the Laboratory. "The Globe is an ideal place to start a tour of CERN. After experiencing a virtual experiment at the heart of the Universe, visitors are keen to find out what's behind it all, to know more about the research we do here at CERN.When it was still possible to see the LHC detectors, visitors were bowled over by their huge size. To continue to surprise them to the same extent, we are planning to reorganise the visit...

  15. [Andrologic disease detected during army medical visit].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campodonico, Fabio; Michelazzi, Alberto; Capurro, Anna; Carmignani, Giorgio

    2003-12-01

    Aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of andrologic diseases in young men (age 18 years) recruited for conscription in a north-western Italian region. A random sample of 1993 young men was evaluated at the Army Medical Visit Center of the Military District of Genoa. The visits were performed by the same doctor. An examination of external genitalia and secondary sex characters was made and the medical history of each conscript was recorded. Investigation procedures were standardized according to the guidelines of the WHO for the diagnosis and management of the infertile male. Andrologic disorders were found in 547 subjects (27.5%) and first diagnosed in 412 (20.7%). Specific acquired or congenital disorders are discussed. Some patients with most significant diseases were referred to the Urologic Department for second level diagnostic exams. This study underlines the role of the army medical visit as a tool for andrologic screening in young males. The military health service may be a relevant institution for postpuberal control and it could be useful to prevent future sexual and fertility problems in adult males.

  16. Measuring adequacy of prenatal care: does missing visit information matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurtzman, Jordan H; Wasserman, Erin B; Suter, Barbara J; Glantz, J Christopher; Dozier, Ann M

    2014-09-01

    Kotelchuck's Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization (APNCU) Index is frequently used to classify levels of prenatal care. In the Finger Lakes Region (FLR) of upstate New York, prenatal care visit information late in pregnancy is often not documented on the birth certificate. We studied the extent of this missing information and its impact on the validity of regional APNCU scores. We calculated the "weeks between" a mother's last prenatal care visit and her infant's date of birth. We adjusted the APNCU algorithm creating the Last Visit Adequacy of Prenatal Care (LV-APNC) Index using the last recorded prenatal care visit date as the end point of care and the expected number of visits at that time. We compared maternal characteristics by care level with each index, examining rates of reclassification and number of "weeks between" by birth hospital. Stuart-Maxwell, McNemar, chi-square, and t-tests were used to determine statistical significance. Based on 58,462 births, the mean "weeks between" was 2.8 weeks. Compared with their APNCU Index score, 42.4 percent of mothers were reclassified using the LV-APNC Index. Major movement occurred from Intermediate (APNCU) to Adequate or Adequate Plus (LV-APNC) leaving the Intermediate Care group a more at-risk group of mothers. Those with Adequate or Adequate Plus Care (LV-APNC) increased by 31.6 percent, surpassing the Healthy People 2020 objective. In the FLR, missing visit information at the end of pregnancy results in an underestimation of mothers' prenatal care. Future research is needed to determine the extent of this missing visit information on the national level. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  17. Corporate working in health visiting: a concept analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houston, A M; Clifton, J

    2001-05-01

    The aim of this paper is to examine individualized health visiting care and compare it to corporate working within a consensual management style. Corporate working has been discussed and used in many different ways since the idea first came to light at the end of the 1980s. Resource management makes it an appealing model, however, analysing how corporate working functions in the practice setting reveals the complexity of this method of service provision. This paper is based on a method of practice developed by health visitors in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, who implemented the process. The article examines individualized health visiting care and compares it to corporate working within a consensual management style. Important in this analysis are the elements of reflexivity, active listening, reflection and the application of 'praxis' within the corporate caseload approach. Rogers' evolutionary concept model was used to illuminate and explain the different ways of delivering the health visiting service. There are benefits in working corporately: shared workload, increased professional support and improved accountability. Alongside the integrated supervision of this model is the opportunity offered to practitioners to innovate. This offsets any initial difficulty experienced in setting up this method and makes it a worthwhile change of style in health visiting practice. Improved service delivery, enhanced professional growth and increased opportunity for public health work can be demonstrated as outcomes of this model. For professionals this method may prevent 'burn-out', enhance practice and increase innovation in health visiting practice. Using this method as a blueprint, practitioners can develop their own style of corporate working that offers a service that is equitable, proactive, efficient and accessible to clients.

  18. Unscheduled-return-visits after an emergency department (ED) attendance and clinical link between both visits in patients aged 75 years and over: a prospective observational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Laurent; Choquet, Christophe; Perozziello, Anne; Wargon, Mathias; Juillien, Gaelle; Colosi, Luisa; Hellmann, Romain; Ranaivoson, Michel; Casalino, Enrique

    2015-01-01

    Predictors of unscheduled return visits (URV), best time-frame to evaluate URV rate and clinical relationship between both visits have not yet been determined for the elderly following an ED visit. We conducted a prospective-observational study including 11,521 patients aged ≥75-years and discharged from ED (5,368 patients (53.5%)) or hospitalized after ED visit (6,153 patients). Logistic Regression and time-to-failure analyses including Cox proportional model were performed. Mean time to URV was 17 days; 72-hour, 30-day and 90-day URV rates were 1.8%, 6.1% and 10% respectively. Multivariate analysis indicates that care-pathway and final disposition decisions were significantly associated with a 30-day URV. Thus, we evaluated predictors of 30-day URV rates among non-admitted and hospitalized patient groups. By using the Cox model we found that, for non-admitted patients, triage acuity and diagnostic category and, for hospitalized patients, that visit time (day, night) and diagnostic categories were significant predictors (prisk of URV, and that some diagnostic categories are also related for non-admitted and hospitalized subjects alike. Our study also demonstrates that the best time frame to evaluate the URV rate after an ED visit is 30 days, because this is the time period during which most URVs and cases with close clinical relationships between two visits are concentrated. Our results suggest that URV can be used as an indicator or quality.

  19. The involvement of private general practitioners in visiting primary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Clear expectations and a confusion of roles leads to lack of teamwork, thus it is important to have clearly established models for such involvement. Doctors working in district hospitals mostly visit clinics, but their workload, staff shortages and transport often interfere with these visits. As a form of private-public partnership, ...

  20. Differences in Neuroticism Between Patients with Glaucoma Who Have Discontinued Visits to Ophthalmologists and Those Who Make Regular Visits: Implications for Adherence to Topical Glaucoma Medications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakano, Tadashi; Kodaka, Fumitoshi; Tsuneoka, Hiroshi

    2016-12-01

    Neuroticism is a personality trait often described in individuals with glaucoma (GLC), but is not necessarily representative of the total population of patients. There is a population of patients with GLC who are invisible to clinical ophthalmologists; in other words, those who once have been diagnosed with GLC, but spontaneously stop visiting an ophthalmologist. Little is known about their neuroticism personality trait. In the present study, the authors compared the level of neuroticism between patients no longer visiting an ophthalmologist and those who continue visit them regularly. Patients were assigned to two groups according to the duration of their last visit to an ophthalmologist: the Discontinued group included those patients who had not visited an ophthalmologist for the last 6 months, and the Regular Visitor group included those patients who continued to make regular visits to an ophthalmologist. The Japanese version of Ten Items Personality Inventory (TIPI-J), a questionnaire specifically used to assess the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness), was completed by patients through a dedicated website. Three-hundred and seventy-three patients with GLC were recruited. The neuroticism score from the TIPI-J in the Discontinued group was significantly lower than that in the Regular Visitor group (7.63 ± 2.23 vs. 8.23 ± 2.21, respectively; P = 0.01). No significant difference was found in the other TIPI-J sub-item scores between the Discontinued and the Regular Visitor groups. In this study, the authors showed that neuroticism trait in patients with GLC who have discontinued visiting their ophthalmologists was lower than that in patients who regularly visited them, on the basis of the Big Five personality traits as measured by the TIPT-J. Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

  1. Home visit program improves technique survival in peritoneal dialysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martino, Francesca; Adıbelli, Z; Mason, G; Nayak, A; Ariyanon, W; Rettore, E; Crepaldi, Carlo; Rodighiero, Mariapia; Ronco, Claudio

    2014-01-01

    Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a home therapy, and technique survival is related to the adherence to PD prescription at home. The presence of a home visit program could improve PD outcomes. We evaluated its effects on clinical outcome during 1 year of follow-up. This was a case-control study. The case group included all 96 patients who performed PD in our center on January 1, 2013, and who attended a home visit program; the control group included all 92 patients who performed PD on January 1, 2008. The home visit program consisted of several additional visits to reinforce patients' confidence in PD management in their own environment. Outcomes were defined as technique failure, peritonitis episode, and hospitalization. Clinical and dialysis features were evaluated for each patient. The case group was significantly older (p = 0.048), with a lower grade of autonomy (p = 0.033), but a better hemoglobin level (p = 0.02) than the control group. During the observational period, we had 11 episodes of technique failure. We found a significant reduction in the rate of technique failure in the case group (p = 0.004). Furthermore, survival analysis showed a significant extension of PD treatment in the patients supported by the home visit program (52 vs. 48.8 weeks, p = 0.018). We did not find any difference between the two groups in terms of peritonitis and hospitalization rate; however, trends toward a reduction of Gram-positive peritonitis rates as well as prevalence and duration of hospitalization related to PD problems were identified in the case group. The retrospective nature of the analysis was a limitation of this study. The home visit program improves the survival of PD patients and could reduce the rate of Gram-positive peritonitis and hospitalization. Video Journal Club "Cappuccino with Claudio Ronco" at http://www.karger.com/?doi=365168.

  2. Factors associated with regular dental visits among hemodialysis patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshioka, Masami; Shirayama, Yasuhiko; Imoto, Issei; Hinode, Daisuke; Yanagisawa, Shizuko; Takeuchi, Yuko; Bando, Takashi; Yokota, Narushi

    2016-01-01

    AIM To investigate awareness and attitudes about preventive dental visits among dialysis patients; to clarify the barriers to visiting the dentist. METHODS Subjects included 141 dentate outpatients receiving hemodialysis treatment at two facilities, one with a dental department and the other without a dental department. We used a structured questionnaire to interview participants about their awareness of oral health management issues for dialysis patients, perceived oral symptoms and attitudes about dental visits. Bivariate analysis using the χ2 test was conducted to determine associations between study variables and regular dental check-ups. Binominal logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with regular dental check-ups. RESULTS There were no significant differences in patient demographics between the two participating facilities, including attitudes about dental visits. Therefore, we included all patients in the following analyses. Few patients (4.3%) had been referred to a dentist by a medical doctor or nurse. Although 80.9% of subjects had a primary dentist, only 34.0% of subjects received regular dental check-ups. The most common reasons cited for not seeking dental care were that visits are burdensome and a lack of perceived need. Patients with gum swelling or bleeding were much more likely to be in the group of those not receiving routine dental check-ups (χ2 test, P < 0.01). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that receiving dental check-ups was associated with awareness that oral health management is more important for dialysis patients than for others and with having a primary dentist (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Dialysis patients should be educated about the importance of preventive dental care. Medical providers are expected to participate in promoting dental visits among dialysis patients. PMID:27648409

  3. Identification of Emergency Department Visits in Medicare Administrative Claims: Approaches and Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkatesh, Arjun K.; Mei, Hao; Kocher, Keith E.; Granovsky, Michael; Obermeyer, Ziad; Spatz, Erica S.; Rothenberg, Craig; Krumholz, Harlan M.; Lin, Zhenqui

    2018-01-01

    Objectives Administrative claims data sets are often used for emergency care research and policy investigations of healthcare resource utilization, acute care practices, and evaluation of quality improvement interventions. Despite the high profile of emergency department (ED) visits in analyses using administrative claims, little work has evaluated the degree to which existing definitions based on claims data accurately captures conventionally defined hospital-based ED services. We sought to construct an operational definition for ED visitation using a comprehensive Medicare data set and to compare this definition to existing operational definitions used by researchers and policymakers. Methods We examined four operational definitions of an ED visit commonly used by researchers and policymakers using a 20% sample of the 2012 Medicare Chronic Condition Warehouse (CCW) data set. The CCW data set included all Part A (hospital) and Part B (hospital outpatient, physician) claims for a nationally representative sample of continuously enrolled Medicare fee-for-services beneficiaries. Three definitions were based on published research or existing quality metrics including: 1) provider claims–based definition, 2) facility claims–based definition, and 3) CMS Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) definition. In addition, we developed a fourth operational definition (Yale definition) that sought to incorporate additional coding rules for identifying ED visits. We report levels of agreement and disagreement among the four definitions. Results Of 10,717,786 beneficiaries included in the sample data set, 22% had evidence of ED use during the study year under any of the ED visit definitions. The definition using provider claims identified a total of 4,199,148 ED visits, the facility definition 4,795,057 visits, the ResDAC definition 5,278,980 ED visits, and the Yale definition 5,192,235 ED visits. The Yale definition identified a statistically different (p services in the

  4. The Hachirogata Polder : Site Visit Report February/March 2017

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijhuis, S.

    2017-01-01

    This is a report on the visit of the Hachirogata polder of the author from 28 February 2017 to 2 March 2017. The land reclamation is located in the prefecture of Akita in Japan. The visit consisted of a field trip to the polder accompanied by Prof. Yasunori Kitao (Kyoto Women’s University) with

  5. CMS Virtual Visits @ European Researchers Night, 30 September 2016

    CERN Multimedia

    Lapka, Marzena

    2016-01-01

    CMS hosted four virtual visits during European Researchers Night. Audience from Greece (NCRS Demokritos, Athens), Poland (University of Science and Technology in Krakow), Italy (Psiquadro in Perugia & INFN in Pisa) and Portugal (Planetarium Calouste Gulbenkian, organised by LIP) had an occasion to converse with CMS researchers and "virtually" visit CMS Control Room and underground facilities.

  6. Visits to Registered Nurses: An Opportunity to Increase Contraceptive Access in California.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Emese C; Kong, Kevin; Watts, Leslie A; Schwarz, Eleanor B; Darney, Philip D; Thiel de Bocanegra, Heike

    In 2013, California passed Assembly Bill (A.B.) 2348, approving registered nurses (RNs) to dispense patient self-administered hormonal contraceptives and administer injections of hormonal contraceptives. The Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment (Family PACT) program, which came into effect in 1997 to expand low-income, uninsured California resident access to contraceptives at no cost, is one program in which qualified RNs can dispense and administer contraceptives. The aims of this study were to (a) describe utilization of RN visits within California's Family PACT program and (b) evaluate the impact of RN visits on client birth control acquisition during the first 18 months after implementation of A.B. 2348 (January 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014). A descriptive observational design using administrative databases was used. Family PACT claims were retrieved for RN visits and contraception. Paid claims for contraceptive dispensing and/or administration visits by physicians, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants were compared before and after the implementation of A.B. 2348 at practice sites where RN visits were and were not utilized. Contraceptive methods and administration procedures were identified using Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes, National Drug Codes, and Common Procedural Terminology codes. Claims data for healthcare facilities were abstracted by site location based on a unique combination of National Provider Identifier (NPI), NPI Owner, and NPI location number. RN visits were found mainly in Northern California and the Central Valley (73%). Sixty-eight percent of RN visits resulted in same-day dispensing and/or administration of hormonal (and/or barrier) methods. Since benefit implementation, RN visits resulted in a 10% increase in access to birth control dispensing and/or administration visits. RN visits were also associated with future birth control acquisition and other healthcare utilization within the

  7. AGE AND REASONS OF THE FIRST DENTAL VISIT OF CHILDREN IN LEBANON.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daou, Maha H; Eden, Ece; El Osta, Nada

    2016-01-01

    The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry have recommended that the child's first dental visit should be during the child's first year of life for dental disease prevention and to decrease the invasive restorative interventions. In Lebanon, no study has been conducted to determine the age and the reasons of the first dental visit of children and who requested the first dental screening. To assess at what age occurred the first dental visit in a group of Lebanese children visiting a private pediatric dental clinic and to explore the reasons for their first dental consultation. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted. During a five-year period, all children visiting the pediatric clinic were invited to participate in the study. Parents were asked about the general health status of their child, the use of antibiotics before the age of 2 years. Parents were also requested to give the dental reasons for their initial visit to a pedodontist. Two hundred and twenty children (mean age 4.24 ± 1.35 years) visited the pedodontic care office for the first time and were included in the study. All participants had visited a pediatrician before the age of 1 year. Fifty-seven (25.9%) children were referred by a dentist and 163 (74.1%) came with their parents without referral. All participants had at least one reason for the first consultation; the most common were the presence of decayed teeth (50.9%) and a dental pain perception (29.5%). All participants had visited a pediatrician at an earlier age but none was referred to a pedodontist by a pediatrician for check-up or prevention. Children came upon the decision of their parents. A dental problem was the major reason which triggered the first visit. Therefore, pediatricians in Lebanon need to keep themselves updated on recommendations regarding children oral health and be encouraged to play an important role in prompting oral health and first dental visits.

  8. Long-term Dental Visiting Patterns and Adult Oral Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomson, W.M.; Williams, S.M.; Broadbent, J.M.; Poulton, R.; Locker, D.

    2010-01-01

    To date, the evidence supporting the benefits of dental visiting comes from cross-sectional studies. We investigated whether long-term routine dental visiting was associated with lower experience of dental caries and missing teeth, and better self-rated oral health, by age 32. A prospective cohort study in New Zealand examined 932 participants’ use of dentistry at ages 15, 18, 26, and 32. At each age, routine attenders (RAs) were identified as those who (a) usually visited for a check-up, and (b) had made a dental visit during the previous 12 months. Routine attending prevalence fell from 82% at age 15 to 28% by 32. At any given age, routine attenders had better-than-average oral health, fewer had teeth missing due to caries, and they had lower mean DS and DMFS scores. By age 32, routine attenders had better self-reported oral health and less tooth loss and caries. The longer routine attendance was maintained, the stronger the effect. Routine dental attendance is associated with better oral health. PMID:20093674

  9. Blood Glucose Monitoring Before and After Type 1 Diabetes Clinic Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driscoll, Kimberly A; Johnson, Suzanne Bennett; Wang, Yuxia; Wright, Nancy; Deeb, Larry C

    2017-12-23

    To determine patterns of blood glucose monitoring in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) before and after routine T1D clinic visits. Blood glucose monitoring data were downloaded at four consecutive routine clinic visits from children and adolescents aged 5-18 years. Linear mixed models were used to analyze patterns of blood glucose monitoring in patients who had at least 28 days of data stored in their blood glucose monitors. In general, the frequency of blood glucose monitoring decreased across visits, and younger children engaged in more frequent blood glucose monitoring. Blood glucose monitoring increased before the T1D clinic visits in younger children, but not in adolescents. It declined after the visit regardless of age. Members of the T1D care team need to consider that a T1D clinic visit may prompt an increase in blood glucose monitoring when making treatment changes and recommendations. Tailored interventions are needed to maintain that higher level of adherence across time. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  10. Discussing dementia-related behaviors during medical visits for people with Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunsaker, Amanda E; Schmidt, Karen; Lingler, Jennifer H

    2010-05-01

    Research suggests that caregivers appreciate support from primary care physicians (PCPs) regarding dementia care; however, there remains a need for studies examining the role that PCPs play in behavior management. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively characterize the discussion on dementia-related behaviors (DRBs) during PCP visits and compare findings to an independently administered assessment of DRBs exhibited within a period of 4 weeks prior to the PCP visit. Twenty-five PCP visits of persons with dementia, in which caregivers coattended the visit, were audio-recorded and analyzed for occurrence of DRB discussion. Disruptive behaviors were reported by 80% of caregivers via independent assessment, yet discussed in 23% of medical visits. Dementia-related behavior discussion occurred in visits where caregivers independently reported significantly higher behavior frequency and behavior-related burden. Implications of findings for ways PCPs can assist the caregiver in behavior management are discussed.

  11. US-CERN Virtual Visits: Building Transcontinental Connections for High Energy Physics

    CERN Document Server

    Gonski, Julia; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    For nearly fifteen years, Virtual Visits at CERN have been bringing high-energy physics research directly to the public, through the use of videoconferencing systems at both ATLAS and CMS experimental sites. Over 30,000 people from all seven continents have participated in Virtual Visits to date, engaging students, teachers, artists, and general enthusiasts alike. While these connections often take place in science festivals or classrooms, the versatility of the medium allows the visit to be customized for any audience. In particular, Virtual Visit connections to the United States can integrate a population for which distance from the experiment may hinder education and awareness. Examples of such targeted audiences include US Congressional offices and other governmental institutions, to enhance dialogue about the benefits of global basic research, and historically underrepresented or underserved minority groups. Both the foundational work and future possibilities of US Virtual Visit connections is discussed.

  12. The Dynamics of Online Purchase Visits: Inertia or Switching?

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Zelin Zhang; Xia Wang; Peter T.L.Popkowski Leszczyc; Xiao Zuo

    2016-01-01

    This paper studies the dynamics of online purchase patterns,focusing on the impact of the channel used on conversion probability,as well as the transition of channel use over time.A novel data set from a major Chinese online travel agency is used for analysis,consisting of four months of data with 24,337 store visits through three types of channels:direct visit,search advertising and referral.Results of a Bayesian multinomial logit model show that the search channel significantly affects consumers' conversion probability,and show a high degree of inertia in channel use.This finding contrasts sharply with suggestions of previous research that most future purchases will converge to the direct-visit channel.

  13. Inbreeding in Mimulus guttatus reduces visitation by bumble bee pollinators.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David E Carr

    Full Text Available Inbreeding in plants typically reduces individual fitness but may also alter ecological interactions. This study examined the effect of inbreeding in the mixed-mating annual Mimulus guttatus on visitation by pollinators (Bombus impatiens in greenhouse experiments. Previous studies of M. guttatus have shown that inbreeding reduced corolla size, flower number, and pollen quantity and quality. Using controlled crosses, we produced inbred and outbred families from three different M. guttatus populations. We recorded the plant genotypes that bees visited and the number of flowers probed per visit. In our first experiment, bees were 31% more likely to visit outbred plants than those selfed for one generation and 43% more likely to visit outbred plants than those selfed for two generations. Inbreeding had only a small effect on the number of flowers probed once bees arrived at a genotype. These differences were explained partially by differences in mean floral display and mean flower size, but even when these variables were controlled statistically, the effect of inbreeding remained large and significant. In a second experiment we quantified pollen viability from inbred and self plants. Bees were 37-54% more likely to visit outbred plants, depending on the population, even when controlling for floral display size. Pollen viability proved to be as important as floral display in predicting pollinator visitation in one population, but the overall explanatory power of a multiple regression model was weak. Our data suggested that bees use cues in addition to display size, flower size, and pollen reward quality in their discrimination of inbred plants. Discrimination against inbred plants could have effects on plant fitness and thereby reinforce selection for outcrossing. Inbreeding in plant populations could also reduce resource quality for pollinators, potentially resulting in negative effects on pollinator populations.

  14. Child Custody, Visitation and Maintenance ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Nigussie Afesha

    2017-12-30

    Dec 30, 2017 ... The important thing here is fixing or determining which custody arrangement is ..... assuring the child's safety.86 Hence, supervised visitation can be ordered to ... safety, physical or mental health or other adverse effects on the feelings and emotional .... However, “In case of death, disability, unworthiness or.

  15. Access to Transportation and Health Care Visits for Medicaid Enrollees With Diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Leela V; Wedel, Kenneth R; Christopher, Jan E

    2018-03-01

    Diabetes is a chronic condition that requires frequent health care visits for its management. Individuals without nonemergency medical transportation often miss appointments and do not receive optimal care. This study aims to evaluate the association between Medicaid-provided nonemergency medical transportation and diabetes care visits. A retrospective analysis was conducted of demographic and claims data obtained from the Oklahoma Medicaid program. Participants consisted of Medicaid enrollees with diabetes who made at least 1 visit for diabetes care in a year. The sample was predominantly female and white, with an average age of 46.38 years. Two zero-truncated Poisson regression models were estimated to assess the independent effect of transportation use on number of diabetes care visits. Use of nonemergency medical transportation is a significant predictor of diabetes care visits. Zero-truncated Poisson regression coefficients showed a positive association between the use of transportation and number of visits (0.6563, P urban; women made fewer visits than men (-0.09312; P transportation to Medicaid populations with diabetes, particularly in the rural areas where the prevalence of diabetes and complications are higher and the availability of medical resources lower than in the urban areas. © 2017 National Rural Health Association.

  16. Influence of climate factors on emergency visits for childhood asthma attack.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashimoto, Mitsuo; Fukuda, Taiki; Shimizu, Tetsuya; Watanabe, Shou; Watanuki, Satoshi; Eto, Yoshikatsu; Urashima, Mitsuyoshi

    2004-02-01

    Asthma attack shows strong seasonality. The purpose of the present study was to quantify the contribution of climate variables and other seasonal factors on the incidence of emergency visits for childhood asthma in Tokyo, Japan. The number of children who visited emergency rooms at Jikei university hospitals in Tokyo during 1998-2002 (5559 visits) was retrieved retrospectively from files from the Department of Pediatrics, and compared with 45 climate parameters from the Meteorological Agency using multiple regression models with a stepwise backward elimination approach. The number of visits (3.7 +/- 3.1) per night increased significantly when climate conditions showed a rapid decrease from higher barometric pressure, from higher air temperature and from higher humidity, as well as lower wind speed. The best-fit model demonstrated that a 22% variation in the number of visits was explained by a linear relationship with 12 climate variables, which increased to 36% after adjusting for calendar month and day of the week. Moreover, when the number of asthma visits was cut off at nine per night, the area under the receiver operator characteristics curve was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.89-0.94) in the multiple logistic regression model using the same variables. These results suggest that these models might quantify contributions of specific climate conditions and other seasonal factors on the number of emergency visits per night for childhood asthma attack in Tokyo, Japan.

  17. Encapsulation of probiotic Bifidobacterium longum BIOMA 5920 with alginate-human-like collagen and evaluation of survival in simulated gastrointestinal conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Ran; Zhu, Xiao-Li; Fan, Dai-Di; Mi, Yu; Yang, Chan-Yuan; Jia, Xin

    2011-12-01

    Alginate (ALg)-human-like collagen (HLC) microspheres were prepared by the technology of electrostatic droplet generation in order to develop a biocompatible vehicle for probiotic bacteria. Microparticles were spherical with mean particle size of 400μm. The encapsulation efficiency (EE) of ALg-HLC microspheres could reach 92-99.2%. Water-soluble and fibrous human-like collagen is combined with sodium alginate through intermolecular hydrogen bonding and electrostatic force which were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thus the matrix of ALg-HLC was very stable. Bifidobacterium longum BIOMA 5920, as a kind of probiotic bacteria, was encapsulated with alginate-human-like collagen to survive and function in simulated gastrointestinal juice. Microparticles were very easy to degradation in simulated intestinal juices. After incubation in simulated gastric (pH 2.0, 2h), the encapsulated B. longum BIOMA 5920 numbers were 4.81 ± 0.38 log cfu/g. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Carbon dioxide baited trap catches do not correlate with human landing collections of Anopheles aquasalis in Suriname

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hélène Hiwat

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Three types of carbon dioxide-baited traps, i.e., the Centers for Disease Control Miniature Light Trap without light, the BioGents (BG Sentinel Mosquito Trap (BG-Sentinel and the Mosquito Magnet® Liberty Plus were compared with human landing collections in their efficiency in collecting Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus aquasalis mosquitoes. Of 13,549 total mosquitoes collected, 1,019 (7.52% were An. aquasalis. Large numbers of Culex spp were also collected, in particular with the (BG-Sentinel. The majority of An. aquasalis (83.8% were collected by the human landing collection (HLC. None of the trap catches correlated with HLC in the number of An. aquasalis captured over time. The high efficiency of the HLC method indicates that this malaria vector was anthropophilic at this site, especially as carbon dioxide was insufficiently attractive as stand-alone bait. Traps using carbon dioxide in combination with human odorants may provide better results.

  19. Dr. John Marburger visits DESY

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    Dr. John Marburger, Director of the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy, visited the research center DESY in Hamburg. The American physicist wanted to inform himself about the status of the TESLA X-ray laser and the TESLA linear collider as well as the international collaboration at DESY (1/2 page).

  20. Risk factors associated with visiting or not visiting the accident & emergency department after a fall

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scheffer, Alice C.; van Hensbroek, Pieter Boele; van Dijk, Nynke; Luitse, Jan S. K.; Goslings, Johannes C.; Luigies, René H.; de Rooij, Sophia E.

    2013-01-01

    Little is known about the prevalence of modifiable risk factors of falling in elderly persons with a fall-history who do not visit the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department after one or more falls. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of modifiable risk factors in a

  1. Practices Caring For The Underserved Are Less Likely To Adopt Medicare's Annual Wellness Visit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganguli, Ishani; Souza, Jeffrey; McWilliams, J Michael; Mehrotra, Ateev

    2018-02-01

    In 2011 Medicare introduced the annual wellness visit to help address the health risks of aging adults. The visit also offers primary care practices an opportunity to generate revenue, and may allow practices in accountable care organizations to attract healthier patients while stabilizing patient-practitioner assignments. However, uptake of the visit has been uneven. Using national Medicare data for the period 2008-15, we assessed practices' ability and motivation to adopt the visit. In 2015, 51.2 percent of practices provided no annual wellness visits (nonadopters), while 23.1 percent provided visits to at least a quarter of their eligible beneficiaries (adopters). Adopters replaced problem-based visits with annual wellness visits and saw increases in primary care revenue. Compared to nonadopters, adopters had more stable patient assignment and a slightly healthier patient mix. At the same time, visit rates were lower among practices caring for underserved populations (for example, racial minorities and those dually enrolled in Medicaid), potentially worsening disparities. Policy makers should consider ways to encourage uptake of the visit or other mechanisms to promote preventive care in underserved populations and the practices that serve them.

  2. Patient-pharmacist communication during a post-discharge pharmacist home visit.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ensing, H.T.; Vervloet, M.; Dooren, A.A. van; Bouvy, M.L.; Koster, E.S.

    2018-01-01

    Background With the shifting role of community pharmacists towards patient education and counselling, they are wellpositioned to conduct a post-discharge home visit which could prevent or solve drug-related problems. Gaining insight into the communication during these home visits could be valuable

  3. Is park visitation associated with leisure-time and transportation physical activity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veitch, Jenny; Ball, Kylie; Crawford, David; Abbott, Gavin; Salmon, Jo

    2013-11-01

    The aim of this study was to examine whether frequency of park visitation was associated with time spent in various domains of physical activity among adults living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Victoria, Australia. In 2009, participants (n=319) self-reported park visitation and physical activity including: walking and cycling for transport, leisure-time walking, leisure-time moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, and total physical activity. The mean number of park visits per week was 3.3 (SD=3.8). Park visitation was associated with greater odds of engaging in high (as compared to low) amounts of transportation physical activity, leisure-time walking, leisure-time moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) and total physical activity. Each additional park visit per week was associated with 23% greater odds of being in the high category for transportation physical activity, 26% greater odds of engaging in high amounts of leisure-time walking, 11% greater odds of engaging in MVPA, and 40% greater odds of high total physical activity. Acknowledging the cross-sectional study design, the findings suggest that park visitation may be an important predictor and/or destination for transportation and leisure-time walking and physical activity. Findings highlight the potentially important role of parks for physical activity. © 2013.

  4. The influence of a mental health home visit service partnership intervention on the caregivers' home visit service satisfaction and care burden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Jui-Fen; Huang, Xuan-Yi; Lin, Mei-Jue; Wang, Ya-Hui; Yeh, Tzu-Pei

    2018-02-01

    To investigate a community-based and hospital-based home visit partnership intervention in improving caregivers' satisfaction with home service and reducing caregiver burden. The community-oriented mental healthcare model prevails internationally. After patients return to the community, family caregivers are the patients' main support system and they also take the most of the burden of caring for patients. It is important to assist these caregivers by building good community healthcare models. A longitudinal quasi-experimental quantitative design. The experimental group (n = 109) involved "partnership" intervention, and the control group (n = 101) maintained routine home visits. The results were measured before the intervention, 6 and 12 months after the partnership intervention. Six months after the partnership intervention, the satisfaction of the experimental group was higher than the control group for several aspects of care. Although the care burden was reduced in the experimental group, there was no significant difference between the two groups. This study confirms that the partnership intervention can significantly improve caregiver satisfaction with home services, without reducing the care burden. The community-based and hospital-based mental health home visit service partnership programme could improve the main caregiver's satisfaction with the mental health home visit services, while the reduction in care burden may need government policies for the provision of more individual and comprehensive assistance. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. Swiss President to visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    "Pascal Couchepin, President of the Swiss Confederation, will visit CERN on 4 June to participate in the official inauguration of the underground cavern for the laboratory's ATLAS experiment. As the first new experimental cavern to be handed over to CERN by civil engineering contractors, this represents an important milestone for the Laboratory" (1 page).

  6. Ministers from Belgium and the Netherlands visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    The Belgian Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy, Marc Verwilghen, with CERN's Director-General, Robert Aymar.From left to right, Frank Linde, Director of the Netherlands National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics (NIKHEF), Jos Engelen, CERN's Chief Scientific Officer, Maria van der Hoeven, Netherlands Minister for Education, Culture and Science, and Herman Ten Kate, Head of the ATLAS magnet project, visiting the ATLAS assembly hall. Marc Verwilghen, Belgian Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy, came to CERN on 8 April 2005, where he visited the CMS assembly hall and underground cavern, as well as the hall where the LHC superconducting magnets are being tested. A few days later, on 21 April, the Netherlands Minister for Education, Culture and Science, Mrs Maria van der Hoeven, was welcomed to CERN by the Director-General, Robert Aymar, and the Chief Scientific Officer, Jos Engelen. Minister van der Hoeven visited the ATLAS installations, t...

  7. HIV-positive father wins visitation battle in Maryland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-03-24

    [Name removed], after a four-year court battle, has been awarded visitation rights with his three daughters. [Name removed] separated from his wife [name removed] in [name removed] 1991 after telling her he was diagnosed with HIV. The custody dispute originally centered around not only [name removed]'s HIV status, but also his homosexuality (he had left his wife for the family friend and godfather to one of the couple's daughter's). Custody judge Audrey E. Melbourne allowed [name removed] to see his daughters at his home, excluding overnight, weekday or holiday visits. [Name removed]'s appeal focused on the medical aspects of HIV transmission in the household. Since Mrs. [Name removed]' expert witness conceded that he knew of no recorded instances of a person transmitting HIV to another person through bathing, cooking or breathing, the judge agreed the risk of transmission was so small as to pose no threat to the children's safety. [Name removed] was awarded visitation on alternating weekends, plus alternating Federal holidays.

  8. MedAustron board visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    On 14 October, the board of EBG MedAustron, which is overseeing the construction of Austria’s hadron therapy centre, visited CERN. The visit recognized the relationship of shared knowledge, technology and training between CERN and MedAustron.   Normal.dotm 0 0 1 17 98 cern 1 1 120 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} ...

