RESEARCH AND PRACTICE OF THE NEWS MAP COMPILATION SERVICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Zhao

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Based on the needs of the news media on the map, this paper researches on the news map compilation service, conducts demand research on the service of compiling news maps, designs and compiles the public authority base map suitable for media publication, and constructs the news base map material library. It studies the compilation of domestic and international news maps with timeliness and strong pertinence and cross-regional characteristics, constructs the hot news thematic gallery and news map customization services, conducts research on types of news maps, establish closer liaison and cooperation methods with news media, and guides news media to use correct maps. Through the practice of the news map compilation service, this paper lists two cases of news map preparation services used by different media, compares and analyses cases, summarizes the research situation of news map compilation service, and at the same time puts forward outstanding problems and development suggestions in the service of news map compilation service.

Empirical PPGIS/PGIS mapping of ecosystem services

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brown, Gregory G; Fagerholm, Nora

2015-01-01

demonstrate high potential for the identification of ecosystem services, especially cultural services, there has been no review to evaluate the methods to identify best practice. Through examination of peer-reviewed, empirical PPGIS/PGIS studies, we describe the types of ecosystem services mapped, the spatial...... of experimental design and long-term case studies where the influence of mapped ecosystem services on land use decisions can be assessed....... mapping methods, the sampling approaches and range of participants, the types of spatial analyses performed, and the methodological trade-offs associated with each PPGIS/PGIS mapping approach. We found that multiple methods were implemented in nearly 30 case studies worldwide with the mapping of cultural...

USGS Map Indices Overlay Map Service from The National Map

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U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS Map Indices service from The National Map (TNM) consists of 1x1 Degree, 30x60 Minute (100K), 15 Minute (63K), 7.5 Minute (24K), and 3.75 Minute grid...

Mapping the Future: Towards Oncology Curriculum Reform in Undergraduate Medical Education at a Canadian Medical School

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwan, Jennifer Y.Y. [School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen' s University, Kingston, Ontario (Canada); Nyhof-Young, Joyce [Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Catton, Pamela [Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Giuliani, Meredith E., E-mail: Meredith.Giuliani@rmp.uhn.on.ca [Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

2015-03-01

Purpose: To evaluate (1) the quantity and quality of current undergraduate oncology teaching at a major Canadian medical school; and (2) curricular changes over the past decade, to enhance local oncology education and provide insight for other educators. Methods and Materials: Relevant 2011-2012 undergraduate curricular sessions were extracted from the University of Toronto curriculum mapping database using keywords and database identifiers. Educational sessions were analyzed according to Medical Council of Canada objectives, discussion topics, instructor qualifications, teaching format, program year, and course subject. Course-related oncology research projects performed by students during 2000 to 2012 were extracted from another internal database. Elective choices of clerks during 2008-2014 were retrieved from the institution. The 2011-2012 and 2000-2001 curricula were compared using common criteria. Results: The 2011-2012 curriculum covers 5 major themes (public health, cancer biology, diagnosis, principles of care, and therapy), which highlight 286 oncology teaching topics within 80 sessions. Genitourinary (10, 12.5%), gynecologic (8, 10.0%), and gastrointestinal cancers (7.9, 9.8%) were the most commonly taught cancers. A minority of sessions were taught by surgical oncologists (6.5, 8.1%), medical oncologists (2.5, 3.1%), and radiation oncologists (1, 1.2%). During 2000-2012, 9.0% of students (233 of 2578) opted to complete an oncology research project. During 2008-2014, oncology electives constituted 2.2% of all clerkship elective choices (209 of 9596). Compared with pre-2001 curricula, the 2012 oncology curriculum shows notable expansion in the coverage of epidemiology (6:1 increase), prevention (4:1), screening (3:1), and molecular biology (6:1). Conclusions: The scope of the oncology curriculum has grown over the past decade. Nevertheless, further work is needed to improve medical student knowledge of cancers, particularly those relevant to public health

Mapping the Future: Towards Oncology Curriculum Reform in Undergraduate Medical Education at a Canadian Medical School

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwan, Jennifer Y.Y.; Nyhof-Young, Joyce; Catton, Pamela; Giuliani, Meredith E.

2015-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate (1) the quantity and quality of current undergraduate oncology teaching at a major Canadian medical school; and (2) curricular changes over the past decade, to enhance local oncology education and provide insight for other educators. Methods and Materials: Relevant 2011-2012 undergraduate curricular sessions were extracted from the University of Toronto curriculum mapping database using keywords and database identifiers. Educational sessions were analyzed according to Medical Council of Canada objectives, discussion topics, instructor qualifications, teaching format, program year, and course subject. Course-related oncology research projects performed by students during 2000 to 2012 were extracted from another internal database. Elective choices of clerks during 2008-2014 were retrieved from the institution. The 2011-2012 and 2000-2001 curricula were compared using common criteria. Results: The 2011-2012 curriculum covers 5 major themes (public health, cancer biology, diagnosis, principles of care, and therapy), which highlight 286 oncology teaching topics within 80 sessions. Genitourinary (10, 12.5%), gynecologic (8, 10.0%), and gastrointestinal cancers (7.9, 9.8%) were the most commonly taught cancers. A minority of sessions were taught by surgical oncologists (6.5, 8.1%), medical oncologists (2.5, 3.1%), and radiation oncologists (1, 1.2%). During 2000-2012, 9.0% of students (233 of 2578) opted to complete an oncology research project. During 2008-2014, oncology electives constituted 2.2% of all clerkship elective choices (209 of 9596). Compared with pre-2001 curricula, the 2012 oncology curriculum shows notable expansion in the coverage of epidemiology (6:1 increase), prevention (4:1), screening (3:1), and molecular biology (6:1). Conclusions: The scope of the oncology curriculum has grown over the past decade. Nevertheless, further work is needed to improve medical student knowledge of cancers, particularly those relevant to public health

Map-based mobile services design, interaction and usability

CERN Document Server

Meng, Liqiu; Winter, Stephan; Popovich, Vasily

2008-01-01

This book reports the newest research and technical achievements on the following theme blocks: Design of mobile map services and its constraints; Typology and usability of mobile map services; Visualization solutions on small displays for time-critical tasks; Mobile map users; Interaction and adaptation in mobile environments; and Applications of map-based mobile services.

USGS Imagery Topo Large-scale Base Map Service from The National Map

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U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS Imagery Topo Large service from The National Map (TNM) is a dynamic topographic base map service that combines the best available data (Boundaries,...

[Psycho-oncology care in rural areas : Results from a cross-sectional survey on the utilisation of community-based psychosocial support services].

Science.gov (United States)

Haun, Markus W; Sklenarova, Halina; Zimmermann-Schlegel, Verena; Herzog, Wolfgang; Hartmann, Mechthild

2018-01-01

Clinically relevant distress and unmet psychosocial needs frequently occur in the course of cancer diseases. Particularly for thinly populated rural areas in Germany rates of distressed patients and uptake of community-based psycho-oncology services are unknown. Determination of a) the proportion of cancer patients with psychosocial distress and unmet needs and b) the utilisation of community-based psycho-oncology services in thinly populated rural areas. Prospective cross-sectional study of 229 cancer patients (colon, breast, prostate cancer) living in thinly populated rural areas. Indicators for clinically relevant distress and utilisation of psychosocial services were assessed by applying screening instruments. We conducted descriptive and multivariate analyses. More than one third of all cancer patients (39.3%) in thinly populated areas exhibited clinically relevant distress. However, only 15.6% of distressed patients consulted community-based psycho-oncology services. Most frequently, medical or psychological psychotherapists were contacted. Information deficits of patients and attending physicians alongside dispositional factors emerged as the main reasons for non-utilisation. This study presents first data on psycho-oncology care in rural areas in Germany stratifying the degree of urbanisation in line with the standards of the European Commission. Concerning limitations, we only accounted for structural service coverage, leaving aside other indicators for socio-spatial deprivation.

USGS Transportation Overlay Map Service from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS Transportation service from The National Map (TNM) is based on TIGER/Line data provided through U.S. Census Bureau and road data from U.S. Forest Service....

[Professional's expectations to improve quality of care and social services utilization in geriatric oncology].

Science.gov (United States)

Antoine, Valéry; de Wazières, Benoît; Houédé, Nadine

2015-02-01

Coordination of a multidisciplinary and multi-professional intervention is a key issue in the management of elderly cancer patients to improve health status and quality of life. Optimizing the links between professionals is needed to improve care planning, health and social services utilization. Descriptive study in a French University Hospital. A 6-item structured questionnaire was addressed to professionals involved in global and supportive cares of elderly cancer patients (name, location, effective health care and services offered, needs to improve the quality of their intervention). After the analysis of answers, definition of propositions to improve cares and services utilization. The 37 respondents identified a total of 166 needs to improve quality of care in geriatric oncology. Major expectations were concerning improvement of global/supportive cares and health care services utilization, a better coordination between geriatric teams and oncologists. Ten propositions, including a model of in-hospital health care planning, were defined to answer to professional's needs with the aim of optimizing cancer treatment and global cares. Identification of effective services and needs can represent a first step in a continuous program to improve quality of cares, according to the French national cancer plan 2014-2019. It allows federating professionals for a coordination effort, a better organization of the clinical activity in geriatric oncology, to optimize clinical practice and global cares. Copyright © 2014 Société Française du Cancer. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Patient satisfaction in radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zissiadis, Y.; Provis, A.; Dhaliwal, S.S.

2003-01-01

In this current economic climate where the costs of providing a good medical service are escalating, patients are demanding a higher level of service from the Radiation Oncology providers. This coupled with the rising level of patients' expectations make it absolutely paramount for Radiation Oncology providers to offer the best possible service to their patients. In order to do this, it is essential to assess the present level of patient satisfaction prior to deciding which aspects of the current service need to be changed. In this pilot study, we assess the level of patient satisfaction with aspects of the radiotherapy service and the level of patient anxiety both prior to and following radiotherapy at the Perth Radiation Oncology Centre. A questionnaire was created using a combination of the Information Satisfaction Questionnaire-1 (ISQ-1), the Very Short Questionnaire 9 (VSQ 9) and the State Trait Anxiety Index (STAI). One hundred new patients were studied, all of whom were to have radiotherapy with curative intent. The results of this study are reviewed in this presentation

Centers for medicare and medicaid services: using an episode-based payment model to improve oncology care.

Science.gov (United States)

Kline, Ronald M; Bazell, Carol; Smith, Erin; Schumacher, Heidi; Rajkumar, Rahul; Conway, Patrick H

2015-03-01

Cancer is a medically complex and expensive disease with costs projected to rise further as new treatment options increase and the United States population ages. Studies showing significant regional variation in oncology quality and costs and model tests demonstrating cost savings without adverse outcomes suggest there are opportunities to create a system of oncology care in the US that delivers higher quality care at lower cost. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have designed an episode-based payment model centered around 6 month periods of chemotherapy treatment. Monthly per-patient care management payments will be made to practices to support practice transformation, including additional patient services and specific infrastructure enhancements. Quarterly reporting of quality metrics will drive continuous quality improvement and the adoption of best practices among participants. Practices achieving cost savings will also be eligible for performance-based payments. Savings are expected through improved care coordination and appropriately aligned payment incentives, resulting in decreased avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations and more efficient and evidence-based use of imaging, laboratory tests, and therapeutic agents, as well as improved end of life care. New therapies and better supportive care have significantly improved cancer survival in recent decades. This has come at a high cost, with cancer therapy consuming $124 billion in 2010. CMS has designed an episode-based model of oncology care that incorporates elements from several successful model tests. By providing care management and performance based payments in conjunction with quality metrics and a rapid learning environment, it is hoped that this model will demonstrate how oncology care in the US can transform into a high value, high quality system. Copyright © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Method and system for a network mapping service

Science.gov (United States)

Bynum, Leo

2017-10-17

A method and system of publishing a map includes providing access to a plurality of map data files or mapping services between at least one publisher and at least one subscriber; defining a map in a map context comprising parameters and descriptors to substantially duplicate a map by reference to mutually accessible data or mapping services, publishing a map to a channel in a table file on server; accessing the channel by at least one subscriber, transmitting the mapping context from the server to the at least one subscriber, executing the map context by the at least one subscriber, and generating the map on a display software associated with the at least one subscriber by reconstituting the map from the references and other data in the mapping context.

A tiered approach for ecosystem services mapping

OpenAIRE

Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne; Weibel, Bettina; Rabe, Sven-Erik; Burkhard, Benjamin

2017-01-01

Mapping ecosystem services delivers essential insights into the spatial characteristics of various goods’ and services’ flows from nature to human society. It has become a central topic of science, policy, business and society – all belonging on functioning ecosystems. This textbook summarises the current state-of-the-art of ecosystem services mapping, related theory and methods, different ecosystem service quantification and modelling approaches as well as practical applications. The book...

ESTIMAP: Ecosystem services mapping at European scale

OpenAIRE

ZULIAN GRAZIA; PARACCHINI Maria-Luisa; MAES JOACHIM; LIQUETE GARCIA MARIA DEL CAMINO

2013-01-01

Mapping, visualization and the access to suitable data as a means to facilitate the dialogue among scientists, policy makers and the general public are among the most challenging issues within current ecosystem service science and application. Recently the attention on spatially explicit ways to map ecosystem services, at local, regional and global scale is increasing. This report presents ESTIMAP: a suite of models for a spatially explicit assessment of three ecosystem services (recreati...

Community oncology in an era of payment reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, John V; Ward, Jeffery C; Hornberger, John C; Temel, Jennifer S; McAneny, Barbara L

2014-01-01

Patients and payers (government and private) are frustrated with the fee-for-service system (FFS) of payment for outpatient health services. FFS rewards volume and highly valued services, including expensive diagnostics and therapeutics, over lesser valued cognitive services. Proposed payment schemes would incent collaboration and coordination of care among providers and reward quality. In oncology, new payment schemes must address the high costs of all services, particularly drugs, while preserving the robust distribution of sites of service available to patients in the United States. Information technology and personalized cancer care are changing the practice of oncology. Twenty-first century oncology will require increasing cognitive work and shared decision making, both of which are not well regarded in the FFS model. A high proportion of health care dollars are consumed in the final months of life. Effective delivery of palliative and end-of-life care must be addressed by practice and by new models of payment. Value-based reimbursement schemes will require oncology practices to change how they are structured. Lessons drawn from the principles of primary care's Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) will help oncology practice to prepare for new schemes. PCMH principles place a premium on proactively addressing toxicities of therapies, coordinating care with other providers, and engaging patients in shared decision making, supporting the ideal of value defined in the triple aim-to measurably improve patient experience and quality of care at less cost. Payment reform will be disruptive to all. Oncology must be engaged in policy discussions and guide rational shifts in priorities defined by new payment models.

Oncology healthcare professionals' perspectives on the psychosocial support needs of cancer patients during oncology treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Aldaz, Bruno E; Treharne, Gareth J; Knight, Robert G; Conner, Tamlin S; Perez, David

2017-09-01

This study explored oncology healthcare professionals' perspectives on the psychosocial support needs of diverse cancer patients during oncology treatment. Six themes were identified using thematic analysis. Healthcare professionals highlighted the importance of their sensitivity, respect and emotional tact during appointments in order to effectively identify and meet the needs of oncology patients. Participants also emphasised the importance of building rapport that recognises patients as people. Patients' acceptance of treatment-related distress and uncertainty was described as required for uptake of available psychosocial supportive services. We offer some practical implications that may help improve cancer patients' experiences during oncology treatment.

Mapping health outcomes from ecosystem services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keune, Hans; Oosterbroek, Bram; Derkzen, Marthe; Subramanian, Suneetha; Payyappalimana, Unnikrishnan; Martens, Pim; Huynen, Maud; Burkhard, Benjamin; Maes, Joachim

The practice of mapping ecosystem services (ES) in relation to health outcomes is only in its early developing phases. Examples are provided of health outcomes, health proxies and related biophysical indicators. This chapter also covers main health mapping challenges, design options and

Board-Certified Oncology Pharmacists: Their Potential Contribution to Reducing a Shortfall in Oncology Patient Visits.

Science.gov (United States)

Ignoffo, Robert; Knapp, Katherine; Barnett, Mitchell; Barbour, Sally Yowell; D'Amato, Steve; Iacovelli, Lew; Knudsen, Jasen; Koontz, Susannah E; Mancini, Robert; McBride, Ali; McCauley, Dayna; Medina, Patrick; O'Bryant, Cindy L; Scarpace, Sarah; Stricker, Steve; Trovato, James A

2016-04-01

With an aging US population, the number of patients who need cancer treatment will increase significantly by 2020. On the basis of a predicted shortage of oncology physicians, nonphysician health care practitioners will need to fill the shortfall in oncology patient visits, and nurse practitioners and physician assistants have already been identified for this purpose. This study proposes that appropriately trained oncology pharmacists can also contribute. The purpose of this study is to estimate the supply of Board of Pharmacy Specialties-certified oncology pharmacists (BCOPs) and their potential contribution to the care of patients with cancer through 2020. Data regarding accredited oncology pharmacy residencies, new BCOPs, and total BCOPs were used to estimate oncology residencies, new BCOPs, and total BCOPs through 2020. A Delphi panel process was used to estimate patient visits, identify patient care services that BCOPs could provide, and study limitations. By 2020, there will be an estimated 3,639 BCOPs, and approximately 62% of BCOPs will have completed accredited oncology pharmacy residencies. Delphi panelists came to consensus (at least 80% agreement) on eight patient care services that BCOPs could provide. Although the estimates given by our model indicate that BCOPs could provide 5 to 7 million 30-minute patient visits annually, sensitivity analysis, based on factors that could reduce potential visit availability resulted in 2.5 to 3.5 million visits by 2020 with the addition of BCOPs to the health care team. BCOPs can contribute to a projected shortfall in needed patient visits for cancer treatment. BCOPs, along with nurse practitioners and physician assistants could substantially reduce, but likely not eliminate, the shortfall of providers needed for oncology patient visits. Copyright © 2016 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Radiology consultation in the era of precision oncology: A review of consultation models and services in the tertiary setting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DiPiro, Pamela J.; Krajewski, Katherine M.; Giardino, Angela A.; Braschi-Amirfarzan, Marta; Ramaiya, Nikhil H. [Dept. of Radiology, Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston (United States)

2017-01-15

The purpose of the article is to describe the various radiology consultation models in the Era of Precision Medicine. Since the inception of our specialty, radiologists have served as consultants to physicians of various disciplines. A variety of radiology consultation services have been described in the literature, including clinical decision support, patient-centric, subspecialty interpretation, and/or some combination of these. In oncology care in particular, case complexity often merits open dialogue with clinical providers. To explore the utility and impact of radiology consultation services in the academic setting, this article will further describe existing consultation models and the circumstances that precipitated their development. The hybrid model successful at our tertiary cancer center is discussed. In addition, the contributions of a consultant radiologist in breast cancer care are reviewed as the archetype of radiology consultation services provided to oncology practitioners.