  9. The impact of preventive health behaviour and social factors on visits to the doctor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yom Din, Gregory; Zugman, Zinaida; Khashper, Alla

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study is to examine the joint impact of preventive health behavior (PHB) and social and demographic factors on the utilization of primary and secondary medical care under a universal health care system, as measured by visits to the doctor, who were categorized as either a General Practitioner (GP) or Specialist Doctor (SD). An ordered probit model was utilized to analyze data obtained from the 2009 Israeli National Health Survey. The problem of endogeneity between PHB factors and visits to GP was approached using the two-stage residuals inclusion and instrumental variables method. We found a positive effect of PHB on visits to the doctor while the addition of the PHB factors to the independent variables resulted in important changes in explaining visits to GP (in values of the estimates, in their sign, and in their statistical significance), and only in slight changes for visits to SD. A 1% increase in PHB factors results in increasing the probability to visit General Practitioner in the last year in 0.6%. The following variables were identified as significant in explaining frequency of visits to the doctor: PHB, socio-economic status (pro-poor for visits to GP, pro-rich for visits to SD), location (for visits to SD), gender, age (age 60 or greater being a negative factor for visits to GP and a positive factor for visits to SD), chronic diseases, and marital status (being married was a negative factor for visits to GP and a positive factor for visits to SD). There is a need for allowing for endogeneity in examining the impact of PHB, social and demographic factors on visits to GP in a population under universal health insurance. For disadvantaged populations with low SES and those living in peripheral districts, the value of IndPrev is lower than for populations with high SES and living in the center of the country. Examining the impact of these factors, significant differences in the importance and sometimes even in the sign of their influence on

  10. Determinants of a GP visit and cervical cancer screening examination in Great Britain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Michael Labeit

    Full Text Available In the UK, women are requested to attend a cervical cancer test every 3 years as part of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. This analysis compares the determinants of a cervical cancer screening examination with the determinants of a GP visit in the same year and investigates if cervical cancer screening participation is more likely for women who visit their GP.A recursive probit model was used to analyse the determinants of GP visits and cervical cancer screening examinations. GP visits were considered to be endogenous in the cervical cancer screening examination. The analysed sample consisted of 52,551 observations from 8,386 women of the British Household Panel Survey.The analysis showed that a higher education level and a worsening self-perceived health status increased the probability of a GP visit, whereas smoking decreased the probability of a GP visit. GP visits enhanced the uptake of a cervical cancer screening examination in the same period. The only variables which had the same positive effect on both dependent variables were higher education and living with a partner. The probability of a cervical cancer screening examination increased also with previous cervical cancer screening examinations and being in the recommended age groups. All other variables had different results for the uptake of a GP visit or a cervical cancer screening examination.Most of the determinants of visiting a GP and cervical cancer screening examination differ from each other and a GP visit enhances the uptake of a smear test.

  11. 50 CFR 25.53 - Establishment of single visit entrance fees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... fees. 25.53 Section 25.53 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS Fees and Charges § 25.53 Establishment of single visit entrance fees. Entrance fees established for single visit...

  12. Analysis of impact of Internet marketing on visits of the Lenovo Blog CZ

    OpenAIRE

    Ruskovská, Petra

    2013-01-01

    The thesis analyses the impact of Internet marketing tools on visits of the Lenovo Blog CZ, the official blog of the computer manufacturer Lenovo. It focuses evolution of visits of the blog over time, on the impact of social networks and Facebook posts paid promotion on visits. Finally, it observes to what extent the Internet marketing tools impact overall visits of the blog over the observed time.

  13. Palliative care team visits. Qualitative study through participant observation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfaya Góngora, Maria Del Mar; Bueno Pernias, Maria José; Hueso Montoro, César; Guardia Mancilla, Plácido; Montoya Juárez, Rafael; García Caro, Maria Paz

    2016-03-30

    To describe the clinical encounters that occur when a palliative care team provides patient care and the features that influence these encounters and indicate whether they are favorable or unfavorable depending on the expectations and feelings of the various participants. A qualitative case study conducted via participant observation. A total of 12 observations of the meetings of palliative care teams with patients and families in different settings (home, hospital and consultation room) were performed. The visits were follow-up or first visits, either scheduled or on demand. Content analysis of the observation was performed. The analysis showed the normal follow-up activity of the palliative care unit that was focused on controlling symptoms, sharing information and providing advice on therapeutic regimens and care. The environment appeared to condition the patients' expressions and the type of patient relationship. Favorable clinical encounter conditions included kindness and gratitude. Unfavorable conditions were deterioration caused by approaching death, unrealistic family objectives and limited resources. Home visits from basic palliative care teams play an important role in patient and family well-being. The visits seem to focus on controlling symptoms and are conditioned by available resources.

  14. Supriya Jindal visits school

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-01-01

    Louisiana First Lady Supriya Jindal (left) speaks to teachers and students at A.P. Tureaud Elementary School in New Orleans during a March 19 visit. At the school, Jindal was joined by retired NASA astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Ride was a crew member on space shuttle Challenger during its STS-7 mission in 1983. She also was a crew member of space shuttle discovery on the STS-41 mission in 1984.

  15. Prime-Minister of Malta visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    The Prime-Minister of Malta, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, visited CERN and met Director-General, Robert Aymar, on 10 January. The Prime-Minister of Malta, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, and CERN Director-General, Robert Aymar, signed a cooperation agreement. Dr Gonzi was given guided tours of the CMS experiment at Point 5 in Cessy and of the LHC magnet test facility, in which his country was involved. One of the high points of the day was the signing of a cooperation agreement between CERN and the Government of the Republic of Malta, aimed at the development of scientific and technical collaboration. "I’m really enthusiastic about this agreement, which constitutes a first step towards real collaboration between the Maltese government and CERN," said Nicholas Sammut, a Maltese engineer at CERN who was present throughout the visit (on the right). See also the video.

  16. Beautiful Science: Worth a Visit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bingham, Frederick M.

    2013-01-01

    For those in the profession of teaching physics who reside in or plan to visit the Los Angeles area, I would highly recommend a trip to the Huntington Library in San Marino, specifically to a permanent exhibit entitled "Beautiful Science: Ideas that Changed the World" in the Dibner Hall of the History of Science. The exhibit contains…

  17. Visit of the Austrian Ambassador

    CERN Multimedia

    Patrice Loïez

    2002-01-01

    The Austrian Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch (light raincoat) learns about superconducting magnets at the LHC magnet test facility in building SM18 during a visit to CERN. The blue pipe-like structure in the left background is String 2: the 120-m long full-scale model of an LHC cell, which is used to test LHC systems.

  18. Visiting School Campuses: Reporter Guide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, Sarah

    2013-01-01

    Spending time in schools and classrooms can be one of the best ways for novice reporters to dive into the education beat, and for veteran journalists to find fresh inspiration. While it is certainly not necessary for every story, education journalists should try their best to make time to visit schools. Classroom observations and campus tours help…

  19. Obstacles and facilitators of open visiting policy in Intensive Care Units:A qualitative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shiva Khaleghparast

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Open visiting policy in intensive care units is proposed as an essential requirement for patients and their families, so this study is aimed to explain open visiting policy obstacles and facilitators from patients, families and health team members’ viewpoint. This qualitative study implemented in intensive care units of a hospital specialized in cardiology in Tehran-Iran. Patients’, families’, nurses’, doctors’ and guards’ viewpoint was determined regarding open visiting policy obstacles and facilitators by semi-structured interviews. Data analysis method was conventional approach of qualitative content analysis with thematic technique. Data analysis was performed using Max QDA10 software. Two main categories of data regarding open visiting obstacles and facilitators were extracted. Factors related to service systems and visitors derived from open visiting obstacles, and factors related to management system and personnel derived from open visiting facilitators. One of the most important obstacles of open visiting policy implementation is shortage of staff and personnel negative attitude. Regarding open visiting policy facilitators, designing visiting cards for close family and observing specific rules, modification of intensive care unit structure and facilities for families are useful. Finally, what is important as an open visiting policy implementation facilitator is presence of nursing profession as a humanitarian and ethical profession.

  20. Comparing Destination Image and Loyalty between First-time and Repeat-visit Tourists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamad M.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to investigate the difference between destination image and loyalty among first-time and repeat-visit tourists. The study was undertaken to examine aspects of underlying factors of destination image that influenced tourists’ willingness to recommend Malaysia to their friends and relatives as well as spread positive word-of-mouth to others. In addition, it was to ascertain the relationship between destination image and loyalty among first-time and repeat-visit tourists. The data was collected at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at the departure hall using self-administered questionnaires. 248 usable questionnaires were returned and analysed. The findings of the study revealed that both groups of tourists perceived Malaysia as providing a nature-based destination. The study also empirically proved that both first-time and repeat-visit tourists were willing to disseminate positive word-of-mouth and recommend Malaysia to their friends and relatives as a vacation destination to visit. However, there was a significant difference in destination loyalty between first-visit and repeat-visit tourists.

  1. Emergency Department Visits by Older Adults for Motor Vehicle Collisions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vogel, Jody A.

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: To describe the epidemiology and characteristics of emergency department (ED visits by older adults for motor vehicle collisions (MVC in the United States (U.S..Methods: We analyzed ED visits for MVCs using data from the 2003–2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS. Using U.S. Census data, we calculated annual incidence rates of driver or passenger MVC-related ED visits and examined visit characteristics, including triage acuity, tests performed and hospital admission or discharge. We compared older (65+ years and younger (18-64 years MVC patients and calculated odds ratios (OR and 95% confidence intervals (CIs to measure the strength of associations between age group and various visit characteristics. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of admissions for MVC-related injuries among older adults.Results: From 2003–2007, there were an average of 237,000 annual ED visits by older adults for MVCs. The annual ED visit rate for MVCs was 6.4 (95% CI 4.6-8.3 visits per 1,000 for older adults and 16.4 (95% CI 14.0-18.8 visits per 1,000 for younger adults. Compared to younger MVC patients, after adjustment for gender, race and ethnicity, older MVC patients were more likely to have at least one imaging study performed (OR 3.69, 95% CI 1.46-9.36. Older MVC patients were not significantly more likely to arrive by ambulance (OR 1.47; 95% CI 0.76–2.86, have a high triage acuity (OR 1.56; 95% CI 0.77-3.14, or to have a diagnosis of a head, spinal cord or torso injury (OR 0.97; 95% CI 0.42-2.23 as compared to younger MVC patients after adjustment for gender, race and ethnicity. Overall, 14.5% (95% CI 9.8-19.2 of older MVC patients and 6.1% (95% CI 4.8-7.5 of younger MVC patients were admitted to the hospital. There was also a non-statistically significant trend toward hospital admission for older versus younger MVC patients (OR 1.78; 95% CI 0.71-4.43, and admission to the ICU if

  2. Neuroscientists' classroom visits positively impact student attitudes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janet L Fitzakerley

    Full Text Available The primary recommendation of the 2010 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report on K-12 education was to inspire more students so that they are motivated to study science. Scientists' visits to classrooms are intended to inspire learners and increase their interest in science, but verifications of this impact are largely qualitative. Our primary goal was to evaluate the impact of a longstanding Brain Awareness classroom visit program focused on increasing learners understanding of their own brains. Educational psychologists have established that neuroscience training sessions can improve academic performance and shift attitudes of students from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Our secondary goal was to determine whether short interactive Brain Awareness scientist-in-the-classroom sessions could similarly alter learners' perceptions of their own potential to learn. Teacher and student surveys were administered in 4(th-6(th grade classrooms throughout Minnesota either before or after one-hour Brain Awareness sessions that engaged students in activities related to brain function. Teachers rated the Brain Awareness program as very valuable and said that the visits stimulated students' interest in the brain and in science. Student surveys probed general attitudes towards science and their knowledge of neuroscience concepts (particularly the ability of the brain to change. Significant favorable improvements were found on 10 of 18 survey statements. Factor analyses of 4805 responses demonstrated that Brain Awareness presentations increased positive attitudes toward science and improved agreement with statements related to growth mindset. Overall effect sizes were small, consistent with the short length of the presentations. Thus, the impact of Brain Awareness presentations was positive and proportional to the efforts expended, demonstrating that short, scientist-in-the-classroom visits can make a positive contribution to

  3. Application of frequent itemsets mining to analyze patterns of one-stop visits in Taiwan.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun-Yi Tu

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The free choice of health care facilities without limitations on frequency of visits within the National Health Insurance in Taiwan gives rise to not only a high number of annual ambulatory visits per capita but also a unique "one-stop shopping"phenomenon, which refers to a patient' visits to several specialties of the same healthcare facility in one day. The visits to multiple physicians would increase the potential risk of polypharmacy. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency and patterns of one-stop visits in Taiwan. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The claims datasets of 1 million nationally representative people within Taiwan's National Health Insurance in 2005 were used to calculate the number of patients with one-stop visits. The frequent itemsets mining was applied to compute the combination patterns of specialties in the one-stop visits. Among the total 13,682,469 ambulatory care visits in 2005, one-stop visits occurred 144,132 times and involved 296,822 visits (2.2% of all visits by 66,294 (6.6% persons. People tended to have this behavior with age and the percentage reached 27.5% (5,662 in 20,579 in the age group ≥80 years. In general, women were more likely to have one-stop visits than men (7.2% vs. 6.0%. Internal medicine plus ophthalmology was the most frequent combination with a visited frequency of 3,552 times (2.5%, followed by cardiology plus neurology with 3,183 times (2.2%. The most frequent three-specialty combination, cardiology plus neurology and gastroenterology, occurred only 111 times. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Without the novel computational technique, it would be hardly possible to analyze the extremely diverse combination patterns of specialties in one-stop visits. The results of the study could provide useful information either for the hospital manager to set up integrated services or for the policymaker to rebuild the health care system.

  4. Visits Service Launches New Seminar Series

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    The CERN Visits Service is launching a new series of seminars for guides, and they are open to everyone. The series kicks off next week with a talk by Konrad Elsener on the CERN neutrinos to Gran Sasso, CNGS, project.

  5. 28 CFR 540.47 - Media visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... Judicial Administration BUREAU OF PRISONS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT CONTACT WITH... who wishes to visit outside his or her official duties, however, must qualify as a regular visitor or, if applicable, a special visitor. [68 FR 10658, Mar. 6, 2003] ...

  6. An Occupational Therapy Fall Reduction Home Visit Program for Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Hong Kong After an Emergency Department Visit for a Fall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Mary Man-Lai; Fong, Kenneth Nai-Kuen; Lit, Albert Chau-Hung; Rainer, Timothy Hudson; Cheng, Stella Wai-Chee; Au, Frederick Lap-Yan; Fung, Henry Kwok-Kwong; Wong, Chit-Ming; Tong, Hon-Kuan

    2017-02-01

    To investigate the effects of an occupational therapy fall reduction home visit program for older adults admitted to the emergency department (ED) for a fall and discharged directly home. Single-blind, multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. EDs in three acute care hospitals in Hong Kong. Individuals aged 65 and older who had fallen (N = 311). After screening for eligibility, 204 consenting individuals were randomly assigned to an intervention group (IG) and received a single home visit from an occupational therapist (OT) within 2 weeks after discharge from the hospital or a control group (CG) and received a well-wishing visit from a research assistant not trained in fall prevention. Both groups were followed for 12 months through telephone calls made every 2 weeks by blinded assessors with a focus on the frequency of falls. Another blinded assessor followed up on their status with telephone calls 4, 8, and 12 months after ED discharge. Prospective fall records on hospital admissions were retrieved from electronic databases; 198 individuals were followed for 1 year on an intention-to-treat basis. The percentage of fallers over 1 year was 13.7% in the IG (n = 95) and 20.4% in the CG (n = 103). There were significant differences in the number of fallers (P = .03) and the number of falls (P = .02) between the two groups over 6 months. Significant differences were found in survival analysis for first fall at 6 months (log-rank test 5.052, P = .02) but not 9 or 12 months. One OT visit after a fall was more effective than a well-wishing visit at reducing future falls at 6 months. A booster OT visit at 6 months is suggested. © 2016, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2016, The American Geriatrics Society.

  7. Diagnosis of state visits to patients held in intensive care units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosa Del Socorro Morales-Aguila

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The visit is the space where it is possible to relate the patient, family and health personnel. To diagnose the situation of the visits to patients imprisoned in units of intensive care of Institutions Prestadoras of Health (IPS. Study descriptive, cross; the population was five intensive care units, the intrinsic sample consisted of 34 participants. respondents agreed visiting hours morning and afternoon 53%; the residence time of family members during the half-hour visit was 30%; the number of people allowed is three relatives 70%; information about the patient's progress is provided by the medical specialist 65%; 18% weakness was evident in the application of informed consent procedures make. These results serve to generate changes in the future with the attention paid to the families of critically ill patients, based on the recommendations of the American Association of Intensive Care more flexible patient visits focused on family relationship, in order to minimize anxiety produced by the gravity of their situation and environment of the Unit of Intensive care.

  8. Standardizing operational vector sampling techniques for measuring malaria transmission intensity: evaluation of six mosquito collection methods in western Kenya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Jacklyn; Bayoh, Nabie; Olang, George; Killeen, Gerry F; Hamel, Mary J; Vulule, John M; Gimnig, John E

    2013-04-30

    Operational vector sampling methods lack standardization, making quantitative comparisons of malaria transmission across different settings difficult. Human landing catch (HLC) is considered the research gold standard for measuring human-mosquito contact, but is unsuitable for large-scale sampling. This study assessed mosquito catch rates of CDC light trap (CDC-LT), Ifakara tent trap (ITT), window exit trap (WET), pot resting trap (PRT), and box resting trap (BRT) relative to HLC in western Kenya to 1) identify appropriate methods for operational sampling in this region, and 2) contribute to a larger, overarching project comparing standardized evaluations of vector trapping methods across multiple countries. Mosquitoes were collected from June to July 2009 in four districts: Rarieda, Kisumu West, Nyando, and Rachuonyo. In each district, all trapping methods were rotated 10 times through three houses in a 3 × 3 Latin Square design. Anophelines were identified by morphology and females classified as fed or non-fed. Anopheles gambiae s.l. were further identified as Anopheles gambiae s.s. or Anopheles arabiensis by PCR. Relative catch rates were estimated by negative binomial regression. When data were pooled across all four districts, catch rates (relative to HLC indoor) for An. gambiae s.l (95.6% An. arabiensis, 4.4% An. gambiae s.s) were high for HLC outdoor (RR = 1.01), CDC-LT (RR = 1.18), and ITT (RR = 1.39); moderate for WET (RR = 0.52) and PRT outdoor (RR = 0.32); and low for all remaining types of resting traps (PRT indoor, BRT indoor, and BRT outdoor; RR < 0.08 for all). For Anopheles funestus, relative catch rates were high for ITT (RR = 1.21); moderate for HLC outdoor (RR = 0.47), CDC-LT (RR = 0.69), and WET (RR = 0.49); and low for all resting traps (RR < 0.02 for all). At finer geographic scales, however, efficacy of each trap type varied from district to district. ITT, CDC-LT, and WET appear to be effective methods for large-scale vector sampling in

  9. Diagnostic performance of cytology for assessment of hepatic lipid content in dairy cattle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fry, M M; Yao, B; Ríos, C; Wong, C; Mann, S; McArt, J A A; Nydam, D V; Leal Yepes, F A; Viesselmann, L; Geick, A; Goldin, K; Jordan, A; Behling-Kelly, E

    2018-02-01

    The objective of our study was to characterize the diagnostic performance of cytology for assessing hepatic lipid content (HLC) in dairy cows by comparing microscopic evaluation of lipid vacuolation in touch imprint slide preparations of liver biopsies with quantitative measurement of triglyceride concentration ([TG]; mg/mg of wet weight) in paired biopsy samples. Our study also sought to compare the diagnostic performance of liver cytology, plasma nonesterified fatty acid concentration ([NEFA]), and plasma β-hydroxybutyrate concentration ([BHB]) derived from a measurement performed on whole blood, for assessing HLC. Chemical extraction of TG from liver tissue remains the gold standard for quantifying HLC, largely because available blood tests, although useful for detecting some types of pathology, such as increased lipid mobilization, ketosis, or hepatocellular injury, are nonspecific as to etiology. Veterinary practitioners can sample bovine liver for cytological evaluation in a fast, minimally invasive, and inexpensive manner. Thus, if highly predictive of HLC, cytology would be a practical diagnostic tool for dairy veterinarians. In our study, liver biopsy samples from Holstein cows (219 samples from 105 cows: 52 from cows 2 to 20 d prepartum, 105 from cows 0 to 10 d in milk, 62 from cows 18 to 25 d in milk) were used to prepare cytology slides and to quantify [TG] using the Folch extraction method followed by the Hantzch condensation reaction and spectrophotometric measurement. An ordinal scale (0-4) based on amount of hepatocellular cytoplasm occupied by discrete clear vacuoles was used by 3 blinded, independent observers to rank HLC in Wright-Giemsa-stained slides. Interobserver agreement in cytology scoring was good. Corresponding plasma [NEFA] and [BHB] measurements were available for 187 and 195 of the 219 samples, respectively. Liver [TG] correlated more strongly with cytology score than with NEFA or BHB, and receiver operating characteristic curve

  10. Impact of Marijuana Legalization in Colorado on Adolescent Emergency and Urgent Care Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, George Sam; Davies, Sara Deakyne; Halmo, Laurie Seidel; Sass, Amy; Mistry, Rakesh D

    2018-03-30

    Approximately 6%-8% of U.S. adolescents are daily/past-month users of marijuana. However, survey data may not reliably reflect the impact of legalization on adolescents. The objective was to evaluate the impact of marijuana legalization on adolescent emergency department and urgent cares visits to a children's hospital in Colorado, a state that has allowed both medical and recreational marijuana. Retrospective review of marijuana-related visits by International Classification of Diseases codes and urine drug screens, from 2005 through 2015, for patients ≥ 13 and marijuana-related visits were identified. Behavioral health evaluation was obtained for 2,813 (67%); a psychiatric diagnosis was made for the majority (71%) of these visits. Coingestants were common; the most common was ethanol (12%). Marijuana-related visits increased from 1.8 per 1,000 visits in 2009 to 4.9 in 2015. (p = marijuana use, our data demonstrate a significant increase in adolescent marijuana-associated emergency department and urgent cares visits in Colorado. Copyright © 2018 The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Human-like collagen/nano-hydroxyapatite scaffolds for the culture of chondrocytes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jia, Liping; Duan, Zhiguang [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Northwest University, 229 Taibai North Road, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Shaanxi R and D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, Northwest University, 229 Taibai North Road, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Fan, Daidi, E-mail: fandaidi@nwu.edu.cn [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Northwest University, 229 Taibai North Road, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Shaanxi R and D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, Northwest University, 229 Taibai North Road, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Mi, Yu; Hui, Junfeng [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Degradable Biomedical Materials, Northwest University, 229 Taibai North Road, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Shaanxi R and D Center of Biomaterials and Fermentation Engineering, Northwest University, 229 Taibai North Road, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710069 (China); Chang, Le [School of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Xi' an, Shaanxi 710069 (China)

    2013-03-01

    Three dimensional (3D) biodegradable porous scaffolds play a key role in cartilage tissue repair. Freeze-drying and cross-linking techniques were used to fabricate a 3D composite scaffold that combined the excellent biological characteristics of human-like collagen (HLC) and the outstanding mechanical properties of nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA). The scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and compression tests, using Relive Registered-Sign Artificial Bone (RAB) scaffolds as a control. HLC/nHA scaffolds displayed homogeneous interconnected macroporous structure and could withstand a compression stress of 2.67 {+-} 0.37 MPa, which was higher than that of the control group. Rabbit chondrocytes were seeded on the composite porous scaffolds and cultured for 21 days. Cell/scaffold constructs were examined using SEM, histological procedures, and biochemical assays for cell proliferation and the production of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). The results indicated that HLC/nHA porous scaffolds were capable of encouraging cell adhesion, homogeneous distribution and abundant GAG synthesis, and maintaining natural chondrocyte morphology compared to RAB scaffolds. In conclusion, the presented data warrants the further exploration of HLC/nHA scaffolds as a potential biomimetic platform for chondrocytes in cartilage tissue engineering. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Human-like collagen was first used to prepare cartilage tissue engineering scaffold. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Genipin, a natural biological cross-linking agent, was introduced to treat scaffold. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We chose market product as a control.

  12. Demographic, Seasonal, and Geographic Differences in Emergency Department Visits for Epistaxis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaaban, Mohamad R; Zhang, Dong; Resto, Vicente; Goodwin, James S

    2017-01-01

    Objective To determine the demographics and seasonal and geographic variation of epistaxis in the United States. Study Design Retrospective cohort analysis based on data from Medicare claims. Setting Emergency department visits. Subjects and Methods We used a 5% sample of Medicare data from January 2012 to December 2012. Our cohort included patients with an incident diagnosis of epistaxis during a visit to the emergency department, excluding those with a diagnosis in the prior 12 months. Demographics included age, sex, race, and ethnicity. We compared the rate of emergency department visits for epistaxis by geographic division and individual states. Results In the 5% sample of Medicare data, 4120 emergency department visits for incident epistaxis were identified in 2012. Our results showed an increase in the emergency department visits for epistaxis with age. Compared with patients 85 years old were 1.36 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.23-1.50), 2.37 (95% CI, 2.14-2.62), and 3.24 (95% CI, 2.91-3.62) more likely to present with epistaxis, respectively. Men were 1.24 (95% CI, 1.17-1.32) times more likely to present with epistaxis than women. Blacks were 1.23 (95% CI, 1.10-1.36) times more likely to present with epistaxis when compared with non-Hispanic whites. Epistaxis emergency department visits were 40% lower in the summer months versus winter. The seasonal variation was more pronounced in the northern versus southern United States. Conclusion Emergency department visits for epistaxis increase with age and appear to be seasonal, with a more pronounced variation in the northern versus southern United States.

  13. Monthly variation in pediatric visits for headache to US emergency departments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caperell, Kerry; Rominger, Anna

    2017-08-01

    Headache is a common pediatric symptom often associated with stress and fatigue which may be more common during the school year. The purpose of this study is to determine if visits for headache are more common during the months of the school year. This study is a secondary analysis of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) database from 2001 to 2010. Patient visits in those aged 18 years or younger not associated with injury were examined. Only visits with an International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision (ICD-9) code consistent with headache were included. Data were analyzed using cumulative binomial probabilities. This statistic was used to establish the chance of seeing up to the observed number of visits for headache in a given month assuming that all months have an equal number of visits. A total of 660 unweighted visits representing 3.2 million patient encounters met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Visits for headache were more common during the months of January, September, and October and less common in March, April, July, and November. Subgroup analysis was performed for children aged 13-18 years. In this subgroup, headaches were more common in January, September, and October. They were less common in July and December. Headache is more common during the first 2 months back to school in the fall as well as after the winter break in January. While we are not able to establish causality, we propose that children with headache require additional attention during the school year, particularly in the months following summer and winter breaks. Copyright © 2017 American Federation for Medical Research.

  14. Visit of the King of the Belgians

    CERN Multimedia

    Maximilien Brice

    2009-01-01

    19 février 2009 - Sa Majesté Albert II, Roi des Belges et le Ministre du Climat et de l’Energie P. Magnette visitent le site experimental de CMS au Point 5 du LHC avec le Directeur de la Recherche et de l’Informatique S. Bertolucci et le Porte-parole de la Collaboration CMS T. Virdee. Tirage 02 à 08: Sa Majesté Albert II, Roi des Belges signe le livre d'or dans le SDX5 en présence du Directeur des accélérateurs et de la technologie S. Myers et du Directeur de la recherche et de l’informatique S. Bertolucci; Tirage 09 à 22: Sa Majesté Albert II, Roi des Belges et le Ministre du Climat et de l’Energie P. Magnette visitent le tunnel du LHC avec le Chef du Projet sLHC L. Evans et K. Cornelis. Tirage 23 à 35: Sa Majesté Albert II, Roi des Belges et le Ministre du Climat et de l’Energie P. Magnette visitent la cerne expérimentale de CMS avec W. Van Doninck (VUB), D. Favart (UCL) et le Porte-parole de la Collaboration T. Virdee. Tirage 36 à 50: Welcome line au Point 5 du LHC: Accueil en t...

  15. 36 CFR 71.7 - Entrance fees for single-visit permits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... either Golden Eagle or Golden Age Passports. (1) The fee for a single-visit permit applicable to those.... “Accompanying,” for the purpose of this section, shall mean entering together with the permittee while being...-visit permit applicable to those persons entering by any means other than private, noncommercial vehicle...

  16. Bridging Borders: Toward a Pedagogy of Preparedness for Visiting Faculty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizzi, Robert C.

    2017-01-01

    This analytical article largely draws on the experiences of visiting faculty teaching at post-secondary institutions overseas. What is largely understood in the literature is that visiting faculty need to navigate the sociocultural, professional, and contextual differences that shape the work context. Drawing on the theory of border pedagogy, this…

  17. Imperial College London mascot visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Hills, Stephanie

    2014-01-01

    Boanerges (‘Son of Thunder’) is one of the mascots of Imperial College and is looked after by volunteer students of the City and Guilds College Motor Club. Team Bo visited CERN as part of a wider tour of France and Switzerland.

  18. The French Research Minister visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    On Friday, 6 June, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Valérie Pécresse, was welcomed by CERN Director-General, Robert Aymar. Robert Aymar accompanies Valérie Pécresse and Bernard Accoyer on a visit to CMS. A dozen physicists took part in the round-table discussion, including the Director-General, project leaders, deputy spokesmen, members of the experiments, CERN personnel and users.At first, the Minister was given a tour of the CMS experiment and the LHC tunnel, accompanied by the President of the French National Assembly, Bernard Accoyer. The delegation then took part in a round-table discussion. The main objective of the Minister’s visit was to obtain input on the organisation of large research infrastructures, based on information concerning CERN’s administrative and scientific configuration and the experiment collaborations. As J.-J. Blaising, Head of the PH Depa...

  19. Use of a Dog Visitation Program to Improve Patient Satisfaction in Trauma Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Penelope; Kepros, John P; Mosher, Benjamin D

    Clinical staff members all recognize the importance of attaining high patient satisfaction scores. Although there are many variables that contribute to patient satisfaction, implementation of a dog visitation program has been shown to have positive effects on patient satisfaction in total joint replacement patients. This innovative practice had not previously been studied in trauma patients. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine whether dog visitation to trauma inpatients increased patient satisfaction scores with the trauma physicians. A team consisting of a dog and handler visited 150 inpatients on the trauma service. Patient satisfaction was measured using a preexisting internal tool for patients who had received dog visitation and compared with other trauma patients who had not received a visit. This study demonstrated that patient satisfaction on four of the five measured scores was more positive for the patients who had received a dog visit.

  20. Discussing Dementia-Related Behaviors During Medical Visits for People With Alzheimer’s Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunsaker, Amanda E.; Schmidt, Karen; Lingler, Jennifer H.

    2011-01-01

    Research suggests that caregivers appreciate support from primary care physicians (PCPs) regarding dementia care; however, there remains a need for studies examining the role that PCPs play in behavior management. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively characterize the discussion on dementia-related behaviors (DRBs) during PCP visits and compare findings to an independently administered assessment of DRBs exhibited within a period of 4 weeks prior to the PCP visit. Twenty-five PCP visits of persons with dementia, in which caregivers coattended the visit, were audio-recorded and analyzed for occurrence of DRB discussion. Disruptive behaviors were reported by 80% of caregivers via independent assessment, yet discussed in 23% of medical visits. Dementia-related behavior discussion occurred in visits where caregivers independently reported significantly higher behavior frequency and behavior-related burden. Implications of findings for ways PCPs can assist the caregiver in behavior management are discussed. PMID:20147601

  1. The Home Care Crew Scheduling Problem: Preference-based visit clustering and temporal dependencies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Matias Sevel; Justesen, Tor Fog; Dohn, Anders Høeg

    2012-01-01

    In the Home Care Crew Scheduling Problem a staff of home carers has to be assigned a number of visits to patients’ homes, such that the overall service level is maximised. The problem is a generalisation of the vehicle routing problem with time windows. Required travel time between visits and time...... preference constraints. The algorithm is tested both on real-life problem instances and on generated test instances inspired by realistic settings. The use of the specialised branching scheme on real-life problems is novel. The visit clustering decreases run times significantly, and only gives a loss...... windows of the visits must be respected. The challenge when assigning visits to home carers lies in the existence of soft preference constraints and in temporal dependencies between the start times of visits.We model the problem as a set partitioning problem with side constraints and develop an exact...

  2. [Role of Visiting Nursing Care in Japanese Home Healthcare].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Sang-Ju

    2018-02-01

    Taiwan's rapidly aging society is expected to make it a super-aged society in 2026. By 2060, people aged 65 or older will account for 40% of the population, a ratio that will approximate that in Japan. In Japan, the elderly population was 27.3% in 2016. By 2025, when the baby-boomers become 75 years old in Japan, issues of long-term care and end-of-life care will be more important and challenging. Since 1976, more Japanese have died in hospital settings than in home settings. Although the percentage of people dying at home increased slightly to 12.7% in 2016, after the recent introduction and promotion of home healthcare, Japan will face a significant challenge to deal with the healthcare 'tsunami' of high natural death rates, which is expected to impose a heavy death burdened on society by 2040, when the death rate is expected to reach 1,670,000/year. Therefore, the Japanese authorities have begun to promote the Community-based Integrated Care System, in which home healthcare and visiting nursing play crucial roles. This article summarizes the historical trend and current situation of visiting nursing in Japan. Japan uses a hybrid payment system for visiting nursing that is financially supported both through private medical insurance policies and Kaigo insurance (Japanese long-term care insurance). The total of 8613 visiting nursing stations that were active in community settings in 2016 cooperated with 14,000 support clinics for home healthcare and cared for 570,000 patients in home settings. We believe that visiting nursing will play an important role in home healthcare in Taiwan in the future.

  3. Field visit placements: An integrated and community approach to learning in children's nursing.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Cummins, Ann

    2010-03-01

    This paper reports on the development of a new initiative, field visit placements towards and integrated and community approach to learning for nursing students. To date, limited literature exists on the potential of community field visits as meaningful learning opportunities for nursing students. Drawing on our experiences, the structure and processes involved in implementing field visits are described in this paper. Students evaluated the field visits positively indicating that they provided a wealth of learning opportunities that enhanced their knowledge and awareness of services available to children and their families in the community. The potential of field visits to promote an integrated and community approach to placements in children\\'s nursing is discussed.

  4. An ethical analysis of a home visit case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pibernat, Artur Dalfó; Vidal, Jessica Rosell; Pibernat, Enric Dalfó; Rodríguez, Francisco Javier Pelegrina; Colomer, Gerard; Cid, Maria Feijoo

    2017-12-01

    This article will explore a clinical case study of a home visit carried out by the case manager nurse. In this case, we will discuss the dilemma of finding the balance between autonomy and beneficence from the perspective of principlist ethics, virtue ethics and the 'ethics of care'. The main conflict in this case study deals with all proposals are unsuitable and it is not necessary for a nurse to pay him a home visit, whereas for the healthcare system it is considered necessary. We could conclude that, during the home visit, the case manager aspires to achieve excellence, and throughout his clinical relationship with Francesc, searches for a series of virtues, respecting certain fundamental principles. In this way, the case managers ensure that Jaume's care is more humanised. The case has been anonymised and confidentiality maintained.