Radiology Consultation in the Era of Precision Oncology: A Review of Consultation Models and Services in the Tertiary Setting.

Science.gov (United States)

DiPiro, Pamela J; Krajewski, Katherine M; Giardino, Angela A; Braschi-Amirfarzan, Marta; Ramaiya, Nikhil H

2017-01-01

The purpose of the article is to describe the various radiology consultation models in the Era of Precision Medicine. Since the inception of our specialty, radiologists have served as consultants to physicians of various disciplines. A variety of radiology consultation services have been described in the literature, including clinical decision support, patient-centric, subspecialty interpretation, and/or some combination of these. In oncology care in particular, case complexity often merits open dialogue with clinical providers. To explore the utility and impact of radiology consultation services in the academic setting, this article will further describe existing consultation models and the circumstances that precipitated their development. The hybrid model successful at our tertiary cancer center is discussed. In addition, the contributions of a consultant radiologist in breast cancer care are reviewed as the archetype of radiology consultation services provided to oncology practitioners.

Cost-benefit analysis of establishing and operating radiation oncology services in Fiji.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Eunkyoung; Cho, Yoon-Min; Kwon, Soonman; Park, Kunhee

2017-10-01

Rising demand for services of cancer patients has been recognised by the Government of Fiji as a national health priority. Increasing attention has been paid to the lack of service of radiation therapy or radiotherapy in Fiji. This study aims to estimate and compare the costs and benefits of introducing radiation oncology services in Fiji from the societal perspective. Time horizon for cost-benefit analysis (CBA) was 15 years from 2021 to 2035. The benefits and costs were converted to the present values of 2016. Estimates for the CBA model were taken from previous studies and expert opinions and data obtained from field visits to Fiji in January 2016. Sensitivity analyses with changing assumptions were undertaken. The estimated net benefit, applying the national minimum wage (NMW) to measure monetary value for life-year gained, was -31,624,421 FJD with 0.69 of benefit-cost (B/C) ratio. If gross national income (GNI) per capita was used for the value of life years, net benefit was 3,975,684 FJD (B/C ratio: 1.04). With a pessimistic scenario, establishing the center appeared to be not cost-beneficial, and the net benefit was -53,634,682 FJD (B/C ratio: 0.46); net benefit with an optimistic scenario was estimated 23,178,189 FJD (B/C ratio: 1.20). Based on the CBA results from using GNI per capita instead of the NMW, this project would be cost-beneficial. Introducing a radiation oncology center in Fiji would have potential impacts on financial sustainability, financial protection, and accessibility and equity of the health system. Copyright © 2017 World Health Organization. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Mapping cultural ecosystem services:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paracchini, Maria Luisa; Zulian, Grazia; Kopperoinen, Leena

2014-01-01

Research on ecosystem services mapping and valuing has increased significantly in recent years. However, compared to provisioning and regulating services, cultural ecosystem services have not yet been fully integrated into operational frameworks. One reason for this is that transdisciplinarity...... surveys are a main source of information. Among cultural ecosystem services, assessment of outdoor recreation can be based on a large pool of literature developed mostly in social and medical science, and landscape and ecology studies. This paper presents a methodology to include recreation...... in the conceptual framework for EU wide ecosystem assessments (Maes et al., 2013), which couples existing approaches for recreation management at country level with behavioural data derived from surveys, and population distribution data. The proposed framework is based on three components: the ecosystem function...

Global mapping of ecosystem services and conservation priorities

Science.gov (United States)

Naidoo, R.; Balmford, A.; Costanza, R.; Fisher, B.; Green, R. E.; Lehner, B.; Malcolm, T. R.; Ricketts, T. H.

2008-01-01

Global efforts to conserve biodiversity have the potential to deliver economic benefits to people (i.e., “ecosystem services”). However, regions for which conservation benefits both biodiversity and ecosystem services cannot be identified unless ecosystem services can be quantified and valued and their areas of production mapped. Here we review the theory, data, and analyses needed to produce such maps and find that data availability allows us to quantify imperfect global proxies for only four ecosystem services. Using this incomplete set as an illustration, we compare ecosystem service maps with the global distributions of conventional targets for biodiversity conservation. Our preliminary results show that regions selected to maximize biodiversity provide no more ecosystem services than regions chosen randomly. Furthermore, spatial concordance among different services, and between ecosystem services and established conservation priorities, varies widely. Despite this lack of general concordance, “win–win” areas—regions important for both ecosystem services and biodiversity—can be usefully identified, both among ecoregions and at finer scales within them. An ambitious interdisciplinary research effort is needed to move beyond these preliminary and illustrative analyses to fully assess synergies and trade-offs in conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. PMID:18621701

USGS NAIPPlus Overlay Map Service from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS NAIP Plus service from The National Map consists of National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and high resolution orthoimagery (HRO) that combine the...

Integrating Palliative Care Services in Ambulatory Oncology: An Application of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System.

Science.gov (United States)

Rauenzahn, Sherri L; Schmidt, Susanne; Aduba, Ifeoma O; Jones, Jessica T; Ali, Nazneen; Tenner, Laura L

2017-04-01

Research in palliative care demonstrates improvements in overall survival, quality of life, symptom management, and reductions in the cost of care. Despite the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommendation for early concurrent palliative care in patients with advanced cancer and high symptom burden, integrating palliative services is challenging. Our aims were to quantitatively describe the palliative referral rates and symptom burden in a South Texas cancer center and establish a palliative referral system by implementing the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS). As part of our Plan-Do-Study-Act process, all staff received an educational overview of the ESAS tool and consultation ordering process. The ESAS form was then implemented across five ambulatory oncology clinics to assess symptom burden and changes therein longitudinally. Referral rates and symptom assessment scores were tracked as metrics for quality improvement. On average, one patient per month was referred before implementation of the intervention compared with 10 patients per month after implementation across all clinics. In five sample clinics, 607 patients completed the initial assessment, and 430 follow-up forms were collected over 5 months, resulting in a total of 1,037 scores collected in REDCap. The mean ESAS score for initial patient visits was 20.0 (standard deviation, 18.1), and referred patients had an initial mean score of 39.0 (standard deviation, 19.0). This project highlights the low palliative care consultation rate, high symptom burden of oncology patients, and underuse of services by oncologists despite improvements with the introduction of a symptom assessment form and referral system.

Payment Reform: Unprecedented and Evolving Impact on Gynecologic Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Apte, Sachin M; Patel, Kavita

2016-01-01

With the signing of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act in April 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is now positioned to drive the development and implementation of sweeping changes to how physicians and hospitals are paid for the provision of oncology-related services. These changes will have a long-lasting impact on the sub-specialty of gynecologic oncology, regardless of practice structure, physician employment and compensation model, or local insurance market. Recently, commercial payers have piloted various models of payment reform via oncology-specific clinical pathways, oncology medical homes, episode payment arrangements, and accountable care organizations. Despite the positive results of some pilot programs, adoption remains limited. The goals are to eliminate unnecessary variation in cancer treatment, provide coordinated patient-centered care, while controlling costs. Yet, meaningful payment reform in oncology remains elusive. As the largest payer for oncology services in the United States, CMS has the leverage to make cancer services more value based. Thus far, the focus has been around pricing of physician-administered drugs with recent work in the area of the Oncology Medical Home. Gynecologic oncology is a unique sub-specialty that blends surgical and medical oncology, with treatment that often involves radiation therapy. This forward-thinking, multidisciplinary model works to keep the patient at the center of the care continuum and emphasizes care coordination. Because of the breadth and depth of gynecologic oncology, this sub-specialty has both the potential to be disrupted by payment reform as well as potentially benefit from the aspects of reform that can align incentives appropriately to improve coordination. Although the precise future payment models are unknown at this time, focused engagement of gynecologic oncologists and the full care team is imperative to assure that the practice remains patient centered

Payment Reform: Unprecedented and Evolving Impact on Gynecologic Oncology

Science.gov (United States)

Apte, Sachin M.; Patel, Kavita

2016-01-01

With the signing of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act in April 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is now positioned to drive the development and implementation of sweeping changes to how physicians and hospitals are paid for the provision of oncology-related services. These changes will have a long-lasting impact on the sub-specialty of gynecologic oncology, regardless of practice structure, physician employment and compensation model, or local insurance market. Recently, commercial payers have piloted various models of payment reform via oncology-specific clinical pathways, oncology medical homes, episode payment arrangements, and accountable care organizations. Despite the positive results of some pilot programs, adoption remains limited. The goals are to eliminate unnecessary variation in cancer treatment, provide coordinated patient-centered care, while controlling costs. Yet, meaningful payment reform in oncology remains elusive. As the largest payer for oncology services in the United States, CMS has the leverage to make cancer services more value based. Thus far, the focus has been around pricing of physician-administered drugs with recent work in the area of the Oncology Medical Home. Gynecologic oncology is a unique sub-specialty that blends surgical and medical oncology, with treatment that often involves radiation therapy. This forward-thinking, multidisciplinary model works to keep the patient at the center of the care continuum and emphasizes care coordination. Because of the breadth and depth of gynecologic oncology, this sub-specialty has both the potential to be disrupted by payment reform as well as potentially benefit from the aspects of reform that can align incentives appropriately to improve coordination. Although the precise future payment models are unknown at this time, focused engagement of gynecologic oncologists and the full care team is imperative to assure that the practice remains patient centered

Payment Reform: Unprecedented and Evolving Impact on Gynecologic Oncology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sachin eApte

2016-04-01

Full Text Available With the signing of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA in April 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS is now positioned to drive the development and implementation of sweeping changes to how physicians and hospitals are paid for the provision of oncology related services. These changes will have a long-lasting impact on the sub-specialty of gynecologic oncology, regardless of practice structure, physician employment and compensation model, or local insurance market. Recently, commercial payers have piloted various models of payment reform via oncology specific clinical pathways, oncology medical homes, episode payment arrangements, and accountable care organizations. Despite the positive results of some pilot programs, adoption remains limited. The goals are to eliminate unnecessary variation in cancer treatment, provide coordinated patient-centered care, while controlling costs. Yet, meaningful payment reform in oncology remains elusive. As the largest payer for oncology services in the United States, CMS has the leverage to make cancer services more value-based. Thus far, the focus has been around pricing of physician-administered drugs with recent work in the area of the Oncology Medical Home. Gynecologic oncology is a unique sub-specialty which blends surgical and medical oncology, with treatment that often involves radiation therapy. This forward-thinking, multi-disciplinary model works to keep the patient at the center of the care continuum and emphasizes care coordination. Because of the breadth and depth of gynecologic oncology, this sub-specialty has both the potential to be disrupted by payment reform as well as potentially benefit from the aspects of reform which can align incentives appropriately to improve coordination. Although the precise future payment models are unknown at this time, focused engagement of gynecologic oncologists and the full care team is imperative to assure that the

Colorectal cancer clinical epidemiological characteristics in patients attended at Oncology service

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Area Abreu, Daniel; Borrego Pino, Luis; Borrego Diaz, Luis; Abreu Rivera, Pedro; Tillan Garrote; Aurora

2009-01-01

A study of series of cases from January 2006 to December 2007 was carried out in 195 patients with colorectal cancer. They were attended at Oncology Service at Lenin Hospital, and were diagnosed at different health areas of the province. 63% and 37% of them had tumors in rectum and colon respectively. The age group between 40 and 69 years old was the most affected one (81.0%) and 56.9% of them were males. The main risk factors were the family history of the illness, chronic constipation, bleeding polyps and vesicular lithiasis. The most frequent clinical manifestations were rectal hemorrhage and anemia. (author)

Global Health in Radiation Oncology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodin, Danielle; Yap, Mei Ling; Grover, Surbhi

2017-01-01

programs. However, formalized training and career promotion tracks in global health within radiation oncology have been slow to emerge, thereby limiting the sustained involvement of students and faculty, and restricting opportunities for leadership in this space. We examine here potential structures...... and benefits of formalized global health training in radiation oncology. We explore how defining specific competencies in this area can help trainees and practitioners integrate their activities in global health within their existing roles as clinicians, educators, or scientists. This would also help create...... and funding models might be used to further develop and expand radiation oncology services globally....

[Diet of neutropenic patients in pediatric oncology service; the experience of the university hospital of Strasbourg (HUS)].

Science.gov (United States)

Mutel, T; Foeglé, J; Belotti, L; Sery, V; Bourneton, O; Hernandez, C; Lutz, P; Lavigne, T

2012-12-01

This article clarifies the choices made by the HUS concerning the ways of preparing food reserved to neutropenic children hospitalized in pediatric oncology service. We will describe the results of microbiological analysis of food realized from 2002 to 2007. A specific team prepares this food which is canned and treated by "appertisation" (autoclaving). Each dish portion produced is provided to the service only if the microbiological results are conform, that is to say free of organisms. Three thousand and seventy-eight dishes were analysed: 82.9% of the analysed packs were conform. The contamination ratio decreased significantly (Pfood which is the most frequently "nonconform" is the dry food with a contamination rate of 37.9%. The identified concentrations remain mainly lower than 50 colony-forming units per millilitre (CFU/mL): 66.2% for the bacteria and 97.2% for the fungi. Considering the lack of consensus on the acceptable microbiological thresholds and on the food protection level, the HUS make it a rule to have a maximal precautionary principle. Currently, this principle appears to us to be a safety option required for the patients hospitalized in pediatric oncology service. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive Evaluation and Analysis of China's Mainstream Online Map Service Websites

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, H.; Jiang, J.; Huang, W.; Wang, Q.; Gu, X.

2012-08-01

With the flourish development of China's Internet market, all kinds of users for map service demand is rising continually, within it contains tremendous commercial interests. Many internet giants have got involved in the field of online map service, and defined it as an important strategic product of the company. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate these online map service websites comprehensively with a model, and analyse the problems according to the evaluation results. Then some corresponding solving measures are proposed, which provides a theoretical and application guidance for the future development of fiercely competitive online map websites. The research consists of three stages: (a) the mainstream online map service websites in China are introduced and the present situation of them is analysed through visit, investigation, consultant, analysis and research. (b) a whole comprehensive evaluation quota system of online map service websites from the view of functions, layout, interaction design color position and so on, combining with the data indexes such as time efficiency, accuracy, objectivity and authority. (c) a comprehensive evaluation to these online map service websites is proceeded based on the fuzzy evaluation mathematical model, and the difficulty that measure the map websites quantitatively is solved.

Lay beliefs on Polish oncology in the evaluation of healthy individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Synowiec-Piłat, Małgorzata

2017-12-23

Poland is among the countries which reported the highest rates of mortality from cancer. The health behaviours of people are influenced, among other things, by their beliefs about cancer, but their evaluation of oncological institutions and specialists seems also to be of great importance. Objectives. 1. How the respondents evaluate Polish oncology: a) the conditions of treatment in oncology hospitals, b) access to oncological medical services, c) the competence of oncologists. 2. What are the socio-cultural factors of the assessment of Polish oncology? 3. What is the influence of the grade level of the assessment of Polish oncology on the degree of fear and the knowledge about cancer? The study was carried out with a sample of 910 adult residents of Wroclaw in south-west Poland. Quota sampling was used. An interview questionnaire was used as the method. Analysis of the data showed a negative image of Polish oncology, according to the study participants: dissatisfaction with both treatment conditions and with access to medical services. Assessment of Polish oncology depends primarily on education, age and economic situation, as well as 'family history of cancer', and attitude towards doctors. The lower the rating of Polish oncology, the lower the medical knowledge, and the higher the level of fear of cancer. Negative assessment of Polish oncology perpetuates the fear of cancer in society. There is a need for constant improvement of the quality of medical oncology services, for building public trust in physicians, to fight inequalities in health, and to take into account the lay perspectives in developing strategies to combat cancer.

Family history record and hereditary cancer risk perception according to National Cancer Institute criteria in a Spanish medical oncology service: a retrospective study.

Science.gov (United States)

Márquez-Rodas, Iván; López-Trabada, Daniel; Rupérez Blanco, Ana Belén; Custodio Cabello, Sara; Peligros Gómez, María Isabel; Orera Clemente, María; Calvo, Felipe A; Martín, Miguel

2012-01-01

Identification of patients at risk of hereditary cancer is an essential component of oncology practice, since it enables clinicians to offer early detection and prevention programs. However, the large number of hereditary syndromes makes it difficult to take them all into account in daily practice. Consequently, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has suggested a series of criteria to guide initial suspicion. It was the aim of this study to assess the perception of the risk of hereditary cancer according to the NCI criteria in our medical oncology service. We retrospectively analyzed the recordings of the family history in new cancer patients seen in our medical oncology service from January to November 2009, only 1 year before the implementation of our multidisciplinary hereditary cancer program. The family history was recorded in only 175/621 (28%) patients. A total of 119 (19%) patients met 1 or more NCI criteria (1 criterion, n = 91; 2 criteria, n = 23; 3 criteria, n = 4; and 4 criteria, n = 1), and only 14 (11.4%) patients were referred to genetic counseling. This study shows that few clinicians record the family history. The perception of the risk of hereditary cancer is low according to the NCI criteria in our medical oncology service. These findings can be explained by the lack of a multidisciplinary hereditary cancer program when the study was performed. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Mapping service quality : measuring and comparing quality of experience and quality of service for Internet-based map services

OpenAIRE

Eriksén, Sara; Eliasson, Charlott; Fiedler, Markus; Chevul, Stefan; Ekelin, Annelie

2007-01-01

In this paper, we present an on-going research project in which we are focusing on examining how users of map-based services on-line experience the quality of these services when the traffic load is high, and how the users' experiences of acceptable or not acceptable quality can be related to measurable parameters which can be used to manage network traffic and improve technical solutions. The project is a multi- and interdisciplinary project in cooperation between researchers within human wo...

REST-MapReduce: An Integrated Interface but Differentiated Service

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jong-Hyuk Park

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With the fast deployment of cloud computing, MapReduce architectures are becoming the major technologies for mobile cloud computing. The concept of MapReduce was first introduced as a novel programming model and implementation for a large set of computing devices. In this research, we propose a novel concept of REST-MapReduce, enabling users to use only the REST interface without using the MapReduce architecture. This approach provides a higher level of abstraction by integration of the two types of access interface, REST API and MapReduce. The motivation of this research stems from the slower response time for accessing simple RDBMS on Hadoop than direct access to RDMBS. This is because there is overhead to job scheduling, initiating, starting, tracking, and management during MapReduce-based parallel execution. Therefore, we provide a good performance for REST Open API service and for MapReduce, respectively. This is very useful for constructing REST Open API services on Hadoop hosting services, for example, Amazon AWS (Macdonald, 2005 or IBM Smart Cloud. For evaluating performance of our REST-MapReduce framework, we conducted experiments with Jersey REST web server and Hadoop. Experimental result shows that our approach outperforms conventional approaches.

[Psycho-oncology : the psyche and cancer].

Science.gov (United States)

Heussner, P; Hiddemann, W

2012-11-01

The relationships between the psyche and cancer are manifold. Psycho-oncology focuses on the psychological adjustment to life-threatening illnesses. Crises are not unusual in health care, but the perception of cancer is totally different because the diagnosis of cancer often results in an irrational shock reaction in all parties involved. A diagnosis of cancer is much more negatively perceived than any other incurable disease, such as cardiopathy or neuropathy with a comparable or worse prognosis. During the shock of having received a diagnosis of cancer, there is no awareness that cancer can be cured. Improvement of quality of life, identification of psychological distress and prevention of mental disorders are the main tasks of psycho-oncology. Psycho-oncological services are not longer regarded a luxury, but are recognized by health care politicians as being important. However, the financing of services remains unclear.

From theoretical to actual ecosystem services: mapping beneficiaries and spatial flows in ecosystem service assessments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenneth J. Bagstad

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Ecosystem services mapping and modeling has focused more on supply than demand, until recently. Whereas the potential provision of economic benefits from ecosystems to people is often quantified through ecological production functions, the use of and demand for ecosystem services has received less attention, as have the spatial flows of services from ecosystems to people. However, new modeling approaches that map and quantify service-specific sources (ecosystem capacity to provide a service, sinks (biophysical or anthropogenic features that deplete or alter service flows, users (user locations and level of demand, and spatial flows can provide a more complete understanding of ecosystem services. Through a case study in Puget Sound, Washington State, USA, we quantify and differentiate between the theoretical or in situ provision of services, i.e., ecosystems' capacity to supply services, and their actual provision when accounting for the location of beneficiaries and the spatial connections that mediate service flows between people and ecosystems. Our analysis includes five ecosystem services: carbon sequestration and storage, riverine flood regulation, sediment regulation for reservoirs, open space proximity, and scenic viewsheds. Each ecosystem service is characterized by different beneficiary groups and means of service flow. Using the ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES methodology we map service supply, demand, and flow, extending on simpler approaches used by past studies to map service provision and use. With the exception of the carbon sequestration service, regions that actually provided services to people, i.e., connected to beneficiaries via flow paths, amounted to 16-66% of those theoretically capable of supplying services, i.e., all ecosystems across the landscape. These results offer a more complete understanding of the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services and their effects, and may provide a sounder basis for

From theoretical to actual ecosystem services: mapping beneficiaries and spatial flows in ecosystem service assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Villa, Ferdinando; Batker, David; Harrison-Cox, Jennifer; Voigt, Brian; Johnson, Gary W.

2014-01-01

Ecosystem services mapping and modeling has focused more on supply than demand, until recently. Whereas the potential provision of economic benefits from ecosystems to people is often quantified through ecological production functions, the use of and demand for ecosystem services has received less attention, as have the spatial flows of services from ecosystems to people. However, new modeling approaches that map and quantify service-specific sources (ecosystem capacity to provide a service), sinks (biophysical or anthropogenic features that deplete or alter service flows), users (user locations and level of demand), and spatial flows can provide a more complete understanding of ecosystem services. Through a case study in Puget Sound, Washington State, USA, we quantify and differentiate between the theoretical or in situ provision of services, i.e., ecosystems’ capacity to supply services, and their actual provision when accounting for the location of beneficiaries and the spatial connections that mediate service flows between people and ecosystems. Our analysis includes five ecosystem services: carbon sequestration and storage, riverine flood regulation, sediment regulation for reservoirs, open space proximity, and scenic viewsheds. Each ecosystem service is characterized by different beneficiary groups and means of service flow. Using the ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) methodology we map service supply, demand, and flow, extending on simpler approaches used by past studies to map service provision and use. With the exception of the carbon sequestration service, regions that actually provided services to people, i.e., connected to beneficiaries via flow paths, amounted to 16-66% of those theoretically capable of supplying services, i.e., all ecosystems across the landscape. These results offer a more complete understanding of the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services and their effects, and may provide a sounder basis for economic

Precision medicine in oncology: New practice models and roles for oncology pharmacists.

Science.gov (United States)

Walko, Christine; Kiel, Patrick J; Kolesar, Jill

2016-12-01

Three different precision medicine practice models developed by oncology pharmacists are described, including strategies for implementation and recommendations for educating the next generation of oncology pharmacy practitioners. Oncology is unique in that somatic mutations can both drive the development of a tumor and serve as a therapeutic target for treating the cancer. Precision medicine practice models are a forum through which interprofessional teams, including pharmacists, discuss tumor somatic mutations to guide patient-specific treatment. The University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, and Moffit Cancer Center have implemented precision medicine practice models developed and led by oncology pharmacists. Different practice models, including a clinic, a clinical consultation service, and a molecular tumor board (MTB), were adopted to enhance integration into health systems and payment structures. Although the practice models vary, commonalities of three models include leadership by the clinical pharmacist, specific therapeutic recommendations, procurement of medications for off-label use, and a research component. These three practice models function as interprofessional training sites for pharmacy and medical students and residents, providing an important training resource at these institutions. Key implementation strategies include interprofessional involvement, institutional support, integration into clinical workflow, and selection of model by payer mix. MTBs are a pathway for clinical implementation of genomic medicine in oncology and are an emerging practice model for oncology pharmacists. Because pharmacists must be prepared to participate fully in contemporary practice, oncology pharmacy residents must be trained in genomic oncology, schools of pharmacy should expand precision medicine and genomics education, and opportunities for continuing education in precision medicine should be made available to practicing pharmacists. Copyright © 2016 by the

Psycho-oncology in Australia: a descriptive review.

Science.gov (United States)

Butow, P; Dhillon, H; Shaw, J; Price, M

2017-01-01

Australia has a thriving Psycho-Oncology research and clinical community. In this article, the Australian health system in which Psycho-Oncology is embedded is described. Clinical Psycho-Oncology services are outlined, in terms of their composition, processes and reach. The development of the internationally ground-breaking Australian Psychosocial guidelines for the care of adults with cancer is described. Two large Psycho-Oncology organisations which are strongly linked to mainstream Oncology organisations are discussed: the Australian Psycho-Oncology Society (OzPos, a primarily clinician-led and focused organisation) and the Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG, a national cancer clinical trial group). OzPos is a special interest group within the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, while PoCoG is one of 14 cancer clinical trial groups funded by the national government. It is these strong connections with major multidisciplinary cancer organisations, and a culture of collaboration and co-operation, that have made Psycho-Oncology grow and thrive in Australia. Examples of large collaborative programs of Psycho-Oncology research are provided, as well as the mechanisms used to achieve these outcomes.

Institutional capacity to provide psychosocial oncology support services: A report from the Association of Oncology Social Work.

Science.gov (United States)

Zebrack, Brad; Kayser, Karen; Padgett, Lynne; Sundstrom, Laura; Jobin, Chad; Nelson, Krista; Fineberg, Iris C

2016-06-15

This study reports cancer-treating institutions' capacity to deliver comprehensive psychosocial support services. Oncology care providers at 60 cancer-treating institutions completed surveys assessing the capacity of their institutions to provide psychosocial care. Capacity was assessed with the Cancer Psychosocial Care Matrix (CPCM) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Scores represented individuals' perceptions of their cancer program's performance with respect to 10 fundamental elements of psychosocial care. Among 2134 respondents, 62% reported a mid-level capacity for ≥5 of 10 CPCM items. In comparison with other types of cancer programs (eg, NCI-designated, academic, or comprehensive centers), providers at community cancer programs reported a significantly greater capacity with respect to patient-provider communication, psychosocial needs assessment, and continuity in the delivery of psychosocial care over time. Nurses and primary medical providers reported a significantly lower capacity for linking patients and families with needed psychosocial services within their respective cancer programs. They also reported a significantly higher capacity for conducting follow-up, re-evaluations, and adjustments of psychosocial treatment plans. Cancer programs are performing moderately well in terms of communicating to patients the importance of psychosocial care, identifying patient psychosocial needs, and referring patients and families to psychosocial services. They are doing less well with respect to the provision of that care over time. Findings suggest that gaps in psychosocial service capacity are a function of patient, provider, and system characteristics. These results may be useful in formulating strategies to enhance psychosocial care delivery. Cancer 2016;122:1937-45. © 2016 American Cancer Society. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

USGS Elevation Contours Overlay Map Service from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS Elevation Contours service from The National Map (TNM) consists of contours generated for the conterminous United States from 1- and 1/3 arc-second...

USGS NAIP Imagery Overlay Map Service from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS NAIP Imagery service from The National Map (TNM) consists of high resolution images that combine the visual attributes of an aerial photograph with the...

Defining High-Quality Palliative Care in Oncology Practice: An American Society of Clinical Oncology/American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Guidance Statement.

Science.gov (United States)

Bickel, Kathleen E; McNiff, Kristen; Buss, Mary K; Kamal, Arif; Lupu, Dale; Abernethy, Amy P; Broder, Michael S; Shapiro, Charles L; Acheson, Anupama Kurup; Malin, Jennifer; Evans, Tracey; Krzyzanowska, Monika K

2016-09-01

Integrated into routine oncology care, palliative care can improve symptom burden, quality of life, and patient and caregiver satisfaction. However, not all oncology practices have access to specialist palliative medicine. This project endeavored to define what constitutes high-quality primary palliative care as delivered by medical oncology practices. An expert steering committee outlined 966 palliative care service items, in nine domains, each describing a candidate element of primary palliative care delivery for patients with advanced cancer or high symptom burden. Using modified Delphi methodology, 31 multidisciplinary panelists rated each service item on three constructs: importance, feasibility, and scope within medical oncology practice. Panelists endorsed the highest proportion of palliative care service items in the domains of End-of-Life Care (81%); Communication and Shared Decision Making (79%); and Advance Care Planning (78%). The lowest proportions were in Spiritual and Cultural Assessment and Management (35%) and Psychosocial Assessment and Management (39%). In the largest domain, Symptom Assessment and Management, there was consensus that all symptoms should be assessed and managed at a basic level, with more comprehensive management for common symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dyspnea, and pain. Within the Appropriate Palliative Care and Hospice Referral domain, there was consensus that oncology practices should be able to describe the difference between palliative care and hospice to patients and refer patients appropriately. This statement describes the elements comprising high-quality primary palliative care for patients with advanced cancer or high symptom burden, as delivered by oncology practices. Oncology providers wishing to enhance palliative care delivery may find this information useful to inform operational changes and quality improvement efforts. Copyright © 2016 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Communicating Thematic Data Quality with Web Map Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jon D. Blower

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Geospatial information of many kinds, from topographic maps to scientific data, is increasingly being made available through web mapping services. These allow georeferenced map images to be served from data stores and displayed in websites and geographic information systems, where they can be integrated with other geographic information. The Open Geospatial Consortium’s Web Map Service (WMS standard has been widely adopted in diverse communities for sharing data in this way. However, current services typically provide little or no information about the quality or accuracy of the data they serve. In this paper we will describe the design and implementation of a new “quality-enabled” profile of WMS, which we call “WMS-Q”. This describes how information about data quality can be transmitted to the user through WMS. Such information can exist at many levels, from entire datasets to individual measurements, and includes the many different ways in which data uncertainty can be expressed. We also describe proposed extensions to the Symbology Encoding specification, which include provision for visualizing uncertainty in raster data in a number of different ways, including contours, shading and bivariate colour maps. We shall also describe new open-source implementations of the new specifications, which include both clients and servers.

Measurement of nurses' workload in an oncology outpatient clinic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Célia Alves de Souza

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The growing demand and the degree of patient care in oncological outpatient services, as well as the complexity of treatment have had an impact on the workload of nurses. This study aimed at measuring the workload and productivity of nurses in an oncological outpatient service. An observational study using a work sampling technique was conducted and included seven nurses working in an oncological outpatient service in the south-eastern region of Brazil. A total of 1,487 intervention or activity samples were obtained. Nurses used 43.2% of their time on indirect care, 33.2% on direct care, 11.6% on associated activities, and 12% on personal activities. Their mean productivity was 88.0%. The findings showed that nurses in this service spend most of their time in indirect care activities. Moreover, the productivity index in this study was above that recommended in the literature.

Regional cancer centre demonstrates voluntary conformity with the national Radiation Oncology Practice Standards.

Science.gov (United States)

Manley, Stephen; Last, Andrew; Fu, Kenneth; Greenham, Stuart; Kovendy, Andrew; Shakespeare, Thomas P

2015-06-01

Radiation Oncology Practice Standards have been developed over the last 10 years and were published for use in Australia in 2011. Although the majority of the radiation oncology community supports the implementation of the standards, there has been no mechanism for uniform assessment or governance. North Coast Cancer Institute's public radiation oncology service is provided across three main service centres on the north coast of NSW. With a strong focus on quality management, we embraced the opportunity to demonstrate conformity with the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards. The Local Health District's Clinical Governance units were engaged to perform assessments of our conformity with the standards and this was signed off as complete on 16 December 2013. The process of demonstrating conformity with the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards has enhanced the culture of quality in our centres. We have demonstrated that self-assessment utilising trained auditors is a viable method for centres to demonstrate conformity. National implementation of the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards will benefit individual centres and the broader radiation oncology community to improve the service delivered to our patients.

Regional cancer centre demonstrates voluntary conformity with the national Radiation Oncology Practice Standards

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manley, Stephen, E-mail: stephen.manley@ncahs.health.nsw.gov.au; Last, Andrew; Fu, Kenneth; Greenham, Stuart; Kovendy, Andrew; Shakespeare, Thomas P [North Coast Cancer Institute, Lismore, New South Wales (Australia)

2015-06-15

Radiation Oncology Practice Standards have been developed over the last 10 years and were published for use in Australia in 2011. Although the majority of the radiation oncology community supports the implementation of the standards, there has been no mechanism for uniform assessment or governance. North Coast Cancer Institute's public radiation oncology service is provided across three main service centres on the north coast of NSW. With a strong focus on quality management, we embraced the opportunity to demonstrate conformity with the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards. The Local Health District's Clinical Governance units were engaged to perform assessments of our conformity with the standards and this was signed off as complete on 16 December 2013. The process of demonstrating conformity with the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards has enhanced the culture of quality in our centres. We have demonstrated that self-assessment utilising trained auditors is a viable method for centres to demonstrate conformity. National implementation of the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards will benefit individual centres and the broader radiation oncology community to improve the service delivered to our patients.

Regional cancer centre demonstrates voluntary conformity with the national Radiation Oncology Practice Standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manley, Stephen; Last, Andrew; Fu, Kenneth; Greenham, Stuart; Kovendy, Andrew; Shakespeare, Thomas P

2015-01-01

Radiation Oncology Practice Standards have been developed over the last 10 years and were published for use in Australia in 2011. Although the majority of the radiation oncology community supports the implementation of the standards, there has been no mechanism for uniform assessment or governance. North Coast Cancer Institute's public radiation oncology service is provided across three main service centres on the north coast of NSW. With a strong focus on quality management, we embraced the opportunity to demonstrate conformity with the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards. The Local Health District's Clinical Governance units were engaged to perform assessments of our conformity with the standards and this was signed off as complete on 16 December 2013. The process of demonstrating conformity with the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards has enhanced the culture of quality in our centres. We have demonstrated that self-assessment utilising trained auditors is a viable method for centres to demonstrate conformity. National implementation of the Radiation Oncology Practice Standards will benefit individual centres and the broader radiation oncology community to improve the service delivered to our patients

75 FR 81283 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Cancellation

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Cancellation AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The meeting of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee scheduled for February 9, 2011, is...

77 FR 63839 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Cancellation

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-17

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Cancellation AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The meeting of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting scheduled for November 8, 2012, is...

The BridgeDb framework: standardized access to gene, protein and metabolite identifier mapping services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanspers Kristina

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many complementary solutions are available for the identifier mapping problem. This creates an opportunity for bioinformatics tool developers. Tools can be made to flexibly support multiple mapping services or mapping services could be combined to get broader coverage. This approach requires an interface layer between tools and mapping services. Results Here we present BridgeDb, a software framework for gene, protein and metabolite identifier mapping. This framework provides a standardized interface layer through which bioinformatics tools can be connected to different identifier mapping services. This approach makes it easier for tool developers to support identifier mapping. Mapping services can be combined or merged to support multi-omics experiments or to integrate custom microarray annotations. BridgeDb provides its own ready-to-go mapping services, both in webservice and local database forms. However, the framework is intended for customization and adaptation to any identifier mapping service. BridgeDb has already been integrated into several bioinformatics applications. Conclusion By uncoupling bioinformatics tools from mapping services, BridgeDb improves capability and flexibility of those tools. All described software is open source and available at http://www.bridgedb.org.

COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS OF CHINA’S MAINSTREAM ONLINE MAP SERVICE WEBSITES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Zhang

2012-08-01

Full Text Available With the flourish development of China's Internet market, all kinds of users for map service demand is rising continually, within it contains tremendous commercial interests. Many internet giants have got involved in the field of online map service, and defined it as an important strategic product of the company. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate these online map service websites comprehensively with a model, and analyse the problems according to the evaluation results. Then some corresponding solving measures are proposed, which provides a theoretical and application guidance for the future development of fiercely competitive online map websites. The research consists of three stages: (a the mainstream online map service websites in China are introduced and the present situation of them is analysed through visit, investigation, consultant, analysis and research. (b a whole comprehensive evaluation quota system of online map service websites from the view of functions, layout, interaction design color position and so on, combining with the data indexes such as time efficiency, accuracy, objectivity and authority. (c a comprehensive evaluation to these online map service websites is proceeded based on the fuzzy evaluation mathematical model, and the difficulty that measure the map websites quantitatively is solved.