  5. Effects of supplementary private health insurance on physician visits in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Sungwook; You, Chang Hoon; Kwon, Young Dae; Oh, Eun-Hwan

    2009-12-01

    The coverage of social health insurance has remained limited, despite it being compulsory in Korea. Accordingly, Koreans have come to rely upon supplementary private health insurance (PHI) to cover their medical costs. We examined the effects of supplementary PHI on physician visits in Korea. This study used individual data from 11,043 respondents who participated in the Korean Labor and Income Panel Survey in 2001. We conducted a single probit model to identify the relationship between PHI and physician visits, with adjustment for the following covariates: demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, health status, and health-related behavior. Finally, we performed a bivariate probit model to examine the true effect of PHI on physician visits, with adjustment for the above covariates plus unobservable covariates that might affect not only physician visit, but also the purchase of PHI. We found that about 38% of all respondents had one or more private health plans. Forty-five percent of all respondents visited one or more physicians, and 49% of those who were privately insured had physician visits compared with 42% of the uninsured. The single probit model showed that those with PHI were about 14 percentage points more likely to visit physicians than those who do not have PHI. However, this distinction disappears in the bivariate probit model. This result might have been a consequence of the nature of private health plans in Korea. Private insurance companies pay a fixed amount directly to their enrollees in case of illness/injury, and the individuals are responsible subsequently for purchasing their own healthcare services. This study demonstrated the potential of Korean PHI to address the problem of moral hazard. These results serve as a reference for policy makers when considering how to finance healthcare services, as well as to contain healthcare expenditure.

  6. The Visiting of the Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich the Tobolsk cityin 1891

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander А. Valitov

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Study trips royal personages remains relevant scientific subject for historical research. The article is devoted to the visit of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich in Tobolsk in July 1891 Visit to the provincial center was held in a large trial trip to the east of the country. Ride the future ruler of the Russian throne in remote provinces of the empire, he performed the final step in the formation of an heir. On a variety of literary and archival sources disclosed the stages of training and visits "honored guest" of the city. In the analyzed period there is a certain ceremonial organization and meetings of royalty. In general, we can consider this visit as part of the ritual of imperial culture, whose main purpose is the process legimitizatsii future ruler. Along with legimitizatsiey played out certain "scenario of power" is intended to reflect the unity of the government and the people. As part of the visit to Tobolsk, it can be said has been successfully implemented, the Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich, entered into active cooperation with the local population in the course of various meetings and ceremonial procedures. Parallel to this, the future emperor learned to make management decisions, so a visit to Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich Tobolsk provincial museum in 1891 and its acceptance under his protection was evidence of special attention by the Government to the development of social institutions in the late imperial period. Thus, the visit of Crown Prince Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, the future Emperor gave the opportunity to officially present themselves for the cast, helping to create in the public mind of certain social myths of the proximity of the common man and the authorities in the form of direct interaction between the Russian tsar and the people.

  7. Automated conversation system before pediatric primary care visits: a randomized trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, William G; Phillips, Barrett D; Bacic, Janine D; Walsh, Kathleen E; Shanahan, Christopher W; Paasche-Orlow, Michael K

    2014-09-01

    Interactive voice response systems integrated with electronic health records have the potential to improve primary care by engaging parents outside clinical settings via spoken language. The objective of this study was to determine whether use of an interactive voice response system, the Personal Health Partner (PHP), before routine health care maintenance visits could improve the quality of primary care visits and be well accepted by parents and clinicians. English-speaking parents of children aged 4 months to 11 years called PHP before routine visits and were randomly assigned to groups by the system at the time of the call. Parents' spoken responses were used to provide tailored counseling and support goal setting for the upcoming visit. Data were transferred to the electronic health records for review during visits. The study occurred in an urban hospital-based pediatric primary care center. Participants were called after the visit to assess (1) comprehensiveness of screening and counseling, (2) assessment of medications and their management, and (3) parent and clinician satisfaction. PHP was able to identify and counsel in multiple areas. A total of 9.7% of parents responded to the mailed invitation. Intervention parents were more likely to report discussing important issues such as depression (42.6% vs 25.4%; P PHP improved the quality of their care. Systems like PHP have the potential to improve clinical screening, counseling, and medication management. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  8. Simon Langton Grammar School for boys visits the MoEDAL Experiment

    CERN Multimedia

    Anna Pantelia

    2013-01-01

    Simon Langton Grammar School for boys visits the MoEDAL Experiment. The School has just joined the MoEDAL collaboration. The group includes the 1000th student to participate in visits to CERN led by Dr Becky Parker

  9. Home school student visit and introduction to rail transportation and engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-06-22

    This project consisted of hosting local Champaign-Urbana, Illinois home school students for a visit to : the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana- : Champaign (UIUC). Beyond visiting RailTEC, st...

  10. Single versus multiple visits for endodontic treatment of permanent teeth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manfredi, Maddalena; Figini, Lara; Gagliani, Massimo; Lodi, Giovanni

    2016-12-01

    Root canal treatment (RoCT), or endodontic treatment, is a common procedure in dentistry. The main indications for RoCT are irreversible pulpitis and necrosis of the dental pulp caused by carious processes, tooth cracks or chips, or dental trauma. Successful RoCT is characterised by an absence of symptoms (i.e. pain) and clinical signs (i.e. swelling and sinus tract) in teeth without radiographic evidence of periodontal involvement (i.e. normal periodontal ligament). The success of RoCT depends on a number of variables related to the preoperative condition of the tooth, as well as the endodontic procedures. This review updates the previous version published in 2007. To determine whether completion of root canal treatment (RoCT) in a single visit or over two or more visits, with or without medication, makes any difference in term of effectiveness or complications. We searched the following electronic databases: Cochrane Oral Health's Trials Register (to 14 June 2016), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (the Cochrane Library, 2016, Issue 5), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 14 June 2016), and Embase Ovid (1980 to 14 June 2016). We searched ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform for ongoing trials to 14 June 2016. We did not place any restrictions on the language or date of publication when searching the electronic databases. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs of people needing RoCT. We excluded surgical endodontic treatment. The outcomes of interest were tooth extraction for endodontic problems; radiological failure after at least one year, i.e. periapical radiolucency; postoperative pain; swelling or flare-up; painkiller use; sinus track or fistula formation; and complications (composite outcome including any adverse event). We collected data using a specially designed extraction form. We contacted trial authors for further details where these were unclear. We

  11. Recent trends in dental visits and private dental insurance, 1989 and 1999.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wall, Thomas P; Brown, L Jackson

    2003-05-01

    This article describes recent trends in dental visits and private dental insurance in the United States. This study is based on the analyses of data regarding dental visits and private dental insurance among the population 2 years of age or older from the 1989 and 1999 National Health Interview Surveys. Overall, the percentage of the population with a dental visit rose from 57.2 percent in 1989 to 64.1 percent in 1999, while the percentage with private dental insurance fell from 40.5 percent to 35.2 percent. Although a higher percentage of people with private dental insurance reported having a dental visit than did those without private dental insurance in both years, the increase from 1989 to 1999 in the percentage of those with a visit was larger among the uninsured. If this trend persists, a smaller portion of practicing dentist's clientele will be insured. This may affect demand for services, as well as front office operations.

  12. A 5-year comparison of ED visits by homeless and nonhomeless patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tadros, Allison; Layman, Shelley M; Brewer, Marissa Pantaleone; Davis, Stephen M

    2016-05-01

    A 2005 study examined emergency department (ED) utilization by homeless patients in the United States. Within the following 5 years, unemployment increased by 5%. The objective was to analyze changes in ED utilization between 2005 and 2010 by homeless patients and compare with nonhomeless visits. Data from the 2010 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were evaluated. Approximately 679854 visits were made by homeless patients, the majority of which were made by men (72.3%) and patients between the ages of 45 and 64 (50.5%). Homeless patients were twice as likely to be uninsured. ED visits by homeless patients had increased by 44% during the 5-year period. Arrival to the ED by ambulance increased by 14% between the study years, and homeless patients were less likely to be admitted. The number of visits by homeless patients in the ED increased proportionally to an overall increase in ED visits between 2005 and 2010. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Prime Minister of Pakistan visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2016-01-01

    On Saturday, 23 January 2016, CERN welcomed Mr Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan.   From left to right: Minister of Finance Mr Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and CMS national contact physicist Hafeez Hoorani. Mr Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived at Point 5 in Cessy, where he was welcomed onto French soil by the sous-préfet of Cessy, Stéphane Donnot, and, representing CERN, Director-General Fabiola Gianotti, Directors Eckhard Elsen and Charlotte Warakaulle, and Rüdiger Voss, the adviser for relations with Pakistan. It was the first visit by a head of government of Pakistan since the country became CERN's latest Associate Member State in July 2015. The Prime Minister then had the opportunity to visit the CMS underground experimental area accompanied by the CMS Spokesperson, Tiziano Camporesi, and the CMS collaboration’...

  14. Google Science Fair winner visits CERN

    CERN Document Server

    Katarina Anthony

    2012-01-01

    Google Science Fair Grand Prize winner Brittany Michelle Wenger today wrapped up a day-and-a-half's visit of the CERN site. Her winning project uses an artificial neural network to diagnose breast cancer – a non-invasive technique with significant potential for use in hospitals.   Brittany Michelle Wenger at CERN's SM18 Hall. Besides winning a $50,000 scholarship from Google and work experience opportunities with some of the contest hosts, Brittany was offered a personal tour of CERN. “This visit has just been incredible,” she says. “I got to speak with [CERN's Director for Accelerators and Technology] Steve Myers about some of the medical applications and technologies coming out of the LHC experiments and how they can be used to treat cancer. We talked about proton therapy and hadron therapy, which could really change the way patients are treated, improving success rates and making treatment not such an excruciating process. That ...

  15. Estimating the environmental impact of home energy visits and extent of behaviour change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Revell, Kristy

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this study was to estimate the environmental impact of a home energy visit programme, known as RE:NEW, that was delivered in London, in the United Kingdom. These home energy visits intended to encourage reductions in household carbon emissions and water consumption through the installation of small energy saving measures (such as radiator panels, in-home energy displays and low-flow shower heads), further significant energy saving measures (loft and cavity wall insulation) and behaviour change advice. The environmental impact of the programme was estimated in terms of carbon emissions abated and on average, for each household in the study, a visit led to an average carbon abatement of 146 kgCO 2 . The majority of this was achieved through the installation of small energy saving measures. The impact of the visits on the installation of significant measures was negligible, as was the impact on behaviour change. Therefore, these visits did not overcome the barriers required to generate behaviour change or the barriers to the installation of more significant energy saving measures. Given this, a number of recommendations are proposed in this paper, which could increase the efficacy of these home energy visits. - Highlights: • The environmental impact of the RE:NEW home energy visit programme is estimated. • Visits do not generate significant pro-environmental behaviour change. • Visits do not overcome the barriers to the installation loft and wall insulation. • Small energy saving measures yield carbon savings of 145 kgCO 2 /year. • The average carbon abatement per household was estimated to be 146 kgCO 2 /year

  16. Exploring home visits in a faith community as a service-learning opportunity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    du Plessis, Emmerentia; Koen, Magdalene P; Bester, Petra

    2013-08-01

    Within South Africa the Psychiatric Nursing Science curriculum in undergraduate Baccalaureate nursing education utilizes home visits as a service-learning opportunity. In this context faith communities are currently unexplored with regards to service-learning opportunities. With limited literature available on this topic, the question was raised as to what are these students' and family members' experience of home visits within a faith community. To explore and describe nursing students' and family members' experiences of home visits within a faith community. A qualitative approach was used that was phenomenological, explorative and descriptive and contextual in nature. The research was conducted within a faith community as service learning opportunity for Baccalaureate degree nursing students. This community was situated in a semi-urban area in the North-West Province, South Africa. Eighteen (n=18) final year nursing students from different cultural representations, grouped into seven groups conducted home visits at seven (n=7) families. Comprehensive reflective reporting after the visits, namely that the students participated in a World Café data collection technique and interviews were conducted with family members. Three main themes emerged: students' initial experiences of feeling overwhelmed but later felt more competent; students' awareness of religious and cultural factors; and students' perception of their role. Two main themes from the family members emerged: experiencing caring and growth. There is mutual benefit for nursing students and family members. Students' experiences progress during home visits from feeling overwhelmed and incompetent towards a trusting relationship. Home visits in a faith community seems to be a valuable service learning opportunity, and the emotional competence, as well as spiritual and cultural awareness of nursing students should be facilitated in preparation for such home visits. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

  17. Fine particulate air pollution and hospital visits for asthma in Beijing, China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tian, Yaohua; Xiang, Xiao; Juan, Juan; Sun, Kexin; Song, Jing; Cao, Yaying; Hu, Yonghua

    2017-01-01

    Data on fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in China were first announced in 2013. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the acute effects of PM 2.5 on asthma morbidity in Beijing, China. A total of 978,658 asthma hospital visits consisting of 928,607 outpatient visits, 40,063 emergency room visits and 9988 hospital admissions from January 1, 2010, to June 30, 2012, were identified from the Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees. A generalized additive Poisson model was applied to explore the association between PM 2.5 and health service use. The mean daily PM 2.5 concentration was 99.5 μg/m 3 with a range from 7.2 μg/m 3 to 492.8 μg/m 3 . Ambient PM 2.5 concentration was significantly associated with increased use of asthma-related health services. Every 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5 concentration on the same day was significantly associated with a 0.67% (95% CI, 0.53%–0.81%), 0.65% (95% CI, 0.51%–0.80%), and 0.49% (95% CI, 0.35%–0.64%) increase in total hospital visits, outpatient visits and emergency room visits, respectively. The exposure–response association between PM 2.5 concentration and hospital visits for asthma exacerbations was approximately linear. In conclusion, this study found that short-term elevations in PM 2.5 concentration may increase the risk of asthma exacerbations. Our findings contribute to the limited scientific literature concerning the acute effects of PM 2.5 on asthma morbidity outcomes in developing countries. - Graphical abstract: The exposure-response curve of 3-day (lag0–2) moving average fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) concentrations and hospital visits for asthma between January 1, 2010, and June 30, 2012, in Beijing, China. Note: The X-axis is the 3-day (lag0–2) moving average PM 2.5 concentrations (μg/m 3 ). Y-axis is the predicted log (relative risk (RR)), after adjusting for temperature, relative humidity, day of week, public holiday, and calendar time, is shown by the solid line, and the dotted

  18. ERINDA Scientific Results: Transnational Access Activities and Scientific Visits

    CERN Document Server

    Hambsch, Franz-Josef

    2014-01-01

    This paper gives an overview of the Transnational Access Activities and Scientific visits within the FP7 project ERINDA (European Research Infrastructures for Nuclear Data). It highlights the fact that nearly 3200 data - taking hours for external users were made available in the partner installations and 104 man weeks for scientific visits to par tner institutes. This is much more than the 2500 beam hours and 80 weeks promised in the Description of Work of the project.

  19. Postoperative pain after endodontic retreatment: single- versus two-visit treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoldas, Oguz; Topuz, Aysin; Isçi, A Sehnaz; Oztunc, Haluk

    2004-10-01

    The purpose of this clinical study was to determine the effect of 1- or 2-visit root canal treatment on the postoperative pain in the retreatment cases. Two hundred eighteen cases that required retreatment were included in the study. Obturated and unfilled canal space and the status of periapical tissues were evaluated according to the PAI index. The patients were subcategorized in regard to the presence or the absence of preoperative pain. Approximately half of each category was treated in 1 appointment. After removing the previous root canal obturation materials and biomechanic preparation of root canals, the teeth in the 1-visit group were obturated at the first appointment by using AH 26 sealer and laterally compacted gutta-percha, and those in the 2-visit group were medicated with calcium hydroxide-chlorhexidine combination and then closed with a temporary filling material. One week after the initial appointment, patients were asked about the occurrence of postoperative pain. The level of discomfort was rated as no pain, mild pain, moderate pain, or severe pain (flare-up). Data were statistically analyzed using the chi-squared and Fischer exact tests. Eight patients from the 1-visit group and 2 patients from the 2-visit group had flare-ups. There was a statistical difference between the groups (P endodontic treatment with intracanal medication was found to be effective in reducing postoperative pain of previously symptomatic teeth and decreased the number of flare-ups in all retreatment cases.

  20. Postpartum psychiatric emergency visits: a nested case-control study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, Lucy Church; Kurdyak, Paul; Fung, Kinwah; Matheson, Flora I; Vigod, Simone

    2016-12-01

    Mental health conditions are one of the most common reasons for postpartum emergency department (ED) visits. Characteristics of women using the ED and their mental health service use before presentation are unknown. We characterized all women in Ontario, Canada (2006-2012), who delivered a live born infant and had a psychiatric ED visit within 1 year postpartum (n = 8728). We compared those whose ED visit was the first physician mental health contact since delivery to those who had accessed mental health services on specific indicators of marginalization hypothesized to be associated with lower likelihood of mental health contact prior to the ED visit. For 60.4 % of women, this was the first physician mental health contact since delivery. The majority were presenting with a mood or anxiety disorder, and only 13.6 % required hospital admission. These women were more likely to have material deprivation and residential instability than women with contact (Q5 vs. Q1 aORs 1.30, 95 % CI 1.12-1.50; 1.17, 95 % CI 1.01-1.36), to live in rural vs. urban areas (aOR 1.58, 95 % CI 1.38-1.80), and to be low vs. high income quintile (aOR 1.18, 95 % CI 1.01-1.38). The frequent use of ED services as the first point of contact for mental health concerns suggests that interventions to improve timely and equitable access to effective outpatient postpartum mental health care are needed. Marginalized women are at particularly high risk of not having accessed outpatient services prior to an ED visit, and therefore, future research and interventions will specifically need to consider the needs of this group.

  1. Review of recent publications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Christine Daigle. Jean-Paul Sartre by Candice Nicolas Anna Marie Sandoval. Toward a Latina Feminism of the Americas: Repression and Resistance in Chicana and Mexicana Literature by Yajaira M. Padilla Ruth Cruickshank. Fin de millénaire French Fiction: The Aesthetics of Crisis by Martine Motard-Noar Sanna Turoma. Brodsky Abroad: Empire, Tourism, Nostalgia by Galya Diment Svetlana Alexievich. Voices from Chernobyl: the Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Teresa Polowy Leslie Raymond Williams. A Companion to Gabriel García Márquez by David William Foster

  2. Comparison of post-obturation pain experience following one-visit and two-visit root canal treatment on teeth with vital pulps: a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, C; Xu, P; Ren, L; Dong, G; Ye, L

    2010-08-01

    To compare the incidence and intensity of post-obturation pain after one- or two-visit root canal treatment (RCT) on anterior teeth with vital pulps and a single root and canal in a randomized controlled trial. One hundred patients requiring RCT on permanent anterior teeth with vital pulps preoperatively were included. The patients were assigned randomly into two groups of 50 patients each. After local anaesthesia, isolation, access and pulp extirpation, the canals of all teeth were prepared using engine-driven rotary ProTaper nickel-titanium instruments in a crown-down technique and irrigated with 2.5% NaOCl. The teeth in group 1 (n = 50) were filled with AH Plus sealer and gutta-percha using a lateral compaction technique at the first visit, whilst those in group 2 (n = 50) were medicated with a calcium hydroxide paste, a sterile dry cotton pellet and Caviton and scheduled for a second visit 7 days later. A modified verbal descriptor scale was used to measure preoperative pain and post-obturation pain at 6, 24, 48 h and 1 week after operation. Chi-square tests and independent-sample T-tests were used to compare the incidence and intensity of post-obturation pain of two groups at each interval. Eleven patients were excluded from the study as they failed to follow the scheduled revisit or their selected teeth had more than one root canal. Data were obtained from the remaining 89 patients. Forty-three patients were undergoing one-visit treatment (group 1) and 46 undergoing two-visit treatment (group 2). Most patients in both groups reported no pain or only slight pain within each post-obturation interval, only one in group 1 and one in group 2 had flare-ups and slight swelling. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence and intensity of post-obturation pain experienced by two groups. The incidence and intensity of post-obturation pain experience following one- or two-visit RCT on teeth with vital pulps and a single canal were not

  3. Determinants of financial performance of home-visit nursing agencies in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukui, Sakiko; Yoshiuchi, Kazuhiro; Fujita, Junko; Ikezaki, Sumie

    2014-01-09

    Japan has the highest aging population in the world and promotion of home health services is an urgent policy issue. As home-visit nursing plays a major role in home health services, the Japanese government began promotion of this activity in 1994. However, the scale of home-visit nursing agencies has remained small (the average numbers of nursing staff and other staff were 4.2 and 1.7, respectively, in 2011) and financial performance (profitability) is a concern in such small agencies. Additionally, the factors related to profitability in home-visit nursing agencies in Japan have not been examined multilaterally and in detail. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the determinants of financial performance of home-visit nursing agencies. We performed a nationwide survey of 2,912 randomly selected home-visit nursing agencies in Japan. Multinomial logistic regression was used to clarify the determinants of profitability of the agency (profitable, stable or unprofitable) based on variables related to management of the agency (operating structure, management by a nurse manager, employment, patient utilization, quality control, regional cooperation, and financial condition). Among the selected home-visit nursing agencies, responses suitable for analysis were obtained from 1,340 (effective response rate, 46.0%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that both profitability and unprofitability were related to multiple variables in management of the agency when compared to agencies with stable financial performance. These variables included the number of nursing staff/rehabilitation staff/patients, being owned by a hospital, the number of cooperative hospitals, home-death rate among terminal patients, controlling staff objectives by nurse managers, and income going to compensation. The results suggest that many variables in management of a home-visit nursing agency, including the operating structure of the agency, regional cooperation, staff

  4. [Psychoactive drugs use and related visits of adolescents to the emergency department].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arias Constantí, Vanessa; Sanz Marcos, Nuria; Trenchs Sainz de La Maza, Victoria; Curcoy Barcenilla, Ana I; Matalí Costa, Josep; Luaces Cubells, Carles

    2010-05-08

    To describe psychoactive substances (PS)-related visits of adolescents to the emergency department and to explore possible differential features in patients according to the kind of PS consumed. Observational and analytic study. PS-related visits of adolescents to the emergency department during 30 months were studied. Patients were divided in two groups: those with alcohol intoxication only (Group_1) and those with other PS (Group_2) and they were compared. 333 consults were included, corresponding to 321 patients. Their mean age was 16,1 years (SD:1,1 years). Two hundred sixty-two(78,7%) were alcohol-related visits, and 110(33%) were related with another PS consumption. Of the 262 alcohol-related visits, 223 were only related with alcohol(Group_1), while the other 110 visits made up Group_2. Group_2 was composed of more males, more adolescents placed in Institutional Care and more adolescents with psychiatric records than Group_1. Likewise, distribution of Group_2 visits was less predictable than distribution of Group_1. PS consumption is a frequent major complaint in an Emergency Department. There are more poly-intoxications in males with psycho-social problems. In those cases, consumption seems to happen regardless of the time in the day or the day of the week.

  5. VIP visit of LHC Computing Grid Project

    CERN Multimedia

    Krajewski, Yann Tadeusz

    2015-01-01

    VIP visit of LHC Computing Grid Project with Dr -.Ing. Tarek Kamel [Senior Advisor to the President for Government Engagement, ICANN Geneva Office] and Dr Nigel Hickson [VP, IGO Engagement, ICANN Geneva Office

  6. Depression improvement and parenting in low-income mothers in home visiting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ammerman, Robert T; Altaye, Mekibib; Putnam, Frank W; Teeters, Angelique R; Zou, Yuanshu; Van Ginkel, Judith B

    2015-06-01

    Research on older children and high-resource families demonstrates that maternal improvement in depression often leads to parallel changes in parenting and child adjustment. It is unclear if this association extends to younger children and low-income mothers. This study examined if In-Home Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (IH-CBT), a treatment for depressed mothers participating in home visiting programs, contributes to improvements in parenting and child adjustment. Ninety-three depressed mothers in home visiting between 2 and 10 months postpartum were randomly assigned to IH-CBT (n = 47) plus home visiting or standard home visiting (SHV; n = 46). Mothers were identified via screening and subsequent diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Measures of depression, parenting stress, nurturing parenting, and child adjustment were administered at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3 months follow-up. Results indicated that there were no differences between IH-CBT and controls on parenting and child adjustment. Low levels of depression were associated with decreased parenting stress and increased nurturing parenting. Improvement in depression was related to changes in parenting in low-income mothers participating in home visiting programs. IH-CBT was not independently associated with these improvements, although to the extent that treatment facilitated improvement; there were corresponding benefits to parenting. Child adjustment was not associated with maternal depression, a finding possibly attributed to the benefits of concurrent home visiting or measurement limitations. Future research should focus on longer-term follow-up, implications of relapse, and child adjustment in later years.

  7. A missed primary care appointment correlates with a subsequent emergency department visit among children with asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGovern, Colleen Marie; Redmond, Margaret; Arcoleo, Kimberly; Stukus, David R

    2017-11-01

    Since the Affordable Care Act's implementation, emergency department (ED) visits have increased. Poor asthma control increases the risk of acute exacerbations and preventable ED visits. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services support the reduction of preventable ED visits to reduce healthcare spending. Implementation of interventions to avoid preventable ED visits has become a priority for many healthcare systems yet little data exist examining children's missed asthma management primary care (PC) appointments and subsequent ED visits. Longitudinal, retrospective review at a children's hospital was conducted for children with diagnosed asthma (ICD-9 493.xx), ages 2-18 years, scheduled for a PC visit between January 1, 2010, and June 30, 2012 (N = 3895). Records were cross-referenced with all asthma-related ED visits from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012. Logistic regression with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted. None of the children who completed a PC appointment experienced an ED visit in the subsequent 6 months whereas 2.7% of those with missed PC appointments had an ED visit (χ 2 = 64.28, p asthma as one mechanism for preventing ED visits was demonstrated. Interventions targeting missed visits could decrease asthma-related morbidity, preventable ED visits, and healthcare costs.

  8. Chilean Teachers Begin Exchange Program Visit in Magdalena

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-01-01

    Two teachers from the town of San Pedro de Atacama, in the northern desert of the South American nation of Chile, arrive in Magdalena, New Mexico, Sunday, January 28, for a two-week visit that is part of a Sister Cities program sponsored by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), the nonprofit research corporation that operates the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). They will be accompanied by their town's mayor. Myriam Nancy Rivera Mercado, Head of the high school in San Pedro, Gabriela Fernanda Rodriguez Moraleda, a tourism teacher there, and San Pedro Mayor Sandra Berna Martinez will begin a visit that includes classroom observations in the Magdalena schools, a reception hosted by the Magdalena Village Council, and a Mayor's Breakfast with Magdalena Mayor Jim Wolfe. They also will meet local residents, tour the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge with a second-grade class, visit an area ranch, tour the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope, and see Socorro's Community Arts Party. "These teachers will learn much about New Mexico, the United States, and our educational system, and will take this new knowledge back to their students and their community," said NRAO Education Officer Robyn Harrison. The visit is part of a Sister Cities program initiated and funded by AUI, which operates the NRAO for the U.S. National Science Foundation. Radio astronomy is a common link between San Pedro de Atacama and Magdalena. San Pedro is near the site of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international telescope project now under construction with funding by major partners in North America, Europe, and Japan. Magdalena is near the site of NRAO's VLA radio telescope. In Magdalena, the Village Council and Mayor Wolfe formalized their participation in the Sister Cities program last September, and San Pedro ratified the program in December. In San Pedro, the ceremony ratifying the agreement was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Chile Craig K

  9. Duration of a well-child visit: association with content, family-centeredness, and satisfaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halfon, Neal; Stevens, Gregory D; Larson, Kandyce; Olson, Lynn M

    2011-10-01

    Studies of pediatric primary care suggest that time is an important limitation to the delivery of recommended preventive services. Given the increasingly frenetic pace of pediatric practice, there is an increased need to monitor the length of pediatric visits and the association of visit length with content, family-centered care, and parent satisfaction with care. To examine the length of well-child visits and the associations of visit length with content, family-centered care, and parent satisfaction among a national sample of children. We conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey of parents of children aged 4 to 35 months from the 2000 National Survey of Early Childhood Health (n = 2068). One-third (33.6%) of parents reported spending ≤ 10 minutes with the clinician at their last well-child visit, nearly half (47.1%) spent 11 to 20 minutes, and 20.3% spent >20 minutes. Longer visits were associated with more anticipatory guidance, more psychosocial risk assessment, and higher family-centered care ratings. A visit of >20 minutes was associated with 2.4 (confidence interval [CI]: 1.5-3.7) higher odds of receiving a developmental assessment, 3.2 (CI: 1.7-6.1) higher odds of recommending the clinician, and 9.7 (CI: 3.5-26.5) higher odds of having enough time to ask questions. Many well-child visits are of short duration, and shorter visits are associated with reductions in content and quality of care and parent satisfaction with care. Efforts to improve preventive services will require strategies that address the time devoted to well-child care. The results of this study should be interpreted in light of changes in practice standards, reimbursement, and outcome measurement that have taken place since 2000 and the limitations of the measurement of utilization solely on the basis of parent report.

  10. A Croatian delegation visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    Professor Hrvoje Kraljeviç signing the Golden book with Professor Roger Cashmore. A Croatian delegation composed of the Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Hrvoje Kraljeviç, his deputy for international collaboration Prof. Davor Butkovic have visited CERN on the 12 and 13th of February and held talks with the CERN authorities, ALICE and CMS spokespersons on the possibilities to increase the participation of Croatia to the LHC related activities.

  11. Simple visit behavior unifies complex Zika outbreaks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P.D. Manrique

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available New outbreaks of Zika in the U.S. are imminent. Human nature dictates that many individuals will continue to revisit affected ‘Ground Zero’ patches, whether out of choice, work or family reasons − yet this feature is missing from traditional epidemiological analyses. Here we show that this missing visit-revisit mechanism is by itself capable of explaining quantitatively the 2016 human Zika outbreaks in all three Ground Zero patches. Our findings reveal counterintuitive ways in which this human flow can be managed to tailor any future outbreak’s duration, severity and time-to-peak. Effective public health planning can leverage these results to impact the evolution of future outbreaks via soft control of the overall human flow, as well as to suggest best-practice visitation behavior for local residents.

  12. Members of the Forum Engelberg visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Patrive Loïez

    2002-01-01

    The Forum Engelberg is an annual interdisciplinary conference held in Engelberg, Switzerland intended to act as an international platform for debate and exchange of views on key issues affecting scientific research, technology, economics and philosophy. Its President is Hubert Curien - former French Minister of Research and Space Research, and President of the CERN Council from 1994 to 1996. Photo 01: CERN Director-General Prof. Luciano Maiani (left) speaks to Forum members and public figures from the Geneva area during the visit. In the background is Jean-Claude Landry from the Department of the Interior, Agriculture and Environment, State of Geneva. Photo 02: CERN Director-General Prof. Luciano Maiani (left) speaks to Forum members and public figures from the Geneva area during the visit. In the background is Bernard Ecoffey, Founder of the Forum Engelberg.

  13. ITER delegation visits the Republic of Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aymar, R.

    2003-01-01

    Following the expression of interest of the Republic of Korea in joining the ITER Negotiations, a technical delegation from the ITER International Team and the Participant Teams visited the country on 14-16 April 2003. The goal was to assess, through visits to laboratories and some relevant industries, the capability of the Republic of Korea to contribute 'in kind' to ITER construction. There is presently in the Republic of Korea a strong interest at Government and industry levels in supporting fusion research within the framework of the long term development of alternative energy supplies. The large investment in the Korean Superconducting Tokamak (KSTAR), a very ambitious project from a previously very limited programme, is a concrete demonstration of this interest and the expression of interest to participate in ITER follows the same line

  14. Unsupervised visit detection in smart homes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nait Aicha, A.; Englebienne, G.; Kröse, B.

    Assistive technologies for elderly often use ambient sensor systems to infer activities of daily living (ADL). In general such systems assume that only a single person (the resident) is present in the home. However, in real world environments, it is common to have visits and it is crucial to know

  15. Unsupervised visit detection in smart homes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nait Aicha, Ahmed; Englebienne, Gwenn; Kröse, B.J.A.

    2017-01-01

    Assistive technologies for elderly often use ambient sensor systems to infer activities of daily living (ADL). In general such systems assume that only a single person (the resident) is present in the home. However, in real world environments, it is common to have visits and it is crucial to know

  16. Protected Area Tourism in a Changing Climate: Will Visitation at US National Parks Warm Up or Overheat?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisichelli, Nicholas A; Schuurman, Gregor W; Monahan, William B; Ziesler, Pamela S

    2015-01-01

    Climate change will affect not only natural and cultural resources within protected areas but also tourism and visitation patterns. The U.S. National Park Service systematically collects data regarding its 270+ million annual recreation visits, and therefore provides an opportunity to examine how human visitation may respond to climate change from the tropics to the polar regions. To assess the relationship between climate and park visitation, we evaluated historical monthly mean air temperature and visitation data (1979-2013) at 340 parks and projected potential future visitation (2041-2060) based on two warming-climate scenarios and two visitation-growth scenarios. For the entire park system a third-order polynomial temperature model explained 69% of the variation in historical visitation trends. Visitation generally increased with increasing average monthly temperature, but decreased strongly with temperatures > 25°C. Linear to polynomial monthly temperature models also explained historical visitation at individual parks (R2 0.12-0.99, mean = 0.79, median = 0.87). Future visitation at almost all parks (95%) may change based on historical temperature, historical visitation, and future temperature projections. Warming-mediated increases in potential visitation are projected for most months in most parks (67-77% of months; range across future scenarios), resulting in future increases in total annual visits across the park system (8-23%) and expansion of the visitation season at individual parks (13-31 days). Although very warm months at some parks may see decreases in future visitation, this potential change represents a relatively small proportion of visitation across the national park system. A changing climate is likely to have cascading and complex effects on protected area visitation, management, and local economies. Results suggest that protected areas and neighboring communities that develop adaptation strategies for these changes may be able to both

  17. The Role of Post-Visit Action Resources in Facilitating Meaningful Free-Choice Learning after a Zoo Visit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bueddefeld, Jill N. H.; Van Winkle, Christine M.