Towards an EO-based Landslide Web Mapping and Monitoring Service

Science.gov (United States)

Hölbling, Daniel; Weinke, Elisabeth; Albrecht, Florian; Eisank, Clemens; Vecchiotti, Filippo; Friedl, Barbara; Kociu, Arben

2017-04-01

National and regional authorities and infrastructure maintainers in mountainous regions require accurate knowledge of the location and spatial extent of landslides for hazard and risk management. Information on landslides is often collected by a combination of ground surveying and manual image interpretation following landslide triggering events. However, the high workload and limited time for data acquisition result in a trade-off between completeness, accuracy and detail. Remote sensing data offers great potential for mapping and monitoring landslides in a fast and efficient manner. While facing an increased availability of high-quality Earth Observation (EO) data and new computational methods, there is still a lack in science-policy interaction and in providing innovative tools and methods that can easily be used by stakeholders and users to support their daily work. Taking up this issue, we introduce an innovative and user-oriented EO-based web service for landslide mapping and monitoring. Three central design components of the service are presented: (1) the user requirements definition, (2) the semi-automated image analysis methods implemented in the service, and (3) the web mapping application with its responsive user interface. User requirements were gathered during semi-structured interviews with regional authorities. The potential users were asked if and how they employ remote sensing data for landslide investigation and what their expectations to a landslide web mapping service regarding reliability and usability are. The interviews revealed the capability of our service for landslide documentation and mapping as well as monitoring of selected landslide sites, for example to complete and update landslide inventory maps. In addition, the users see a considerable potential for landslide rapid mapping. The user requirements analysis served as basis for the service concept definition. Optical satellite imagery from different high resolution (HR) and very high

MO-DE-304-01: The Abt Study of Medical Physicist Work Values for Radiation Oncology Physics Services: Round IV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mills, M.

2015-01-01

The Abt study of medical physicist work values for radiation oncology physics services, Round IV is completed. It supersedes the Abt III study of 2008. The 2015 Abt study measured qualified medical physicist (QMP) work associated with routine radiation oncology procedures as well as some special procedures. As before, a work model was created to allow the medical physicist to defend QMP work based on both routine and special procedures service mix. The work model can be used to develop a cost justification report for setting charges for radiation oncology physics services. The Abt study Round IV was designed to empower the medical physicist to negotiate a service or employment contract with providers based on measured national QMP workforce and staffing data. For a variety of reasons, the diagnostic imaging contingent of AAPM has had a more difficult time trying estimate workforce requirements than their therapy counterparts. Over the past several years, the Diagnostic Work and Workforce Study Subcommittee (DWWSS) has collected survey data from AAPM members, but the data have been very difficult to interpret. The DWWSS has reached out to include more AAPM volunteers to create a more full and accurate representation of actual clinical practice models on the subcommittee. Though much work remains, through hours of discussion and brainstorming, the DWWSS has somewhat of a clear path forward. This talk will provide attendees with an update on the efforts of the subcommittee. Learning Objectives: Understand the new information documented in the Abt studies. Understand how to use the Abt studies to justify medical physicist staffing. Learn relevant historical information on imaging physicist workforce. Understand the process of the DWWSS in 2014. Understand the intended path forward for the DWWSS

MO-DE-304-01: The Abt Study of Medical Physicist Work Values for Radiation Oncology Physics Services: Round IV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mills, M. [James Graham Brown Cancer Center (United States)

2015-06-15

The Abt study of medical physicist work values for radiation oncology physics services, Round IV is completed. It supersedes the Abt III study of 2008. The 2015 Abt study measured qualified medical physicist (QMP) work associated with routine radiation oncology procedures as well as some special procedures. As before, a work model was created to allow the medical physicist to defend QMP work based on both routine and special procedures service mix. The work model can be used to develop a cost justification report for setting charges for radiation oncology physics services. The Abt study Round IV was designed to empower the medical physicist to negotiate a service or employment contract with providers based on measured national QMP workforce and staffing data. For a variety of reasons, the diagnostic imaging contingent of AAPM has had a more difficult time trying estimate workforce requirements than their therapy counterparts. Over the past several years, the Diagnostic Work and Workforce Study Subcommittee (DWWSS) has collected survey data from AAPM members, but the data have been very difficult to interpret. The DWWSS has reached out to include more AAPM volunteers to create a more full and accurate representation of actual clinical practice models on the subcommittee. Though much work remains, through hours of discussion and brainstorming, the DWWSS has somewhat of a clear path forward. This talk will provide attendees with an update on the efforts of the subcommittee. Learning Objectives: Understand the new information documented in the Abt studies. Understand how to use the Abt studies to justify medical physicist staffing. Learn relevant historical information on imaging physicist workforce. Understand the process of the DWWSS in 2014. Understand the intended path forward for the DWWSS.

Practical solutions for bottlenecks in ecosystem services mapping

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Palomo, I.; Willemen, L.; Drakou, E.G.; Burkhard, B.; Crossman, Neville D.; Bellamy, Chloe; Burkhard, Kremena; Campagne, Sylvie; Dangol, Anuja; Franke, Jonas; Kulczyk, Sylwia; Le Clec'h, Solen; Malak, Dania Abdul; Munoz, Lorena; Naruševičius, Vytautas; Ottoy, Sam; Roelens, Jennifer; Sing, Louise; Thomas, Amy; Van Meerbeek, Koenraad; Verweij, Peter

2018-01-01

Ecosystem services (ES) mapping is becoming mainstream in many sustainability assessments, but its impact on real world decision-making is still limited. Robustness, end user relevance and transparency have been identified as key attributes needed for effective ES mapping. However, these

USGS Governmental Unit Boundaries Overlay Map Service from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS Governmental Unit Boundaries service from The National Map (TNM) represents major civil areas for the Nation, including States or Territories, counties (or...

Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregório, Hugo; Santos, Patricia; Pires, Isabel; Prada, Justina; Queiroga, Felisbina Luísa

2016-11-01

Client satisfaction gained great importance in health care as a measurement of service quality. One of the most popular methods to evaluate client satisfaction is the SERVQUAL inquiry which measures service quality by evaluating client expectations and services towards a service in five dimensions: Tangibles, Empathy, Assurance, Reliability and Responsiveness. In order to evaluate if owners of pets with cancer constitute a distinctive group from the general pet owner population and if these differences were perceived by the hospital staff we applied a SERVQUAL questionnaire to 51 owners of pet with cancer, 68 owners from the general pet population and 14 staff members. Owners of oncologic pets had different expectations of an ideal service granting importance to Assurance questions (6.75 vs 6.5, p= 0.045) while showing unmet needs in Reliability and Empathy dimensions. Veterinarians failed to understand these specificities and over evaluated characteristics of Tangible dimension (6.75 vs 6.25, p=0.027). Owners of pet with cancer seem to constitute a specific subpopulation with special needs and veterinary staff should invest resources towards Assurance instead of privileging tangible aspects of veterinary services. By aligning professionals expectations with those of pet owners veterinarians can achieve better client satisfaction, improved compliance and stronger doctor-owner relationships.

Application of Google Maps API service for creating web map of information retrieved from CORINE land cover databases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kilibarda Milan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Today, Google Maps API application based on Ajax technology as standard web service; facilitate users with publication interactive web maps, thus opening new possibilities in relation to the classical analogue maps. CORINE land cover databases are recognized as the fundamental reference data sets for numerious spatial analysis. The theoretical and applicable aspects of Google Maps API cartographic service are considered on the case of creating web map of change in urban areas in Belgrade and surround from 2000. to 2006. year, obtained from CORINE databases.

Payment Reform: Unprecedented and Evolving Impact on Gynecologic Oncology

OpenAIRE

Apte, Sachin M.; Patel, Kavita

2016-01-01

With the signing of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in April 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is now positioned to drive the development and implementation of sweeping changes to how physicians and hospitals are paid for the provision of oncology related services. These changes will have a long-lasting impact on the sub-specialty of gynecologic oncology, regardless of practice structure, physician employment and compensation model, or local ...

USGS US Topo Availability Overlay Map Service from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS US Topo Availability service from The National Map consists of footprints where US Topo products are currently available. Various green tints are used to...

Specialty Payment Model Opportunities and Assessment: Oncology Simulation Report.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Chapin; Chan, Chris; Huckfeldt, Peter J; Kofner, Aaron; Mulcahy, Andrew W; Pollak, Julia; Popescu, Ioana; Timbie, Justin W; Hussey, Peter S

2015-07-15

This article describes the results of a simulation analysis of a payment model for specialty oncology services that is being developed for possible testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS asked MITRE and RAND to conduct simulation analyses to preview some of the possible impacts of the payment model and to inform design decisions related to the model. The simulation analysis used an episode-level dataset based on Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims for historical oncology episodes provided to Medicare FFS beneficiaries in 2010. Under the proposed model, participating practices would continue to receive FFS payments, would also receive per-beneficiary per-month care management payments for episodes lasting up to six months, and would be eligible for performance-based payments based on per-episode spending for attributed episodes relative to a per-episode spending target. The simulation offers several insights into the proposed payment model for oncology: (1) The care management payments used in the simulation analysis-$960 total per six-month episode-represent only 4 percent of projected average total spending per episode (around $27,000 in 2016), but they are large relative to the FFS revenues of participating oncology practices, which are projected to be around $2,000 per oncology episode. By themselves, the care management payments would increase physician practices' Medicare revenues by roughly 50 percent on average. This represents a substantial new outlay for the Medicare program and a substantial new source of revenues for oncology practices. (2) For the Medicare program to break even, participating oncology practices would have to reduce utilization and intensity by roughly 4 percent. (3) The break-even point can be reduced if the care management payments are reduced or if the performance-based payments are reduced.

Online GIS services for mapping and sharing disease information

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gao, Sheng; Mioc, Darka; Anton, François

2008-01-01

Background Disease data sharing is important for the collaborative preparation, response, and recovery stages of disease control. Disease phenomena are strongly associated with spatial and temporal factors. Web-based Geographical Information Systems provide a real-time and dynamic way to represent...... and responding to disease outbreaks. To overcome these challenges in disease data mapping and sharing, the senior authors have designed an interoperable service oriented architecture based on Open Geospatial Consortium specifications to share the spatio-temporal disease information. Results A case study...... of infectious disease mapping across New Brunswick (Canada) and Maine (USA) was carried out to evaluate the proposed architecture, which uses standard Web Map Service, Styled Layer Descriptor and Web Map Context specifications. The case study shows the effectiveness of an infectious disease surveillance system...

Communication competencies of oncology nurses in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Maskor, Nor Aida; Krauss, Steven Eric; Muhamad, Mazanah; Nik Mahmood, Nik Hasnaa

2013-01-01

This paper reports on part of a large study to identify competencies of oncology nurses in Malaysia. It focuses on oncology nurses' communications-related competency. As an important cancer care team member, oncology nurses need to communicate effectively with cancer patients. Literature shows that poor communication can make patients feel anxious, uncertain and generally not satisfied with their nurses' care. This paper deliberates on the importance of effective communication by oncology nurses in the context of a public hospital. Four focus group discussions were used in this study with 17 oncology/cancer care nurses from Malaysian public hospitals. The main inclusion criterion was that the nurses had to have undergone a post-basic course in oncology, or have work experience as a cancer care nurse. The findings indicated that nurses do communicate with their patients, patients' families and doctors to provide information about the disease, cancer treatment, disease recurrence and side effects. Nurses should have good communication skills in order to build relationships as well as to provide quality services to their patients. The paper concludes by recommending how oncology nursing competencies can be improved.

Mapping social values of ecosystem services: What is behind the map?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Nahuelhual

2016-09-01

Full Text Available A growing interest in mapping the social value of ecosystem services (ES is not yet methodologically aligned with what is actually being mapped. We critically examine aspects of the social value mapping process that might influence map outcomes and limit their practical use in decision making. We rely on an empirical case of participatory mapping, for a single ES (recreation opportunities, which involves diverse stakeholders such as planners, researchers, and community representatives. Value elicitation relied on an individual open-ended interview and a mapping exercise. Interpretation of the narratives and GIS calculations of proximity, centrality, and dispersion helped in exploring the factors driving participants' answers. Narratives reveal diverse value types. Whereas planners highlighted utilitarian and aesthetic values, the answers from researchers revealed naturalistic values as well. In turn community representatives acknowledged symbolic values. When remitted to the map, these values were constrained to statements toward a much narrower set of features of the physical (e.g., volcanoes and built landscape (e.g., roads. The results suggest that mapping, as an instrumental approach toward social valuation, may capture only a subset of relevant assigned values. This outcome is the interplay between participants' characteristics, including their acquaintance with the territory and their ability with maps, and the mapping procedure itself, including the proxies used to represent the ES and the value typology chosen, the elicitation question, the cartographic features displayed on the base map, and the spatial scale.

ESTIMAP: A GIS-BASED MODEL TO MAP ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Zulian

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Policies of the European Union which affect the use or protection of natural resources increasingly need spatial data on the supply, the flow and the demand of ecosystem services. The model ESTIMAP was developed to this purpose. ESTIMAP departs from land cover and land use maps to which it adds other spatial information with the objective to map various ecosystem services. This study introduces the ESTIMAP map as tool to support the mapping and modelling of ecosystem services at European scale. Examples are provided for three regulating ecosystem services, air quality regulation, coastal protection, and pollination and one cultural ecosystem services, recreation. 

A blueprint for mapping and modelling ecosystem services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Crossman, N.; Burkhard, B.; Nedkov, S.; Willemen, L.L.J.; Petz, K.; Palomo, I.; Drakou, E.G.; Martín-Lopez, B.; McPhearson, T.; Boyanova, K.; Alkemade, R.; Egoh, B.; Dunbar, M.D.; Maes, J.

2013-01-01

The inconsistency in methods to quantify and map ecosystem services challenges the development of robust values of ecosystem services in national accounts and broader policy and natural resource management decision-making. In this paper we develop and test a blueprint to give guidance on modelling

Mapping ecosystem services in the St. Louis River Estuary

Science.gov (United States)

Sustainable management of ecosystems for the perpetual flow of services beneficial to human communities requires reliable data about from where in the ecosystem services flow. Our objective is to map ecosystem services in the St. Louis River with the overarching U.S. EPA goal of ...

Female Representation in the Academic Oncology Physician Workforce: Radiation Oncology Losing Ground to Hematology Oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmed, Awad A. [Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center University of Miami Health System, Miami, Florida (United States); Hwang, Wei-Ting [Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Holliday, Emma B. [Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States); Chapman, Christina H.; Jagsi, Reshma [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States); Thomas, Charles R. [Department of Radiation Medicine, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon (United States); Deville, Curtiland, E-mail: cdeville@jhmi.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (United States)

2017-05-01

Purpose: Our purpose was to assess comparative female representation trends for trainees and full-time faculty in the academic radiation oncology and hematology oncology workforce of the United States over 3 decades. Methods and Materials: Simple linear regression models with year as the independent variable were used to determine changes in female percentage representation per year and associated 95% confidence intervals for trainees and full-time faculty in each specialty. Results: Peak representation was 48.4% (801/1654) in 2013 for hematology oncology trainees, 39.0% (585/1499) in 2014 for hematology oncology full-time faculty, 34.8% (202/581) in 2007 for radiation oncology trainees, and 27.7% (439/1584) in 2015 for radiation oncology full-time faculty. Representation significantly increased for trainees and full-time faculty in both specialties at approximately 1% per year for hematology oncology trainees and full-time faculty and 0.3% per year for radiation oncology trainees and full-time faculty. Compared with radiation oncology, the rates were 3.84 and 2.94 times greater for hematology oncology trainees and full-time faculty, respectively. Conclusion: Despite increased female trainee and full-time faculty representation over time in the academic oncology physician workforce, radiation oncology is lagging behind hematology oncology, with trainees declining in recent years in radiation oncology; this suggests a de facto ceiling in female representation. Whether such issues as delayed or insufficient exposure, inadequate mentorship, or specialty competitiveness disparately affect female representation in radiation oncology compared to hematology oncology are underexplored and require continued investigation to ensure that the future oncologic physician workforce reflects the diversity of the population it serves.

Female Representation in the Academic Oncology Physician Workforce: Radiation Oncology Losing Ground to Hematology Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, Awad A.; Hwang, Wei-Ting; Holliday, Emma B.; Chapman, Christina H.; Jagsi, Reshma; Thomas, Charles R.; Deville, Curtiland

2017-01-01

Purpose: Our purpose was to assess comparative female representation trends for trainees and full-time faculty in the academic radiation oncology and hematology oncology workforce of the United States over 3 decades. Methods and Materials: Simple linear regression models with year as the independent variable were used to determine changes in female percentage representation per year and associated 95% confidence intervals for trainees and full-time faculty in each specialty. Results: Peak representation was 48.4% (801/1654) in 2013 for hematology oncology trainees, 39.0% (585/1499) in 2014 for hematology oncology full-time faculty, 34.8% (202/581) in 2007 for radiation oncology trainees, and 27.7% (439/1584) in 2015 for radiation oncology full-time faculty. Representation significantly increased for trainees and full-time faculty in both specialties at approximately 1% per year for hematology oncology trainees and full-time faculty and 0.3% per year for radiation oncology trainees and full-time faculty. Compared with radiation oncology, the rates were 3.84 and 2.94 times greater for hematology oncology trainees and full-time faculty, respectively. Conclusion: Despite increased female trainee and full-time faculty representation over time in the academic oncology physician workforce, radiation oncology is lagging behind hematology oncology, with trainees declining in recent years in radiation oncology; this suggests a de facto ceiling in female representation. Whether such issues as delayed or insufficient exposure, inadequate mentorship, or specialty competitiveness disparately affect female representation in radiation oncology compared to hematology oncology are underexplored and require continued investigation to ensure that the future oncologic physician workforce reflects the diversity of the population it serves.

Female Representation in the Academic Oncology Physician Workforce: Radiation Oncology Losing Ground to Hematology Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Awad A; Hwang, Wei-Ting; Holliday, Emma B; Chapman, Christina H; Jagsi, Reshma; Thomas, Charles R; Deville, Curtiland

2017-05-01

Our purpose was to assess comparative female representation trends for trainees and full-time faculty in the academic radiation oncology and hematology oncology workforce of the United States over 3 decades. Simple linear regression models with year as the independent variable were used to determine changes in female percentage representation per year and associated 95% confidence intervals for trainees and full-time faculty in each specialty. Peak representation was 48.4% (801/1654) in 2013 for hematology oncology trainees, 39.0% (585/1499) in 2014 for hematology oncology full-time faculty, 34.8% (202/581) in 2007 for radiation oncology trainees, and 27.7% (439/1584) in 2015 for radiation oncology full-time faculty. Representation significantly increased for trainees and full-time faculty in both specialties at approximately 1% per year for hematology oncology trainees and full-time faculty and 0.3% per year for radiation oncology trainees and full-time faculty. Compared with radiation oncology, the rates were 3.84 and 2.94 times greater for hematology oncology trainees and full-time faculty, respectively. Despite increased female trainee and full-time faculty representation over time in the academic oncology physician workforce, radiation oncology is lagging behind hematology oncology, with trainees declining in recent years in radiation oncology; this suggests a de facto ceiling in female representation. Whether such issues as delayed or insufficient exposure, inadequate mentorship, or specialty competitiveness disparately affect female representation in radiation oncology compared to hematology oncology are underexplored and require continued investigation to ensure that the future oncologic physician workforce reflects the diversity of the population it serves. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Radiation oncology medical physics education and training in Queensland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

West, M.P.; Thomas, B.J.

2011-01-01

Full text: The training education and accreditation program (TEAP) for radiation oncology commenced formally in Queensland in 2008 with an initial intake of nine registrars. In 2011 there are 17 registrars across four ACPSEM accredited Queensland Health departments (Mater Radiation Oncology Centre, Princess Alexandria Hospital, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Townsville Hospital). The Queensland Statewide Cancer Services Plan 2008-2017 outlines significant expansion to oncology services including increases in total number of treatment machines from 14 (2007) to 29-31 (2017) across existing and new clinical departments. A direct implication of this will be the number of qualified ROMPs needed to maintain and develop medical physics services. This presentation will outline ongoing work in the ROMP education and Training portfolio to develop, facilitate and provide training activities for ROMPs undertaking TEAP in the Queensland public system. Initiatives such as Department of Health and Aging scholarships for medical physics students, and the educational challenges associated with competency attainment will also be discussed in greater detail.

Oncology Advanced Practitioners Bring Advanced Community Oncology Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Vogel, Wendy H

2016-01-01

Oncology care is becoming increasingly complex. The interprofessional team concept of care is necessary to meet projected oncology professional shortages, as well as to provide superior oncology care. The oncology advanced practitioner (AP) is a licensed health care professional who has completed advanced training in nursing or pharmacy or has completed training as a physician assistant. Oncology APs increase practice productivity and efficiency. Proven to be cost effective, APs may perform varied roles in an oncology practice. Integrating an AP into an oncology practice requires forethought given to the type of collaborative model desired, role expectations, scheduling, training, and mentoring.

Mapping ecosystem services' values : Current practice and future prospects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schägner, Jan Philipp; Brander, Luke; Maes, Joachim; Hartje, Volkmar

Mapping of ecosystem services' (ESS) values means valuing ESS in monetary terms across a relatively large geographical area and assessing how values vary across space. Thereby, mapping of ESS values reveals additional information as compared to traditional site-specific ESS valuation, which is

Mapping ecosystem services provided by benthic habitats in the European North Atlantic Ocean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ibon eGalparsoro

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Mapping and assessing the ecosystem services provided by benthic habitats are a highly valuable source of information for understanding their current and potential benefits to society. The main objective of this investigation is to assess and map the ecosystem services provided by benthic habitats of the European North Atlantic Ocean, in the context of Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES programme, the European Biodiversity Strategy and the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. In total, 62 habitats have been analysed in relation to 12 ecosystem services over 1.7 million km2. Results indicated that more than 90% of the mapped area provides biodiversity maintenance and food provision services; meanwhile grounds providing reproduction and nursery services are limited to half of the mapped area. Benthic habitats generally provide more services closer to shore than offshore and in shallower waters. This gradient is likely to be explained by difficult access (i.e. distance and depth and lack of scientific knowledge for most of the services provided by distant benthic habitats. This research has provided a first assessment of the benthic ecosystem services at Atlantic European scale, with the provision of ecosystem services maps and their general spatial distribution patterns. Related to the objectives of this research, the conclusions are: (i benthic habitats provide a diverse set of ecosystem services, being the food provision and biodiversity maintenance services the ones that are more extensively represented. In addition, other regulating and cultural services are provided in a more limited area; and (ii the ecosystem services assessment categories are significantly related to the distance to the coast and with depth (higher near the coast and in shallow waters.

Focusing on cancer patients' intentions to use psycho-oncological support: a longitudinal, mixed-methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tondorf, T; Grossert, A; Rothschild, S I; Koller, M T; Rochlitz, C; Kiss, A; Schaefert, R; Meinlschmidt, G; Hunziker, S; Zwahlen, D

2018-04-15

Distress screening programs aim to ensure appropriate psycho-oncological support for cancer patients, but many eligible patients do not use these services. To improve distress management, we need to better understand patients' supportive care needs. In this paper, we report the first key finding from a longitudinal study that focused on patients' intentions to use psycho-oncological support, and its association with distress and uptake of the psycho-oncology service. We conducted a prospective, observational study in an Oncology Outpatient Clinic and assessed distress, intention to use psycho-oncological support, and uptake of the psycho-oncology service using the Distress Thermometer (DT), a semi-structured interview, and hospital records. We analyzed data with a mixed-methods approach. Of 333 patients (mean age 61 years; 55% male; 54% DT≥5), 25% intended to use the psycho-oncology service (yes), 33% were ambivalent (maybe), and 42% reported no intention (no). Overall, 23% had attended the psycho-oncology service four months later. Ambivalent patients reported higher distress than patients with no intention (odds ratio (OR)=1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI)[1.06-1.32]) but showed significantly lower uptake behavior than patients with an intention (OR=14.04, 95%CI [6.74-29.24]). Qualitative analyses revealed that ambivalent patients (maybe) emphasized fears and uncertainties, while patients with clear intentions (yes/no) emphasized knowledge, attitudes, and coping concepts. We identified a vulnerable group of ambivalent patients with high distress levels and low uptake behavior. To optimize distress screening programs, we suggest addressing and discussing patients' supportive care needs in routine clinical practice. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

[NEURO-ONCOLOGY A NEW FIELD IN DAVIDOFF CANCER CENTER AT RABIN MEDICAL CENTER].

Science.gov (United States)

Yust-Katz, Shlomit; Limon, Dror; Abu-Shkara, Ramez; Siegal, Tali

2017-08-01

Neuro-oncology is a subspecialty attracting physicians from medical disciplines such as neurology, neurosurgery, pediatrics, oncology, and radiotherapy. It deals with diagnosis and management of primary brain tumors, as well as metastatic and non-metastatic neurological manifestations that frequently affect cancer patients including brain metastases, paraneoplastic syndromes and neurological complications of cancer treatment. A neuro-oncology unit was established in Davidoff Cancer Center at Rabin Medical Center. It provides a multidisciplinary team approach for management of brain tumors and services, such as expert outpatient clinics and inpatient consultations for the departments of oncology, hematology, bone marrow transplantation and other departments in the Rabin Medical Center. In addition, expert consultation is frequently provided to other hospitals that treat cancer patients with neurological manifestations. The medical disciplines that closely collaborate for the daily management of neuro-oncology patients include radiotherapy, hematology, oncology, neuro-surgery, neuro-radiology and neuro-pathology. The neuro-oncology center is also involved in clinical and laboratory research conducted in collaboration with researchers in Israel and abroad. The new service contributes substantially to the improved care of cancer patients and to the advance of research topics in the field of neuro-oncology.

Requirements for a text that integrates the oncological pharmacy into the Cuban national health care system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arbesú Michelena, Ma Antonieta; Sedeño Argilagos, C. Caridad; Fernández Argüelles, Rogelio Alberto

2015-01-01

Introduction: oncological patients are cared for at all health care system levels. The pharmaceutical professional requires unifying instructions for his/her work in order to be part of the health team. Currently, there is no domestic literature for the pharmaceutical services, mainly that one devoted to oncological area, which comprises in just one text all the functional requirements and directs his/her professional daily work. Objective: to verify the requirement for national integral literature for the development of the oncological pharmaceutical service work. Methods: one two-question questionnaire was designed to assess the knowledge of experts and another with eight questions to learn about the requirement for literature on oncological pharmaceutical service adapted to the conditions of the Cuban health system. The questionnaires were e-mailed to 15 pharmacists who had an outstanding experience in several activities of the oncological pharmacy. Results: ten university experts, with 14.5 years of work experience as average in assistance activities from three provinces, responded. Two were excluded because their low level of information on oncological activity; poor incorporation of the pharmacist involved in services to activities inherent to his/her formation. All the experts believed that it was necessary to have a comprehensive text on the tasks, functions and activities linked to the oncological patient care, and to use the formal learning pathways for updating. A positive association with the favorable answers (1.40) was noticed. Conclusions: there exists a need for a text as a guide of the oncological pharmaceutical services according to the demands of the Cuban health care system. (author) 1

Global Mapping of Provisioning Ecosystem Services

Science.gov (United States)

Bingham, Lisa; Straatsma, Menno; Karssenberg, Derek

2016-04-01

Attributing monetary value to ecosystem services for decision-making has become more relevant as a basis for decision-making. There are a number of problematic aspects of the calculations, including consistency of economy represented (e.g., purchasing price, production price) and determining which ecosystem subservices to include in a valuation. While several authors have proposed methods for calculating ecosystem services and calculations are presented for global and regional studies, the calculations are mostly broken down into biomes and regions without showing spatially explicit results. The key to decision-making for governments is to be able to make spatial-based decisions because a large spatial variation may exist within a biome or region. Our objective was to compute the spatial distribution of global ecosystem services based on 89 subservices. Initially, only the provisioning ecosystem service category is presented. The provisioning ecosystem service category was calculated using 6 ecosystem services (food, water, raw materials, genetic resources, medical resources, and ornaments) divided into 41 subservices. Global data sets were obtained from a variety of governmental and research agencies for the year 2005 because this is the most data complete and recent year available. All data originated either in tabular or grid formats and were disaggregated to 10 km cell length grids. A lookup table with production values by subservice by country were disaggregated over the economic zone (either marine, land, or combination) based on the spatial existence of the subservice (e.g. forest cover, crop land, non-arable land). Values express the production price in international dollars per hectare. The ecosystem services and the ecosystem service category(ies) maps may be used to show spatial variation of a service within and between countries as well as to specifically show the values within specific regions (e.g. countries, continents), biomes (e.g. coastal, forest

Radiation oncology: An Irish hospitals approach to supporting patients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, Caragh [Cork University Hospital (Ireland)], E-mail: caragh.miller@tcd.ie

2009-02-15

Despite advances in medical technology, cancer is still one of the leading causes of death globally, leaving many patients to deal with the emotional and psychological aspects associated with cancer and its treatment [Department of Health and Children. A strategy for cancer control in Ireland. National Cancer Forum. Dublin; 2006]. The recognition and management of psychological conditions are an integral part of comprehensive cancer care. As a result, the Health Services Executive as part of the continuing expansion of Cork Radiation Oncology Department created the role of Information and Support Radiation Therapist. This post was specially created during June 2005 to facilitate the smooth entry into the treatment for patients and family members experiencing radiotherapy for the first time. Working alongside the oncology nurses and other health professionals the Information and Support Radiation Therapist aims to provide vital education/information and support to patients and their families. The provision of this new service for patients enables departments to adopt a holistic approach to treatment. This research identifies the cancer services and psychological support services in Ireland. Up-to-date audits of the new patient services established in the Cork Radiation Oncology Department and their psychological contribution towards cancer development and treatment are also discussed.

Radiation oncology: An Irish hospitals approach to supporting patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, Caragh

2009-01-01

Despite advances in medical technology, cancer is still one of the leading causes of death globally, leaving many patients to deal with the emotional and psychological aspects associated with cancer and its treatment [Department of Health and Children. A strategy for cancer control in Ireland. National Cancer Forum. Dublin; 2006]. The recognition and management of psychological conditions are an integral part of comprehensive cancer care. As a result, the Health Services Executive as part of the continuing expansion of Cork Radiation Oncology Department created the role of Information and Support Radiation Therapist. This post was specially created during June 2005 to facilitate the smooth entry into the treatment for patients and family members experiencing radiotherapy for the first time. Working alongside the oncology nurses and other health professionals the Information and Support Radiation Therapist aims to provide vital education/information and support to patients and their families. The provision of this new service for patients enables departments to adopt a holistic approach to treatment. This research identifies the cancer services and psychological support services in Ireland. Up-to-date audits of the new patient services established in the Cork Radiation Oncology Department and their psychological contribution towards cancer development and treatment are also discussed

Testing Metadata Existence of Web Map Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Růžička

2011-05-01

Full Text Available For a general user is quite common to use data sources available on WWW. Almost all GIS software allow to use data sources available via Web Map Service (ISO/OGC standard interface. The opportunity to use different sources and combine them brings a lot of problems that were discussed many times on conferences or journal papers. One of the problem is based on non existence of metadata for published sources. The question was: were the discussions effective? The article is partly based on comparison of situation for metadata between years 2007 and 2010. Second part of the article is focused only on 2010 year situation. The paper is created in a context of research of intelligent map systems, that can be used for an automatic or a semi-automatic map creation or a map evaluation.

Evaluation of flood hazard maps in print and web mapping services as information tools in flood risk communication

Science.gov (United States)

Hagemeier-Klose, M.; Wagner, K.

2009-04-01

Flood risk communication with the general public and the population at risk is getting increasingly important for flood risk management, especially as a precautionary measure. This is also underlined by the EU Flood Directive. The flood related authorities therefore have to develop adjusted information tools which meet the demands of different user groups. This article presents the formative evaluation of flood hazard maps and web mapping services according to the specific requirements and needs of the general public using the dynamic-transactional approach as a theoretical framework. The evaluation was done by a mixture of different methods; an analysis of existing tools, a creative workshop with experts and laymen and an online survey. The currently existing flood hazard maps or web mapping services or web GIS still lack a good balance between simplicity and complexity with adequate readability and usability for the public. Well designed and associative maps (e.g. using blue colours for water depths) which can be compared with past local flood events and which can create empathy in viewers, can help to raise awareness, to heighten the activity and knowledge level or can lead to further information seeking. Concerning web mapping services, a linkage between general flood information like flood extents of different scenarios and corresponding water depths and real time information like gauge levels is an important demand by users. Gauge levels of these scenarios are easier to understand than the scientifically correct return periods or annualities. The recently developed Bavarian web mapping service tries to integrate these requirements.

Evaluation of flood hazard maps in print and web mapping services as information tools in flood risk communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Hagemeier-Klose

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Flood risk communication with the general public and the population at risk is getting increasingly important for flood risk management, especially as a precautionary measure. This is also underlined by the EU Flood Directive. The flood related authorities therefore have to develop adjusted information tools which meet the demands of different user groups. This article presents the formative evaluation of flood hazard maps and web mapping services according to the specific requirements and needs of the general public using the dynamic-transactional approach as a theoretical framework. The evaluation was done by a mixture of different methods; an analysis of existing tools, a creative workshop with experts and laymen and an online survey.

The currently existing flood hazard maps or web mapping services or web GIS still lack a good balance between simplicity and complexity with adequate readability and usability for the public. Well designed and associative maps (e.g. using blue colours for water depths which can be compared with past local flood events and which can create empathy in viewers, can help to raise awareness, to heighten the activity and knowledge level or can lead to further information seeking. Concerning web mapping services, a linkage between general flood information like flood extents of different scenarios and corresponding water depths and real time information like gauge levels is an important demand by users. Gauge levels of these scenarios are easier to understand than the scientifically correct return periods or annualities. The recently developed Bavarian web mapping service tries to integrate these requirements.

Use of Electronic Consultation System to Improve Access to Care in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Donna L; Murto, Kimmo; Kurzawa, Julia; Liddy, Clare; Keely, Erin; Lai, Lillian

2017-10-01

Electronic consultations (eConsult) allow for communication between primary care providers and specialists in an asynchronous manner. This study examined provider satisfaction, topics of interest, and efficiency of eConsult in pediatric hematology/oncology in Ottawa, Canada. We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of all eConsult cases directed to pediatric hematology/oncology specialists using the Champlain BASE (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service from June 1, 2014 to May 31, 2016. There were 1064 eConsults to pediatrics during the study timeperiod and pediatric hematology/oncology consults accounted for 8% (85). During the same study timeperiod, 524 consults were seen in the pediatric hematology/oncology clinic. The majority of the eConsults were for hematology (90.5%) in contrast to oncology topics (9.5%). The most common topics were anemia, hemoglobinopathy, bleeding disorder, and thrombotic state. Primary care providers rated the eConsult service very highly, and their comments were very positive. The eConsult service resulted in deferral of 40% of consults originally contemplated to require a face-to-face specialist visit. This study showed successful implementation and use of the eConsult service for pediatric hematology/oncology and resulted in avoidance of a large number of face-to-face consultation. The common topics identified areas for continuing medical education.

Mapping ecosystem services in the St. Louis River estuary (presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Management of ecosystems for sustainable provision of services beneficial to human communities requires reliable data about from where in the ecosystem services flow. Our objective is to map ecosystem services in the St. Louis River with the overarching EPA goal of community sust...

Mapping Ecosystem Services for Land Use Planning, the Case of Central Kalimantan

Science.gov (United States)

Sumarga, Elham; Hein, Lars

2014-07-01

Indonesia is subject to rapid land use change. One of the main causes for the conversion of land is the rapid expansion of the oil palm sector. Land use change involves a progressive loss of forest cover, with major impacts on biodiversity and global CO2 emissions. Ecosystem services have been proposed as a concept that would facilitate the identification of sustainable land management options, however, the scale of land conversion and its spatial diversity pose particular challenges in Indonesia. The objective of this paper is to analyze how ecosystem services can be mapped at the provincial scale, focusing on Central Kalimantan, and to examine how ecosystem services maps can be used for a land use planning. Central Kalimantan is subject to rapid deforestation including the loss of peatland forests and the provincial still lacks a comprehensive land use plan. We examine how seven key ecosystem services can be mapped and modeled at the provincial scale, using a variety of models, and how large scale ecosystem services maps can support the identification of options for sustainable expansion of palm oil production.