    2018-01-01

    Places like zoos, where free-choice learning is encouraged, are important for conveying climate change and sustainability issues to the public. Free-choice learning that targets environmentally focused sustainable behavior changes must be meaningful in order to encourage actual behavior change post-visit. However, visitors often fail to translate…

  18. Visitation in the intensive care unit: impact on infection prevention and control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Sheila; Herrera, Amando; Miller, Laura; Soto, Rhonda

    2011-01-01

    Evidence-based practice has shown that open visitation in the intensive care setting positively impacts patient outcomes. However, many intensive care units continue to strictly limit visitation hours. One concern for nurses is that open visitation will expose their vulnerable patients to an increased risk of infection. This fear is unfounded in professional literature as well as in the experience of a busy intensive care unit in San Antonio, Texas. Keeping our patients safe from hospital-acquired infections requires vigilant attention to infection prevention procedures. Meanwhile, what may actually be bugging our patients is a health care culture that is based on tradition and is blind to the many benefits provided by a more liberal visitation policy rooted in patient-centered care.

  19. Effects of Education and Health Literacy on Postoperative Hospital Visits in Bariatric Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahoney, Stephen T; Tawfik-Sexton, Dahlia; Strassle, Paula D; Farrell, Timothy M; Duke, Meredith C

    2018-04-02

    Hospital readmissions following bariatric surgery are high and it is necessary to identify modifiable risk factors to minimize this postoperative cost. We hypothesize that lower levels of education and health literacy are associated with increased risks of nonadherence, thus leading to increased emergency department (ED) visits and preventable readmissions postoperatively. Bariatric surgery patients presenting between October 2015 and December 2016 were administered a preoperative questionnaire that measured education level and the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine-Short Form (REALM-SF) health literacy test. The rates of postoperative ED visits and readmissions were across education levels (≤12th grade versus >12th grade) and health literacy scores (≤8th grade versus high school level). A composite "hospital visit" outcome was also assessed. Ninety-five patients were enrolled; 23 had ≤12th grade level education and 7 scored ≤8th grade on the REALM-SF. Patients with ≤12th grade education were significantly more likely to have a hospital visit after surgery, compared with patients with >12th grade education (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 3.06, P = .008). No significant difference in ED visits, readmission, or hospital visits was seen when stratified by REALM-SF health literacy score. Lower level of education was associated with more than threefold increased risk of postoperative ED visits and readmission in our center's bariatric surgery patients. A patient's education level is a low-cost means to identify patients who are at risk for postoperative hospital visits, and who may benefit from enhanced educational efforts or more intensive postoperative follow-up.

  20. Patients Who Share Transparent Visit Notes With Others: Characteristics, Risks, and Benefits

    OpenAIRE

    Jackson, Sara L; Mejilla, Roanne; Darer, Jonathan D; Oster, Natalia V; Ralston, James D; Leveille, Suzanne G; Walker, Jan; Delbanco, Tom; Elmore, Joann G

    2014-01-01

    Background Inviting patients to read their primary care visit notes may improve communication and help them engage more actively in their health care. Little is known about how patients will use the opportunity to share their visit notes with family members or caregivers, or what the benefits might be. Objective Our goal was to evaluate the characteristics of patients who reported sharing their visit notes during the course of the study, including their views on associated benefits and risks....

  1. The association between home care visits and same-day emergency department use: a case-crossover study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Aaron; Schumacher, Connie; Bronskill, Susan E; Campitelli, Michael A; Poss, Jeffrey W; Seow, Hsien; Costa, Andrew P

    2018-04-30

    The extent to which home care visits contribute to the delay or avoidance of emergency department use is poorly characterized. We examined the association between home care visits and same-day emergency department use among patients receiving publicly funded home care. We conducted a population-based case-crossover study among patients receiving publicly funded home care in the Hamilton-Niagara-Haldimand-Brant region of Ontario between January and December 2015. Within individuals, all days with emergency department visits after 5 pm were selected as cases and matched with control days from the previous week. The cohort was stratified according to whether patients had ongoing home care needs ("long stay") or short-term home care needs ("short stay"). We used conditional logistical regression to estimate the association between receiving a home care visit during the day and visiting the emergency department after 5 pm on the same day. A total of 4429 long-stay patients contributed 5893 emergency department visits, and 2836 short-stay patients contributed 3476 visits. Receiving a home care nursing visit was associated with an increased likelihood of visiting the emergency department after 5 pm on the same day in both long-stay (odds ratio [OR] 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17-1.48) and short-stay patients (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07-1.39). Stronger associations were observed for less acute visits to the emergency department. No associations were observed for other types of home care visits. Patients receiving home care were more likely to visit the emergency department during the evening on days they received a nursing visit. The mechanism of the association between home care visits and same-day emergency department use and the extent to which same-day emergency department visits could be prevented or diverted require additional investigation. © 2018 Joule Inc. or its licensors.

  2. Teens: Want a Brighter Smile? Visit the Dentist, Not the Shopping Mall

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... a Brighter Smile? Visit the Dentist, not the Shopping Mall Article Chapters Teens: Want a Brighter Smile? Visit the Dentist, not the Shopping Mall print full article print this chapter email this ...

  3. Patient characteristics and trends in nontraumatic dental condition visits to emergency departments in the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang Q

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Christopher Okunseri1, Elaye Okunseri1, Joshua M Thorpe2, Qun Xiang3, Aniko Szabo31Department of Clinical Services, Marquette University School of Dentistry, Milwaukee, WI, 2Division of Social and Administrative Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison School of Pharmacy, Madison WI, 3Division of Biostatistics, Department of Population Health, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USAObjective: We examined trends and patient characteristics for non-traumatic dental condition (NTDC visits to emergency departments (EDs, and compared them to other ED visit types, specifically non-dental ambulatory care sensitive conditions (non-dental ACSCs and non-ambulatory care sensitive conditions (non-ACSCs in the United States.Methods: We analyzed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care survey (NHAMCS for 1997 to 2007. We performed descriptive statistics and used a multivariate multinomial logistic regression to examine the odds of one of the three visit types occurring at an ED. All analyses were adjusted for the survey design.Results: NTDC visits accounted for 1.4% of all ED visits with a 4% annual rate of increase (from 1.0% in 1997 to 1.7% in 2007. Self-pay patients (32% and Medicaid enrollees (27% were over-represented among NTDC visits compared to non-dental ACSC and non-ACSC visits (P < 0.0001. Females consistently accounted for over 50% of all types of ED visits examined. Compared to whites, Hispanics had significantly lower odds of an NDTC visit versus other visit types (P < 0.0001. Blacks had significantly lower odds of making NDTC visits when compared to non-dental ACSC visits only (P < 0.0001. Compared to private insurance enrollees, Medicaid and self-pay patients had 2–3 times the odds of making NTDC visits compared to other visit types.Conclusion: Nationally, NTDC visits to emergency departments increased over time. Medicaid and self-pay patients had significantly higher odds of making NDTC visits.Keywords: emergency

  4. Consumers' price knowledge before, during, and after store visit

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Birger Boutrup

    Many attempts have been made to measure consumers' price knowledge for frequently purchased goods. However, the results have varied considerably and conflict with the results of reference price studies. This is the first study to examine consumers' price knowledge before, during, and after store...... visit, thus enabling a study of what consumers learn about prices during the store visit, and consequently the relationship between reference prices and episodic price knowledge. The project applies three measures of consumers' price knowledge corresponding to different levels of price information...

  5. Treatment of depressed mothers in home visiting: impact on psychological distress and social functioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ammerman, Robert T; Putnam, Frank W; Altaye, Mekibib; Teeters, Angelique R; Stevens, Jack; Van Ginkel, Judith B

    2013-08-01

    Depression is prevalent in mothers receiving home visiting. Little is known about the impact of treatment on associated features of maternal depression in this population. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a novel, adapted treatment for depressed mothers in home visiting on psychological distress and social functioning. In-Home Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (IH-CBT) was developed to treat depressed mothers in home visiting. A randomized clinical trial design was used in which subjects were 93 new mothers in a home visiting program. Mothers with major depressive disorder identified at 3 months postpartum were randomized into IH-CBT and ongoing home visiting (n = 47) or standard home visiting (SHV; n = 46) in which they received home visitation alone and could obtain treatment in the community. Measures of psychological distress, social support, and social network were measured at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and three-month follow-up. Clinical features of depression and home visiting parameters were examined as potential moderators. Subjects receiving IH-CBT reported decreased psychological distress at post-treatment (ES = 0.77) and follow-up (ES = 0.73). Examination of types of psychological distress indicated broad improvements at both time points. Those receiving IH-CBT reported increased social support over time relative to those in the SHV condition. Effect sizes were modest at post-treatment (ES = 0.38) but increased at follow-up (ES = 0.65). Improvements were seen in affiliative and belonginess aspects of social support, in contrast to tangible support which was statistically non-significant. Findings were not moderated by clinical features of depression or home visiting parameters. No group differences were found in size of and involvement with social networks. IH-CBT is effective in reducing psychological distress and improving perceived social support in depressed mothers receiving home visiting. To the extent that mothers are better

  6. Labour mobility through business visits as a way to foster productivity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Piva, Mariacristina; Tani, Massimiliano; Vivarelli, Marco

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to investigate the productivity impact of business visits, relative to traditional drivers of productivity enhancement, namely capital formation and R&D. To carry out the analysis, we combine unique and novel data on business visits sourced from the U.S. National Business

  7. Wildflower Plantings Do Not Compete With Neighboring Almond Orchards for Pollinator Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundin, Ola; Ward, Kimiora L; Artz, Derek R; Boyle, Natalie K; Pitts-Singer, Theresa L; Williams, Neal M

    2017-06-01

    The engineering of flowering agricultural field borders has emerged as a research and policy priority to mitigate threats to pollinators. Studies have, however, rarely addressed the potential that flowering field borders might compete with neighboring crops for pollinator visits if they both are in bloom at the same time, despite this being a concern expressed by growers. We evaluated how wildflower plantings added to orchard borders in a large (512 ha) commercial almond orchard affected honey bee and wild bee visitation to orchard borders and the crop. The study was conducted over two consecutive seasons using three large (0.48 ha) wildflower plantings paired with control orchard borders in a highly simplified agricultural landscape in California. Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and wild bee visitation to wildflower plots were at least an order of magnitude higher than to control plots, but increased honey bee visitation to wildflower plots did not lead to any detectable shifts in honey bee visitation to almond flowers in the neighboring orchard. Wild bees were rarely observed visiting almond flowers irrespective of border treatment, indicating a limited short-term potential for augmenting crop pollination using wild bees in highly simplified agricultural landscapes. Although further studies are warranted on bee visitation and crop yield from spatially independent orchards, this study indicates that growers can support bees with alternative forage in almond orchards without risking competition between the wildflower plantings and the crop. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Modelling and Monitoring in Preparedness for Nuclear Powered Warship Visits in Australia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grzechnik, Marcus P.; Orr, Blake W.; Bokor, Ilonka; Solomon, Stephen B. [Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, 619 Lower Plenty Road, Yallambie, Victoria, 3084 (Australia)

    2014-07-01

    As a part of reciprocal inter-Governmental arrangements, Australia hosts regular Governmental-approved peacetime visits of naval vessels. These vessels can be conventionally or nuclear-powered. Because of the nature of Nuclear Powered Warships (NPWs), special procedures have been adopted to ensure that the safety of the general public is maintained during visits by such vessels (Nimitz class carriers or submarines). These procedures include Conditions of Entry and the arrangements for visits, as well as contingency arrangements in the unlikely event of an accident resulting in the hazardous release of radioactivity to the environment. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is involved in an inter-departmental committee, the Visiting Ships Panel (Nuclear) (VSP(N)), which oversees the arrangements for visits to Australian Ports by NPWs. This panel includes representatives from Navy and Jurisdictions which host NPW visits. As well as existing arrangements (including reference accident scenarios and sampling of sediment and local seafood), ARPANSA has initiated programmes to; - Present automated atmospheric dispersion products based on current and predicted weather - these are expected to be housed on a secure web site with outputs tailored to the needs of first responders using the ARGOS decision support tool. - Monitor water concentrations within NPW ports prior to visits, in order to establish baseline values. The monitoring (for Cs-137) involves a high volume filtering and extraction technique which has been developed at ARPANSA and will be discussed. An update on progress will be discussed. This includes an overview of relevant systems, procedures in place and work to be completed. Issues to be resolved and lessons learned will also be considered. (authors)

  9. Disparities in emergency department visits in American children with asthma: 2006-2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qi; Lamichhane, Rajan; Diggs, Leigh Ann

    2017-09-01

    This article was to examine the trends in emergency department (ED) visits for asthma among American children in 2006-2010 across sociodemographic factors, parental smoking status, and children's body weight status. We analyzed 5,535 children aged 2-17 years with current asthma in the Asthma Call-Back Survey in 2006-2010. Multivariate log binomial regression was used to examine the disparities of ED visits by demographics, socioeconomic status, parental smoking status, children's body weight status, and the level of asthma control. We controlled for average state-level air pollutants. Prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported. Minority children with current asthma had higher risks of ED visits compared with white children in 2009 and 2010, e.g., the PR (95% CI) for black children in 2009 was 3.64 (1.79, 7.41). Children who had current asthma and more highly educated parents experienced a higher risk of ED visits in 2007 (PRs [95% CI] = 2.15 [1.02, 4.53] and 2.97 [1.29, 6.83] for children with some college or college-graduated parents), but not significant in other years. Children with uncontrolled asthma were significantly more likely to visit the ED in 2008 (PRs [95% CI] = 2.79 [1.44, 5.41] and 6.96 [3.55, 13.64] for not-well-controlled and very poorly controlled children with asthma). Minority children with current asthma or children with uncontrolled asthma were more likely to visit EDs for asthma treatment. However, the disparities in ED visits across sociodemographics, health status, or asthma control vary in scale and significance across time. More research is needed to explain these differences.

  10. Fine particulate air pollution and hospital visits for asthma in Beijing, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Yaohua; Xiang, Xiao; Juan, Juan; Sun, Kexin; Song, Jing; Cao, Yaying; Hu, Yonghua

    2017-11-01

    Data on fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in China were first announced in 2013. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the acute effects of PM 2.5 on asthma morbidity in Beijing, China. A total of 978,658 asthma hospital visits consisting of 928,607 outpatient visits, 40,063 emergency room visits and 9988 hospital admissions from January 1, 2010, to June 30, 2012, were identified from the Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees. A generalized additive Poisson model was applied to explore the association between PM 2.5 and health service use. The mean daily PM 2.5 concentration was 99.5 μg/m 3 with a range from 7.2 μg/m 3 to 492.8 μg/m 3 . Ambient PM 2.5 concentration was significantly associated with increased use of asthma-related health services. Every 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5 concentration on the same day was significantly associated with a 0.67% (95% CI, 0.53%-0.81%), 0.65% (95% CI, 0.51%-0.80%), and 0.49% (95% CI, 0.35%-0.64%) increase in total hospital visits, outpatient visits and emergency room visits, respectively. The exposure-response association between PM 2.5 concentration and hospital visits for asthma exacerbations was approximately linear. In conclusion, this study found that short-term elevations in PM 2.5 concentration may increase the risk of asthma exacerbations. Our findings contribute to the limited scientific literature concerning the acute effects of PM 2.5 on asthma morbidity outcomes in developing countries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Fire promotes pollinator visitation: implications for ameliorating declines of pollination services.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael E Van Nuland

    Full Text Available Pollinators serve critical roles for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, and have an estimated annual value of over $150 billion for global agriculture. Mounting evidence from agricultural systems reveals that pollinators are declining in many regions of the world, and with a lack of information on whether pollinator communities in natural systems are following similar trends, identifying factors which support pollinator visitation and services are important for ameliorating the effects of the current global pollinator crisis. We investigated how fire affects resource structure and how that variation influences floral pollinator communities by comparing burn versus control treatments in a southeastern USA old-field system. We hypothesized and found a positive relationship between fire and plant density of a native forb, Verbesina alternifolia, as well as a significant difference in floral visitation of V. alternifolia between burn and control treatments. V. alternifolia density was 44% greater and floral visitation was 54% greater in burned treatments relative to control sites. When the density of V. alternifolia was experimentally reduced in the burn sites to equivalent densities observed in control sites, floral visitation in burned sites declined to rates found in control sites. Our results indicate that plant density is a proximal mechanism by which an imposed fire regime can indirectly impact floral visitation, suggesting its usefulness as a tool for management of pollination services. Although concerns surround the negative impacts of management, indirect positive effects may provide an important direction to explore for managing future ecological and conservation issues. Studies examining the interaction among resource concentration, plant apparency, and how fire affects the evolutionary consequences of altered patterns of floral visitation are overdue.

  12. Outcomes of Follow-Up Visits to Chronic Nonmalignant Pain Patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Jan

    2010-01-01

    Follow-up visits by clinical nurse specialists are beneficial for patients with various chronic conditions. It is unknown whether patients with chronic nonmalignant pain can achieve similar benefit. The aim of this study was to assess outcomes of follow-up visits by clinical nurse specialists...... to chronic nonmalignant pain patients regarding health-related quality of life (HRQoL), pain, opioid treatment, quality of sleep, and depression. A total of 102 patients were enrolled in a prospective randomized controlled trial during a 2-year period after discharge from multidisciplinary pain treatment...... and randomized to intervention or control group. Intervention group patients (n = 52) received home visits every fourth month for 2 years. The findings showed that HRQoL improved generally more in the intervention group. Statistically significant improvements were observed for physical function and bodily pain...

  13. Green Space Visits among Adolescents: Frequency and Predictors in the PIAMA Birth Cohort Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloemsma, Lizan D; Gehring, Ulrike; Klompmaker, Jochem O; Hoek, Gerard; Janssen, Nicole A H; Smit, Henriëtte A; Vonk, Judith M; Brunekreef, Bert; Lebret, Erik; Wijga, Alet H

    2018-04-30

    Green space may influence health through several pathways, for example, increased physical activity, enhanced social cohesion, reduced stress, and improved air quality. For green space to increase physical activity and social cohesion, spending time in green spaces is likely to be important. We examined whether adolescents visit green spaces and for what purposes. Furthermore, we assessed the predictors of green space visits. In this cross-sectional study, data for 1911 participants of the Dutch PIAMA (Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy) birth cohort were analyzed. At age 17, adolescents reported how often they visited green spaces for physical activities, social activities, relaxation, and to experience nature and quietness. We assessed the predictors of green space visits altogether and for different purposes by log-binomial regression. Fifty-three percent of the adolescents visited green spaces at least once a week in summer, mostly for physical and social activities. Adolescents reporting that a green environment was (very) important to them visited green spaces most frequently {adjusted prevalence ratio (PR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] very vs. not important: 6.84 (5.10, 9.17) for physical activities and 4.76 (3.72, 6.09) for social activities}. Boys and adolescents with highly educated fathers visited green spaces more often for physical and social activities. Adolescents who own a dog visited green spaces more often to experience nature and quietness. Green space visits were not associated with the objectively measured quantity of residential green space, i.e., the average normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and percentages of urban, agricultural, and natural green space in circular buffers around the adolescents' homes. Subjective variables are stronger predictors of green space visits in adolescents than the objectively measured quantity of residential green space. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2429.

  14. US Cub Scouts visit CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    A group of young American Cub Scouts from Den 10, Pack 130 (based in Geneva) at the Microcosm last Saturday. On their trip to CERN, which included the first Visits Service tour of the ATLAS construction site, the scouts were able to satisfy most of the requirements for the Cub Scout engineering badge. From left to right: Edouard Vincent, Ariel Litke, Alexander Richter, Antoine Vidal de Saint Phalle, Jason Iredale and Daniel Reghelini.

  15. Japanese Visit CERN's Jardin d'Enfants

    CERN Multimedia

    2000-01-01

    On 1 November twenty four Japanese teachers from the Association of Private Kindergartens in Osaka visited CERN’s Jardin d’Enfants to exchange experience and learn more about the Swiss educational system. The delegation was lead by Mrs. Nobuko Shirae, President of the Association, and Mr. Takeshi Kakimoto from the Japan Travel Bureau.

  16. How Home Visits Transformed My Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Yaafouri-Kreuzer, Louise

    2017-01-01

    Recalling her year as the "English-speaking unicorn" in a class of refugee and immigrant students representing a myriad of languages, the author tells how visiting students at their homes was the strategy that most helped her help students. From discovering that a betel-nut habit was causing one student's hyperactivity to seeing another…

  17. Causes, costs, and risk factors for unplanned return visits after adenotonsillectomy in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duval, Melanie; Wilkes, Jacob; Korgenski, Kent; Srivastava, Rajendu; Meier, Jeremy

    2015-10-01

    To review the causes, costs, and risk factors for unplanned return visits and readmissions after pediatric adenotonsillectomy (T&A). Review of administrative database of outpatient adenotonsillectomy performed at any facility within a vertically integrated health care system in the Intermountain West on children age 1-18 years old between 1998 and 2012. Data reviewed included demographic variables, diagnosis associated with return visit and costs associated with return visits. Data from 39,906 children aged 1-18 years old were reviewed. A total of 2499 (6.3%) children had unplanned return visits. The most common reasons for return visits were bleeding (2.3%), dehydration, (2.3%) and throat pain (1.2%). After multivariate analysis, the main risk factors for any type of return visits were Medicaid insurance (OR=1.64 95% CI 1.47-1.84), Hispanic race (OR=1.36 95% CI 1.13-1.64), and increased severity of illness (SOI) (OR=11.29 95% CI 2.69-47.4 for SOI=3). The only factor associated with increased odds of requiring an inpatient admission on return visit was length of time spent in PACU (prelationship was also observed between the child's age and the risk of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage. Children with increased severity of illness, those insured with Medicaid, and children of Hispanic ethnicity should be targeted with increased education and interventions in order to reduce unplanned visits after T&A. Further studies on post-tonsillectomy complications should include evaluating the effect of surgical technique and post-operative pain management on all complications and not solely post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Site Visits in Interfaith and Religious Studies Pedagogy: Reflections on Visiting a Hindu Temple in Central Pennsylvania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Jeffery D.

    2018-01-01

    Site visits provide an irreplaceable learning experience to students in both religious studies and the emerging field of interfaith studies. The conceptual core of this thesis is the claim, drawn from feminist epistemology, that an embodied pedagogy--a pedagogy which engages students not only intellectually, but as embodied beings who inhabit a…

  19. Optimal procedures for home visits — A case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alves, Filipe; Fernandes, Florbela P.; Pereira, Ana I.; Fernandes, Adília

    2017-07-01

    In Portugal the population is ageing. Therefore, the provision of health care at patients' home is becoming an important social and health area; this health service is provided by professional teams (usually composed by nurses) of the Health Centers. Nowadays, the scheduling of the visits is made manually. The proposal of this work is to do the scheduling automatically in order to minimize the overall time spent by the professional teams in the visiting activity. In this work the genetic algorithm was used to solve the optimization problem. Some numerical results are presented.

  20. Collaborative relationship in preventive home visits to older people

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yamada, Yukari; Vass, Mikkel; Hvas, Lotte

    2011-01-01

    the visits were made. A collaborative relationship was predefined as a favourable change in behaviour seen in the visited person during the study period. Visitor characteristics were analysed from 248 records where 37 cases of collaborative relationships were documented. Results. The three most important...... on documented knowledge in health and social domains combined with an overall 'caring approach' and (iii) practical actions which imply an 'immediate concrete response to identified needs or problems' and 'individually tailored advice' to suit the older person's daily life. Conclusions. Preventive home visitor...

  1. Relationship between office-based provider visits and emergency department encounters among publicly-insured adults with epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lekoubou, Alain; Bishu, Kinfe G; Ovbiagele, Bruce

    2018-03-01

    The proportion of adults with epilepsy using the emergency department (ED) is high. Among this patient population, increased frequency of office-based provider visits may be associated with lesser frequency of ED encounters, and key patient features may be linked to more ED encounters. We analyzed the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS-HC) dataset for years 2003-2014, which represents a weighted sample of 842,249 publicly-insured US adults aged ≥18years. The Hurdle Poisson model that accommodates excess zeros was used to estimate the association between office-based and ED visits. Annual mean ED and office-based visits for publicly-insured adults with epilepsy were 0.70 and 10.8 respectively. Probability of at least one ED visit was 0.4% higher for every unit of office-based visit. Individuals in the high income category were less likely to visit the ED at least once while women with epilepsy had a higher likelihood of visiting the ED at least once. Among those who visited the ED at least once, there was a 0.3% higher likelihood of visiting the ED for every unit of office-based visit. Among individuals who visited the ED at least once, being aged 45-64years, residing in the West, and the year 2011/14 were associated with higher ED visits. In this representative sample of publicly-insured adults with epilepsy, higher frequency of office visits was not associated with lower ED utilization, which may be due to underlying greater disease severity or propensity for more treatment complications. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Reduction in Diarrhea- and Rotavirus-related Healthcare Visits Among Children Introduction in Zimbabwe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mujuru, Hilda A; Yen, Catherine; Nathoo, Kusum J; Gonah, Nhamo A; Ticklay, Ismail; Mukaratirwa, Arnold; Berejena, Chipo; Tapfumanei, Ottias; Chindedza, Kenneth; Rupfutse, Maxwell; Weldegebriel, Goitom; Mwenda, Jason M; Burnett, Eleanor; Tate, Jacqueline E; Parashar, Umesh D; Manangazira, Portia

    2017-10-01

    In Zimbabwe, rotavirus accounted for 41%-56% of acute diarrhea hospitalizations before rotavirus vaccine introduction in 2014. We evaluated rotavirus vaccination impact on acute diarrhea- and rotavirus-related healthcare visits in children. We examined monthly and annual acute diarrhea and rotavirus test-positive hospitalizations and Accident and Emergency Department visits among children introduction (2012-2013) with postvaccine introduction (2015 and 2016) data for 2 of the hospitals. We examined monthly acute diarrhea hospitalizations by year and age group for 2013-2016 from surveillance hospital registers and monthly acute diarrhea outpatient visits reported to the Ministry of Health and Child Care during 2012-2016. Active surveillance data showed winter seasonal peaks in diarrhea- and rotavirus-related visits among children introduction; the percentage of rotavirus test-positive visits followed a similar seasonal pattern and decrease. Hospital register data showed similar pre-introduction seasonal variation and post-introduction declines in diarrhea hospitalizations among children 0-11 and 12-23 months of age. Monthly variation in outpatient diarrhea-related visits mirrored active surveillance data patterns. At 2 surveillance hospitals, the percentage of rotavirus-positive visits declined by 40% and 43% among children 0-11 months of age and by 21% and 33% among children 12-23 months of age in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Initial reductions in diarrheal illness among children introduction are encouraging. These early results provide evidence to support continued rotavirus vaccination and rotavirus surveillance in Zimbabwe.

  3. [Causes of 72-hour return visits to hospital emergency departments].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez-Puente, Alberto; Del Río-Mata, José; Arjona-Huertas, José Luis; Mora-Ordóñez, Begoña; Nieto-de Haro, Lourdes; Lara-Blanquer, Antonio; Martínez-Reina, Alfonso; Martínez Del Campo, Miguel

    2015-10-01

    The return-visit rate has been suggested as a measure of emergency department quality of care. We aimed to identify the reasons for emergency revisits and the percentage of returns related to problems with quality of care in the previous visit. Cross-sectional observational study of clinical records for a random sample of unscheduled returns within 72 hours of discharge from the emergency departments of 3 hospitals attending a population of nearly 3 million in the Spanish province of Malaga. The records were reviewed by 2 data collectors, who assigned a reason for revisits according to a standardized classification. A sample of 1075 emergency revisits were reviewed; 895 met the inclusion criteria. The most common reasons for revisits were the persistence or progression of disease (48.8%), an unrelated new problem (9.3%), and referral from a hospital that did not have the required specialized service (8.6%). Reasons attributable to the patient accounted for 14.5% of the revisits; 15.2% were attributable to health care staff errors, 9.2% to system organization, and 61.1% to the disease process. Most emergency department revisits are related to the progression of the disease that led to the first visit. Only a small percentage can be linked to diagnostic or treatment errors in the previous visit.

  4. Time providing care outside visits in a home-based primary care program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedowitz, Elizabeth J; Ornstein, Katherine A; Farber, Jeffrey; DeCherrie, Linda V

    2014-06-01

    To assess how much time physicians in a large home-based primary care (HBPC) program spend providing care outside of home visits. Unreimbursed time and patient and provider-related factors that may contribute to that time were considered. Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors (MSVD) providers filled out research forms for every interaction involving care provision outside of home visits. Data collected included length of interaction, mode, nature, and with whom the interaction was for 3 weeks. MSVD, an academic home-visit program in Manhattan, New York. All primary care physicians (PCPs) in MSVD (n = 14) agreed to participate. Time data were analyzed using a comprehensive estimate and conservative estimates to quantify unbillable time. Data on 1,151 interactions for 537 patients were collected. An average 8.2 h/wk was spent providing nonhome visit care for a full-time provider. Using the most conservative estimates, 3.6 h/wk was estimated to be unreimbursed per full-time provider. No significant differences in interaction times were found between patients with and without dementia, new and established patients, and primary-panel and covered patients. Home-based primary care providers spend substantial time providing care outside home visits, much of which goes unrecognized in the current reimbursement system. These findings may help guide practice development and creation of new payment systems for HBPC and similar models of care. © 2014, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2014, The American Geriatrics Society.

  5. 75 FR 6404 - Regulatory Site Visit Training Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-09

    ... review efficiency and quality, and the quality of its regulatory efforts and interactions, by providing... tissue establishments. The visits may include packaging facilities, quality control and pathology...

  6. Observer visitation frequency and success of mourning dove nests: A field experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nichols, J.D.; Percival, H.F.; Coon, R.A.; Conroy, M.J.; Hensler, G.L.; Hines, J.E.

    1984-01-01

    Field studies of nesting success generally require visits by the investigator to the nests under study. Such visits may themselves influence nesting success, however, and this possibility has been discussed and investigated by a number of workers with a variety of bird species. Livezey (1980) reviewed the relevant literature for duck nests and noted that most studies failed to demonstrate differences in nesting success between visited nests and those not visited. Livezey (1980) found in his own work that nest abandonment may have occurred as a result of disturbance by observers but that nest predation was not related to time spent by observers at nests or number of observers approaching nests. Various components of nesting and breeding success in seabirds are thought to be adversely affected by human disturbance and nest visitation (Gillett et al. 1975, Robert and Ralph 1975, Ollason and Dunnet 1980). Upland, ground-nesting species have also been studied (e.g. Stoddard 1931, Evans and Wolfe 1967, Henry 1969, Roseberry and Klimstra 1970, Klimstra and Roseberry 1975), and, although conclusions have varied, a number of these workers found no effect of observers on nest-predation rates.

  7. IAEA team to visit North Korean nuclear facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    A technical team from the IAEA will visit nuclear facilities in the Nyongbyon area of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from 15-19 January. The visit will include the Isotope Production Laboratory, an installation that the DPRK has stated was involved in the early stages of development of their nuclear programme. Since 1993, the IAEA has been unable to fully implement its comprehensive safeguards agreement with the DPRK, and has been therefore unable to verify the completeness and correctness of the DPRK's initial 1992 declaration of its nuclear inventory. In May 2001, the IAEA proposed to the DPRK concrete steps that need to be carried out in that verification process, and indicated its readiness to start implementing these measures immediately. At a technical meeting between the DPRK and the IAEA in November 2001, the DPRK did not agree to promptly start to implement those proposals, citing the delay in implementation of the USA/DPRK Agreed Framework as the principal reason for declining. However, the DPRK did agree to a visit, not an inspection, by IAEA inspectors to the Isotope Production Laboratory. The DPRK withdrew its membership from the Agency in June 1994. The Director General encourages the DPRK to normalize its relations with the IAEA including resumption of full safeguards inspections

  8. Emergency Department Length-Of-Stay For Psychiatric Visits Was Significantly Longer Than For Nonpsychiatric Visits, 2002-11.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Jane M; Singhal, Astha; Hsia, Renee Y

    2016-09-01

    Despite increases in the use of emergency department (EDs) for mental health care, there are limited data on whether psychiatric patients disproportionately contribute to ED crowding. We conducted a retrospective analysis using a national database of ED visits in the period 2002-11 to describe trends in median and ninetieth-percentile length-of-stay for patients with psychiatric versus nonpsychiatric primary diagnoses. Psychiatric patients who visited the ED were transferred to another facility at six times the rate of nonpsychiatric patients. Median lengths-of-stay were similar for psychiatric and nonpsychiatric patients among those who were admitted to the hospital (264 versus 269 minutes) but significantly different for those who were admitted for observation (355 versus 279 minutes), transferred (312 versus 195 minutes), or discharged (189 versus 144 minutes). Overall, differences in ED length-of-stay between psychiatric and nonpsychiatric patients did not narrow over time. These findings suggest deficiencies in ED capacity for psychiatric care, which may necessitate improvements in both throughput and alternative models of care. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  9. California emergency department visit rates for medical conditions increased while visit rates for injuries fell, 2005-11.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsia, Renee Y; Nath, Julia B; Baker, Laurence C

    2015-04-01

    The emergency department (ED) is the source of most hospital admissions; provides care for patients with no other point of access to the health care system; receives advanced care referrals from primary care physicians; and provides surveillance data on injuries, infectious diseases, violence, and adverse drug events. Understanding the changes in the profile of disease in the ED can inform emergency services administration and planning and can provide insight into the public's health. We analyzed the trends in the diagnoses seen in California EDs from 2005 to 2011, finding that while the ED visit rate for injuries decreased by 0.7 percent, the rate of ED visits for noninjury diagnoses rose 13.4 percent. We also found a rise in symptom-related diagnoses, such as abdominal pain, along with nervous system disorders, gastrointestinal disease, and mental illness. These trends point out the increasing importance of EDs in providing care for complex medical cases, as well as the changing nature of illness in the population needing immediate medical attention. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  10. General practitioners' home visit tendency and readmission-free survival after COPD hospitalisation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lykkegaard, Jesper; Larsen, Pia V; Paulsen, Maja S

    2014-01-01

    Background:The tendency of general practitioners (GPs) to conduct home visits is considered an important aspect of practices' accessibility and quality of care.Aims:To investigate whether GPs' tendency to conduct home visits affects 30-day readmission or death after hospitalisation with chronic...... obstructive pulmonary disease.Methods:All Danish patients first-time hospitalised with COPD during the years 2006-2008 were identified. The association between the GP's tendency to conduct home visits and the time from hospital discharge until death or all-cause readmission was analysed by means of Cox...... been readmitted and 1.6% had died without readmission. A U-shaped dose-response relationship was found between GP home visit tendency and readmission-free survival. The lowest adjusted risk of readmission or death was recorded among patients who were listed with a general practice in which >20...