Medical oncology future plan of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology: challenges and future needs of the Spanish oncologists.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivera, F; Andres, R; Felip, E; Garcia-Campelo, R; Lianes, P; Llombart, A; Piera, J M; Puente, J; Rodriguez, C A; Vera, R; Virizuela, J A; Martin, M; Garrido, P

2017-04-01

The SEOM Future Plan is aimed at identifying the main challenges, trends and needs of the medical oncology speciality over the next years, including potential oncologist workforce shortages, and proposing recommendations to overcome them. The estimations of the required medical oncologists workforce are based on an updated Medical Oncologist Register in Spain, Medical Oncology Departments activity data, dedication times and projected cancer incidence. Challenges, needs and future recommendations were drawn from an opinion survey and an advisory board. A shortage of 211 FTE medical oncologist specialists has been established. To maintain an optimal ratio of 158 new cases/FTE, medical oncology workforce should reach 1881 FTE by 2035. Main recommendations to face the growing demand and complexity of oncology services include a yearly growth of 2.5% of medical oncologist's workforce until 2035, and development and application of more accurate quality indicators for cancer care and health outcomes measure.

Practical solutions for bottlenecks in ecosystem services mapping

OpenAIRE

Palomo,Ignacio; Willemen,Louise; Drakou,Evangelia; Burkhard,Benjamin; Crossman,Neville; Bellamy,Chloe; Burkhard,Kremena; Campagne,C. Sylvie; Dangol,Anuja; Franke,Jonas; Kulczyk,Sylwia; Le Clec'h,Solen; Malak,Dania; Muñoz,Lorena; Narusevicius,Vytautas

2018-01-01

Backgroun Ecosystem services (ES) mapping is becoming mainstream in many sustainability assessments, but its impact on real world decision-making is still limited. Robustness, enduser relevance and transparency have been identified as key attributes needed for effective ES mapping. However, these requirements are not always met due to multiple challenges, referred to here as bottlenecks, that scientists, practitioners, policy makers and users from other public and private sectors encounter a...

Cancer Patients and Oncology Nursing: Perspectives of Oncology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background and Aim: Burnout and exhaustion is a frequent problem in oncology nursing. The aim of this study is to evaluate the aspects of oncology nurses about their profession in order to enhance the standards of oncology nursing. Materials and Methods: This survey was conducted with 70 oncology nurses working at ...

Integrating Expert Knowledge into Mapping Ecosystem Services Trade-offs for Sustainable Forest Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrienne Grêt-Regamey

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Mountain ecosystems are highly sensitive to global change. In fact, the continued capacity of mountain regions to provide goods and services to society is threatened by the impact of environmental changes on ecosystems. Although mapping ecosystem services values is known to support sustainable resource management, the integration of spatially explicit local expert knowledge on ecosystem dynamics and social responses to global changes has not yet been integrated in the modeling process. This contribution demonstrates the importance of integrating local knowledge into the spatially explicit valuation of ecosystem services. Knowledge acquired by expert surveys flows into a GIS-based Bayesian Network for valuing forest ecosystem services under a land-use and a climate change scenario in a case study in the Swiss Alps. Results show that including expert knowledge in ecosystem services mapping not only reduces uncertainties considerably, but also has an important effect on the ecosystem services values. Particularly the iterative process between integrating expert knowledge into the modeling process and mapping ecosystem services guarantees a continuous improvement of ecosystem services values maps while opening a new way for mutual learning between scientists and stakeholders which might support adaptive resource management.

Information technology resource management in radiation oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Siochi, R Alfredo; Balter, Peter; Bloch, Charles D; Bushe, Harry S; Mayo, Charles S; Curran, Bruce H; Feng, Wenzheng; Kagadis, George C; Kirby, Thomas H; Stern, Robin L

2009-09-02

The ever-increasing data demands in a radiation oncology (RO) clinic require medical physicists to have a clearer understanding of the information technology (IT) resource management issues. Clear lines of collaboration and communication among administrators, medical physicists, IT staff, equipment service engineers and vendors need to be established. In order to develop a better understanding of the clinical needs and responsibilities of these various groups, an overview of the role of IT in RO is provided. This is followed by a list of IT related tasks and a resource map. The skill set and knowledge required to implement these tasks are described for the various RO professionals. Finally, various models for assessing one's IT resource needs are described. The exposition of ideas in this white paper is intended to be broad, in order to raise the level of awareness of the RO community; the details behind these concepts will not be given here and are best left to future task group reports.

Web Map Services (WMS) Global Mosaic

Science.gov (United States)

Percivall, George; Plesea, Lucian

2003-01-01

The WMS Global Mosaic provides access to imagery of the global landmass using an open standard for web mapping. The seamless image is a mosaic of Landsat 7 scenes; geographically-accurate with 30 and 15 meter resolutions. By using the OpenGIS Web Map Service (WMS) interface, any organization can use the global mosaic as a layer in their geospatial applications. Based on a trade study, an implementation approach was chosen that extends a previously developed WMS hosting a Landsat 5 CONUS mosaic developed by JPL. The WMS Global Mosaic supports the NASA Geospatial Interoperability Office goal of providing an integrated digital representation of the Earth, widely accessible for humanity's critical decisions.

What Do Pre-Service Physics Teachers Know and Think about Concept Mapping?

Science.gov (United States)

Didis, Nilüfer; Özcan, Özgür; Azar, Ali

2014-01-01

In order to use concept maps in physics classes effectively, teachers' knowledge and ideas about concept mapping are as important as the physics knowledge used in mapping. For this reason, we aimed to examine pre-service physics teachers' knowledge on concept mapping, their ideas about the implementation of concept mapping in physics…

PREVENTION OF ONCOLOGICAL DISEASES AS THE BASIS OF INTERACTION OF ONCOLOGICAL SERVICE WITH PRIMARY LINK OF HEALTH CARE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. M. Aleksandrova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Malignant neoplasms (MN are the second cause of death for the population of Russia, resulted in 15.5% of all deaths in 2015. Their share in the structure of the male population mortality rate was 16.4%, female — 14.4%. Among both sexes, deaths of working age, the proportion of deaths from MN was 16.0%, among women of reproductive age — 16.3%. More than half of the working age population of deaths in Russia falls on the disease from the group of preventable death, and a third — to preventable causes, depending on the primary and secondary prevention, quality of care, along with a high prevalence of behavioral risk factors (RF, demographic characteristics, marked medical and social reasons for the high mortality rate of the MN: late uptake of the population for health care, lack of alertness in oncology healthcare professionals, patients defects in routing.The leading factor in increasing life expectancy is prevention. Today, prevention is regarded as active method of strengthening and preservation of health, and the currently existing approaches in promoting healthy life mostly only directed at the prevention of behavioral risk factors: tobacco use, poor diet, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol. Experts estimate the impact on them will prevent, at least 40% of the cases of MN.In Russia we have a 3-step system of health care. In general preventive health orientation is implemented on the 1st level: in the provision of primary health care. In this regard, particular attention should be paid to the implementation of measures for specific clinical examination of the adult population, which plays an important role in the early detection of both the disease and the risk factors for their development. Properly organized conduct of the clinical examination can provide a substantial, up to 30%, the contribution to the reduction of total mortality, including mortality from MN. The necessity of increasing the role of the oncology service

Program for Critical Technologies in Breast Oncology

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Costa, Jose

1997-01-01

In Year 3 of The Program for Critical Technologies in Breast Oncology (PCTBO), we have expanded services that were initiated in July 1994 to establish a core technical and tissue procurement resource that: (1...

Habitat Scale Mapping of Fisheries Ecosystem Service Values in Estuaries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timothy G. O'Higgins

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Little is known about the variability of ecosystem service values at spatial scales most relevant to local decision makers. Competing definitions of ecosystem services, the paucity of ecological and economic information, and the lack of standardization in methodology are major obstacles to applying the ecosystem-services approach at the estuary scale. We present a standardized method that combines habitat maps and habitat-faunal associations to estimate ecosystem service values for recreational and commercial fisheries in estuaries. Three case studies in estuaries on the U.S. west coast (Yaquina Bay, Oregon, east coast (Lagoon Pond, Massachusetts, and the Gulf of Mexico (Weeks Bay, Alabama are presented to illustrate our method's rigor and limitations using available data. The resulting spatially explicit maps of fisheries ecosystem service values show within and between estuary variations in the value of estuarine habitat types that can be used to make better informed resource-management decisions.

Lay beliefs on Polish oncology in the evaluation of healthy individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Małgorzata Synowiec-Piłat

2017-12-01

Negative assessment of Polish oncology perpetuates the fear of cancer in society. There is a need for constant improvement of the quality of medical oncology services, for building public trust in physicians, to fight inequalities in health, and to take into account the lay perspectives in developing strategies to combat cancer.

Analysis of oncology research from 2001 to 2010: a scientometric perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Hongfang; Yu, Qi; Bo, Xiaoming; Duan, Zhiguang

2013-04-01

Over the past half-century, the incidence of tumours has increased, resulting in cancer becoming one of the most lethal diseases in humans. In the present study, we elucidated the status of oncology research from 2001 to 2010. Studies published in 30 representative oncology journals were retrieved from the Web of Science (2001-2010) to compose our dataset. Knowledge domain visualisation, co-citation analysis and social network analysis methods were used. By mapping the oncology research performed from 2001 to 2010, we identified the primary research centres, including the top 20 institutions and countries and the 4 major oncology research fronts: i) the mechanism of abnormal oncogene expression; ii) tumour metastasis and angiogenesis; iii) the relationship between cancer cells and apoptosis; and iv) tumour vaccines. We also identified the 36 most collaborative academic communities, and multiple myeloma, angiogenesis and acute lymphocytic leukaemia were found to be the focuses of collaborative research in oncology from 2001 to 2010. Over the past 10 years, America has led oncology research, while China is the sole developing country to be ranked in the top 10. Analyses of the main research centres and forefronts may assist researchers in addressing these forefronts and ascertaining the developing trends in oncology. Analysis of the academic communities performing oncology research may provide scientific evidence and suggestions for policymakers to select the most prolific academic groups and leaders and to effectively manage and finance future oncology research. These selected groups and individuals will carry out additional joint undertakings and solve complex problems encountered in oncology research.

Mapping Cultural Ecosystem Services in Vilnius using Hot-Spot Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Paulo; Depellegrin, Daniel; Egarter-Vigl, Lukas; Oliva, Marc; Misiune, Ieva; Keesstra, Saskia; Estebaranz, Ferran; Cerda, Artemi

2017-04-01

Cultural services in urban areas are very important to promote tourism activities and develop the economy. These activities are fundamental for the sustainability of the urban areas since can represent an important monetary source. However, one of the major threats to the sustainability of cultural services is the high amount of visitants that can lead to a degradation of the services provided (Depellegrin et al., 2016). Mapping the potential of cultural ecosystems services is fundamental to assess the capacity that the territory have to provide it. Previous works used land use classification to identify the ecosystem services potential, and revealed to be a good methodology to attribute to each type of land use a specific capacity (Burkhard et al., 2008). The objective of this work is to map the cultural services in Vilnius area using a hot-spot analysis. Ecosystem services potential was assessed using the matrix developed by Burkhard et al. (2009), which ranks ES capacity from 0= no capacity to 5=very high relevant capacity to a different land use type. The results showed that with the exception of Cultural Heritage ecosystem services that had a random pattern (Z-score=0.62, pTourism (Z-score=4.02, pReligious and Spiritual (Z-score=3.80, pTourism ecosystem services had the maximum spatial correlation at the distance of 5125.12 m, Landscape Aesthetics at 3495.70 m, Knowledge Systems at 5218.66 m, Religious and Spiritual at 3495.70 m, Cultural Heritage at 6746.17 m and Natural Heritage at 6205.82 m. This showed that the cultural services studied have a different spatial correlation. References Burkhard B, Kroll F, Müller F, Windhorst W. 2009. Landscapes' capacities to provide ecosystem services- a concept for land-cover based assessments. Landscape Online. 15, 1-22. Depellegrin, D.A., Pereira, P., Misiune, I., Egarter-Vigl, L. Mapping Ecosystem Services potential in Lithuania. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 23, 441-455.

Mapping innovation processes: Visual techniques for opening and presenting the black box of service innovation processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Anne Rørbæk

2017-01-01

This chapter argues for the usefulness of visual mapping techniques for performing qualitative analysis of complex service innovation processes. Different mapping formats are presented, namely, matrices, networks, process maps, situational analysis maps and temporal situational analysis maps....... For the purpose of researching service innovation processes, the three latter formats are argued to be particularly interesting. Process maps can give an overview of different periods and milestones in a process in one carefully organized location. Situational analysis maps and temporal situational analysis maps...... can open up complexities of service innovation processes, as well as close them down for presentational purposes. The mapping formats presented are illustrated by displaying maps from an exemplary research project, and the chapter is concluded with a brief discussion of the limitations and pitfalls...

Total centralisation and optimisation of an oncology management suite via Citrix®

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

James, C; Frantzis, J; Fenton, P; Ripps, L

2014-01-01

The management of patient information and treatment planning is traditionally an intra-departmental requirement of a radiation oncology service. Epworth Radiation Oncology systems must support the transient nature of Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs). This unique work practice created challenges when implementing the vision of a completely paperless solution that allows for a responsive and efficient service delivery. ARIA ® and Eclipse TM (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) have been deployed across four dedicated Citrix ® (Citrix Systems, Santa Clara, CA, USA) servers allowing VMOs to access these applications remotely. A range of paperless solutions were developed within ARIA ® to facilitate clinical and organisational management whilst optimising efficient work practices. The IT infrastructure and paperless workflow has enabled VMOs to securely access the Varian TM (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) oncology software and experience full functionality from any location on multiple devices. This has enhanced access to patient information and improved the responsiveness of the service. Epworth HealthCare has developed a unique solution to enable remote access to a centralised oncology management suite, while maintaining a secure and paperless working environment.

A Road Map for Empowering Undergraduates to Practice Service Leadership through Service-Learning in Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Snell, Robin Stanley; Chan, Maureen Yin Lee; Ma, Carol Hok Ka; Chan, Carman Ka Man

2015-01-01

We present a road map for providing course-embedded service-learning team projects as opportunities for undergraduates to practice as service leaders in Asia and beyond. Basic foundations are that projects address authentic problems or needs, partner organization representatives (PORs) indicate availability for ongoing consultation, students…

Mapping and modelling ecosystem services for science, policy and practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burkhard, B.; Crossman, N.; Nedkov, S.; Petz, K.; Alkemade, R.

2013-01-01

Ecosystem services are a significant research and policy topic and there are many modelling and mapping approaches aimed at understanding the stocks, demands and flows of ecosystem services on different spatial and temporal scales. The integration of geo-biophysical processes and structure

Preparation of intravenous cytostatic mixtures: one-year work experience at the Pharmaceutical Service of the Nacional Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arbesu Michelena, Antonieta; Jimenez Rodriguez, Deise; Guzman Descondido, Anisley; Masso Maulin, Kenia

2008-01-01

From October 2006 to September 2007, which marked the beginning of the preparation of intravenous cytostatic mixtures by the Pharmaceutical Service of the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology, a number of results were achieved and then considered for analysis in this paper. The selected indicators included the number of detected and/or avoided medication errors, cytostatics consumption, therapies recovered through centralized preparation and the implementation of Good Practices of Preparation and Pharmacy. The results were compared with those of similar periods of time in previous years. It was observed that the involvement of the pharmacist in the oncological chemotherapy team contributed to recovering costly therapies such as 80 mg Docetaxel, 300 mg Paclitaxel and 150 mg Transtuzomab ampules. One hundred and twenty one patients could potentially benefit from these therapies, mainly those suffering breast cancer. The consumption of cytostatic drugs such as 1 mg Vincristine and 15 mg Bleomycin ampules decreased; the application of technical and economic control evidenced an increased use of 200 mg Cyclophosphamide and 10 mg Cisplatine ampules. Besides, 1,3% medication errors in prescription was detected and avoided, although this is still a high figure. It was concluded that the involvement of a pharmacist in the medical team improves the quality of service in those hospitals that care for oncological patients. It was suggested that a pharmacist should be incorporated into the medical teams of other hospital centers throughout the country since this encourages the implementation of Good Practices of Preparation and contributes to minimizing medication errors. (Author)

2003 survey of Canadian radiation oncology residents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yee, Don; Fairchild, Alysa; Keyes, Mira; Butler, Jim; Dundas, George

2005-01-01

Purpose: Radiation oncology's popularity as a career in Canada has surged in the past 5 years. Consequently, resident numbers in Canadian radiation oncology residencies are at all-time highs. This study aimed to survey Canadian radiation oncology residents about their opinions of their specialty and training experiences. Methods and Materials: Residents of Canadian radiation oncology residencies that enroll trainees through the Canadian Resident Matching Service were identified from a national database. Residents were mailed an anonymous survey. Results: Eight of 101 (7.9%) potential respondents were foreign funded. Fifty-two of 101 (51.5%) residents responded. A strong record of graduating its residents was the most important factor residents considered when choosing programs. Satisfaction with their program was expressed by 92.3% of respondents, and 94.3% expressed satisfaction with their specialty. Respondents planning to practice in Canada totaled 80.8%, and 76.9% plan to have academic careers. Respondents identified job availability and receiving adequate teaching from preceptors during residency as their most important concerns. Conclusions: Though most respondents are satisfied with their programs and specialty, job availability and adequate teaching are concerns. In the future, limited time and resources and the continued popularity of radiation oncology as a career will magnify the challenge of training competent radiation oncologists in Canada

A GIS application for assessing, mapping, and quantifying the social values of ecosystem services

Science.gov (United States)

Sherrouse, Benson C.; Clement, Jessica M.; Semmens, Darius J.

2011-01-01

As human pressures on ecosystems continue to increase, research involving the effective incorporation of social values information into the context of comprehensive ecosystem services assessments is becoming more important. Including quantified, spatially explicit social value metrics in such assessments will improve the analysis of relative tradeoffs among ecosystem services. This paper describes a GIS application, Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES), developed to assess, map, and quantify the perceived social values of ecosystem services by deriving a non-monetary Value Index from responses to a public attitude and preference survey. SolVES calculates and maps the Value Index for social values held by various survey subgroups, as distinguished by their attitudes regarding ecosystem use. Index values can be compared within and among survey subgroups to explore the effect of social contexts on the valuation of ecosystem services. Index values can also be correlated and regressed against landscape metrics SolVES calculates from various environmental data layers. Coefficients derived through these analyses were applied to their corresponding data layers to generate a predicted social value map. This map compared favorably with other SolVES output and led to the addition of a predictive mapping function to SolVES for value transfer to areas where survey data are unavailable. A more robust application is being developed as a public domain tool for decision makers and researchers to map social values of ecosystem services and to facilitate discussions among diverse stakeholders involving relative tradeoffs among different ecosystem services in a variety of physical and social contexts.

A multi-indicator framework for mapping cultural ecosystem services: The case of freshwater recreational fishing

Science.gov (United States)

Villamagna, Amy M.; Mogollón, Beatriz; Angermeier, Paul

2014-01-01

Despite recent interest, ecosystem services are not yet fully incorporated into private and public decisions about natural resource management. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are among the most challenging of services to include because they comprise complex ecological and social properties and processes that make them difficult to measure, map or monetize. Like others, CES are vulnerable to landscape changes and unsustainable use. To date, the sustainability of services has not been adequately addressed and few studies have considered measures of service capacity and demand simultaneously. To facilitate sustainability assessments and management of CES, our study objectives were to (1) develop a spatially explicit framework for mapping the capacity of ecosystems to provide freshwater recreational fishing, an important cultural service, (2) map societal demand for freshwater recreational fishing based on license data and identify areas of potential overuse, and (3) demonstrate how maps of relative capacity and relative demand could be interfaced to estimate sustainability of a CES. We mapped freshwater recreational fishing capacity at the 12-digit hydrologic unit-scale in North Carolina and Virginia using a multi-indicator service framework incorporating biophysical and social landscape metrics and mapped demand based on fishing license data. Mapping of capacity revealed a gradual decrease in capacity eastward from the mountains to the coastal plain and that fishing demand was greatest in urban areas. When comparing standardized relative measures of capacity and demand for freshwater recreational fishing, we found that ranks of capacity exceeded ranks of demand in most hydrologic units, except in 17% of North Carolina and 5% of Virginia. Our GIS-based approach to view freshwater recreational fishing through an ecosystem service lens will enable scientists and managers to examine (1) biophysical and social factors that foster or diminish cultural ecosystem

Health Services Research and Health Economy - Quality Care Training in Gynaecology, with Focus On Gynaecological Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Lux, M P; Fasching, P A; Loehberg, C R; Jud, S M; Schrauder, M G; Bani, M R; Thiel, F C; Hack, C C; Hildebrandt, T; Beckmann, M W

2011-12-01

In the era of cost increases and reduced resources in the German healthcare system, the value of health services research and health economics is increasing more and more. Health services research attempts to develop concepts for the most effective ways to organise, manage, finance and deliver high-quality care and evaluates the implementation of these concepts with regard to daily routine conditions. Goals are the assessment of benefits and the economic advantages and disadvantages of new and established diagnostic methods, drugs and vaccines. Regarding these goals, it is clear that health services research goes hand in hand with health economics, which evaluates the benefits of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in relation to the costs. Both scientific fields have focus principally on gynaecology and particularly on gynaecological oncology in Germany, as can be seen by numerous publications. These present several advantages compared with clinical trials - they uncover gaps in health care, question the material, staffing and consequently the financial resources required and they allow the estimation of value and the comparison of different innovations to identify the best options for our patients.

Coping With Moral Distress in Oncology Practice: Nurse and Physician Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lievrouw, An; Vanheule, Stijn; Deveugele, Myriam; Vos, Martine; Pattyn, Piet; Belle, Van; Benoit, Dominique D

2016-07-01

To explore variations in coping with moral distress among physicians and nurses in a university hospital oncology setting.
. Qualitative interview study.
. Internal medicine (gastroenterology and medical oncology), gastrointestinal surgery, and day clinic chemotherapy at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium.
. 17 doctors and 18 nurses with varying experience levels, working in three different oncology hospital settings. 
. Patients with cancer were interviewed based on the critical incident technique. Analyses were performed using thematic analysis.
. Moral distress lingered if it was accompanied by emotional distress. Four dominant ways of coping (thoroughness, autonomy, compromise, and intuition) emerged, which could be mapped on two perpendicular continuous axes. Moral distress is a challenging phenomenon in oncology. However, when managed well, it can lead to more introspection and team reflection, resulting in a better interpersonal understanding.
. Team leaders should recognize their own and their team members' preferred method of coping and tailored support should be offered to ease emotional distress.

Inpatient Hematology-Oncology Rotation Is Associated With a Decreased Interest in Pursuing an Oncology Career Among Internal Medicine Residents.

Science.gov (United States)

McFarland, Daniel C; Holland, Jimmie; Holcombe, Randall F

2015-07-01

The demand for hematologists and oncologists is not being met. We hypothesized that an inpatient hematology-oncology ward rotation would increase residents' interest. Potential reasons mitigating interest were explored and included differences in physician distress, empathy, resilience, and patient death experiences. Agreement with the statement "I am interested in pursuing a career/fellowship in hematology and oncology" was rated by residents before and after a hematology-oncology rotation, with 0 = not true at all, 1 = rarely true, 2 = sometimes true, 3 = often true, and 4 = true nearly all the time. House staff rotating on a hematology-oncology service from November 2013 to October 2014 also received questionnaires before and after their rotations containing the Connors-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Impact of Events Scale-Revised, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, demographic information, and number of dying patients cared for and if a sense of meaning was derived from that experience. Fifty-six residents completed both before- and after-rotation questionnaires (response rate, 58%). The mean interest score was 1.43 initially and decreased to 1.24 after the rotation (P = .301). Female residents' mean score was 1.13 initially and dropped to 0.81 after the rotation (P = .04). Male residents' mean score was 1.71 initially and 1.81 after the rotation (P = .65). Decreased hematology-oncology interest correlated with decreased empathy; male interest decrease correlated with decreased resilience. An inpatient hematology-oncology ward rotation does not lead to increased interest and, for some residents, may lead to decreased interest in the field. Encouraging outpatient hematology-oncology rotations and the cultivation of resilience, empathy, and meaning regarding death experiences may increase resident interest. Copyright © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Clinical use of organic near-infrared fluorescent contrast agents in image-guided oncologic procedures and its potential in veterinary oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Favril, Sophie; Abma, Eline; Blasi, Francesco; Stock, Emmelie; Devriendt, Nausikaa; Vanderperren, Katrien; de Rooster, Hilde

2018-04-28

One of the major challenges in surgical oncology is the intraoperative discrimination of tumoural versus healthy tissue. Until today, surgeons rely on visual inspection and palpation to define the tumoural margins during surgery and, unfortunately, for various cancer types, the local recurrence rate thus remains unacceptably high. Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging is an optical imaging technique that can provide real-time preoperative and intraoperative information after administration of a fluorescent probe that emits NIR light once exposed to a NIR light source. This technique is safe, cost-effective and technically easy. Several NIR fluorescent probes are currently studied for their ability to highlight neoplastic cells. In addition, NIR fluorescence imaging holds great promise for sentinel lymph node mapping. The aim of this manuscript is to provide a literature review of the current organic NIR fluorescent probes tested in the light of human oncology and to introduce fluorescence imaging as a valuable asset in veterinary oncology. © British Veterinary Association (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Map as a Service: A Framework for Visualising and Maximising Information Return from Multi-ModalWireless Sensor Networks

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Mohammad Hammoudeh

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a distributed information extraction and visualisation service, called the mapping service, for maximising information return from large-scale wireless sensor networks. Such a service would greatly simplify the production of higher-level, information-rich, representations suitable for informing other network services and the delivery of field information visualisations. The mapping service utilises a blend of inductive and deductive models to map sense data accurately using externally available knowledge. It utilises the special characteristics of the application domain to render visualisations in a map format that are a precise reflection of the concrete reality. This service is suitable for visualising an arbitrary number of sense modalities. It is capable of visualising from multiple independent types of the sense data to overcome the limitations of generating visualisations from a single type of sense modality. Furthermore, the mapping service responds dynamically to changes in the environmental conditions, which may affect the visualisation performance by continuously updating the application domain model in a distributed manner. Finally, a distributed self-adaptation function is proposed with the goal of saving more power and generating more accurate data visualisation. We conduct comprehensive experimentation to evaluate the performance of our mapping service and show that it achieves low communication overhead, produces maps of high fidelity, and further minimises the mapping predictive error dynamically through integrating the application domain model in the mapping service.

An Algorithm Creating Thumbnail for Web Map Services Based on Information Entropy and Trans-scale Similarity

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CHENG Xiaoqiang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Thumbnail can greatly increase the efficiency of browsing pictures,videos and other image resources and improve the user experience prominently. Map service is a kind of graphic resource coupling spatial information and representation scale,its crafting,retrieval and management will not function well without the support of thumbnail. Sophisticated designed thumbnails bring users vivid first impressions and help users make efficient exploration. On the contrast,coarse thumbnail cause negative emotion and discourage users to explore the map service positively. Inspired by video summarization,key position and key scale of web map service were proposed. Meanwhile,corresponding quantitative measures and an automatic algorithm were drawn up and implemented. With the help of this algorithm,poor visual quality,lack of map information and low automation of current thumbnails was solved successfully. Information entropy was used to determine areas richer in content and tran-scale similarity was calculated to judge at which scale the appearance of the map service has changed drastically,and finally a series of static pictures were extracted which can represent the content of the map service. Experimental results show that this method produced medium-sized,content-rich and well-representative thumbnails which effectively reflect the content and appearance of map service.

Mapping Ecosystem Services in the Jordan Valley, Jordan

Science.gov (United States)

Luz, Ana; Marques, Ana; Ribeiro, Inês; Alho, Maria; Catarina Afonso, Ana; Almeida, Erika; Branquinho, Cristina; Talozi, Samer; Pinho, Pedro

2016-04-01

In the last decade researchers started using ecosystem services as a new framework to understand the relationships between environment and society. Habitat quality and water quality are related with ecosystem services regulation and maintenance, or even provision. According to the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) both habitat quality and water quality are associated with lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection, and water conditions, among others. As there is increased pressure on habitats and rivers especially for agricultural development, mapping and evaluating habitat and water quality has important implications for resource management and conservation, as well as for rural development. Here, we model and map habitat and water quality in the Jordan Valley, Jordan. In this study, we aim to identify and analyse ecosystem services both through 1) habitat quality and 2) water quality modelling using InVest, an integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs. The data used in this study mainly includes the LULC, Jordan River watershed and main threats and pollutants in the study area, such as agriculture, industry, fish farms and urbanization. Results suggest a higher pressure on natural habitats in the Northern region of the Jordan Valley, where industry is dominant. Agriculture is present along the Jordan Valley and limits the few natural forested areas. Further, water pollution is mainly concentrated in disposal sites due to the low flow of the Jordan River. Our results can help to identify areas where natural resources and water resource management is most needed in the Jordan Valley. Acknowledgements: Transbasin FP7 project

Research into Australian emergency services personnel mental health and wellbeing: An evidence map.

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Varker, Tracey; Metcalf, Olivia; Forbes, David; Chisolm, Katherine; Harvey, Sam; Van Hooff, Miranda; McFarlane, Alexander; Bryant, Richard; Phelps, Andrea J

2018-02-01

Evidence maps are a method of systematically characterising the range of research activity in broad topic areas and are a tool for guiding research priorities. 'Evidence-mapping' methodology was used to quantify the nature and distribution of recent peer-reviewed research into the mental health and wellbeing of Australian emergency services personnel. A search of the PsycINFO, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases was performed for primary research articles that were published between January 2011 and July 2016. In all, 43 studies of primary research were identified and mapped. The majority of the research focused on organisational and individual/social factors and how they relate to mental health problems/wellbeing. There were several areas of research where very few studies were detected through the mapping process, including suicide, personality, stigma and pre-employment factors that may contribute to mental health outcomes and the use of e-health. No studies were detected which examined the prevalence of self-harm and/or harm to others, bullying, alcohol/substance use, barriers to care or experience of families of emergency services personnel. In addition, there was no comprehensive national study that had investigated all sectors of emergency services personnel. This evidence map highlights the need for future research to address the current gaps in mental health and wellbeing research among Australian emergency services personnel. Improved understanding of the mental health and wellbeing of emergency services personnel, and the factors that contribute, should guide organisations' wellbeing policies and procedures.

Complementary and alternative medicine for cancer patients: results of the EPAAC survey on integrative oncology centres in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossi, Elio; Vita, Alessandra; Baccetti, Sonia; Di Stefano, Mariella; Voller, Fabio; Zanobini, Alberto

2015-06-01

The Region of Tuscany Health Department was included as an associated member in WP7 "Healthcare" of the European Partnership for Action Against Cancer (EPAAC), initiated by the EU Commission in 2009. The principal aim was to map centres across Europe prioritizing those that provide public health services and operating within the national health system in integrative oncology (IO). A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was used to collect data. A questionnaire was elaborated concerning integrative oncology therapies to be administered to all the national health system oncology centres or hospitals in each European country. These institutes were identified by convenience sampling, searching on oncology websites and forums. The official websites of these structures were analysed to obtain more information about their activities and contacts. Information was received from 123 (52.1 %) out of the 236 centres contacted until 31 December 2013. Forty-seven out of 99 responding centres meeting inclusion criteria (47.5 %) provided integrative oncology treatments, 24 from Italy and 23 from other European countries. The number of patients seen per year was on average 301.2 ± 337. Among the centres providing these kinds of therapies, 33 (70.2 %) use fixed protocols and 35 (74.5 %) use systems for the evaluation of results. Thirty-two centres (68.1 %) had research in progress or carried out until the deadline of the survey. The complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) more frequently provided to cancer patients were acupuncture 26 (55.3 %), homeopathy 19 (40.4 %), herbal medicine 18 (38.3 %) and traditional Chinese medicine 17 (36.2 %); anthroposophic medicine 10 (21.3 %); homotoxicology 6 (12.8 %); and other therapies 30 (63.8 %). Treatments are mainly directed to reduce adverse reactions to chemo-radiotherapy (23.9 %), in particular nausea and vomiting (13.4 %) and leucopenia (5 %). The CAMs were also used to reduce pain and fatigue (10.9�

Ecosystem Services Mapping Uncertainty Assessment: A Case Study in the Fitzroy Basin Mining Region

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Zhenyu Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Ecosystem services mapping is becoming increasingly popular through the use of various readily available mapping tools, however, uncertainties in assessment outputs are commonly ignored. Uncertainties from different sources have the potential to lower the accuracy of mapping outputs and reduce their reliability for decision-making. Using a case study in an Australian mining region, this paper assessed the impact of uncertainties on the modelling of the hydrological ecosystem service, water provision. Three types of uncertainty were modelled using multiple uncertainty scenarios: (1 spatial data sources; (2 modelling scales (temporal and spatial and (3 parameterization and model selection. We found that the mapping scales can induce significant changes to the spatial pattern of outputs and annual totals of water provision. In addition, differences in parameterization using differing sources from the literature also led to obvious differences in base flow. However, the impact of each uncertainty associated with differences in spatial data sources were not so great. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of uncertainty assessment and highlight that any conclusions drawn from ecosystem services mapping, such as the impacts of mining, are likely to also be a property of the uncertainty in ecosystem services mapping methods.

Predictors of Timely Access of Oncology Services and Advanced-Stage Cancer in an HIV-Endemic Setting.

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Brown, Carolyn A; Suneja, Gita; Tapela, Neo; Mapes, Abigail; Pusoentsi, Malebogo; Mmalane, Mompati; Hodgeman, Ryan; Boyer, Matthew; Musimar, Zola; Ramogola-Masire, Doreen; Grover, Surbhi; Nsingo-Bvochora, Memory; Kayembe, Mukendi; Efstathiou, Jason; Lockman, Shahin; Dryden-Peterson, Scott

2016-06-01

Three-quarters of cancer deaths occur in resource-limited countries, and delayed presentation contributes to poor outcome. In Botswana, where more than half of cancers arise in HIV-infected individuals, we sought to explore predictors of timely oncology care and evaluate the hypothesis that engagement in longitudinal HIV care improves access. Consenting patients presenting for oncology care from October 2010 to September 2014 were interviewed and their records were reviewed. Cox and logistic models were used to examine the effect of HIV and other predictors on time to oncology care and presentation with advanced cancer (stage III or IV). Of the 1,146 patients analyzed, 584 (51%) had HIV and 615 (54%) had advanced cancer. The initial clinic visit occurred a mean of 144 days (median 29, interquartile range 0-185) after symptom onset, but subsequent mean time to oncology care was 406 days (median 160, interquartile range 59-653). HIV status was not significantly associated with time to oncology care (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.79-1.06). However, patients who reported using traditional medicine/healers engaged in oncology care significantly faster (aHR 1.23, 95% CI 1.09-1.40) and those with advanced cancer entered care earlier (aHR 1.48, 95% CI 1.30-1.70). Factors significantly associated with advanced cancer included income oncology care was 13 months. For HIV-infected patients (51% of total), regular longitudinal contact with the health system, through quarterly doctor visits for HIV management, was not successful in providing faster linkages into oncology care. However, patients who used traditional medicine/healers engaged in cancer care faster, indicating potential for leveraging traditional healers as partners in early cancer detection. New strategies are urgently needed to facilitate diagnosis and timely treatment of cancer in low- and middle-income countries. ©AlphaMed Press.

A new ambulatory classification and funding model for radiation oncology: non-admitted patients in Victorian hospitals.