  11. The Impact of Hospital Visiting Hour Policies on Pediatric and Adult Patients and their Visitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Lisa; Medves, Jennifer; Harrison, Margaret B; Tranmer, Joan; Waytuck, Brett

    Policies concerning restricted or open visiting hours are being challenged in health care institutions internationally, with no apparent consensus on the appropriateness of the visiting hour policies for pediatric and adult patients. The rules that govern practice are often based on the institutional precedent and assumptions of staff, and may have little or no evidence to support them. Policy and practice related to visiting hours is of pressing concern in Canada, and in Ontario specifically, following the reaction to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 and subsequent changes in visiting policies in most health care settings. A systematic investigation of the impact of hospital visiting hours on visitors (including patients, families, and significant others) would inform decision-makers who are responsible for hospital policies about the best available evidence. The objective of this review was to appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on the impact of hospital visiting hours on patients and their visitors. Types of participants This review considered studies that included both pediatric and adult hospital patients and their visitors. Participants were either patients, visitors, or health care providers in the following hospital settings: medical/surgical units, critical care (ICU, CCU, NICU), pediatrics, maternity, or general hospital wards.Articles were excluded if participants came from the following settings: post-operative and post-anaesthesia care units (PACU), dementia wards, long-term care settings or retirement homes, or delivery rooms. PACUs were excluded because there are aspects of the presence of visitors to these units that are very specific, and differ from the general visits to patients who are not in the immediate post-operative stage. Dementia wards, long-term care settings and retirement homes were excluded because these were considered to be their "home", so visiting would be quite different from that on

  12. Effectiveness of biosecurity measures in preventing badger visits to farm buildings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Judge, Johanna; McDonald, Robbie A; Walker, Neil; Delahay, Richard J

    2011-01-01

    Bovine tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis is a serious and economically important disease of cattle. Badgers have been implicated in the transmission and maintenance of the disease in the UK since the 1970s. Recent studies have provided substantial evidence of widespread and frequent visits by badgers to farm buildings during which there is the potential for close direct contact with cattle and contamination of cattle feed. Here we evaluated the effectiveness of simple exclusion measures in improving farm biosecurity and preventing badger visits to farm buildings. In the first phase of the study, 32 farms were surveyed using motion-triggered infrared cameras on potential entrances to farm buildings to determine the background level of badger visits experienced by each farm. In the second phase, they were divided into four treatment groups; "Control", "Feed Storage", "Cattle Housing" and "Both", whereby no exclusion measures were installed, exclusion measures were installed on feed storage areas only, cattle housing only or both feed storage and cattle housing, respectively. Badger exclusion measures included sheet metal gates, adjustable metal panels for gates, sheet metal fencing, feed bins and electric fencing. Cameras were deployed for at least 365 nights in each phase on each farm. Badger visits to farm buildings occurred on 19 of the 32 farms in phase one. In phase two, the simple exclusion measures were 100% effective in preventing badger entry into farm buildings, as long as they were appropriately deployed. Furthermore, the installation of exclusion measures also reduced the level of badger visits to the rest of the farmyard. The findings of the present study clearly demonstrate how relatively simple practical measures can substantially reduce the likelihood of badger visits to buildings and reduce some of the potential for contact and disease transmission between badgers and cattle.

  13. Pharmacists' barriers and facilitators on implementing a post-discharge home visit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ensing, Hendrik T; Koster, Ellen S; Sontoredjo, Timothy A A; van Dooren, Ad A; Bouvy, Marcel L

    Introducing a post-discharge community pharmacist home visit can secure continuity of care and prevent drug-related problems. Currently, this type of pharmaceutical care is not standard practice and implementation is challenging. Mapping the factors influencing the implementation of this new form of care is crucial to ensure successful embedding. To explore which barriers and facilitators influence community pharmacists' adoption of a post-discharge home visit. A mixed methods study was conducted with community pharmacists who had recently participated in a study that evaluated the effectiveness of a post-discharge home visit in identifying drug-related problems. Four focus groups were held guided by a topic guide based on the framework of Greenhalgh et al. After the focus groups, major barriers and facilitators were formulated into statements and presented to all participants in a scoring list to rank for relevance and feasibility in daily practice. Twenty-two of the eligible 26 pharmacists participated in the focus groups. Twenty pharmacists (91%) returned the scoring list containing 21 statements. Most of these statements were perceived as both relevant and feasible by the responding pharmacists. A small number scored high on relevance but low on feasibility, making these potential important barriers to overcome for broad implementation. These were the necessity of dedicated time for performing pharmaceutical care, implementing the home visit in pharmacists' daily routine and an adequate reimbursement fee for the home visit. The key to successful implementation of a post-discharge home visit may lay in two facilitators which are partly interrelated: changing daily routine and reimbursement. Reimbursement will be a strong incentive, but additional efforts will be needed to reprioritize daily routines. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Effectiveness of biosecurity measures in preventing badger visits to farm buildings.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johanna Judge

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Bovine tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis is a serious and economically important disease of cattle. Badgers have been implicated in the transmission and maintenance of the disease in the UK since the 1970s. Recent studies have provided substantial evidence of widespread and frequent visits by badgers to farm buildings during which there is the potential for close direct contact with cattle and contamination of cattle feed. METHODOLOGY: Here we evaluated the effectiveness of simple exclusion measures in improving farm biosecurity and preventing badger visits to farm buildings. In the first phase of the study, 32 farms were surveyed using motion-triggered infrared cameras on potential entrances to farm buildings to determine the background level of badger visits experienced by each farm. In the second phase, they were divided into four treatment groups; "Control", "Feed Storage", "Cattle Housing" and "Both", whereby no exclusion measures were installed, exclusion measures were installed on feed storage areas only, cattle housing only or both feed storage and cattle housing, respectively. Badger exclusion measures included sheet metal gates, adjustable metal panels for gates, sheet metal fencing, feed bins and electric fencing. Cameras were deployed for at least 365 nights in each phase on each farm. RESULTS: Badger visits to farm buildings occurred on 19 of the 32 farms in phase one. In phase two, the simple exclusion measures were 100% effective in preventing badger entry into farm buildings, as long as they were appropriately deployed. Furthermore, the installation of exclusion measures also reduced the level of badger visits to the rest of the farmyard. The findings of the present study clearly demonstrate how relatively simple practical measures can substantially reduce the likelihood of badger visits to buildings and reduce some of the potential for contact and disease transmission between badgers and cattle.

  15. 17 September 2013 - Polish Members of Parliament visiting the Tunnel at Point 2 with Senior Engineer, Technology Department A. Siemko and visiting the ALICE cavern with ALICE Collaboration, B. Erazmus

    CERN Multimedia

    Anna Pantelia

    2013-01-01

    17 September 2013 - Polish Members of Parliament visiting the Tunnel at Point 2 with Senior Engineer, Technology Department A. Siemko and visiting the ALICE cavern with ALICE Collaboration, B. Erazmus

  16. Knowing what to expect, forecasting monthly emergency department visits: A time-series analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergs, Jochen; Heerinckx, Philipe; Verelst, Sandra

    2014-04-01

    To evaluate an automatic forecasting algorithm in order to predict the number of monthly emergency department (ED) visits one year ahead. We collected retrospective data of the number of monthly visiting patients for a 6-year period (2005-2011) from 4 Belgian Hospitals. We used an automated exponential smoothing approach to predict monthly visits during the year 2011 based on the first 5 years of the dataset. Several in- and post-sample forecasting accuracy measures were calculated. The automatic forecasting algorithm was able to predict monthly visits with a mean absolute percentage error ranging from 2.64% to 4.8%, indicating an accurate prediction. The mean absolute scaled error ranged from 0.53 to 0.68 indicating that, on average, the forecast was better compared with in-sample one-step forecast from the naïve method. The applied automated exponential smoothing approach provided useful predictions of the number of monthly visits a year in advance. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Bayesian modeling of consumer behavior in the presence of anonymous visits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, Julie Esther

    Tailoring content to consumers has become a hallmark of marketing and digital media, particularly as it has become easier to identify customers across usage or purchase occasions. However, across a wide variety of contexts, companies find that customers do not consistently identify themselves, leaving a substantial fraction of anonymous visits. We develop a Bayesian hierarchical model that allows us to probabilistically assign anonymous sessions to users. These probabilistic assignments take into account a customer's demographic information, frequency of visitation, activities taken when visiting, and times of arrival. We present two studies, one with synthetic and one with real data, where we demonstrate improved performance over two popular practices (nearest-neighbor matching and deleting the anonymous visits) due to increased efficiency and reduced bias driven by the non-ignorability of which types of events are more likely to be anonymous. Using our proposed model, we avoid potential bias in understanding the effect of a firm's marketing on its customers, improve inference about the total number of customers in the dataset, and provide more precise targeted marketing to both previously observed and unobserved customers.

  18. General practice cooperatives: long waiting times for home visits due to long distances?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giesen, Paul; van Lin, Nieke; Mokkink, Henk; van den Bosch, Wil; Grol, Richard

    2007-02-12

    The introduction of large-scale out-of-hours GP cooperatives has led to questions about increased distances between the GP cooperatives and the homes of patients and the increasing waiting times for home visits in urgent cases. We studied the relationship between the patient's waiting time for a home visit and the distance to the GP cooperative. Further, we investigated if other factors (traffic intensity, home visit intensity, time of day, and degree of urgency) influenced waiting times. Cross-sectional study at four GP cooperatives. We used variance analysis to calculate waiting times for various categories of traffic intensity, home visit intensity, time of day, and degree of urgency. We used multiple logistic regression analysis to calculate to what degree these factors affected the ability to meet targets in urgent cases. The average waiting time for 5827 consultations was 30.5 min. Traffic intensity, home visit intensity, time of day and urgency of the complaint all seemed to affect waiting times significantly. A total of 88.7% of all patients were seen within 1 hour. In the case of life-threatening complaints (U1), 68.8% of the patients were seen within 15 min, and 95.6% of those with acute complaints (U2) were seen within 1 hour. For patients with life-threatening complaints (U1) the percentage of visits that met the time target of 15 minutes decreased from 86.5% (less than 2.5 km) to 16.7% (equals or more than 20 km). Although home visits waiting times increase with increasing distance from the GP cooperative, it appears that traffic intensity, home visit intensity, and urgency also influence waiting times. For patients with life-threatening complaints waiting times increase sharply with the distance.

  19. Situational interest of high school students who visit an aquarium

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dohn, Niels Bonderup

    2011-01-01

    of a combined analytical tool that captures both social and psychological aspects. Qualitative methods were used to generate data: observation, video recording, and interviews. The findings showed that the aquarium visit triggered a lot of situational interest among the students and led to positive emotions...... visits. This study suggests that teachers can find ways to foster students’ involvement in specific content areas and increase levels of academic motivation regardless of prior interest....

  20. Diurnal bird visiting of Caryocar brasiliense Camb. in Central Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    MELO, C.

    2001-01-01

    Nectar of nocturnal flowers may be used by diurnal species that occasionally accomplish secondary pollination. Thirteen bird species visited Caryocar brasiliense flowers in central Brazil. There is a temporal separation between nectarivores and non-nectarivores species. Nectarivores birds visited flowers late in the morning, while other species appear earlier. C. brasiliense nectar may be an alternative resource to birds visitors during the dry season. O néctar de flores noturnas pode ser ...

  1. Einsteins of the future on a visit to CERN?

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    The five pupils of the Gymnasium Appenzell high school who won a visit to CERN. In 1896 a 17-year-old named Albert Einstein joined ETH Zurich. Here, he was to spend the next four years building the foundation for his brave new vision of the physical world. Fast-forward almost 110 years and on 17 June 2005, ETH Zurich's Department of Physics organized a “Night of Physics”, a special event open to the public. This formed part of a series of activities at ETH to celebrate its 150th anniversary, as well as the World Year of Physics. It gave thousands of visitors a chance to experience the excitement of doing experiments, learning about Einstein's breakthroughs, visiting world-class labs or observing galaxies through high-quality telescopes. Amongst these were about five-hundred high school students from all over German-speaking Switzerland, who participated in a physics competition. They were highly motivated to win, not least because of the first prize: a trip to CERN! The winners visited CERN on the 21st S...

  2. Virtual visits and Hangouts – how cool is CERN…

    CERN Multimedia

    Joannah Caborn Wengler

    2012-01-01

    New media are really making the world smaller. Using a simple lap-top and Vidyo® or Google Hangouts, you can visit experiments’ control rooms and ask physicists those questions you always wanted to ask, all from the comfort of your own home. Here’s how a few people connected with CERN recently.   Students from the Al-Quds University in the Palestinian West Bank participating in the ATLAS virtual visit. It was an old-fashioned aeroplane which took Kate Shaw of the Udine ICTP (Italy) ATLAS group to give a particle physics master class to about 20 students from Al-Quds University in the Palestinian West Bank, but it was via the ether that they were able to take a virtual visit of the ATLAS control room on 2 April. Without having to deal with with the complications of international air travel, they were able to see the experts, monitors and screens via two remote controlled cameras mounted on the ceiling of the ATLAS control room. By the door there is another screen, w...

  3. Convenience store visits by US adolescents: Rationale for healthier retail environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders-Jackson, Ashley; Parikh, Nina M; Schleicher, Nina C; Fortmann, Stephen P; Henriksen, Lisa

    2015-07-01

    Given interest in the public health impact of convenience stores, it is surprising that so little is known about the popularity of these destinations for youth. We surveyed 2772 adolescents (age 13-16) from a nationally representative web panel of US households. Nearly half (47.5%) of adolescents reported visiting convenience stores at least weekly. Significant risk factors for frequent visits were age, being African-American, living in rural areas and in areas with higher levels of neighborhood deprivation. With approximately 4.1 million US adolescents visiting convenience stores at least weekly, new policies and other interventions are needed to promote a healthier retail environment for youth. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. How to efficiently obtain accurate estimates of flower visitation rates by pollinators

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fijen, Thijs P.M.; Kleijn, David

    2017-01-01

    Regional declines in insect pollinators have raised concerns about crop pollination. Many pollinator studies use visitation rate (pollinators/time) as a proxy for the quality of crop pollination. Visitation rate estimates are based on observation durations that vary significantly between studies.

  5. Hammarskjöld's visit to South Africa

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    the Herero people of that territory had, through their Chiefs' Council, been petitioning the UN and ..... to major tourist sites in the city, then to Stellenbosch, Fransch Hoek, where he visited the .... would unite on the South African issue. A much ...

  6. The Association between Air Pollution and Outpatient and Inpatient Visits in Shenzhen, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yachuan; Chen, Shanen; Xu, Jian; Liu, Xiaojian; Wu, Yongsheng; Zhou, Lin; Cheng, Jinquan; Ma, Hanwu; Zheng, Jing; Lin, Denan; Zhang, Li; Chen, Lili

    2018-01-01

    Nowadays, air pollution is a severe environmental problem in China. To investigate the effects of ambient air pollution on health, a time series analysis of daily outpatient and inpatient visits in 2015 were conducted in Shenzhen (China). Generalized additive model was employed to analyze associations between six air pollutants (namely SO2, CO, NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5) and daily outpatient and inpatient visits after adjusting confounding meteorological factors, time and day of the week effects. Significant associations between air pollutants and two types of hospital visits were observed. The estimated increase in overall outpatient visits associated with each 10 µg/m3 increase in air pollutant concentration ranged from 0.48% (O3 at lag 2) to 11.48% (SO2 with 2-day moving average); for overall inpatient visits ranged from 0.73% (O3 at lag 7) to 17.13% (SO2 with 8-day moving average). Our results also suggested a heterogeneity of the health effects across different outcomes and in different populations. The findings in present study indicate that even in Shenzhen, a less polluted area in China, significant associations exist between air pollution and daily number of overall outpatient and inpatient visits. PMID:29360738

  7. Patient-physician communication about early stage prostate cancer: analysis of overall visit structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, Stephen G; Czarnecki, Danielle; Kahn, Valerie C; Chou, Wen-Ying Sylvia; Fagerlin, Angela; Ubel, Peter A; Rovner, David R; Alexander, Stewart C; Knight, Sara J; Holmes-Rovner, Margaret

    2015-10-01

    We know little about patient-physician communication during visits to discuss diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. To examine the overall visit structure and how patients and physicians transition between communication activities during visits in which patients received new prostate cancer diagnoses. Forty veterans and 18 urologists at one VA medical centre. We coded 40 transcripts to identify major communication activities during visits and used empiric discourse analysis to analyse transitions between activities. We identified five communication activities that occurred in the following typical sequence: 'diagnosis delivery', 'risk classification', 'options talk', 'decision talk' and 'next steps'. The first two activities were typically brief and involved minimal patient participation. Options talk was typically the longest activity; physicians explicitly announced the beginning of options talk and framed it as their professional responsibility. Some patients were unsure of the purpose of visit and/or who should make treatment decisions. Visits to deliver the diagnosis of early stage prostate cancer follow a regular sequence of communication activities. Physicians focus on discussing treatment options and devote comparatively little time and attention to discussing the new cancer diagnosis. Towards the goal of promoting patient-centred communication, physicians should consider eliciting patient reactions after diagnosis delivery and explaining the decision-making process before describing treatment options. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. The Association between Air Pollution and Outpatient and Inpatient Visits in Shenzhen, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yachuan Liu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, air pollution is a severe environmental problem in China. To investigate the effects of ambient air pollution on health, a time series analysis of daily outpatient and inpatient visits in 2015 were conducted in Shenzhen (China. Generalized additive model was employed to analyze associations between six air pollutants (namely SO2, CO, NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5 and daily outpatient and inpatient visits after adjusting confounding meteorological factors, time and day of the week effects. Significant associations between air pollutants and two types of hospital visits were observed. The estimated increase in overall outpatient visits associated with each 10 µg/m3 increase in air pollutant concentration ranged from 0.48% (O3 at lag 2 to 11.48% (SO2 with 2-day moving average; for overall inpatient visits ranged from 0.73% (O3 at lag 7 to 17.13% (SO2 with 8-day moving average. Our results also suggested a heterogeneity of the health effects across different outcomes and in different populations. The findings in present study indicate that even in Shenzhen, a less polluted area in China, significant associations exist between air pollution and daily number of overall outpatient and inpatient visits.

  9. La visita médica al hogar Home visit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Díaz Novás

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Se hace un breve resumen de la historia de la visita médica al hogar en Cuba, y se señala su evolución en las diferentes formas organizativas de la atención primaria en la etapa revolucionaria. Se enumeran las ventajas de las visitas médicas al hogar, su necesidad como componente fundamental e insustituible de la atención a los pacientes, y como complemento necesario del trabajo en el consultorio. Se exponen los motivos de la visita al hogar: enfermedades agudas, procesos crónicos, discapacidades, evaluar el entorno familiar e higiénico-epidemiológico del paciente, los ingresos domiciliarios, las altas hospitalarias precoces, y los pacientes con enfermedades terminales o con afecciones dispensarizadas, entre otros Se presenta un grupo de orientaciones para el desarrollo exitoso de la visita médica al hogarA summary of the history of home visit in Cuba is made, stressing its evolution in the different organizative ways of primary care in the revolutionary stage. The advantages of home visits, their need as a fundamental and irreplaceable component of the patients' care and a necessary complement of the work in the office are given. The reasons of the visits are explained: acute diseases, chronic processes, disabilities, evaluation of the family and hygienic-epidemiological setting of the patient, home admissions, early hospital discharges, and patients with end-stage diseases, or with categorized diseases, among others. Some instructions for the success of home visit are exposed.

  10. Impact of Air Pollutants on Outpatient Visits for Acute Respiratory Outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ran Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The air pollution in China is a severe problem. The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of air pollutants on acute respiratory outcomes in outpatients. Outpatient data from 2 December 2013 to 1 December 2014 were collected, as well as air pollutant data including ozone (O3, nitrogen dioxide (NO2, carbon monoxide (CO, sulfur dioxide (SO2, and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10. We screened six categories of acute respiratory outcomes and analyzed their associations with different air pollutant exposures, including upper respiratory tract infection (URTI, acute bronchitis (AB, community-acquired pneumonia (CAP, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD, acute exacerbation of asthma (AE-asthma, and acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis (AEBX. A case-crossover design with a bidirectional control sampling approach was used for statistical analysis. A total of 57,144 patients were enrolled for analysis. PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, and CO exposures were positively associated with outpatient visits for URTI, AB, CAP, and AEBX. PM10, SO2, and CO exposures were positively associated with outpatient visits for AECOPD. Exposure to O3 was positively associated with outpatient visits for AE-asthma, but negatively associated with outpatient visits for URTI, CAP, and AEBX. In conclusion, air pollutants had acute effects on outpatient visits for acute respiratory outcomes, with specific outcomes associated with specific pollutants.

  11. Effectiveness of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment-Based Intervention to Reduce Frequent Emergency Department Visits: A Report of Four Cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mei-Chen Liao

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available A small number of clustered visits by emergency department frequent users (EDFUs may over-consume emergency care resources. We report the effectiveness of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA-based multidisciplinary team (MDT care for four EDFUs, in reducing ED visits. Case 1 had visited the ED twice/month due to chest discomfort. Her ED visits were significantly reduced to 0.2 visits/month following CGA-based MDT care. Case 2 had failed back surgery syndrome and bipolar disorder. His ED visit was reduced from 2.8 visits to 0.8 visits/month following CGA-based MDT intervention. Case 3 had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, and urinary incontinence, with a urinary catheter in place. He made 31 ED visits (5.1 visits/month before his lung cancer and depression were discovered by CGA. He died 2 months later. Case 4 made 27 ED visits (2.7 visits/month due to dizziness. His problems of early dementia and neglect were identified by CGA, and he visited the ED only once following MDT intervention. In conclusion, CGA-based MDT intervention successfully reduced ED visits among these EDFUs, but further investigation is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of geriatric services in the ED.

  12. Delayed transition of care: a national study of visits to pediatricians by young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortuna, Robert J; Halterman, Jill S; Pulcino, Tiffany; Robbins, Brett W

    2012-01-01

    Despite numerous policy statements and an increased focus on transition of care, little is known about young adults who experience delayed transition to adult providers. We used cross-sectional data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey between 1998 and 2008 to examine delayed transition among young adults ages 22 to 30. We defined delayed transition as continuing to visit a pediatrician after the age of 21 years. Overall, we found that 1.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-1.7) of visits by young adults to primary care physicians were seen by pediatricians, approximately 445,000 visits per year. We did not find a significant change in delayed transition during the past decade (β = -.01; P = .77). Among young adults, visits to pediatricians were more likely than visits to adult-focused providers to be for a chronic disease (25.7% vs 12.6%; P = .002) and more likely to be billed to public health insurance (23.5% vs 14.1%; P = .01). In adjusted models, visits by young adults to pediatric healthcare providers were more likely associated with chronic disease (adjusted relative risk [ARR] 2.2; 95% CI 1.5-3.4), with public health insurance (ARR 1.9; 95% CI 1.3-2.9), or with no health insurance (ARR 1.9; 95% CI 1.1-3.4). Although most young adult visits were to adult providers, a considerable number of visits were to pediatricians, indicating delayed transition of care. There has been no substantial change in delayed transition during the past decade. Visits by young adults with chronic disease, public health insurance, or no health insurance were more likely to experience delayed transition of care. Copyright © 2012 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. National trends in ambulatory visits and antibiotic prescribing for skin and soft-tissue infections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hersh, Adam L; Chambers, Henry F; Maselli, Judith H; Gonzales, Ralph

    2008-07-28

    Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has emerged as a common cause of skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) in the United States. It is unknown whether this development has affected the national rate of visits to primary care practices and emergency departments (EDs) and whether changes in antibiotic prescribing have occurred. We examined visits by patients with SSTIs to physician offices, hospital outpatient departments, and EDs using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 1997 to 2005. We estimated annual visit rates for all SSTIs and a subset classified as abscess/cellulitis. For abscess/cellulitis visits, we examined trends in characteristics of patients and clinical settings and in antibiotic prescribing. Overall rate of visits for SSTIs increased from 32.1 to 48.1 visits per 1000 population (50%; P = .003 for trend), reaching 14.2 million by 2005. More than 95% of this change was attributable to visits for abscess/cellulitis, which increased from 17.3 to 32.5 visits per 1000 population (88% increase; P trend). The largest relative increases occurred in EDs (especially in high safety-net-status EDs and in the South), among black patients, and among patients younger than 18 years. Use of antibiotics recommended for CA-MRSA increased from 7% to 28% of visits (P < .001) during the study period. Independent predictors of treatment with these antibiotics included being younger than 45 years, living in the South, and an ED setting. The incidence of SSTIs has rapidly increased nationwide in the CA-MRSA era and appears to disproportionately affect certain populations. Although physicians are beginning to modify antibiotic prescribing practices, opportunities for improvement exist, targeting physicians caring for patients who are at high risk.

  14. John Dewey's Visits to Hawai'i

    Science.gov (United States)

    McEwan, Hunter

    2015-01-01

    John Dewey visited Hawai'i on three separate occasions. Of all three trips, by far the most important, as far as Dewey's influence on education in Hawai'i is concerned, was in 1899 when he came with his wife, Alice Chipman Dewey, to help launch the University Extension program in Honolulu. The Deweys' second trip was a very brief one--twenty years…

  15. 26 CFR 509.115 - Visiting professors or teachers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...) REGULATIONS UNDER TAX CONVENTIONS SWITZERLAND General Income Tax § 509.115 Visiting professors or teachers. (a... not exceeding two years at any university, college, school, or other educational institution situated...

  16. Consumer Health Information and the Demand for Physician Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmid, Christian

    2015-12-01

    The present study empirically investigates the effect of consumer health information on the demand for physician visits. Using a direct information measure based on questions from the Swiss Health Survey, we estimate a Poisson hurdle model for office visits. We find that information has a negative effect on health care utilization, contradicting previous findings in the literature. We consider differences in the used information measures to be the most likely explanation for the different findings. However, our results suggest that increasing consumer health information has the potential to reduce health care expenditures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. Walk on the wild side: estimating the global magnitude of visits to protected areas.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Balmford

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available How often do people visit the world's protected areas (PAs? Despite PAs covering one-eighth of the land and being a major focus of nature-based recreation and tourism, we don't know. To address this, we compiled a globally-representative database of visits to PAs and built region-specific models predicting visit rates from PA size, local population size, remoteness, natural attractiveness, and national income. Applying these models to all but the very smallest of the world's terrestrial PAs suggests that together they receive roughly 8 billion (8 x 109 visits/y-of which more than 80% are in Europe and North America. Linking our region-specific visit estimates to valuation studies indicates that these visits generate approximately US $600 billion/y in direct in-country expenditure and US $250 billion/y in consumer surplus. These figures dwarf current, typically inadequate spending on conserving PAs. Thus, even without considering the many other ecosystem services that PAs provide to people, our findings underscore calls for greatly increased investment in their conservation.

  18. Digital screen visits in home care services

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zarakit, Mohamad; Nors Hansen, Louise; Evron, Lotte Orr

    2017-01-01

    with participant observation of three selected screen visits with older patients with a minority ethnic background. Analysis: thematic analysis based on a hermeneutic approach. Primarily results indicate that older patients with a minority ethnic background are screened out during the recruitment phase for digital...

  19. Visit of the RPII to the Wylfa Nuclear Power Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-08-01

    This document is a report of the visit of RPII representatives to the Wylfa Nuclear Power Plant in Anglesey in North Wales. The principal topics covered are radioactive waste management, safety issues and the future of the Wylfa NPP. There was also a site tourwhich included the reactor building, the control room, the turbine hall and the simulator. Staff from Magnox Electric, which operates the Wylfa NPP, the NII and the UK Environment Agency participated in the visit

  20. Optimizing Visits to the Site of Death for Bereaved Families After Disasters and Terrorist Events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristensen, Pål; Dyregrov, Atle; Weisæth, Lars; Straume, Marianne; Dyregrov, Kari; Heir, Trond; Bugge, Renate Grønvold

    2017-09-13

    In recent years it has been common after disasters and terrorist events to offer bereaved families the opportunity to visit the place where their loved ones died. Many report that such visits are beneficial in processing their loss. Various factors, both cognitive (eg, counteracting disbelief) and existential or emotional (eg, achieving a sense of closeness to the deceased), are associated with the experienced benefit. Nonetheless, exacerbations of trauma and grief reactions (eg, re-enactment fantasies) are common, with some of the bereaved also reporting adverse reactions after the visit. Subsequently, proper preparations are a prerequisite before such visits take place. This article describes how to optimize collective visits to the site of death after disasters or terrorist events for bereaved families. Important questions-for example, concerning those who should be responsible for organizing a visit and those who should be invited, the timing of the visit, what can be done at the site, the need for support personnel, and other practical issues-are discussed and general guidelines are recommended. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;page 1 of 5).

  1. Providing Cardiology Care in Rural Areas Through Visiting Consultant Clinics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gruca, Thomas S; Pyo, Tae-Hyung; Nelson, Gregory C

    2016-06-30

    Workforce experts predict a future shortage of cardiologists that is expected to impact rural areas more severely than urban areas. However, there is little research on how rural patients are currently served through clinical outreach. This study examines the impact of cardiology outreach in Iowa, a state with a large rural population, on participating cardiologists and on patient access. Outreach clinics are tracked annually in the Office of Statewide Clinical Education Programs Visiting Medical Consultant Database (University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine). Data from 2014 were analyzed. In 2014, an estimated 5460 visiting consultant clinic days were provided in 96 predominantly rural cities by 167 cardiologists from Iowa and adjoining states. Forty-five percent of Iowa cardiologists participated in rural outreach. Visiting cardiologists from Iowa and adjoining states drive an estimated 45 000 miles per month. Because of monthly outreach clinics, the average driving time to the nearest cardiologist falls from 42.2±20.0 to 14.7±11.0 minutes for rural Iowans. Cardiology outreach improves geographic access to office-based cardiology care for more than 1 million Iowans out of a total population of 3 million. Direct travel costs and opportunity costs associated with physician travel are estimated to be more than $2.1 million per year. Cardiologists in Iowa and adjoining states have expanded access to office-based cardiology care from 18 to 89 of the 99 counties in Iowa. In these 71 counties without a full-time cardiologist, visiting consultant clinics can accommodate more than 50% of office visits in the patients' home county. © 2016 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell.

  2. Visitation in island parks: indicators as a tool for management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ginessa Corrêa Lemos

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Park visitation has been increasing every year; however, the majority of the protected areas have no satisfactory and qualified administrative structure to control visitation, especially when island ecosystems are considered. The State Park of Ilhabela (PEIb is a good example of this, and was therefore selected for this study, which hoped to identify indicators for better management of park visitation. In order to select indicators to be used as a reference for this purpose, this study employed the Bountîle – Base of observation for nautical and terrestrial purposes within islands - developed by French researchers for the National Park of Port-Cros, and complemented this with guidelines from the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and other authors. These led to the selection of the following indicators: a opportunities of recreation for a diverse public; b visitation security; c satisfaction with the experience; d minimal environmental impact; e spinoff of socioeconomic development of the surrounding community. Based on the PEIb analyses, 20 management indicators were identified using the following criteria: uses and users; climatic conditions; well-being of the residents; security; profile of the visitor; well-being of the visitors; behavior of the visitors; certification, management, and institutional integration. The criteria of the indicators is greatly diversified, as it is believed that such diversity is essential to encompass the varied aspects that must be considered by a visitation management system in a conservation area. The indicators are flexible, and can be changed anytime, so that they will always be in harmony with the goals of the park management plan. In order to be efficient, they should be feasible economically, technically, and operationally. It is essential that indicators and protocols be discussed and tested with park workers and local actors, ensuring active management and continuous monitoring.

  3. 77 FR 59592 - Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. [[Page 59593

  4. Therapeutic effects of dog visits in nursing homes for the elderly

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thodberg, Karen; Sørensen, Lisbeth Uhrskov; Christensen, Janne Winther

    2016-01-01

    .5 years; [79; 90]) from four nursing homes were randomly assigned to receive biweekly visits for 6 weeks from a person accompanied by either a dog, a robot seal (PARO), or a soft toy cat. Sleep patterns were measured using actigraphy technology before, during (the third and sixth week), and after...... by a dog rather than the robot seal or soft toy cat (dog: 610 ± 127 min; seal: 498 ± 146 min; cat: 540 ± 163 min; F2,37 = 4.99; P = 0.01). No effects were found in the sixth week or after the visit period had ended. We found that visit type had no effect on weight (F2,88 = 0.13; P > 0.05), body mass index...

  5. Visitation to Natural Areas on Campus and Its Relation to Place Identity and Environmentally Responsible Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, Eva K.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined college students' visits to natural areas on campus and how these visits relate to place identity and environmentally responsible behaviors. The majority (76.5%) of the 115 participants visited the natural areas, and 55.7% of these students visited for a course requirement. Students who lived on campus, were younger, and…

  6. Innovation in survivor care: group visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trotter, Kathryn; Frazier, Alana; Hendricks, Colleen K; Scarsella, Heidi

    2011-04-01

    The Centering Cancer Survivorship (CCS) follow-up care program is an innovation in healthcare delivery that meets the needs of cancer survivors and cancer centers. Piloted in a breast cancer clinic, the program provides an avenue for provision of psychological support and health-promotion activities, as well as surveillance for recurrence or late effects. The program empowers each survivor by enlisting her to produce a written breast cancer survivorship care plan for personal use and to share with her primary care provider. Concurrently, this innovation should enhance the viability of the primary cancer center by freeing appointment slots for oncologists who provide expensive therapies to newly diagnosed patients. The CCS program's central feature is the implementation of a multidisciplinary clinic designated specifically for breast cancer survivors in which follow-up care is provided through a group visit medical model. This model of care provides opportunities for health assessment, patient empowerment, and patient education within a framework of social support from peers with similar issues. The group visit model may be well suited to addressing the unique chronic healthcare needs of breast cancer survivors. Further evaluation is needed to verify cost-benefit analysis.

  7. Travel websites: Changing visits, evaluations and posts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bronner, Fred; de Hoog, Robert

    2016-01-01

    Many studies concerning the role of web-based information in tourism measure one-time interactions. This paper presents results of a longitudinal study. Data collected in 2014 about website visits, evaluations and posts, are compared with data from 2007. The main finding is the advance of sites

  8. Pattern of Ambulatory Care Visits to Obstetrician-Gynecologists in Taiwan: A Nationwide Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    An-Min Lynn

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Although obstetrician-gynecologists (OB-GYNs are the main actors in the provision of health care to women, their practice patterns have rarely been analyzed. The current study investigated the nationwide ambulatory visits to OB-GYNs in Taiwan using the National Health Insurance Research Database. From the 1/500 sampling datasets indicating 619,760 ambulatory visits in 2012, it was found that 5.8% (n = 35,697 of the visits were made to OB-GYNs. Two-fifths of the services provided were performed by male OB-GYNs aged 50–59 years. Women of childbearing age accounted for more than half of the visits to OB-GYNs (57.2%, and elderly patients above 60 years accounted for only 7.7%. The most frequent diagnoses were menstrual disorders and other forms of abnormal bleeding from the female genital tract (13.1%. Anti-infective agents were prescribed in 15.1% of the visits to OB-GYNs. The study revealed the proportion of aging practicing OB-GYNs, and our detailed results could contribute to evidence-based discussions on health policymaking.

  9. Use of Welcome to Medicare Visits Among Older Adults Following the Affordable Care Act.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misra, Arpit; Lloyd, Jennifer T; Strawbridge, Larisa M; Wensky, Suzanne G

    2018-01-01

    To encourage greater utilization of preventive services among Medicare beneficiaries, the 2010 Affordable Care Act waived coinsurance for the Welcome to Medicare visit, making this benefit free starting in 2011. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Welcome to Medicare visit utilization. A 5% sample of newly enrolled fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries for 2005-2016 was used to estimate changes in Welcome to Medicare visit use over time. An interrupted time series model examined whether Welcome to Medicare visits increased significantly after 2011, controlling for pre-intervention trends and other autocorrelation. Annual Welcome to Medicare visit rates began at 1.4% in 2005 and increased to 12.3% by 2016. The quarterly Welcome to Medicare visit rate, which was almost 1% at baseline, was increasing by 0.06% before the 2011 Affordable Care Act provision (pAct provision, the rate increased by about 1% in the first quarter of 2011 (intercept, pAct trends of lower utilization persisted over time for non-whites and improved less quickly for men, regions other than Northeast, and beneficiaries without any supplemental insurance. The Affordable Care Act, and perhaps the removal of cost sharing, was associated with increased use of the Welcome to Medicare visit; however, even with the increased use, there is room for improvement. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  10. Nobel Prize winner visits CERN’s superconductors

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    On Wednesday 23 April Georg Bednorz, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1987, visited CERN along with 44 of his colleagues from the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory. Georg Bednorz (second from right) with colleagues from the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in the LHC tunnel. On their arrival, Jos Engelen, the Chief Scientific Officer, gave the IBM group an introduction to CERN. Bednorz came to CERN only recently for the Open Days to give a seminar, but unfortunately did not have time to visit the experiments, so this trip was organised instead. Along with Alex Müller, Bednorz was awarded the Noble Prize for his discovery of superconductivity for the so-called high temperature superconductors, essentially copper-oxide-based compounds showing superconductivity at temperatures much higher than had previously been thought possible. The LHC magnets are built with low-temperature superconductors but many current leads that supply power to the LHC cryostats are made with...

  11. UK Minister enthusiastic after visit to CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    ON Tuesday 5 August the UK Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, came to CERN. The UK continues its strong links with CERN.The Minister was welcomed on arrival at CERN by Robert Aymar, the Director-General, and senior British scientists. Following a short presentation, he began a comprehensive tour of the Laboratory with a visit to both the LHC at point 5 and the CMS experiment. After lunch the Minister’s busy schedule continued, completing his overview of the main areas of UK participation at CERN. As soon as he had signed the guest book, he was whisked off to visit the LHCb experiment, the LHC computing grid project (LCG) and the ATLAS control room. However, the last item on his itinerary was perhaps the most illuminating. Meeting a diverse group of British scientists, from technical and summer students to staff members with more than 30 years of experience, the Minister had the opportunity...

  12. Effect of ambient temperature on emergency department visits in Shanghai, China: a time series study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yue; Yan, Chenyang; Kan, Haidong; Cao, Junshan; Peng, Li; Xu, Jianming; Wang, Weibing

    2014-11-25

    Many studies have examined the association between ambient temperature and mortality. However, less evidence is available on the temperature effects on gender- and age-specific emergency department visits, especially in developing countries. In this study, we examined the short-term effects of daily ambient temperature on emergency department visits (ED visits) in Shanghai. Daily ED visits and daily ambient temperatures between January 2006 and December 2011 were analyzed. After controlling for secular and seasonal trends, weather, air pollution and other confounding factors, a Poisson generalized additive model (GAM) was used to examine the associations between ambient temperature and gender- and age-specific ED visits. A moving average lag model was used to evaluate the lag effects of temperature on ED visits. Low temperature was associated with an overall 2.76% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.73 to 3.80) increase in ED visits per 1°C decrease in temperature at Lag1 day, 2.03% (95% CI: 1.04 to 3.03) and 2.45% (95% CI: 1.40 to 3.52) for males and females. High temperature resulted in an overall 1.78% (95% CI: 1.05 to 2.51) increase in ED visits per 1°C increase in temperature on the same day, 1.81% (95% CI: 1.08 to 2.54) among males and 1.75% (95% CI: 1.03 to 2.49) among females. The cold effect appeared to be more acute among younger people aged effects were consistent on individuals aged ≥65 years. In contrast, the effects of high temperature were relatively consistent over all age groups. These findings suggest a significant association between ambient temperature and ED visits in Shanghai. Both cold and hot temperatures increased the relative risk of ED visits. This knowledge has the potential to advance prevention efforts targeting weather-sensitive conditions.

  13. Improving the ecological relevance of toxicity tests on scleractinian corals: Influence of season, life stage, and seawater temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedouin, Laetitia; Wolf, Ruth E.; Phillips, Jeff; Gates, Ruth D.

    2016-01-01

    Metal pollutants in marine systems are broadly acknowledged as deleterious: however, very little data exist for tropical scleractinian corals. We address this gap by investigating how life-history stage, season and thermal stress influence the toxicity of copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) in the coral Pocillopora damicornis. Our results show that under ambient temperature, adults and larvae appear to tolerate exposure to unusually high levels of copper (96 h-LC50 ranging from 167 to 251 μg Cu L−1) and lead (from 477 to 742 μg Pb L−1). Our work also highlights that warmer conditions (seasonal and experimentally manipulated) reduce the tolerance of adults and larvae to Cu toxicity. Despite a similar trend observed for the response of larvae to Pb toxicity to experimentally induced increase in temperature, surprisingly adults were more resistant in warmer condition to Pb toxicity. In the summer adults were less resistant to Cu toxicity (96 h-LC50 = 175 μg L−1) than in the winter (251 μg L−1). An opposite trend was observed for the Pb toxicity on adults between summer and winter (96 h-LC50 of 742 vs 471 μg L−1, respectively). Larvae displayed a slightly higher sensitivity to Cu and Pb than adults. An experimentally induced 3 °C increase in temperature above ambient decreased larval resistance to Cu and Pb toxicity by 23–30% (96 h-LC50 of 167 vs 129 μg Cu L−1 and 681 vs 462 μg Pb L−1).

  14. Benefits and tensions in delivering public health in community pharmacies - a qualitative study of healthy living pharmacy staff champions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Richard J; Tsoneva, Jo

    2017-10-01

    Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLP) were introduced in the United Kingdom (UK) in a further attempt to deliver public health benefits in community pharmacy settings. Central to the initiative are staff trained as Healthy Living Champions (HLC) and this study sought to explore HLC perceptions of positive and negative aspect of their work and the wider scheme. A qualitative study was undertaken with a purposive sample of HLCs working in pathfinder HCPs in the Sheffield area in 2014. Participants were recruited by email to either a focus group (n = 7) held at a training event or later semi-structured one-to-one interviews in pharmacies (n = 6). Four stages of interpretative phenomenological analysis were used to code and identify themes. Four main themes emerged relating to the positive workforce development impact HLPs had upon HLCs themselves and on perceived customer and patient engagement and benefits. Tensions were identified with existing commercial business demands and negative views overall of the pharmacy setting with a perceived lack of not only integration with other services but also awareness among the public and health care staff. HLCs felt empowered and more confident in initiating conversation about health issues with patients, but identified barriers relating to workload, a lack of time to perform their role, isolation, tensions with non-HLC staff and logistical barriers such as poor Internet access. Delivering public health activities through the HLC role in UK pharmacies is associated with several perceived benefits for different stakeholders, but may be threatened by well recognised barriers in UK pharmacies related to the commercial setting. © 2016 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

  15. Cruise report on geotechnical core processing; Cruise: ATLAS-84, ISHTE Component Test, R/V Melville Sept.-Oct., 1984

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, A.J.; Lipkin, J.; Brandes, H.

    1986-01-01

    The primary objectives of the geotechnical core processing program on the component test cruise were to: a) obtain additional base line physical property data of the ISHTE site sediments in MPG-I; b) compare strengths determined in the cored sediments to those obtained in situ with the In Situ Vane (ISV) system; and c) obtain samples for detailed laboratory analysis. Original plans called for processing of at least four cores obtained with the 10.2 cm APL hydrostatic corer (HLC) and at least one core obtained with the 20.3 cm WHOI corer (GC). If possible it was also planned to process one of the HLC cores at dockside in an attempt to assess the effects of ship motions on shear strength measurements. Shipboard laboratory facilities were set up for geotechnical processing with the URI sampling gear. Sandia Laboratory supplied a laboratory miniature vane device and apparatus for conducting thermal conductivity tests. Shipboard measurements included shear strength (miniature vane and Torvane) and thermal conductivity. Sampling included disturbed samples for water content, bulk density and classification tests and undisturbed samples for consolidation, permeability, strength, creep and fabric analyses. Unfortunately no GC cores were obtained. Three HLC cores, obtained on two lowerings of the large platform, were processed in considerable detail. In addition it was decided to process three of the box cores recovered by the SIO biology group. Therefore, a total of six cores were processed for geotechnical purposes. The dockside processing plan was deleted because of uncertainties caused by recovery procedures and the fact that only three HLC cores were available. Results are summarized

  16. Socioeconomic position and participation in baseline and follow-up visits

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bender, Anne M; Jørgensen, Torben; Hansen, Bodil Helbech

    2012-01-01

    Background:The aim of this paper was to identify the extent of socioeconomic inequality in participation at baseline and follow-up visits.Design:The Inter99 study is a randomized intervention with the aim of investigating the effects of an individualized lifestyle consultation on ischaemic heart ...... inequality in participation at baseline and follow-up visits. Effort should be made to increase participation in individualized lifestyle interventions among persons of low socioeconomic position. Otherwise, the consequence may be increased socioeconomic inequality in IHD....

  17. Predictive ability of visit-to-visit variability in HbA1c and systolic blood pressure for the development of microalbuminuria and retinopathy in people with type 2 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takao, Toshiko; Suka, Machi; Yanagisawa, Hiroyuki; Matsuyama, Yutaka; Iwamoto, Yasuhiko

    2017-06-01

    We explored whether visit-to-visit variability in both glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) simultaneously predicted the development of microalbuminuria and retinopathy, and whether the predictive ability of these measurements changed according to mean HbA1c and SBP levels in people with type 2 diabetes. A retrospective observational cohort study was conducted on 243 type 2 diabetes patients with normoalbuminuria and 486 without retinopathy at the first visit and within 1year thereafter. The two cohorts were followed up from 1995 until 2012. Multivariate and stratified analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazard models. Microalbuminuria developed in 84 patients and retinopathy in 108. Hazard ratios (HRs) for the development of microalbuminuria associated with the coefficient of variation (CV) and variation independent of mean (VIM) of both HbA1c and SBP significantly increased. In participants with a mean SBP HbA1c were abruptly elevated and significant compared with those with a mean SBP ≥130mmHg. Visit-to-visit variability in both HbA1c and SBP simultaneously predict the development of microalbuminuria. HbA1c variability may predict the development of retinopathy when the mean SBP is normal (<130mmHg). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Air pollution and children's asthma-related emergency hospital visits in southeastern France.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazenq, Julie; Dubus, Jean-Christophe; Gaudart, Jean; Charpin, Denis; Nougairede, Antoine; Viudes, Gilles; Noel, Guilhem

    2017-06-01

    Children's asthma is multifactorial. Environmental factors like air pollution exposure, meteorological conditions, allergens, and viral infections are strongly implicated. However, place of residence has rarely been investigated in connection with these factors. The primary aim of our study was to measure the impact of particulate matter (PM), assessed close to the children's homes, on asthma-related pediatric emergency hospital visits within the Bouches-du-Rhône area in 2013. In a nested case-control study on 3- to 18-year-old children, each control was randomly matched on the emergency room visit day, regardless of hospital. Each asthmatic child was compared to 15 controls. PM 10 and PM 2.5 , meteorological conditions, pollens, and viral data were linked to ZIP code and analyzed by purpose of emergency visit. A total of 68,897 visits were recorded in children, 1182 concerning asthma. Short-term exposure to PM 10 measured near children's homes was associated with excess risk of asthma emergency visits (adjusted odds ratio 1.02 (95% CI 1.01-1.04; p = 0.02)). Male gender, young age, and temperature were other risk factors. Conversely, wind speed was a protective factor. PM 10 and certain meteorological conditions near children's homes increased the risk of emergency asthma-related hospital visits in 3- to 18-year-old children in Bouches-du-Rhône. What is Known: • A relationship between short-term exposure to air pollution and increase in emergency room visits or hospital admissions as a result of increased pollution levels has already been demonstrated. What is New: • This study confirms these results but took into account confounding factors (viral data, pollens, and meteorological conditions) and is based on estimated pollution levels assessed close to the children's homes, rather than those recorded at the hospital. • The study area, the Mediterranean, is favorable to creation of secondary pollutants in these sunny and dry seasons.

  19. Post-Discharge Follow-Up Visits and Hospital Utilization

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Analysis reported in Post-Discharge Follow-Up Visits and Hospital Utilization by Medicare Patients, 2007-2010, published in Volume 4, Issue 2 of Medicare and...

  20. Single visit root canal treatment: A prospective study

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2013-08-31

    Aug 31, 2013 ... periodontitis were included in the study. ... Conclusion: Single visit RCT is a viable treatment option for teeth having irreversible pulpitis or apical periodontitis ... been previously root treated, required surgical endodontic.

  1. After laparoscopic Heller myotomy, do emergency department visits or readmissions predict poor long-term outcomes?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Sharona; Villadolid, Desiree; Al-Saadi, Sam; Boyle, Robert; Cowgill, Sarah M; Rosemurgy, Alexander

    2008-12-01

    Laparoscopic Heller myotomy is a first-line treatment for achalasia. To improve outcomes after myotomy and to determine if poor early results predict later outcomes, emergency department (ED) visits and readmissions within 60 days following laparoscopic Heller myotomy were studied. Since 1992, 352 patients have undergone laparoscopic Heller myotomy and are followed through a prospectively maintained registry. Causes of ED visits and readmissions within 60 days after myotomy were determined. Patients scored their symptoms of achalasia before myotomy and at last follow-up; scores were compared to determine if the reasons leading to ED visits and/or readmissions impacted long-term outcome after myotomy. Fourteen (4%) patients had ED visits, and 18 (5%) patients had readmissions within 60 days following myotomy. Sixty-four percent of ED visits were for dysphagia/vomiting and 36% were for abdominal/chest pain, while 37% of readmissions were for dysphagia/vomiting. Pneumonia was complicated by empyema in four patients, all without leaks; two patients expired. Despite ED visits/readmissions, achalasia symptom (e.g., dysphagia, regurgitation, choking, heartburn, and chest pain) frequency and severity scores improved after myotomy (p Heller myotomy. ED visits were generally due to complaints related to achalasia or edema after myotomy, while readmissions were generally related to complications of operative intervention or chronic ill health. Despite ED visits or readmissions early after myotomy, symptoms of achalasia are well palliated by myotomy long-term.

  2. Effectiveness and Safety of an Extended ICU Visitation Model for Delirium Prevention: A Before and After Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosa, Regis Goulart; Tonietto, Tulio Frederico; da Silva, Daiana Barbosa; Gutierres, Franciele Aparecida; Ascoli, Aline Maria; Madeira, Laura Cordeiro; Rutzen, William; Falavigna, Maicon; Robinson, Caroline Cabral; Salluh, Jorge Ibrain; Cavalcanti, Alexandre Biasi; Azevedo, Luciano Cesar; Cremonese, Rafael Viegas; Haack, Tarissa Ribeiro; Eugênio, Cláudia Severgnini; Dornelles, Aline; Bessel, Marina; Teles, José Mario Meira; Skrobik, Yoanna; Teixeira, Cassiano

    2017-10-01

    To evaluate the effect of an extended visitation model compared with a restricted visitation model on the occurrence of delirium among ICU patients. Prospective single-center before and after study. Thirty-one-bed medical-surgical ICU. All patients greater than or equal to 18 years old with expected length of stay greater than or equal to 24 hours consecutively admitted to the ICU from May 2015 to November 2015. Change of visitation policy from a restricted visitation model (4.5 hr/d) to an extended visitation model (12 hr/d). Two hundred eighty-six patients were enrolled (141 restricted visitation model, 145 extended visitation model). The primary outcome was the cumulative incidence of delirium, assessed bid using the confusion assessment method for the ICU. Predefined secondary outcomes included duration of delirium/coma; any ICU-acquired infection; ICU-acquired bloodstream infection, pneumonia, and urinary tract infection; all-cause ICU mortality; and length of ICU stay. The median duration of visits increased from 133 minutes (interquartile range, 97.7-162.0) in restricted visitation model to 245 minutes (interquartile range, 175.0-272.0) in extended visitation model (p < 0.001). Fourteen patients (9.6%) developed delirium in extended visitation model compared with 29 (20.5%) in restricted visitation model (adjusted relative risk, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.26-0.95). In comparison with restricted visitation model patients, extended visitation model patients had shorter length of delirium/coma (1.5 d [interquartile range, 1.0-3.0] vs 3.0 d [interquartile range, 2.5-5.0]; p = 0.03) and ICU stay (3.0 d [interquartile range, 2.0-4.0] vs 4.0 d [interquartile range, 2.0-6.0]; p = 0.04). The rate of ICU-acquired infections and all-cause ICU mortality did not differ significantly between the two study groups. In this medical-surgical ICU, an extended visitation model was associated with reduced occurrence of delirium and shorter length of delirium/coma and ICU stay.

  3. Statewide Policy Change in Pediatric Dental Care, and the Impact on Pediatric Dental and Physician Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zlotnick, Cheryl; Tam, Tammy; Ye, Yu

    2017-10-01

    Introduction In 2007, the California signed legislation mandating a dental visit for all children entering kindergarten or first grade; no such mandate was made for physician visits. This study examines the impact of this policy change on the risk factors associated with obtaining pediatric dental and physician health care visits. Methods Every 2 years, California Health Interview Survey conducts a statewide survey on a representative community sample. This cross-sectional study took advantage of these data to conduct a "natural experiment" assessing the impact of this policy change on both pediatric physician and dental care visits in the past year. Samples included surveys of adults and children (ages 5-11) on years 2005 (n = 5096), 2007 (n = 4324) and 2009 (n = 4100). Results Although few changes in risk factors were noted in pediatric physician visits, a gradual decrease in risk factors was found in pediatric dental visits from 2005 to 2009. Report of no dental visit was less likely for: younger children (OR -0.81, CI 0.75-0.88), insured children (OR 0.34, CI 0.22-0.53), and children who had a physician's visit last year (OR 0.37, CI 0.25-0.53) in 2005. By 2007, absence of insurance was the only risk factor related to having no dental visit (OR 0.34, CI 0.19-0.61). By 2009, no a priori measured risk factors were associated with not having a dental visit for children aged 5-11 years. Conclusions A statewide policy mandating pediatric dental visits appears to have reduced disparities. A policy for medical care may contribute to similar benefits.

  4. Newborn well-child visits in the home setting: a pilot study in a family medicine residency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lakin, Ashley; Sutter, Mary Beth; Magee, Susanna

    2015-03-01

    The purpose of our study was to pilot a home visit program targeting neonates conducted by family medicine residents. While the literature shows that home visit programs are successful at preventing adverse outcomes for young children, such as improving parenting practices and promoting breastfeeding, no data exist about newborn home visits conducted by resident physicians. Residents conducted newborn home visits precepted by a family medicine faculty member from June 2012--May 2013. Subjects were recruited from the residency continuity practice and randomized to receive two home visits (which replaced two office visits) or routine office-based newborn care. All participants were surveyed using the validated WHOQOL-BREF quality of life scale and a patient satisfaction instrument. Metrics were also obtained from the electronic medical record. Mothers and resident physicians completed an open-ended questionnaire about their experience. All patients, whether receiving office-based or home-based care, rated their care highly. Significant differences were seen in usage of acute care in the first 6 months of life, and mothers in the home visit group trended toward initiating breastfeeding at a higher rate. The home visit group ranked their quality of life higher across all domains when compared to the control group, approaching statistical significance in two domains. Residents providing home visits reported increased connectedness to patients and improved confidence in anticipatory guidance delivery. Home visits are valuable for families with newborns, in terms of minimizing acute care service usage, breastfeeding promotion, and perhaps increasing maternal perceptions of well-being. A home visit program has the potential to enhance resident education and the doctor-patient relationship.

  5. Preventive dental visiting: a critical interpretive synthesis of theory explaining how inequalities arise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Rebecca V; Pennington, Andrew; Whitehead, Margaret

    2017-04-01

    In many countries, those with lower socioeconomic status are disproportionately affected by poor oral health. This can be attributed, at least in part, to differences in preventive dental visiting. While several theories have been applied to the area, they generally fail to capture the recursive nature of dental visiting behaviour, and fall short of informing the design of complex interventions to tackle inequalities. To undertake a systematic review and synthesis of theory in order to provide an overview of the pathways which bring about socioeconomic inequalities in early dental visiting, and identify possible intervention points. Electronic searching identified 8947 titles and abstracts. Paper screening and citation snowballing left 77 included papers. Drawing on the tenets of Critical Interpretive Synthesis, data extraction involved capturing concepts and relationships and translating these sometimes into synthetic constructs. We theorize that at the individual (micro-level), dental visiting behaviour is influenced by: the 'Importance of obtaining care', 'Emotional response' and 'Perceived control', which feed into a balancing of 'Competing Demands' against 'Internal resources' (coping, self-identity), although attendance is tempered by the effective 'Affordability and Availability of services'. Positive Care experiences are theorized to lower the demands and increase internal resources associated with dental visiting. We also outline meso-level factors 'Social norms and sanctions', 'Obligations, expectations and trust', 'Information channels', 'Social structures' and theorize how these can exert an overwhelming influence in deprived areas. Socioeconomic inequalities in early dental visiting emerge from several stages in the care-seeking process. Dental visiting behaviour should be viewed not just as a one-off event, but extending over time and social space. Since there is recursivity in peoples' most recent dental experience any future visits we identify that

  6. Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH trial: design, method and sample description

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anderson Teresa

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Home visiting programs comprising intensive and sustained visits by professionals (usually nurses over the first two years of life show promise in promoting child health and family functioning, and ameliorating disadvantage. Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting in early childhood is limited. This paper describes the method and cohort characteristics of the first Australian study of sustained home visiting commencing antenatally and continuing to child-age two years for at-risk mothers in a disadvantaged community (the Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial. Methods and design Mothers reporting risks for poorer parenting outcomes residing in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage were recruited between February 2003 and March 2005. Mothers randomised to the intervention group received a standardised program of nurse home visiting. Interviews and observations covering child, maternal, family and environmental issues were undertaken with mothers antenatally and at 1, 12 and 24 months postpartum. Standardised tests of child development and maternal-child interaction were undertaken at 18 and 30 months postpartum. Information from hospital and community heath records was also obtained. Discussion A total of 338 women were identified and invited to participate, and 208 were recruited to the study. Rates of active follow-up were 86% at 12 months, 74% at 24 months and 63% at 30 months postpartum. Participation in particular data points ranged from 66% at 1 month to 51% at 24 months postpartum. Rates of active follow-up and data point participation were not significantly different for the intervention or comparison group at any data point. Mothers who presented for antenatal care prior to 20 weeks pregnant, those with household income from full-time employment and those who reported being abused themselves as a child were more likely to be retained in the study. The Miller Early

  7. Definition of hypertension: the impact of number of visits for blood pressure measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueiredo, Daniela; Azevedo, Ana; Pereira, Marta; de Barros, Henrique

    2009-01-01

    A diagnosis of hypertension should be based on multiple blood pressure (BP) measurements, taken on at least two separate occasions. We aimed to assess the impact of considering different criteria for a definition of hypertension, based on number of visits for blood pressure measurement, on estimates of hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control, and on its association with two variables definitely related to hypertension: body mass index and left ventricular hypertrophy. We used data from a cross-sectional study of 739 participants, aged > or = 45 years, randomly selected from a non-institutionalized Portuguese population, from January 2001 to December 2003. Main outcome measures were prevalence of hypertension (systolic BP > or = 140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP > or = 90 mmHg or current antihypertensive drug therapy) based on BP measurements on one visit, on BP measurements on a second visit or on fulfilling the same criteria on the two different visits. Estimated hypertension prevalence was 63.4% (95% CI: 59.8-66.9) using BP measurements from the first visit (HTN1) and 60.2% (95% CI: 56.6-63.8) using BP measurements from the second visit (HTN2). If both visits are used as criteria the estimated hypertension prevalence (HTN(Final)) was 56.3% (95% CI: 52.7-60.0), p (McNemar test) hypertension prevalence have a similar strong and independent association with body mass index (OR = 2.71 for body mass index > or = 30 with HTN(Final)) and with left ventricular hypertrophy (OR = 3.21 for HTN(Final) with left ventricular hypertrophy). In many individuals labeled as hypertensive on a single evaluation, hypertension was not confirmed on reassessment, leading to a significant overestimation of 12.6% of the true prevalence. For this reason BP should be measured on at least two office visits both for clinical purposes and in epidemiological studies. On the other hand, this did not reflect on the association between hypertension and body mass index or left

  8. Validation of ICD-9-CM coding algorithm for improved identification of hypoglycemia visits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lieberman Rebecca M

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate identification of hypoglycemia cases by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM codes will help to describe epidemiology, monitor trends, and propose interventions for this important complication in patients with diabetes. Prior hypoglycemia studies utilized incomplete search strategies and may be methodologically flawed. We sought to validate a new ICD-9-CM coding algorithm for accurate identification of hypoglycemia visits. Methods This was a multicenter, retrospective cohort study using a structured medical record review at three academic emergency departments from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006. We prospectively derived a coding algorithm to identify hypoglycemia visits using ICD-9-CM codes (250.3, 250.8, 251.0, 251.1, 251.2, 270.3, 775.0, 775.6, and 962.3. We confirmed hypoglycemia cases by chart review identified by candidate ICD-9-CM codes during the study period. The case definition for hypoglycemia was documented blood glucose 3.9 mmol/l or emergency physician charted diagnosis of hypoglycemia. We evaluated individual components and calculated the positive predictive value. Results We reviewed 636 charts identified by the candidate ICD-9-CM codes and confirmed 436 (64% cases of hypoglycemia by chart review. Diabetes with other specified manifestations (250.8, often excluded in prior hypoglycemia analyses, identified 83% of hypoglycemia visits, and unspecified hypoglycemia (251.2 identified 13% of hypoglycemia visits. The absence of any predetermined co-diagnosis codes improved the positive predictive value of code 250.8 from 62% to 92%, while excluding only 10 (2% true hypoglycemia visits. Although prior analyses included only the first-listed ICD-9 code, more than one-quarter of identified hypoglycemia visits were outside this primary diagnosis field. Overall, the proposed algorithm had 89% positive predictive value (95% confidence interval, 86–92 for

  9. The importance of pets’ visit in recovery of hospitalized children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreia Maria Heins Vaccari

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To understand the experience of hospitalized childrenwhen visited by animals at hospital. Methods: Descriptive andexploratory research with qualitative approach in a private pediatrichospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Thirteen children aged threeto six years were enrolled. Observation of the children before,during, and after the animal’s visit, interviews, and drawings weresome of the strategies used to collect data, which were submittedto the Bardin content analysis technique. Results: Three meaningcategories were identified and showed some of the benefits of thisexperience to children “pleasant contact with the animals”; “easierinteraction with staff and with other children”; “pain and discomfortrelief”. Conclusions: Animal visits make the environment morerelaxed, improve the interaction between the child, the staff andother children thus helping sick children to be more cooperativewith hospital procedures. This is an alternative strategy for pain anddiscomfort relief. It has also been observed that this activity benefitsnot only children but also adults who care them.

  10. Floral ecology and insect visitation in riparian Tamarix sp. (saltcedar)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, D.C.; Nelson, S.M.

    2013-01-01

    Climate change projections for semiarid and arid North America include reductions in stream discharge that could adversely affect riparian plant species dependent on stream-derived ground water. In order to better understand this potential impact, we used a space-for-time substitution to test the hypotheses that increasing depth-to-groundwater (DGW) is inversely related to Tamarix sp. (saltcedar) flower abundance (F) and nectar production per flower (N). We also assessed whether DGW affected the richness or abundance of insects visiting flowers. We examined Tamarix floral attributes and insect visitation patterns during 2010 and 2011 at three locations along a deep DWG gradient (3.2–4.1 m) on a floodplain terrace adjacent to Las Vegas Wash, an effluent-dominated Mojave Desert stream. Flower abundance and insect visitation patterns differed between years, but no effect from DGW on either F or N was detected. An eruption of a novel non-native herbivore, the splendid tamarisk weevil (Coniatus splendidulus), likely reduced flower production in 2011.

  11. Domestic Violence Enhanced Perinatal Home Visits: The DOVE Randomized Clinical Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharps, Phyllis W; Bullock, Linda F; Campbell, Jacquelyn C; Alhusen, Jeanne L; Ghazarian, Sharon R; Bhandari, Shreya S; Schminkey, Donna L

    2016-11-01

    Perinatal intimate partner violence (IPV) is common and has significant negative health outcomes for mothers and infants. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an IPV intervention in reducing violence among abused women in perinatal home visiting programs. This assessor-blinded multisite randomized control trial of 239 women experiencing perinatal IPV was conducted from 2006 to 2012 in U.S. urban and rural settings. The Domestic Violence Enhanced Home Visitation Program (DOVE) intervention group (n = 124) received a structured abuse assessment and six home visitor-delivered empowerment sessions integrated into home visits. All participants were screened for IPV and referred appropriately. IPV was measured by the Conflicts Tactics Scale2 at baseline through 24 months postpartum. There was a significant decrease in IPV over time (F = 114.23; p < 0.001) from baseline to 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months postpartum (all p < 0.001). Additional models examining change in IPV from baseline indicated a significant treatment effect (F = 6.45; p < 0.01). Women in the DOVE treatment group reported a larger mean decrease in IPV scores from baseline compared to women in the usual care group (mean decline 40.82 vs. 35.87). All models accounted for age and maternal depression as covariates. The DOVE intervention was effective in decreasing IPV and is brief, thereby facilitating its incorporation within well-woman and well-child care visits, as well as home visiting programs, while satisfying recommendations set forth in the Affordable Care Act for IPV screening and brief counseling.

  12. Pilot Evaluation of a Home Visit Parent Training Program in Disadvantaged Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Cynthia; Tsang, Sandra; Heung, Kitty

    2013-01-01

    Objectives: The study reported the pilot evaluation of the Healthy Start Home Visit Program for disadvantaged Chinese parents with preschool children, delivered by trained parent assistants. Home visiting was used to make services more accessible to disadvantaged families. Method: The participants included 21 parent-child dyads. Outcome measures…

  13. The effect of early postpartum home visits by health visitors: a natural experiment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kronborg, Hanne; Væth, Michael; Kristensen, Ingeborg

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To assess if the absence of early home visits influenced the mothers’ breastfeeding duration and use of medical services. Design: Data from mothers who had given birth during a strike period were compared to data from a reference period with usual work practice. Sample: The study...... included 3834 newborn and 375 health visitors, 75 of whom worked during the strike period. Intervention: All families were offered non- standardized home visits after discharge in the reference period. During the strike, the service was based on individual risk assessment. Results: Overall, no difference....... The mothers’ needs for postnatal visits differed depending on parity: primiparae underlined uncertainty, multiparae underlined previous breastfeeding experience. Mothers had missed out on guidance on all areas of the health visitors’ service. Conclusion: Non-standardized home visits by health visitors were...

  14. Wolf, Canis lupus, visits to white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, summer ranges: Optimal foraging?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demma, D.J.; Mech, L.D.

    2009-01-01

    We tested whether Wolf (Canis lupus) visits to individual female White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) summer ranges during 2003 and 2004 in northeastern Minnesota were in accord with optimal-foraging theory. Using GPS collars with 10- to 30-minute location attempts on four Wolves and five female deer, plus eleven VHF-collared female deer in the Wolves' territory, provided new insights into the frequency of Wolf visits to summer ranges of female deer. Wolves made a mean 0.055 visits/day to summer ranges of deer three years and older, significantly more than their 0.032 mean visits/day to ranges of two-year-old deer, which generally produce fewer fawns, and most Wolf visits to ranges of older deer were much longer than those to ranges of younger deer. Because fawns comprise the major part of the Wolf's summer diet, this Wolf behavior accords with optimal-foraging theory.

  15. Associations among emergency room visits, parenting styles, and psychopathology among pediatric patients with sickle cell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latzman, Robert D; Shishido, Yuri; Latzman, Natasha E; Elkin, T David; Majumdar, Suvankar

    2014-10-01

    To examine associations between frequency of emergency room (ER) visits and various parenting styles, both conjointly and interactively, and psychopathological outcomes among pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Ninety-eight parents/caregivers of 6- to 18-year-old patients with SCD completed instruments assessing parenting style, child psychopathology, and reported on the frequency of ER visits during the previous year. ER visits were found to significantly explain Withdrawn/Depressed problems and parenting styles were found to incrementally contribute to the explanation of all forms of psychopathology. Further, Permissive parenting was found to explain Rule Breaking Behavior for those patients with low ER visit frequency but not for those with high ER visit frequency. Results of the current study confirm the importance of considering both the frequency of ER visits and parenting style in the explanation of psychopathology among pediatric patients with SCD. Results have important implications for both research and treatment. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Free-choice worksheets increase students' exposure to curriculum during museum visits

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, Marianne Foss; Smart, Kimberly

    2007-01-01

    The museum visit is an important part of elementary school science teaching. However, a divide exists between teachers, who require curricular accountability, and museums, who emphasize free-choice exploration. Can a carefully constructed worksheet bridge this divide by providing free......-choice exploration of curricular topics during the museum visit? In the present study, a theoretical framework was constructed to inform the design of worksheets as free-choice learning devices. This framework was used to analyze the design of an existing museum worksheet. Subsequently, curriculum......-related conversations among school groups visiting a museum were monitored in groups supplied with the worksheet and in control groups without. Overall, the worksheet complied well with design criteria synthesized from the free-choice learning literature. Furthermore, the use of the worksheet increased the number...

  17. Visits by nuclear powered warships to Australian ports. 2. ed.

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1987-09-01

    The aim of this document is to prescribe the conditions, procedures and responsibilities for the conduct of visits to Australia by United States and Royal Navy nuclear powered warships. The Commonwealth government requires contingency arrangements to be in place at all Australian ports visited and that there be the capability to undertake radiation monitoring of the port environment. Release mechanisms such as the failure or maloperation of radioactive waste control systems within the vessel, or an accident involving the reactor plant are dealt with in the plan

  18. HOME VISIT QUALITY VARIATIONS IN TWO EARLY HEAD START PROGRAMS IN RELATION TO PARENTING AND CHILD VOCABULARY OUTCOMES.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roggman, Lori A; Cook, Gina A; Innocenti, Mark S; Jump Norman, Vonda; Boyce, Lisa K; Christiansen, Katie; Peterson, Carla A

    2016-05-01

    Home-visiting programs aiming to improve early child development have demonstrated positive outcomes, but processes within home visits to individual families are rarely documented. We examined family-level variations in the home-visiting process (N = 71) from extant video recordings of home visits in two Early Head Start programs, using an observational measure of research-based quality indicators of home-visiting practices and family engagement, the Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS). HOVRS scores, showing good interrater agreement and internal consistency, were significantly associated with parent- and staff-reported positive characteristics of home visiting as well as with parenting and child language outcomes tested at program exit. When home-visiting processes were higher quality during the program, home visit content was more focused on child development, families were more involved in the overall program, and most important, scores on measures of the parenting environment and children's vocabulary were higher at the end of the program. Results showed that home visit quality was indirectly associated with child language outcomes through parenting outcomes. Observation ratings of home visit quality could be useful for guiding program improvement, supporting professional development, and increasing our understanding of the links between home-visiting processes and outcomes. © 2016 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

  19. Post-operative Pain Analysis between Single Visit and Two Visit Root Canal Treatments using Visual Analogue Scale: An In Vivo Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kavita Tarale

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate post-operative pain, after root canal therapy, performed in one appointment versus two appointment using calcium hydroxide intracanal medicament. Study design: In this in-vivo study, 60 patients requiring root canal therapy on permanent 1st molars were included. Patients were randomly divided into two experimental and one control group. Group1: One visit therapy (n=20 Group2: Two visit therapy with 1 week of calcium hydroxide dressing (n=20 Group3(Control: Two visit therapy with 1 week of sterile dry cotton pellet dressing (n=20 Materials and method : The standard protocol for all the patients included local anaesthesia, isolation & access cavity preparation, chemomechanical preparation with Rotary Protaper NiTi instruments, and irrigation with 3% sodium hypochlorite, 17% EDTA, 0.9%saline and 2% chlorhexidine. Teeth in group1 (n=20 were obturated on the same appointment using single cone technique (6% gutta percha points and AH Plus sealer. Teeth in group 2(n=20 and group 3(n=20 were given a dressing of calcium hydroxide and dry cotton pellet respectively for a week followed by double seal with Cavit G and IRM. These teeth were obturated on the 2nd appointment using same material and techniques as in group 1. Teeth in all three groups were restored with dual cure composite resin. A modified Visual Analogue Scale was used to measure preoperative pain and postoperative pain after 6, 12, 24 & 48hrs interval. Statistical analysis was performed using an independent-sample t test. There was no statistically significant difference between groups at any of the four postoperative intervals. There was no significant difference among all the three groups studied after 12, 24hrs & 48hrs. Conclusion : Within the limitations of this in vivo study, it may be concluded that Single Visit Endodontics provides excellent results, if care in diagnosis and proper case selection is given importance. Calcium hydroxide

  20. Association Between Apple Consumption and Physician Visits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Matthew A.; Bynum, Julie P.W.; Sirovich, Brenda E.

    2015-01-01

    IMPORTANCE Fruit consumption is believed to have beneficial health effects, and some claim, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between eating an apple a day and keeping the doctor away. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A cross-sectional study of a nationally representative sample of the noninstitutionalized US adult population. A total of 8728 adults 18 years and older from the 2007–2008 and 2009–2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey completed a 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire and reported that the quantity of food they ate was reflective of their usual daily diet. EXPOSURES Daily apple eaters (consuming the equivalent of at least 1 small apple daily, or 149 g of raw apple) vs non–apple eaters, based on the reported quantity of whole apple consumed during the 24-hour dietary recall period. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome measure was success at “keeping the doctor away,” measured as no more than 1 visit (self-reported) to a physician during the past year; secondary outcomes included successful avoidance of other health care services (ie, no overnight hospital stays, visits to a mental health professional, or prescription medications). RESULTS Of 8399 eligible study participants who completed the dietary recall questionnaire, we identified 753 adult apple eaters (9.0%)—those who typically consume at least 1 small apple per day. Compared with the 7646 non–apple eaters (91.0%), apple eaters had higher educational attainment, were more likely to be from a racial or ethnic minority, and were less likely to smoke (P Apple eaters were more likely, in the crude analysis, to keep the doctor (and prescription medications) away: 39.0% of apple eaters avoided physician visits vs 33.9%of non–apple eaters (P = .03). After adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, however, the association was no longer statistically significant (OR, 1.19; 95%CI, 0.93–1

  1. Factors associated with ambulatory care sensitive emergency department visits for South Carolina Medicaid members with intellectual disability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDermott, S; Royer, J; Mann, J R; Armour, B S

    2018-03-01

    Ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) can be seen as failure of access or management in primary care settings. Identifying factors associated with ACSCs for individuals with an Intellectual Disability (ID) provide insight into potential interventions. To assess the association between emergency department (ED) ACSC visits and a number of demographic and health characteristics of South Carolina Medicaid members with ID. A retrospective cohort of adults with ID was followed from 2001 to 2011. Using ICD-9-CM codes, four ID subgroups, totalling 14 650 members, were studied. There were 106 919 ED visits, with 21 214 visits (19.8%) classified as ACSC. Of those, 82.9% were treated and released from EDs with costs averaging $578 per visit. People with mild and unspecified ID averaged greater than one ED visit per member year. Those with Down syndrome and other genetic cause ID had the lowest rates of ED visits but the highest percentage of ACSC ED visits that resulted in inpatient hospitalisation (26.6% vs. an average of 16.8% for other subgroups). When compared with other residential types, those residing at home with no health support services had the highest ED visit rate and were most likely to be discharged back to the community following an ED visit (85.2%). Adults residing in a nursing home had lower rates of ED visits but were most likely to be admitted to the hospital (38.9%) following an ED visit. Epilepsy and convulsions were the leading cause (29.6%) of ACSC ED visits across all subgroups and residential settings. Prevention of ACSC ED visits may be possible by targeting adults with ID who live at home without health support services. © 2017 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Validation of a Syndromic Case Definition for Detecting Emergency Department Visits Potentially Related to Marijuana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeYoung, Kathryn; Chen, Yushiuan; Beum, Robert; Askenazi, Michele; Zimmerman, Cali; Davidson, Arthur J

    Reliable methods are needed to monitor the public health impact of changing laws and perceptions about marijuana. Structured and free-text emergency department (ED) visit data offer an opportunity to monitor the impact of these changes in near-real time. Our objectives were to (1) generate and validate a syndromic case definition for ED visits potentially related to marijuana and (2) describe a method for doing so that was less resource intensive than traditional methods. We developed a syndromic case definition for ED visits potentially related to marijuana, applied it to BioSense 2.0 data from 15 hospitals in the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area for the period September through October 2015, and manually reviewed each case to determine true positives and false positives. We used the number of visits identified by and the positive predictive value (PPV) for each search term and field to refine the definition for the second round of validation on data from February through March 2016. Of 126 646 ED visits during the first period, terms in 524 ED visit records matched ≥1 search term in the initial case definition (PPV, 92.7%). Of 140 932 ED visits during the second period, terms in 698 ED visit records matched ≥1 search term in the revised case definition (PPV, 95.7%). After another revision, the final case definition contained 6 keywords for marijuana or derivatives and 5 diagnosis codes for cannabis use, abuse, dependence, poisoning, and lung disease. Our syndromic case definition and validation method for ED visits potentially related to marijuana could be used by other public health jurisdictions to monitor local trends and for other emerging concerns.

  3. Racial Disparity in Duration of Patient Visits to the Emergency Department: Teaching Versus Non-teaching Hospitals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zynal Karaca

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The sources of racial disparity in duration of patients’ visits to emergency departments (EDs have not been documented well enough for policymakers to distinguish patient-related factors from hospital- or area-related factors. This study explores the racial disparity in duration of routine visits to EDs at teaching and non-teaching hospitals.Methods: We performed retrospective data analyses and multivariate regression analyses to investigate the racial disparity in duration of routine ED visits at teaching and non-teaching hospitals. The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD were used in the analyses. The data include 4.3 million routine ED visits encountered in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Utah during 2008. We computed duration for each visit by taking the difference between admission and discharge times.Results: The mean duration for a routine ED visit was 238 minutes at teaching hospitals and 175 minutes at non-teaching hospitals. There were significant variations in duration of routine ED visits across race groups at teaching and non-teaching hospitals. The risk-adjusted results show that the mean duration of routine ED visits for Black/African American and Asian patients when compared to visits for white patients was shorter by 10.0 and 3.4%, respectively, at teaching hospitals; and longer by 3.6 and 13.8%, respectively, at non-teaching hospitals. Hispanic patients, on average, experienced 8.7% longer ED stays when compared to white patients at non-teaching hospitals.Conclusion: There is significant racial disparity in the duration of routine ED visits, especially in non-teaching hospitals where non-White patients experience longer ED stays compared to white patients. The variation in duration of routine ED visits at teaching hospitals when compared to non-teaching hospitals was smaller across race groups. [West J Emerg Med. 2013;14(5:529–541.

  4. Factors affecting the cultural competence of visiting nurses for rural multicultural family support in South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suk, Min Hyun; Oh, Won-Oak; Im, YeoJin

    2018-01-01

    With the recent growth of multicultural families in the Korean society, the importance of the role of qualified visiting nurses in the delivery of culturally sensitive health care has grown dramatically. As the primary health care provider for multicultural families enrolled in public community-based health care centers, the cultural competence of visiting nurses is an essential qualification for the provision of quality health care for multicultural families, especially in rural areas. Cultural competence of visiting nurses is based on their cultural awareness and empathetic attitude toward multicultural families. This study aimed to examine the levels of cultural competence, empowerment, and empathy in visiting nurses, and to verify the factors that affect the cultural competence of visiting nurses working with rural multicultural families in South Korea. Employing a cross-sectional descriptive study design, data from 143 visiting nurses working in rural areas were obtained. Data collection took place between November 2011 and August 2012. The measurement tools included the modified Korean version of the Cultural Awareness Scale, the Text of Items Measuring Empowerment, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to measure the level of empathy of visiting nurses. Analyses included descriptive statistics, a t-test, an ANOVA, a Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, and a multiple linear regression analysis. The cultural competence score of the visiting nurses was 3.07 on a 5-point Likert scale (SD = 0.30). The multiple regression analysis revealed that the cultural competence of visiting nurses was significantly influenced by experience of cultural education, empathy, and scores on the meaning subscale of the empowerment tool (R 2  = 10.2%). Institutional support to enhance visiting nurses' empowerment by assuring the significance of their job and specific strategies to enhance their empathy would be helpful to improve the cultural competence of visiting

  5. Baseline Predictors of Missed Visits in the Look AHEAD Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitzpatrick, Stephanie L.; Jeffery, Robert; Johnson, Karen C.; Roche, Cathy C.; Van Dorsten, Brent; Gee, Molly; Johnson, Ruby Ann; Charleston, Jeanne; Dotson, Kathy; Walkup, Michael P.; Hill-Briggs, Felicia; Brancati, Frederick L.

    2013-01-01

    Objective To identify baseline attributes associated with consecutively missed data collection visits during the first 48 months of Look AHEAD—a randomized, controlled trial in 5145 overweight/obese adults with type 2 diabetes designed to determine the long-term health benefits of weight loss achieved by lifestyle change. Design and Methods The analyzed sample consisted of 5016 participants who were alive at month 48 and enrolled at Look AHEAD sites. Demographic, baseline behavior, psychosocial factors, and treatment randomization were included as predictors of missed consecutive visits in proportional hazard models. Results In multivariate Cox proportional hazard models, baseline attributes of participants who missed consecutive visits (n=222) included: younger age ( Hazard Ratio [HR] 1.18 per 5 years younger; 95% Confidence Interval 1.05, 1.30), higher depression score (HR 1.04; 1.01, 1.06), non-married status (HR 1.37; 1.04, 1.82), never self-weighing prior to enrollment (HR 2.01; 1.25, 3.23), and randomization to minimal vs. intensive lifestyle intervention (HR 1.46; 1.11, 1.91). Conclusions Younger age, symptoms of depression, non-married status, never self-weighing, and randomization to minimal intervention were associated with a higher likelihood of missing consecutive data collection visits, even in a high-retention trial like Look AHEAD. Whether modifications to screening or retention efforts targeted to these attributes might enhance long-term retention in behavioral trials requires further investigation. PMID:23996977

  6. 36 CFR 1280.90 - What are the rules of conduct while visiting the Presidential libraries?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... while visiting the Presidential libraries? 1280.90 Section 1280.90 Parks, Forests, and Public Property... Apply for Use of Facilities in Presidential Libraries? § 1280.90 What are the rules of conduct while visiting the Presidential libraries? In addition to the rules in Subpart A, when visiting the museums of...

  7. Interactions for pollinator visitation and their consequences for reproduction in a plant community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hegland, Stein Joar; Totland, Ørjan

    2012-08-01

    Competition and facilitation in species interactions attract much attention in ecology, but their relative importance has seldom been evaluated in a community context. We assessed competitive and facilitative interactions for pollinator visitation among co-flowering species in a plant community, investigated the subsequent consequences for plant reproduction, and investigated whether effects could be trait-based. We removed the flowers of two species attractive to pollinators, in two separate experiments and assessed the effects on pollinator visitation rates and components of reproductive success in 11 co-flowering focal herb species. Overall, most focal species appear not to interact with the removal species with respect to pollinator visitation and subsequent reproduction (neutral interactions). Three focal species in the community had significantly higher reproductive responses (fruit production and seed weight) in the presence of the attractive removal species (facilitative interactions), but species interaction effects were less pronounced in species' flower visitation rates. A community-wide meta-analysis demonstrated that the two experiments did not have a significant effect on either facilitation or competition, and that there was no overall correlation between effect sizes for visitation and reproduction. Based on species-specific responses, it seems likely that floral traits such as similar flower colors contribute to interspecific facilitation of pollinator visitation and, in particular, that high pollinator dependence for plant reproduction, and associated pollen limitation, may contribute to subsequent interaction effects on reproduction in the focal species.

  8. Weather sensitivity for zoo visitation in Toronto, Canada: a quantitative analysis of historical data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hewer, Micah J.; Gough, William A.

    2016-11-01

    Based on a case study of the Toronto Zoo (Canada), multivariate regression analysis, involving both climatic and social variables, was employed to assess the relationship between daily weather and visitation. Zoo visitation was most sensitive to weather variability during the shoulder season, followed by the off-season and, then, the peak season. Temperature was the most influential weather variable in relation to zoo visitation, followed by precipitation and, then, wind speed. The intensity and direction of the social and climatic variables varied between seasons. Temperatures exceeding 26 °C during the shoulder season and 28 °C during the peak season suggested a behavioural threshold associated with zoo visitation, with conditions becoming too warm for certain segments of the zoo visitor market, causing visitor numbers to decline. Even light amounts of precipitation caused average visitor numbers to decline by nearly 50 %. Increasing wind speeds also demonstrated a negative influence on zoo visitation.

  9. Education in Science Centers: Evaluating School Visits to an Astronomical Observatory in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Donizete Colombo Junior

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available The present article analyzes the activity “Guided Visit of School Groups” carried out at Astronomical Observatory of the Center for Scientific and Cultural Diffusion (CDCC of University of Sao Paulo (USP with K4 and K5 pupils. The objectives of this research were to identify influences of such activity on learning of astronomical concepts and on pupils’ motivation. The results demonstrate that pupils have difficulties to understand Solar System concepts and the distances involved, on the other hand, the activity motivates the pupils to return with their parents and friends to the Observatory. At last, the success of visits to science centers aiming at the learning of basic concepts and motivation comprises at least three moments: the one that precedes the visit, the visit itself and the return to the classroom.

  10. Delegation of Externado University Of Colombia Visits China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2009-01-01

    <正>Invited by the CPAFFC, a 67-member delegation orga- nized and sent by the Externado University of Colombia visited Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong from June 29 to July 16. In

  11. Investigating School-Guided Visits to an Aquarium: What Roles for Science Teachers?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faria, Cláudia; Chagas, Isabel

    2013-01-01

    The main goals of this study were to understand the different roles played by teachers and students during a school-guided tour to an aquarium and to analyse their different perspectives about the visit. The study focused on students' and teachers' behaviour during school-guided visits to an aquarium; students' and teachers' perspectives about…

  12. Pilot Study of Therapy Dog Visits for Inpatient Youth With Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chubak, Jessica; Hawkes, Rene; Dudzik, Christi; Foose-Foster, Jessica M; Eaton, Lauren; Johnson, Rebecca H; Macpherson, Catherine Fiona

    This study assessed the feasibility of studying animal-assisted activities (AAA) in inpatient pediatric oncology and collected preliminary data on potential benefits of AAA for this population. Patients at a large pediatric hospital were identified using electronic medical records and approached with physician approval. Patients completed surveys before and after a therapy dog visit in their private hospital room. Data on infections were ascertained by electronic medical record review. Provider surveys were placed in provider common areas and distributed through a link in an e-mail. We summarized resultsusing descriptive statistics and estimated mean changes in pre- and postintervention distress and conducted hypothesis tests using the paired t test. The study population (mean age = 12.9 years) consisted of 9 females and 10 males. Following the therapy dog visit, patients had lower distress and significant decreases in worry, tiredness, fear, sadness, and pain. Providers were generally supportive of the intervention. Eight patients developed infections during the 14 days after the dog visit but none could be clearly attributed to the therapy dog visit. The study's primary limitation was that there was no control group. However, results support the feasibility of and need for future studies on AAA in pediatric oncology.

  13. Emergency department visits by pediatric patients for poisoning by prescription opioids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tadros, Allison; Layman, Shelley M; Davis, Stephen M; Bozeman, Rachel; Davidov, Danielle M

    2016-09-01

    Prescription medication abuse is an increasingly recognized problem in the United States. As more opioids are being prescribed and abused by adults, there is an increased risk of both accidental and intentional exposure to children and adolescents. The impact of pediatric exposures to prescription pain pills has not been well studied. We sought to evaluate emergency department (ED) visits for poisoning by prescription opioids in pediatric patients. This retrospective study looked at clinical and demographic data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) from 2006 to 2012. There were 21,928 pediatric ED visits for prescription opioid poisonings and more than half were unintentional. There was a bimodal age distribution of patients, with slightly more than half occurring in females. The majority of patients were discharged from the ED. More visits in the younger age group (0-5 years) were unintentional, while the majority of visits in the adolescent age group (15-17 years) were intentional. Mean charge per discharge was $1,840 and $14,235 for admissions and surmounted to over $81 million in total charges. Poisonings by prescription opioids largely impact both young children and adolescents. These findings can be used to help target this population for future preventive efforts.

  14. Visits to the ATLAS cavern - A record of 20000 visitors in 2006!

    CERN Document Server

    Alessandra Ciocio

    The year 2006 closed with the impressive record of just under 20000 visitors to the ATLAS cavern. These visitors come from all walks of life - people within ATLAS, groups from other CERN divisions, retired CERN staff, school groups both from the local area and from far away, companies looking for something different as a special outing, celebrities (Cirque du Soleil, Black Eyed Peas hip-hop group) passing through Geneva who had read Angels and Demons, a stream of VIP visitors and now, more and more, Press visitors. There have been public visits in the ATLAS cavern since the middle of 2003. At that time a lot of the visitors were guided by Bernard Lebegue and Francois Butin. The total number of visits in 2003 was 2220 people. Not bad for just two guides! Over the following three years demand for visits increased to such an extent that the ATLAS Visits Service was created and is now run very successfully under the supervision of Connie Potter in the ATLAS Secretariat in close collaboration with the ever-helpfu...

  15. Changes in insurance status and emergency department visits after the 2008 economic downturn.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watts, Susan H; David Bryan, E; Tarwater, Patrick M

    2015-01-01

    As the U.S. economy began its downward trend in 2008, many citizens lost their jobs and, ultimately, their employer-sponsored health care insurance. The expectation was that many of the newly uninsured would turn to emergency departments (EDs) for their health care. This study was undertaken to determine, first, if changes in the insurance status of the general population were reflected in the ED insurance payer mix and, second, whether there was evidence of an increased reliance on the ED as a continuing source of health care for any payer group(s). This was a retrospective observational study using public data files from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for Emergency Departments for years 2006 through 2010 (2008 ± 2 years). Changes in the relative proportions of ED visits funded annually by private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and self-pay (uninsured) were analyzed using a logistic model. Poisson regression was used to compare trends in the rates of ED visits for each payer type (i.e., number of ED visits per 100 persons with each insurance type). A linear spline term was used to determine if there was a change in each risk estimate after 2008 compared to the risk estimate before 2008. Before 2008, the odds of an ED visit being funded by private insurance increased by 4% per year (odds ratio [OR] = 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.98 to 1.10; p = 0.15), but after 2008 the odds reversed, decreasing by nearly 10% per year (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.85 to 0.97; p = 0.02). Medicaid-funded visits demonstrated opposite trends with a small decreasing trend of 2% per year before 2008 (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.92 to 1.04; p = 0.52), followed by a significantly increasing trend of 20% per year after 2008 (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.12 to 1.27; p = 0.001). The growth in Medicaid-funded ED visits was attributable to increased numbers of visits by both pediatric (<18 years old) and non-elderly adult (19 to 64 years old) patients. For both Medicaid and private

  16. Air Pollution and Daily Clinic Visits for Headache in a Subtropical City: Taipei, Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hui-Fen Chiu

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available This study was undertaken to determine whether there was an association between air pollutant levels and daily clinic visits for headache in Taipei, Taiwan. Daily clinic visits for headache and ambient air pollution data for Taipei were obtained for the period from 2006–2011. The odds ratio of clinic visits for headache was estimated using a case-crossover approach, controlling for weather variables, day of the week, seasonality, and long-term time trends. In the single pollutant models, on warm days (>23 °C statistically significant positive associations were found for increased rate of headache occurrence and levels of particulate matter (PM10, sulfur dioxide (SO2, nitrogen dioxide (NO2, carbon monoxide (CO, and ozone (O3. On cool days (<23 °C, all pollutants were significantly associated with increased headache visits except SO2. For the two-pollutant models, PM10, O3 and NO2 were significant for higher rate of headache visits in combination with each of the other four pollutants on cool days. On warm days, CO remained statistically significant in all two-pollutant models. This study provides evidence that higher levels of ambient air pollutants increase the risk of clinic visits for headache.

  17. ATLAS Virtual Visits bringing the world into the ATLAS control room

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(CDS)2051192; The ATLAS collaboration; Yacoob, Sahal

    2016-01-01

    ATLAS Virtual Visits is a project initiated in 2011 for the Education & Outreach program of the ATLAS Experiment at CERN. Its goal is to promote public appreciation of the LHC physics program and particle physics, in general, through direct dialogue between ATLAS physicists and remote audiences. A Virtual Visit is an IP-based videoconference, coupled with a public webcast and video recording, between ATLAS physicists and remote locations around the world, that typically include high school or university classrooms, Masterclasses, science fairs, or other special events, usually hosted by collaboration members. Over the past two years, more than 10,000 people, from all of the world’s continents, have actively participated in ATLAS Virtual Visits, with many more enjoying the experience from the publicly available webcasts and recordings. We present an overview of our experience and discuss potential development for the future.

  18. Seasonal alterations in park visitation, amenity use, and physical activity--Grand Forks, North Dakota, 2012-2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roemmich, James N; Johnson, LuAnn

    2014-09-11

    Park amenities promote visitation and physical activity during summer. Physical activity declines during winter. Identifying park amenities that promote visitation during winter would increase year-round activity. The purpose of this study was to determine how park visitation, amenity choice, and physical activity intensity change across seasons. Physical activity intensity of children and adults was assessed at 16 parks in Grand Forks, North Dakota, during summer and fall of 2012, and winter and spring of 2013. Park visitation was highest in spring and lowest in winter. Amenity use varied by season. Parks with water splash pads were visited more during summer, and playgrounds and open spaces were visited more during spring. Ice rinks were visited most in winter. Physical activity intensity was lowest in summer and highest in winter for each age group. The activity intensity observed for all young age groups ranged from 2.7 to 2.9 metabolic equivalents in summer and greater than 3 metabolic equivalents in all other seasons. Adults' mean activity intensity was greater than 3 metabolic equivalents in winter. Information on park visitation, amenity use, and activity intensity across seasons is valuable; it can be used when designing or redesigning parks in order to promote year-round physical activity. Redesigning parks in cold climates to include ice rinks, sledding hills, cross-country skiing, and indoor areas for physical activity would increase winter visitation and allow the park to serve as a year-round resource for physical activity.

  19. Which mothers receive a post partum home visit in Queensland, Australia? A cross-sectional retrospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brodribb, Wendy; Miller, Yvette

    2015-06-01

    Although home visiting in the early post partum period appears to have increased, there are limited data defining which women receive a visit and none that include Queensland. We aimed to investigate patterns of post partum home visiting in the public and private sectors in Queensland. Data were collected via a retrospective cross-sectional survey of women birthing in Queensland between 1 February and 31 May 2010 at 4 months post partum (n = 6948). Logistic regression was used to assess associations between receiving a home visit and sociodemographic, clinical and hospital variables. Analyses were stratified by public and private birthing sector because of significant differences between sectors. Public sector women were more likely to receive a visit from a nurse or midwife (from the hospital or child health sector) within 10 days of hospital discharge (67.2%) than private sector women (7.2%). Length of hospital stay was associated with home visiting in both sectors. Some vulnerable subpopulations in both sectors were more likely to be visited, whereas others were not. Home visiting in Queensland varies markedly between the public and private sector and is less common in some vulnerable populations. Further consideration to improving the equity of community post partum care in Queensland is needed.

  20. Impact of smartphone digital photography, email, and media communication on emergency room visits post-hypospadias repair.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chua, Michael E; Saunders, Megan A; Bowlin, Paul R; Ming, Jessica M; Lopes, Roberto Iglesias; Farhat, Walid A; Dos Santos, Joana

    2017-01-01

    Advances in communication technology are shaping our medical practice. To date, there is no clear evidence that this mode of communication will have any effect on unnecessary postoperative emergency room (ER) visits. We aim to evaluate the effect of email and media communication with application of smartphone digital photography on post-hypospadias repair ER visit rates. This prospective cohort study included all patients who underwent hypospadias repair performed by a single surgeon from October 2014 to November 2015. Patients were categorized into two groups: Group A consented for smartphone photography and email communication and Group B declined. Reason for ER visits within 30 days postoperatively was assessed by another physician, who was blinded of patient group assignment. The reasons were categorized as: unnecessary ER visit, indicated ER visit, or visit unrelated to hypospadias surgery. Chi-square test and T-test were used for statistical analysis. Relative risk (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were also calculated. Statistical significance was set at pcommunication with the use of smartphone digital photography significantly reduced the number of unnecessary ER visits for post-hypospadias wound checks.

  1. INTAS Secretary General Dr. J. Sinnaeve visiting Athena experiment.

    CERN Multimedia

    Patrice Loiez

    2002-01-01

    Photo 1: INTAS Secretary General Dr. J. Sinnaeve, N. Koulberg, Prof. H. Bokemeyer Head of Physics at INTAS, D.O.Williams and Rolf Landua visiting ATHENA. Photo 2: Prof. H. Bokemeyer Head of Physics at INTAS, INTAS Secretary General J. Sinnaeve and Rolf Landua visiting ATHENA. Photo 3: In the control room of ATHENA, Rolf Landua, Prof. H. Bokemeyer Head of Physics at INTAS and INTAS Secretary General Dr. J. Sinnaeve. INTAS is an independent International Association formed by the European Community, European Union´s Member States and like minded countries acting to preserve and promote the valuable scientific potential of the NIS partner countries through East-West Scientific co-operation.

  2. Countertransference in the initial visit of women victims of sexual violence

    OpenAIRE

    Eizirik,Mariana; Schestatsky,Sidnei; Kruel,Letícia; Ceitlin,Lúcia Helena Freitas

    2011-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To identify demographic and clinical correlates associated with therapists' countertransference feelings on the first visit of women victims of sexual violence. METHOD: Forty patients were seen by 26 therapists, during 2 consecutive years, at the Center for the Study and Treatment of Psychological Trauma, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre , Brazil. After the first visit with the patient, the therapist completed the Assessment of Countertransference Scale and the patient was eval...

  3. Google Flu Trends Spatial Variability Validated Against Emergency Department Influenza-Related Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klembczyk, Joseph Jeffrey; Jalalpour, Mehdi; Levin, Scott; Washington, Raynard E; Pines, Jesse M; Rothman, Richard E; Dugas, Andrea Freyer

    2016-06-28

    Influenza is a deadly and costly public health problem. Variations in its seasonal patterns cause dangerous surges in emergency department (ED) patient volume. Google Flu Trends (GFT) can provide faster influenza surveillance information than traditional CDC methods, potentially leading to improved public health preparedness. GFT has been found to correlate well with reported influenza and to improve influenza prediction models. However, previous validation studies have focused on isolated clinical locations. The purpose of the study was to measure GFT surveillance effectiveness by correlating GFT with influenza-related ED visits in 19 US cities across seven influenza seasons, and to explore which city characteristics lead to better or worse GFT effectiveness. Using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data, we collected weekly counts of ED visits for all patients with diagnosis (International Statistical Classification of Diseases 9) codes for influenza-related visits from 2005-2011 in 19 different US cities. We measured the correlation between weekly volume of GFT searches and influenza-related ED visits (ie, GFT ED surveillance effectiveness) per city. We evaluated the relationship between 15 publically available city indicators (11 sociodemographic, two health care utilization, and two climate) and GFT surveillance effectiveness using univariate linear regression. Correlation between city-level GFT and influenza-related ED visits had a median of .84, ranging from .67 to .93 across 19 cities. Temporal variability was observed, with median correlation ranging from .78 in 2009 to .94 in 2005. City indicators significantly associated (P<.10) with improved GFT surveillance include higher proportion of female population, higher proportion with Medicare coverage, higher ED visits per capita, and lower socioeconomic status. GFT is strongly correlated with ED influenza-related visits at the city level, but unexplained variation over geographic location and time

  4. GPS or travel diary: Comparing spatial and temporal characteristics of visits to fast food restaurants and supermarkets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scully, Jason Y; Vernez Moudon, Anne; Hurvitz, Philip M; Aggarwal, Anju; Drewnowski, Adam

    2017-01-01

    To assess differences between GPS and self-reported measures of location, we examined visits to fast food restaurants and supermarkets using a spatiotemporal framework. Data came from 446 participants who responded to a survey, filled out travel diaries of places visited, and wore a GPS receiver for seven consecutive days. Provided by Public Health Seattle King County, addresses from food permit data were matched to King County tax assessor parcels in a GIS. A three-step process was used to verify travel-diary reported visits using GPS records: (1) GPS records were temporally matched if their timestamps were within the time window created by the arrival and departure times reported in the travel diary; (2) the temporally matched GPS records were then spatially matched if they were located in a food establishment parcel of the same type reported in the diary; (3) the travel diary visit was then GPS-sensed if the name of food establishment in the parcel matched the one reported in the travel diary. To account for errors in reporting arrival and departure times, GPS records were temporally matched to three time windows: the exact time, +/- 10 minutes, and +/- 30 minutes. One third of the participants reported 273 visits to fast food restaurants; 88% reported 1,102 visits to supermarkets. Of these, 77.3 percent of the fast food and 78.6 percent supermarket visits were GPS-sensed using the +/-10-minute time window. At this time window, the mean travel-diary reported fast food visit duration was 14.5 minutes (SD 20.2), 1.7 minutes longer than the GPS-sensed visit. For supermarkets, the reported visit duration was 23.7 minutes (SD 18.9), 3.4 minutes longer than the GPS-sensed visit. Travel diaries provide reasonably accurate information on the locations and brand names of fast food restaurants and supermarkets participants report visiting.

  5. Investigation of the relationship between convenient visits and doctors' fatigue using burnout and work engagement scales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsumoto, Yuuki; Hoshiko, Michiko; Morimatsu, Yoshitaka; Mori, Mihoko; Kushino, Nanae; Ishitake, Tatsuya

    2015-01-01

    Fatigue caused by high workload is often responsible for the high attrition among doctors, and has contributed to a disruption in community medicine. In order to address this problem, institutional mechanisms at the hospital level are required. Previous studies have shown that systemic measures at the hospital level and a change in the mindset of patients can help manage the problem. "Convenient visits" refer to emergency visits for non-emergency problems. It is an avoidable cause of high workload on doctors. Convenient visits also refer to emergency consultation for non-emergency symptoms. As this is a new phenomenon, its relationship with doctors' fatigue needs further research. We investigated the relationship between convenient visits and doctors' fatigue using burnout and work engagement scales. We selected 44 hospitals, with >200 beds each, in provincial cities of prefectures with a doctor-population ratio lower than the national average. These cities were considered likely to manifest the phenomenon of 24-hour society and include overworked doctors. Ordinance-designated cities were excluded from this study owing to wide population variability. Three doctors from each hospital were randomly selected from among physicians, surgeons, and pediatricians. We distributed questionnaires (a questionnaire concerning convenient visits, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale) to 132 doctors. Forty-two doctors responded to the survey. The median proportion of convenient visits among emergency visits was 50%. Sixty percent of the doctors surveyed were annoyed by convenient visits. Other doctors indicated good collaboration between the hospitals and communities or that they were not currently annoyed by convenient visits, although they had been annoyed previously. The emotional exhaustion in doctors, who worked in hospitals that did not restrict convenient visits, was significantly higher than in those who worked in hospitals

  6. Proximity to Woodland and Landscape Structure Drive Pollinator Visitation in Apple Orchard Ecosystem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neelendra K Joshi

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Landscapes of farms and adjacent areas are known to influence abundance of various arthropods such as pollinators in commercial agricultural ecosystems. In this context, we examined the effect of heterogeneous landscapes surrounding and including commercial apple orchards on pollinator visitation and foraging distance during bloom period from 2011 to 2013 in Pennsylvania. Our results showed that the frequency of feral honeybees and solitary bee visits within an apple orchard depends on the proximity of the orchard to an unmanaged habitat (primarily comprised of forest. At the landscape scale, we found that the Mean Proximity Index, the Largest Patch Index and the Number of Patches positively correlated with the visitation rate of dominant bee taxa (Apis mellifera, Bombus spp. and solitary bees visiting apple flowers at low spatial scales (up to 500 m around the orchards. The Mean Proximity Index at 500 m was related to bee visitation patterns, especially for solitary bees and A. mellifera. Bees in all our study sites preferred to forage in areas with large homogenous patches up to 500 m around an apple orchard. This effect can be attributed to the mass flowering of apples that formed the largest proportion of the 500 m spatial scale. The Number of Patches at 250 m spatial scale was positively correlated with bee visitation, especially Bombus spp., probably because these areas had more habitats and more resources required by these bees. We conclude that retaining unmanaged habitats closer to commercial apple orchards will maintain biodiversity within the landscapes and insure pollination services to apples.

  7. Risk for Repeat Emergency Department Visits for Violent Injuries in Youth Firearm Victims

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyun Ja Lim

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective To identify significant risk factors associated with repeat emergency department (ED. Visits for violent injuries in youth firearm victims. Methods The study subjects of this retrospective cohort study were firearm victims aged 18 and younger presenting to a Pediatric Emergency Department/Trauma Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin between 1990 and 1995. The primary outcome was subsequent Emergency Department visits (REDV at any emergency department in Milwaukee for a violent injury. Results A total of 495 subjects were eligible for the present study in the pediatric firearm victim's ED visit database. Eighty-five percent (n = 420 were males and 82% were African-Americans. Mean age was 15 years old (s.d = ±3.6. A majority of them had a single-parent family. Eighty-eight subjects (17.8% had a prior history of ED visit due to violence. During the study time, 201 subjects had at least one REDV. In the multivariable model, a subject without a social worker consulting at the hospital were more likely to have REDV compared to subjects with a social worker consulting (O.R = 1.749; p-value = 0.047, controlling for guardian and disposition. Subjects disposed to detention center or police custody were more likely to have REDV compared to subjects disposed to home or a hospital (O.R = 5.351; p-value = 0.003. Conclusion Our analysis indicates that individuals with guardians, those who did not receive social worker intervention on their initial visit, and those discharged in police custody were associated with increased repeat ED visits due to a violent injury.

  8. Air pollution and emergency department visits for cardiac and respiratory conditions: a multi-city time-series analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rowe Brian H

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Relatively few studies have been conducted of the association between air pollution and emergency department (ED visits, and most of these have been based on a small number of visits, for a limited number of health conditions and pollutants, and only daily measures of exposure and response. Methods A time-series analysis was conducted on nearly 400,000 ED visits to 14 hospitals in seven Canadian cities during the 1990s and early 2000s. Associations were examined between carbon monoxide (CO, nitrogen dioxide (NO2, ozone (O3, sulfur dioxide (SO2, and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5, and visits for angina/myocardial infarction, heart failure, dysrhythmia/conduction disturbance, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, and respiratory infections. Daily and 3-hourly visit counts were modeled as quasi-Poisson and analyses controlled for effects of temporal cycles, weather, day of week and holidays. Results 24-hour average concentrations of CO and NO2 lag 0 days exhibited the most consistent associations with cardiac conditions (2.1% (95% CI, 0.0–4.2% and 2.6% (95% CI, 0.2–5.0% increase in visits for myocardial infarction/angina per 0.7 ppm CO and 18.4 ppb NO2 respectively; 3.8% (95% CI, 0.7–6.9% and 4.7% (95% CI, 1.2–8.4% increase in visits for heart failure. Ozone (lag 2 days was most consistently associated with respiratory visits (3.2% (95% CI, 0.3–6.2%, and 3.7% (95% CI, -0.5–7.9% increases in asthma and COPD visits respectively per 18.4 ppb. Associations tended to be of greater magnitude during the warm season (April – September. In particular, the associations of PM10 and PM2.5with asthma visits were respectively nearly three- and over fourfold larger vs. all year analyses (14.4% increase in visits, 95% CI, 0.2–30.7, per 20.6 μg/m3 PM10 and 7.6% increase in visits, 95% CI, 5.1–10.1, per 8.2 μg/m3 PM2.5. No consistent associations were observed between three hour average pollutant

  9. Hospital-Level Factors Associated with Pediatric Emergency Department Return Visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittsenbarger, Zachary; Thurm, Cary; Neuman, Mark; Spencer, Sandra; Simon, Harold; Gosdin, Craig; Shah, Samir; McClead, Richard; Stack, Anne; Alpern, Elizabeth

    2017-07-01

    Return visits (RVs) and RVs with admission (RVAs) are commonly used emergency department quality measures. Visit- and patient-level factors, including several social determinants of health, have been associated with RV rates, but hospital-specific factors have not been studied. To identify what hospital-level factors correspond with high RV and RVA rates. Multicenter mixed-methods study of hospital characteristics associated with RV and RVA rates. Pediatric Health Information System with survey of emergency department directors. Adjusted return rates were calculated with generalized linear mixed-effects models. Hospitals were categorized by adjusted RV and RVA rates for analysis. Twenty-four hospitals accounted for 1,456,377 patient visits with an overall adjusted RV rate of 3.7% and RVA rate of 0.7%. Hospitals with the highest RV rates served populations that were more likely to have government insurance and lower median household incomes and less likely to carry commercial insurance. Hospitals in the highest RV rate outlier group had lower pediatric emergency medicine specialist staffing, calculated as full-time equivalents per 10,000 patient visits: median (interquartile range) of 1.9 (1.5-2.1) versus 2.9 (2.2-3.6). There were no differences in hospital population characteristics or staffing by RVA groups. RV rates were associated with population social determinants of health and inversely related to staffing. Hospital-level variation may indicate population-level economic factors outside the control of the hospital and unrelated to quality of care. © 2017 Society of Hospital Medicine

  10. Declining national park visitation: An economic analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas H. Stevens; Thomas A. More; Marla. Markowski-Lindsay

    2014-01-01

    Visitation to the major nature-based national parks has been declining. This paper specifies an econometric model that estimates the relative impact of consumer incomes, travel costs, entry fees and other factors on per capita attendance from 1993 to 2010. Results suggest that entrance fees have had a statistically significant but small impact on per capita attendance...

  11. Hammarskjöld's visit to South Africa

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    His visit followed another police shooting – this time of unarmed protestors against the pass laws at Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, on 21 March 1960 – and .... road is paved to Pretoria, not only through good intentions, but, I hope, also by .... to major tourist sites in the city, then to Stellenbosch, Fransch Hoek, where he.

  12. The Importance of Trust in Successful Home Visit Programs for Older People

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maaike E. Muntinga

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Outcomes of proactive home visit programs for frail, older people might be influenced by aspects of the caregiver–receiver interaction. We conducted a naturalistic case study to explore the interactional process between a nurse and an older woman during two home visits. Using an ethics of care, we posit that a trusting relationship is pivotal for older people to accept care that is proactively offered to them. Trust can be build when nurses meet the relational needs of older people. Nurses can achieve insight in these needs by exploring older people’s value systems and life stories. We argue that a strong focus on older people’s relational needs might contribute to success of proactive home visits for frail, older people.

  13. Unscheduled return visits to a pediatric emergency department

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sigita Burokienė

    2017-01-01

    Conclusions: RVs accounted for only a small proportion of visits to the ED. RVs were more prevalent among younger patients and patients with a GP referral as well as performed more often after discharging from the ED in the evening and at night.

  14. Modulation of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number to Induce Hepatocytic Differentiation of Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaghjiani, Vijesh; Cain, Jason E; Lee, William; Vaithilingam, Vijayaganapathy; Tuch, Bernard E; St John, Justin C

    2017-10-15

    Mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA) copy number is tightly regulated during pluripotency and differentiation. There is increased demand of cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) during differentiation for energy-intensive cell types such as hepatocytes and neurons to meet the cell's functional requirements. During hepatocyte differentiation, mtDNA copy number should be synchronously increased to generate sufficient ATP through oxidative phosphorylation. Unlike bone marrow mesenchymal cells, mtDNA copy number failed to increase by 28 days of differentiation of human amniotic epithelial cells (hAEC) into hepatocyte-like cells (HLC) despite their expression of some end-stage hepatic markers. This was due to higher levels of DNA methylation at exon 2 of POLGA, the mtDNA-specific replication factor. Treatment with a DNA demethylation agent, 5-azacytidine, resulted in increased mtDNA copy number, reduced DNA methylation at exon 2 of POLGA, and reduced hepatic gene expression. Depletion of mtDNA followed by subsequent differentiation did not increase mtDNA copy number, but reduced DNA methylation at exon 2 of POLGA and increased expression of hepatic and pluripotency genes. We encapsulated hAEC in barium alginate microcapsules and subsequently differentiated them into HLC. Encapsulation resulted in no net increase of mtDNA copy number but a significant reduction in DNA methylation of POLGA. RNAseq analysis showed that differentiated HLC express hepatocyte-specific genes but also increased expression of inflammatory interferon genes. Differentiation in encapsulated cells showed suppression of inflammatory genes as well as increased expression of genes associated with hepatocyte function pathways and networks. This study demonstrates that an increase in classical hepatic gene expression can be achieved in HLC through encapsulation, although they fail to effectively regulate mtDNA copy number.

  15. Comparing the performance of flat and hierarchical Habitat/Land-Cover classification models in a NATURA 2000 site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavish, Yoni; O'Connell, Jerome; Marsh, Charles J.; Tarantino, Cristina; Blonda, Palma; Tomaselli, Valeria; Kunin, William E.

    2018-02-01

    The increasing need for high quality Habitat/Land-Cover (H/LC) maps has triggered considerable research into novel machine-learning based classification models. In many cases, H/LC classes follow pre-defined hierarchical classification schemes (e.g., CORINE), in which fine H/LC categories are thematically nested within more general categories. However, none of the existing machine-learning algorithms account for this pre-defined hierarchical structure. Here we introduce a novel Random Forest (RF) based application of hierarchical classification, which fits a separate local classification model in every branching point of the thematic tree, and then integrates all the different local models to a single global prediction. We applied the hierarchal RF approach in a NATURA 2000 site in Italy, using two land-cover (CORINE, FAO-LCCS) and one habitat classification scheme (EUNIS) that differ from one another in the shape of the class hierarchy. For all 3 classification schemes, both the hierarchical model and a flat model alternative provided accurate predictions, with kappa values mostly above 0.9 (despite using only 2.2-3.2% of the study area as training cells). The flat approach slightly outperformed the hierarchical models when the hierarchy was relatively simple, while the hierarchical model worked better under more complex thematic hierarchies. Most misclassifications came from habitat pairs that are thematically distant yet spectrally similar. In 2 out of 3 classification schemes, the additional constraints of the hierarchical model resulted with fewer such serious misclassifications relative to the flat model. The hierarchical model also provided valuable information on variable importance which can shed light into "black-box" based machine learning algorithms like RF. We suggest various ways by which hierarchical classification models can increase the accuracy and interpretability of H/LC classification maps.

  16. CERN visit of His Excellency Mr.Kinga Singye / Bhutan

    CERN Multimedia

    Hoch, Michael

    2016-01-01

    CERN visit of His Excellency Mr Kinga Singye Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva

  17. Flooding and emergency room visits for gastrointestinal illness in Massachusetts: a case-crossover study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy J Wade

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Floods and other severe weather events are anticipated to increase as a result of global climate change. Floods can lead to outbreaks of gastroenteritis and other infectious diseases due to disruption of sewage and water infrastructure and impacts on sanitation and hygiene. Floods have also been indirectly associated with outbreaks through population displacement and crowding. METHODS: We conducted a case-crossover study to investigate the association between flooding and emergency room visits for gastrointestinal illness (ER-GI in Massachusetts for the years 2003 through 2007. We obtained ER-GI visits from the State of Massachusetts and records of floods from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Storm Events Database. ER-GI visits were considered exposed if a flood occurred in the town of residence within three hazard periods of the visit: 0-4 days; 5-9 days; and 10-14 days. A time-stratified bi-directional design was used for control selection, matching on day of the week with two weeks lead or lag time from the ER-GI visit. Fixed effect logistic regression models were used to estimate the risk of ER-GI visits following the flood. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A total of 270,457 ER-GI visits and 129 floods occurred in Massachusetts over the study period. Across all counties, flooding was associated with an increased risk for ER-GI in the 0-4 day period after flooding (Odds Ratio: 1.08; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.03-1.12; but not the 5-9 days (Odds Ratio: 0.995; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.955-1.04 or the 10-14 days after (Odds Ratio: 0.966, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.927-1.01. Similar results were observed for different definitions of ER-GI. The effect differed across counties, suggesting local differences in the risk and impact of flooding. Statewide, across the study period, an estimated 7% of ER-GI visits in the 0-4 days after a flood event were attributable to flooding.

  18. Home care, hospitalizations and doctor visits

    OpenAIRE

    Gonçalves Judite; Weaver France

    2014-01-01

    This study estimates the effects of formal home care on hospitalizations and doctor visits. We compare the effects of medically- and non-medically-related home care and investigate heterogeneous effects by age group and informal care availability. Two-part models are estimated, using data from Switzerland. In this federal country, home care policy is decentralized into cantons (i.e. states). The endogeneity of home care is addressed by using instrumental variables, canton and time fixed effec...

  19. Motorcycle crash-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations for traumatic brain injury in North Carolina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harmon, Katherine J; Marshall, Stephen W; Proescholdbell, Scott K; Naumann, Rebecca B; Waller, Anna E

    2015-01-01

    To examine statewide emergency department (ED) visit data for motorcycle crash morbidity and healthcare utilization due to traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and non-TBIs. North Carolina ED data (2010-2012) and hospital discharge data (2009-2011). Statewide ED visits and hospitalizations due to injuries from traffic-related motorcycle crashes stratified by TBI status. Descriptive study. Descriptive statistics include age, sex, mode of transport, disposition, expected source of payment, hospital length of stay, and hospital charges. Over the study period, there were 18 780 ED visits and 3737 hospitalizations due to motorcycle crashes. Twelve percent of ED visits for motorcycle crashes and 26% of hospitalizations for motorcycle crashes had a diagnosis of TBI. Motorcycle crash-related hospitalizations with a TBI diagnosis had median hospital charges that were nearly $9000 greater than hospitalizations without a TBI diagnosis. Emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to motorcycle crashes with a TBI diagnosis consumed more healthcare resources than motorcycle crash-related ED visits and hospitalizations without a TBI diagnosis. Increased awareness of motorcyclists by other road users and increased use of motorcycle helmets are 2 strategies to mitigate the incidence and severity of motorcycle crash injuries, including TBIs.

  20. Preventive home visits to older home-dwelling people in Denmark: are invitational procedures of importance?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ekmann, A; Vass, M; Avlund, K

    2010-01-01

    Since 1998 all municipalities in Denmark have been required by law to offer two annual preventive home visits to all home-dwelling citizens aged 75 or over. The influence of invitational procedures on acceptance rates has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to describe and investigate...... whether different invitational procedures were associated with first preventive home visit acceptance rates. The study was based on secondary analyses of data from the Danish Intervention Study on Preventive Home Visits. Data were collected from 1998 to 2002. Of the 4060 participants in the main study......, 3245 reported receiving an offer for an identifiable preventive home visit, of whom 2399 (73.9%) provided complete data for the main analyses in the present study. Invitational procedures were categorised as: (1) a letter with a proposed date and time for the visit, (2) a visitor telephone call, and (3...

  1. Feedback on the Fsc community visits to the local partnerships in Belgium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gray, E.; Ruiz Lopez, C.

    2004-01-01

    The Forum on Stakeholder Confidence community visits took place during the first afternoon and second day of the Belgium Workshop event. Open to all workshop participants, they were not technically oriented, i.e. they did not include visits to the nuclear installations that exist today in the municipalities of Dessel, Mol, and Fleurus-Farciennes. Instead, the visits offered an opportunity for mutual learning through first-hand interactions between Belgian stakeholders and international delegates. Personal, direct contact between local people and FSC delegates was favoured, so as to learn about their perspective and experience of the partnership methodology and approach (both positive and negative). These encounters were organised in public meeting halls serving the communities. FSC delegates also briefly toured the localities by road and by canal. For each local partnership, FSC delegates heard very interesting and detailed presentations in several voices. After forthright question-and-answer discussions, participants had a chance to sample local specialties. An FSC delegate was chosen for each community visit to act as rapporteur in order to collect and briefly report impressions during the first session of the formal workshop. Notes from those reports are presented below. (authors)

  2. Survey of Home Visiting Programs for Abused and Neglected Children and Their Families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wasik, Barbara Hanna; Roberts, Richard N.

    1994-01-01

    This report on a survey of 224 home visitation programs that provide services for abused and neglected children and their families presents data on program characteristics, characteristics of home visits, credentials of home visitors, and program documentation procedures. Programs reported that training in parenting skills and parent coping were…

  3. Correlates of HIV infection among people visiting public HIV ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Correlates of HIV infection among people visiting public HIV counseling and testing clinics in Mpumalanga, ... Background: HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) reduces high-risk sexual behaviour. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

  4. Measures of Rehospitalization, Emergency Room Visit, and Community Discharge

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Measures of the Rate of Rehospitalization, Emergency Room Visit, and Community Discharge for Medicare Beneficiaries. These rates are based on Medicare claims data.

  5. Supporting Family Engagement in Home Visiting with the Family Map Inventories

    OpenAIRE

    Kyzer, Angela; Whiteside-Mansell, Leanne; McKelvey, Lorraine; Swindle, Taren

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and usefulness of a universal screening tool, the Family Map Inventory (F MI), to assess family strengths and needs in a home visiting program. The FMI has been used successfully by center-based early childcare programs to tailor services to family need and build on existing strengths. Home visiting coordinators (N = 39) indicated the FMI would provide useful information, and they had the capacity to implement. In total, 70 families who...

  6. Community Pharmacy Users' Characteristics, Reasons for Visit to ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Nx 6110

    This study investigated the customers' perceptions of community pharmacies and ... study. Permission was obtained from the pharmacist in charge to interview consumers while they were still in the premises. Seven consumers visiting each pharmacy were ... health insurance cover (medical aid). The respondents' mean age ...

  7. GPS or travel diary: Comparing spatial and temporal characteristics of visits to fast food restaurants and supermarkets.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason Y Scully

    Full Text Available To assess differences between GPS and self-reported measures of location, we examined visits to fast food restaurants and supermarkets using a spatiotemporal framework. Data came from 446 participants who responded to a survey, filled out travel diaries of places visited, and wore a GPS receiver for seven consecutive days. Provided by Public Health Seattle King County, addresses from food permit data were matched to King County tax assessor parcels in a GIS. A three-step process was used to verify travel-diary reported visits using GPS records: (1 GPS records were temporally matched if their timestamps were within the time window created by the arrival and departure times reported in the travel diary; (2 the temporally matched GPS records were then spatially matched if they were located in a food establishment parcel of the same type reported in the diary; (3 the travel diary visit was then GPS-sensed if the name of food establishment in the parcel matched the one reported in the travel diary. To account for errors in reporting arrival and departure times, GPS records were temporally matched to three time windows: the exact time, +/- 10 minutes, and +/- 30 minutes. One third of the participants reported 273 visits to fast food restaurants; 88% reported 1,102 visits to supermarkets. Of these, 77.3 percent of the fast food and 78.6 percent supermarket visits were GPS-sensed using the +/-10-minute time window. At this time window, the mean travel-diary reported fast food visit duration was 14.5 minutes (SD 20.2, 1.7 minutes longer than the GPS-sensed visit. For supermarkets, the reported visit duration was 23.7 minutes (SD 18.9, 3.4 minutes longer than the GPS-sensed visit. Travel diaries provide reasonably accurate information on the locations and brand names of fast food restaurants and supermarkets participants report visiting.

  8. Comparing common reasons for inpatient and outpatient visits between commercially-insured duloxetine or pregabalin initiators with fibromyalgia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Y

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Yang Zhao,1 Peter Sun,2 Mark Bernauer31Eli Lilly and Company, 2Kailo Research Group, 3OptumInsight, Indianapolis, IN, USABackground: The purpose of this study was to examine the main reasons for inpatient or outpatient visits after initiating duloxetine or pregabalin.Methods: Commercially insured patients with fibromyalgia and aged 18–64 years who initiated duloxetine or pregabalin in 2006 with 12-month continuous enrollment before and after initiation were identified. Duloxetine and pregabalin cohorts with similar demographics, pre-index clinical and economic characteristics, and pre-index treatment patterns were constructed via propensity scoring stratification. Reasons for inpatient admissions, physician office visits, outpatient hospital visits, emergency room visits, and primary or specialty care visits over the 12 months post-index period were examined and compared. Logistic regression was used to assess the contribution of duloxetine versus pregabalin initiation to the most common reasons for visits, controlling for cross-cohort differences.Results: Per the study design, the duloxetine (n = 3711 and pregabalin (n = 4111 cohorts had similar demographics (mean age 51 years, 83% female and health care costs over the 12-month pre-index period. Total health care costs during the 12-month post-index period were significantly lower for duloxetine patients than for pregabalin patients ($19,378 versus $27,045, P < 0.05. Eight of the 10 most common reasons for inpatient admissions and outpatient hospital (physician office, emergency room, primary or specialty care visits were the same for both groups. Controlling for cross-cohort differences, duloxetine patients were less likely to be hospitalized due to an intervertebral disc disorder or major depressive disorder, to have a physician office visit due to nonspecific backache/other back/neck pain (NB/OB/NP disorder, or to go to specialty care due to a soft tissue, NB/OP/NP, or intervertebral disc

  9. Let's Talk About Breastfeeding: The Importance of Delivering a Message in a Home Visiting Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGinnis, Sandra; Lee, Eunju; Kirkland, Kristen; Miranda-Julian, Claudia; Greene, Rose

    2018-05-01

    To examine the potential impact of paraprofessional home visitors in promoting breastfeeding initiation and continuation among a high-risk population. A secondary analysis of program data from a statewide home visitation program. Thirty-six Healthy Families New York sites across New York State. A total of 3521 pregnant mothers at risk of poor child health and developmental outcomes. Home visitors deliver a multifaceted intervention that includes educating high-risk mothers on benefits of breastfeeding, encouraging them to breastfeed and supporting their efforts during prenatal and postnatal periods. Home visitor-reported content and frequency of home visits, participant-reported breastfeeding initiation and duration, and covariates (Kempe Family Stress Index, race and ethnicity, region, nativity, marital status, age, and education). Logistic regression. Breastfeeding initiation increased by 1.5% for each 1-point increase in the percentage of prenatal home visits that included breastfeeding discussions. Breastfeeding continuation during the first 6 months also increased with the percentage of earlier home visits that included breastfeeding discussions. Additionally, if a participant receives 1 more home visit during the third month, her likelihood of breastfeeding at 6 months increases by 11%. Effect sizes varied by months postpartum. Delivering a breastfeeding message consistently during regular home visits is important for increasing breastfeeding rates. Given that home visiting programs target new mothers least likely to breastfeed, a more consistent focus on breastfeeding in this supportive context may reduce breastfeeding disparities.

  10. Comorbidity and health care visit burden in working-age commercially insured patients with diabetic macular edema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kiss S

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Szilárd Kiss,1 Hitesh S Chandwani,2 Ashley L Cole,2 Vaishali D Patel,2 Orsolya E Lunacsek,3 Pravin U Dugel4 1Department of Ophthalmology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, 2Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Allergan, Inc., Irvine, CA, 3Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Xcenda, LLC, Palm Harbor, FL, 4Retinal Consultants of Arizona and USC Eye Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA Purpose: To examine the comorbidity profile and update estimates of health care resource utilization for commercially insured, working-age adults with diabetic macular edema (DME relative to a matched comparison group of diabetic adults without DME. Additional comparisons were made in the subgroup of pseudophakic patients. Patients and methods: A retrospective matched-cohort study of commercially insured diabetic adults aged 18–63 years was conducted using medical and outpatient pharmacy claims (July 1, 2008–June 30, 2013. Outcomes included diabetes-related and ocular comorbidities and health care resource utilization (any health care visit days, outpatient visit days, inpatient visit days, emergency room visits, eye care-related visit days, unique medications in the 12-month post-index period. Results: All diabetes-related and ocular comorbidities were significantly more prevalent in DME cases versus non-DME controls (P<0.05. A significantly greater proportion of DME cases utilized eye care-related visits compared with non-DME controls (P<0.001. DME cases had almost twice the mean number of total health care visit days compared to non-DME controls (28.6 vs 16.9 days, P<0.001, with a minority of visit days being eye care-related (mean 5.1 vs 1.5 days, P<0.001. Similar trends were observed in pseudophakic cohorts. Conclusion: This working-age DME population experienced a mean of 29 health care visit days per year. Eye care-related visit days were a minority of the overall visit burden (mean 5 days emphasizing the trade-offs DME patients

  11. Preventive home visits to older home-dwelling people in Denmark: are invitational procedures of importance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekmann, A; Vass, M; Avlund, K

    2010-11-01

    Since 1998 all municipalities in Denmark have been required by law to offer two annual preventive home visits to all home-dwelling citizens aged 75 or over. The influence of invitational procedures on acceptance rates has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to describe and investigate whether different invitational procedures were associated with first preventive home visit acceptance rates. The study was based on secondary analyses of data from the Danish Intervention Study on Preventive Home Visits. Data were collected from 1998 to 2002. Of the 4060 participants in the main study, 3245 reported receiving an offer for an identifiable preventive home visit, of whom 2399 (73.9%) provided complete data for the main analyses in the present study. Invitational procedures were categorised as: (1) a letter with a proposed date and time for the visit, (2) a visitor telephone call, and (3) a letter with encouragement to phone the visitor for appointment (letter without a proposed date). Covariates included sex, age, experience with preventive interventions, functional ability, self rated health, social relations and psychosocial characteristics. Statistical analyses included chi-square tests, and bi- and multivariable logistic regression analyses. Different invitational procedures were associated with first preventive home visit acceptance rates. Significantly more men (75.1%) than women (62.8%) declined the first preventive home visit regardless of the invitational procedure. Compared to 'letter with a proposed date', men had an odds ratio of 1.78 (95% CI: 1.16-2.74) for declining visits when 'telephone call' was used and an odds ratio 2.81 (95% CI: 1.79-4.40) when 'letter without a proposed date' was used as the invitational procedure. In women the odds ratios were 1.23 (95% CI: 0.91-1.68) and 1.87 (95% CI: 1.37-2.55), respectively. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  12. General practitioner reported follow–up visits among asthma ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    shobha

    Methods: It was a cross–sectional survey conducted among GPs in three ... patients 2 weeks prior to the study reported that their ... Keywords: Asthma care, follow—up visits general practitioners, Nigeria ..... not go to their GPs for follow–up treatment of .... National and international guidelines for the.

  13. Factors associated with end-of-life by home-visit nursing-care providers in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakanishi, Miharu; Niimura, Junko; Nishida, Atsushi

    2017-06-01

    Home-visit nursing-care services in Japan are expected to provide home hospice services for older patients with non-cancer diseases. The aim of the present study was to examine factors that contribute to the provision of end-of-life care by home-visit nursing-care providers in Japan. The present retrospective study was carried out using nationally representative cross-sectional data from the 2007, 2010, and 2013 Survey of Institutions and Establishments for Long-Term Care. A total of 138 008 randomly sampled home-visit nursing-care service users were included in this analysis. End-of-life care (study outcome) was defined as the provision of nursing-care within the last month of life. Of the 138 008 patients at home, 2280 (1.7%) received home-based nursing care within the last month of life, and end-of-life care was offered primarily to cancer patients (n = 1651; 72.4%). After accounting for patient characteristics, patients were more likely to receive end-of-life care when they used home-visit nursing-care providers that had a greater number of nursing staff or were located in a region with fewer hospital beds. Among home-visit nursing-care providers, the nursing staff ratio and the availability of hospital beds were related to the provision of end-of-life care. Home-visit nursing-care providers should establish specialist hospice care teams with enhanced staffing ratios to allow for the adequate provision of home-based end-of-life care. A community-based network between home-visit nursing-care providers and hospitals should also be established to attain an integrated end-of-life care system for elderly populations in regions with more hospital beds. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 991-998. © 2016 Japan Geriatrics Society.

  14. Families' perceived benefits of home visits for managing paediatric obesity outweigh the potential costs and barriers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gehring, Nicole D; Ball, Geoff D C; Perez, Arnaldo; Holt, Nicholas L; Neuman, Daniel; Spence, Nicholas; Mercier, Laura; Jetha, Mary

    2018-02-01

    Home visits have successfully been used to deliver various health services, but what role could they play in paediatric weight management? Low treatment initiation and high attrition prompted our multidisciplinary paediatric weight management clinic to investigate how families perceived the benefits and barriers of home visits. We focused on children with obesity aged 2-17 who were enrolled in our tertiary-level clinic in Alberta, Canada. None had received a home visit. The families were interviewed face-to-face from October 2015 to October 2016, and we used a qualitative description methodological framework and manifest content analysis. The parents were the main interviewees. Of the 56 families, 89% were interested in a home visit, 82% wanted support from a dietician and 54% from an exercise specialist. The perceived benefits of home visits included comprehensive assessment (95%), convenience (86%), tailored care (29%) and family involvement (13%), while the costs and barriers included clinicians' potential judgmental attitudes (30%), loss of privacy (19%) and distractions (10%). Some thought clinicians would find home visits inconvenient (25%), with bureaucratic challenges (14%) and sustainability issues (5%). Families felt home visits were a convenient option for managing paediatric obesity and identified important benefits and barriers that could guide such interventions. ©2017 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. The rate of visitation by Amazilia fimbriata (Apodiformes: Trochilidae influences seed production in Tillandsia stricta (Bromeliaceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caio C.C. Missagia

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Legitimate flowers visitors pollinate the flower during the visit and thus influence the production of fruits and seeds. We tested whether the visitation rate of potential pollinators is associated with the amount of seeds per fruit produced by the self-compatible bromeliad Tillandsia stricta (Bromeliaceae. We determined whether hummingbirds are legitimate visitors by testing for a correlation between visits and pollination (seed production at the Guapiaçú Ecological Reserve (Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçú, state of Rio de Janeiro. We tested 30 flowers, five of which were also monitored to test the possibility of spontaneous self-pollination. The remaining 25 flowers were exposed to floral visitors. Twenty-two flowers formed fruits and seeds, from which three formed seeds without floral visits. The hummingbird Amazilia fimbriata (Gmelin, 1788 was the only legitimate visitor. The average number (± standard deviation of seeds was 27 units (±15 per fruit. The floral visitation rate by A. fimbriata was 6.6 (±3.4 visits/per flower. The number of floral visits and the amount of seed produced were positively correlated (r² = 0.58, p < 0.01. Thus, A. fimbriata is a legitimate floral visitor of T. stricta, and influences seed production per fruit in this bromeliad.

  16. Benchmark accident scenarios for nuclear powered warship visits to Australian ports

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frikken, A.J.

    1996-01-01

    Full text: Port safety arrangements for visits of nuclear powered warships (NPWs) to Australian ports require compliance with a number of Conditions of Entry. One of these Conditions of Entry is the provision of 'an operating safety organisation, competent to produce a suitable radiation monitoring program and able to initiate actions and provide services necessary to safeguard the public in the event of a release of radioactivity following an accident'. The States and Territories which receive NPW visits have the responsibility for this contingency planning, although the Commonwealth provides assistance through the Visiting Ships Panel Nuclear (VSP(N)). The visit of a NPW to an Australian port may only proceed if the VSP(N) is satisfied that the port safety plan has been exercised in sufficient depth to demonstrate its adequacy and efficacy. Emergency exercises are held on a regular basis in Australian ports which have been validated for visits by NPWs to ensure compliance with the Conditions of Entry. Important aspects of these exercises are the procedures for estimating radiation doses to members of the public following an accident, and the process for making decisions on the need for countermeasures based on the results of dose estimates. To exercise these aspects of the emergency response, detailed emergency exercise scenarios, including simulated radiological monitoring data, are required. To date, emergency exercises have usually been based on a severe and highly improbable scenario, termed the Reference Accident, which is used to assess the suitability of ports for visits by NPW's. The repeated adoption of this scenario does not adequately test the flexibility of the emergency plans to cope with all possible accidents, particularly more likely, less severe accidents. At the request of the VSP(N), the Nuclear Safety Bureau has analysed a spectrum of NPW accident scenarios and developed a set of Bench Mark Accident (BMA) scenarios for emergency response

  17. Motivators to visit the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yolanda Jordaan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Visitors have various motives for visiting a zoo. Information on these motives can be applied by zoo management to make informed decisions when developing a marketing strategy to ensure the success and future relevance of the zoo. This study has aimed to determine whether visitors are motivated to visit the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa for recreational or educational purposes, and whether their motives are geared towards their own benefit (intrinsic motives or to the benefit of others (altruistic motives. The research was conducted by means of a quantitative survey. The results indicate that the respondents view recreational motives as more important than educational motives. In addition, more people visit the zoo to promote the welfare of others (altruistic orientation than to have a self-directed zoo experience (intrinsic orientation. The findings suggest that the management of the zoological parks should ensure that the parks offer activities and experiences of recreational value for visitors. These activities should be communicated to the relevant target markets, in order to attract them to the zoo, which could contribute to the long-term survival and success of the zoo.

  18. Home visits as a strategy for health promotion by nursing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jucelia Salgueiro Nascimento

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To analyze the domiciliary visit performed by nurses in the Family Health Strategy as an activity to promote health. Methods: Exploratory/descriptive study with qualitative approach. The subjects were nine nurses of the Primary Health Units from Health Districts in Maceió-AL. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews in the months from April to August 2012 and were analyzed using content analysis and in light of the theoretical framework of Health Promotion. Results: The nurses recognize that the domiciliary visit can be a way to promote the health of individuals, families and community, but, in daily life, action maintains focus on disease, with curative actions of individual character, which do not take into account the social context where the user and his family are inserted. Conclusion: It is considered that the use of home visits by nurses in the family health strategy as a health promotion activity is still incipient because, although the nurses recognize the need for change in the model of care, in practice, it is observed that the focus of this action is directed to the biological model. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5020/18061230.2013.p513

  19. Communication during pediatric asthma visits and child asthma medication device technique 1 month later.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sleath, Betsy; Carpenter, Delesha M; Ayala, Guadalupe X; Williams, Dennis; Davis, Stephanie; Tudor, Gail; Yeatts, Karin; Gillette, Chris

    2012-11-01

    This study investigated how provider demonstration of and assessment of child use of asthma medication devices and certain aspects of provider-patient communication during medical visits is associated with device technique 1 month later. Two hundred and ninety-six children aged 8-16 years with persistent asthma and their caregivers were recruited at five North Carolina pediatric practices. All of the medical visits were audio-tape recorded. Children were interviewed 1 month later and their device technique was observed and rated. If the provider asked the child to demonstrate metered dose inhaler technique during the medical visit, then the child was significantly more likely to perform a greater percentage of inhaler steps correctly 1 month later. Children with higher asthma management self-efficacy scores were significantly more likely to perform a greater percentage of diskus steps correctly. Additionally, children were significantly more likely to perform a greater percentage of diskus steps correctly if the provider discussed a written action plan during the visit. Children were significantly more likely to perform a greater percentage of turbuhaler steps correctly if they asked more medication questions. Providers should ask children to demonstrate their inhaler technique during medical visits so that they can educate children about proper technique and improve child asthma management self-efficacy. Providers should encourage children to ask questions about asthma medication devices during visits and they should discuss asthma action plans with families.

  20. François Bayrou visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    On 3 July, François Bayrou, president of the French political party MOuvement DÉMocrate, visited CERN and took part in a round-table discussion. François Bayrou and Yves Schutz, from the ALICE collaboration, on the experimental site.As a politician, Mr Bayrou greatly appreciated the opportunity to hold discussions with CERN scientists on the international and collaborative nature of the science being done here, and on the development of particle physics over the next fifty years.