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Antioch, K M; Walsh, M K; Anderson, D; Wilson, R; Chambers, C; Willmer, P

1998-01-01

The Victorian Department of Human Services has developed a classification and funding model for non-admitted radiation oncology patients. Agencies were previously funded on an historical cost input basis. For 1996-97, payments were made according to the new Non-admitted Radiation Oncology Classification System and include four key components. Fixed grants are based on Weighted Radiation Therapy Services targets for megavoltage courses, planning procedures (dosimetry and simulation) and consultations. The additional throughput pool covers additional Weighted Radiation Therapy Services once targets are reached, with access conditional on the utilisation of a minimum number of megavoltage fields by each hospital. Block grants cover specialised treatments, such as brachytherapy, allied health payments and other support services. Compensation grants were available to bring payments up to the level of the previous year. There is potential to provide incentives to promote best practice in Australia through linking appropriate practice to funding models. Key Australian and international developments should be monitored, including economic evaluation studies, classification and funding models, and the deliberations of the American College of Radiology, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group and the Council of Oncology Societies of Australia. National impact on clinical practice guidelines in Australia can be achieved through the Quality of Care and Health Outcomes Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Psycho-oncology: structure and profiles of European centers treating patients with gynecological cancer.

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Hasenburg, Annette; Amant, Frederic; Aerts, Leen; Pascal, Astrid; Achimas-Cadariu, Patriciu; Kesic, Vesna

2011-12-01

Psycho-oncological counseling should be an integrated part of modern cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to assess the structures and interests of psycho-oncology services within European Society of Gynecological Oncology (ESGO) centers. In 2010, a survey, which consisted of 15 questions regarding organization of psycho-oncological services and interests in training and research, was sent to all ESGO-accredited centers (n = 41). The response rate was 65.8% (27 centers). 96.3% (n = 26) of the surveys came from universities, and 3.7% (n = 1) came from nonacademic institutions. Most of the institutions (92.6%, n = 25) offer psycho-oncological care, mainly by psychologists (64%, n = 16) or psycho-oncologists (48%, n = 12). Fifty-two percent of patients are evaluated for sexual dysfunction as sequelae of their disease or treatment-related adverse effects. Fifty-two percent (n = 14) of institutions offer psychological support for cancer care providers. Eighty-five percent (n = 23) of all centers are interested in psycho-oncological training, and the preferred teaching tools are educational workshops (87%). The main issues of interest are sexual problems in patients with cancer, communication and interpersonal skills, responses of patients and their families, anxiety and adjustment disorders, and palliative care. Eighty-five percent (n = 17) of the 20 institutions look for research in the field of psycho-oncology, and 55% (n = 11) of those are already involved in some kind of research. Although psycho-oncological care is provided in most of the consulted ESGO accredited centers, almost 50% of women lack information about sexual problems. The results of the survey show the need for and interest in psycho-oncology training and research, including sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, psychological support should be offered to all cancer care providers.

On the effects of scale for ecosystem services mapping.

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Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne; Weibel, Bettina; Bagstad, Kenneth J; Ferrari, Marika; Geneletti, Davide; Klug, Hermann; Schirpke, Uta; Tappeiner, Ulrike

2014-01-01

Ecosystems provide life-sustaining services upon which human civilization depends, but their degradation largely continues unabated. Spatially explicit information on ecosystem services (ES) provision is required to better guide decision making, particularly for mountain systems, which are characterized by vertical gradients and isolation with high topographic complexity, making them particularly sensitive to global change. But while spatially explicit ES quantification and valuation allows the identification of areas of abundant or limited supply of and demand for ES, the accuracy and usefulness of the information varies considerably depending on the scale and methods used. Using four case studies from mountainous regions in Europe and the U.S., we quantify information gains and losses when mapping five ES - carbon sequestration, flood regulation, agricultural production, timber harvest, and scenic beauty - at coarse and fine resolution (250 m vs. 25 m in Europe and 300 m vs. 30 m in the U.S.). We analyze the effects of scale on ES estimates and their spatial pattern and show how these effects are related to different ES, terrain structure and model properties. ES estimates differ substantially between the fine and coarse resolution analyses in all case studies and across all services. This scale effect is not equally strong for all ES. We show that spatially explicit information about non-clustered, isolated ES tends to be lost at coarse resolution and against expectation, mainly in less rugged terrain, which calls for finer resolution assessments in such contexts. The effect of terrain ruggedness is also related to model properties such as dependency on land use-land cover data. We close with recommendations for mapping ES to make the resulting maps more comparable, and suggest a four-step approach to address the issue of scale when mapping ES that can deliver information to support ES-based decision making with greater accuracy and reliability.

On the effects of scale for ecosystem services mapping.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrienne Grêt-Regamey

Full Text Available Ecosystems provide life-sustaining services upon which human civilization depends, but their degradation largely continues unabated. Spatially explicit information on ecosystem services (ES provision is required to better guide decision making, particularly for mountain systems, which are characterized by vertical gradients and isolation with high topographic complexity, making them particularly sensitive to global change. But while spatially explicit ES quantification and valuation allows the identification of areas of abundant or limited supply of and demand for ES, the accuracy and usefulness of the information varies considerably depending on the scale and methods used. Using four case studies from mountainous regions in Europe and the U.S., we quantify information gains and losses when mapping five ES - carbon sequestration, flood regulation, agricultural production, timber harvest, and scenic beauty - at coarse and fine resolution (250 m vs. 25 m in Europe and 300 m vs. 30 m in the U.S.. We analyze the effects of scale on ES estimates and their spatial pattern and show how these effects are related to different ES, terrain structure and model properties. ES estimates differ substantially between the fine and coarse resolution analyses in all case studies and across all services. This scale effect is not equally strong for all ES. We show that spatially explicit information about non-clustered, isolated ES tends to be lost at coarse resolution and against expectation, mainly in less rugged terrain, which calls for finer resolution assessments in such contexts. The effect of terrain ruggedness is also related to model properties such as dependency on land use-land cover data. We close with recommendations for mapping ES to make the resulting maps more comparable, and suggest a four-step approach to address the issue of scale when mapping ES that can deliver information to support ES-based decision making with greater accuracy and reliability.

On the effects of scale for ecosystem services mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne; Weibel, Bettina; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Ferrari, Marika; Geneletti, Davide; Klug, Hermann; Schirpke, Uta; Tappeiner, Ulrike

2014-01-01

Ecosystems provide life-sustaining services upon which human civilization depends, but their degradation largely continues unabated. Spatially explicit information on ecosystem services (ES) provision is required to better guide decision making, particularly for mountain systems, which are characterized by vertical gradients and isolation with high topographic complexity, making them particularly sensitive to global change. But while spatially explicit ES quantification and valuation allows the identification of areas of abundant or limited supply of and demand for ES, the accuracy and usefulness of the information varies considerably depending on the scale and methods used. Using four case studies from mountainous regions in Europe and the U.S., we quantify information gains and losses when mapping five ES - carbon sequestration, flood regulation, agricultural production, timber harvest, and scenic beauty - at coarse and fine resolution (250 m vs. 25 m in Europe and 300 m vs. 30 m in the U.S.). We analyze the effects of scale on ES estimates and their spatial pattern and show how these effects are related to different ES, terrain structure and model properties. ES estimates differ substantially between the fine and coarse resolution analyses in all case studies and across all services. This scale effect is not equally strong for all ES. We show that spatially explicit information about non-clustered, isolated ES tends to be lost at coarse resolution and against expectation, mainly in less rugged terrain, which calls for finer resolution assessments in such contexts. The effect of terrain ruggedness is also related to model properties such as dependency on land use-land cover data. We close with recommendations for mapping ES to make the resulting maps more comparable, and suggest a four-step approach to address the issue of scale when mapping ES that can deliver information to support ES-based decision making with greater accuracy and reliability.

Oncologic imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bragg, D.G.; Rubin, P.; Youker, J.E.

1985-01-01

This book presents papers on nuclear medicine. Topics considered include the classification of cancers, oncologic diagnosis, brain and spinal cord neoplasms, lymph node metastases, the larynx and hypopharynx, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, bladder cancer, tumors of the skeletal system, pediatric oncology, computed tomography and radiation therapy treatment planning, and the impact of future technology on oncologic diagnosis

ASTRO's Advances in Radiation Oncology: Success to date and future plans

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Robert C. Miller, MD, MBA, FASTRO

2017-07-01

Full Text Available ASTRO's Advances in Radiation Oncology was launched as a new, peer-reviewed scientific journal in December 2015. More than 200 manuscripts have been submitted and 97 accepted for publication as of May 2017. As Advances enters its second year of publication, we have chosen to highlight subjects that will transform the way we practice radiation oncology in special issues or ongoing series: immunotherapy, biomedical analytics, and social media. A teaching case report contest for North American radiation oncology residents will be launched at American Society of Radiation Oncology 2017 to encourage participation in scientific publication by trainees early in their careers. Recognizing our social mission, Advances will also begin a series of articles devoted to highlighting the growing disparities in access to radiation oncology services in vulnerable populations in North America. We wish to encourage the American Society of Radiation Oncology membership to continue its support of the journal through high-quality manuscript submission, participation in the peer review process, and highlighting important manuscripts through sharing on social media.

Ecosystem services provided by a complex coastal region: challenges of classification and mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Sousa, Lisa P.; Sousa, Ana I.; Alves, Fátima L.; Lillebø, Ana I.

2016-03-01

A variety of ecosystem services classification systems and mapping approaches are available in the scientific and technical literature, which needs to be selected and adapted when applied to complex territories (e.g. in the interface between water and land, estuary and sea). This paper provides a framework for addressing ecosystem services in complex coastal regions. The roadmap comprises the definition of the exact geographic boundaries of the study area; the use of CICES (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) for ecosystem services identification and classification; and the definition of qualitative indicators that will serve as basis to map the ecosystem services. Due to its complexity, the Ria de Aveiro coastal region was selected as case study, presenting an opportunity to explore the application of such approaches at a regional scale. The main challenges of implementing the proposed roadmap, together with its advantages are discussed in this research. The results highlight the importance of considering both the connectivity of natural systems and the complexity of the governance framework; the flexibility and robustness, but also the challenges when applying CICES at regional scale; and the challenges regarding ecosystem services mapping.

Ecosystem services provided by a complex coastal region: challenges of classification and mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Sousa, Lisa P; Sousa, Ana I; Alves, Fátima L; Lillebø, Ana I

2016-03-11

A variety of ecosystem services classification systems and mapping approaches are available in the scientific and technical literature, which needs to be selected and adapted when applied to complex territories (e.g. in the interface between water and land, estuary and sea). This paper provides a framework for addressing ecosystem services in complex coastal regions. The roadmap comprises the definition of the exact geographic boundaries of the study area; the use of CICES (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) for ecosystem services identification and classification; and the definition of qualitative indicators that will serve as basis to map the ecosystem services. Due to its complexity, the Ria de Aveiro coastal region was selected as case study, presenting an opportunity to explore the application of such approaches at a regional scale. The main challenges of implementing the proposed roadmap, together with its advantages are discussed in this research. The results highlight the importance of considering both the connectivity of natural systems and the complexity of the governance framework; the flexibility and robustness, but also the challenges when applying CICES at regional scale; and the challenges regarding ecosystem services mapping.

Development by a Large Integrated Health Care System of an Objective Methodology for Evaluation of Medical Oncology Service Sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Bjegovich-Weidman, Marija; Kahabka, Jill; Bock, Amy; Frick, Jacob; Kowalski, Helga; Mirro, Joseph

2012-03-01

Aurora Health Care (AHC) is the largest health care system in Wisconsin, with 14 acute care hospitals. In early 2010, a group of 18 medical oncologists became affiliated with AHC. This affiliation added 13 medical oncology infusion clinics to our existing 12 sites. In the era of health care reform and declining reimbursement, we need an objective method and criteria to evaluate our 25 outpatient medical oncology sites. We developed financial, clinical, and strategic tools for the evaluation and management of our cancer subservice lines and outpatient sites. The key to our success has been the direct involvement of stakeholders with a vested interest in the services in the selection of the criteria and evaluation process. We developed our objective metrics for evaluation based on strategic, financial, operational, and patient experience criteria. Strategic criteria included: population trends, full-time equivalent (FTE) medical oncologists/primary care physicians, FTE radiation oncologists, FTE oncologic surgeons, new annual cases of patients with cancer, and market share trends. Financial criteria per site included: physician work relative value units, staff FTE by type, staff salaries, and profit and loss. Operational criteria included: facility by type (clinic v hospital based), hours of operation, and facility detail (eg, No. of chairs, No. of procedure and examination rooms, square footage). Patient experience criteria included: nursing model primary/nurse navigators, multidisciplinary support at site, Press Ganey (South Bend, IN; health care performance improvement company) results, and employee engagement score. The outcome of our data analysis has resulted in the development of recommendations for AHC senior leadership and geographic market leadership to consider the consolidation of four sites (phase one, four sites; phase two, two sites) and priority strategic sites to address capacity issues that limit growth. The recommendations if implemented would

Mapping Civic Engagement: A Case Study of Service-Learning in Appalachia

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Mann, Jessica; Casebeer, Daniel

2016-01-01

This study uses social cartography to map student perceptions of a co-curricular service-learning project in an impoverished rural community. As a complement to narrative discourse, mapping provides an opportunity to visualize not only the spatial nature of the educational experience but also, in this case, the benefits of civic engagement. The…

THE NATIONAL ONCOLOGICAL PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION – EXPERIENCE IN THE VLADIMIR REGION (TO THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REGIONAL CLINICAL ONCOLOGICAL DISPENSARY

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A. G. Zirin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available By 2010, on the background of the steady increase in the incidence of malignant tumors in the Vladimir area, primary oncological care level worked inefficiently.Condition of material and technical base of the Vladimir Regional Clinical Oncological Dispensary was also unsatisfactory. All these problems required solution in the form of the National Oncology Program realization in the region. The National Oncological Program has begun to work in the Vladimir region since 2011. Target indicators of the oncological program implementation by 2015 were established. They are: Increase of 5-year survival value of patients with malignant tumors after diagnosis date to 51.4%; Increase the number of malignant tumors early detection cases at the I–II stages up to 51%; Decrease the mortality rate of working age population to 99 per 100 000; Decrease of mortality within one year from the first time of cancer diagnosis to 27%. The following main objectives such as radically improved the material and technical base of oncology dispensary; modern methods of prevention, diagnosis and patients treatment improvement and introduction; the system providing population cancer care focused on the cancer early detection and the specialized combined antitumor treatment provision are realized in order to achieve these goals. The implementation of the tasks allowed to achieve positive dynamics of Vladimir region population cancer care indicators. All the main targets of the National Oncology Program for the Vladimir region were achieved successfully. Implementation of the National Oncology Program has had an extremely positive effect on the cancer services development of, as well as for the health of the entire population of the Vladimir region.

Web Based Rapid Mapping of Disaster Areas using Satellite Images, Web Processing Service, Web Mapping Service, Frequency Based Change Detection Algorithm and J-iView

Science.gov (United States)

Bandibas, J. C.; Takarada, S.

2013-12-01

Timely identification of areas affected by natural disasters is very important for a successful rescue and effective emergency relief efforts. This research focuses on the development of a cost effective and efficient system of identifying areas affected by natural disasters, and the efficient distribution of the information. The developed system is composed of 3 modules which are the Web Processing Service (WPS), Web Map Service (WMS) and the user interface provided by J-iView (fig. 1). WPS is an online system that provides computation, storage and data access services. In this study, the WPS module provides online access of the software implementing the developed frequency based change detection algorithm for the identification of areas affected by natural disasters. It also sends requests to WMS servers to get the remotely sensed data to be used in the computation. WMS is a standard protocol that provides a simple HTTP interface for requesting geo-registered map images from one or more geospatial databases. In this research, the WMS component provides remote access of the satellite images which are used as inputs for land cover change detection. The user interface in this system is provided by J-iView, which is an online mapping system developed at the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ). The 3 modules are seamlessly integrated into a single package using J-iView, which could rapidly generate a map of disaster areas that is instantaneously viewable online. The developed system was tested using ASTER images covering the areas damaged by the March 11, 2011 tsunami in northeastern Japan. The developed system efficiently generated a map showing areas devastated by the tsunami. Based on the initial results of the study, the developed system proved to be a useful tool for emergency workers to quickly identify areas affected by natural disasters.

Concept of a spatial data infrastructure for web-mapping, processing and service provision for geo-hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Weinke, Elisabeth; Hölbling, Daniel; Albrecht, Florian; Friedl, Barbara

2017-04-01

Geo-hazards and their effects are distributed geographically over wide regions. The effective mapping and monitoring is essential for hazard assessment and mitigation. It is often best achieved using satellite imagery and new object-based image analysis approaches to identify and delineate geo-hazard objects (landslides, floods, forest fires, storm damages, etc.). At the moment, several local/national databases and platforms provide and publish data of different types of geo-hazards as well as web-based risk maps and decision support systems. Also, the European commission implemented the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) in 2015 that publishes information about natural and man-made disasters and risks. Currently, no platform for landslides or geo-hazards as such exists that enables the integration of the user in the mapping and monitoring process. In this study we introduce the concept of a spatial data infrastructure for object delineation, web-processing and service provision of landslide information with the focus on user interaction in all processes. A first prototype for the processing and mapping of landslides in Austria and Italy has been developed within the project Land@Slide, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG in the Austrian Space Applications Program ASAP. The spatial data infrastructure and its services for the mapping, processing and analysis of landslides can be extended to other regions and to all types of geo-hazards for analysis and delineation based on Earth Observation (EO) data. The architecture of the first prototypical spatial data infrastructure includes four main areas of technical components. The data tier consists of a file storage system and the spatial data catalogue for the management of EO-data, other geospatial data on geo-hazards, as well as descriptions and protocols for the data processing and analysis. An interface to extend the data integration from external sources (e.g. Sentinel-2 data) is planned

Satellites vs. fiber optics based networks and services - Road map to strategic planning

Science.gov (United States)

Marandi, James H. R.

An overview of a generic telecommunications network and its components is presented, and the current developments in satellite and fiber optics technologies are discussed with an eye on the trends in industry. A baseline model is proposed, and a cost comparison of fiber- vs satellite-based networks is made. A step-by-step 'road map' to the successful strategic planning of telecommunications services and facilities is presented. This road map provides for optimization of the current and future networks and services through effective utilization of both satellites and fiber optics. The road map is then applied to different segments of the telecommunications industry and market place, to show its effectiveness for the strategic planning of executives of three types: (1) those heading telecommunications manufacturing concerns, (2) those leading communication service companies, and (3) managers of telecommunication/MIS departments of major corporations. Future networking issues, such as developments in integrated-services digital network standards and technologies, are addressed.

Basic radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beyzadeoglu, M. M.; Ebruli, C.

2008-01-01

Basic Radiation Oncology is an all-in-one book. It is an up-to-date bedside oriented book integrating the radiation physics, radiobiology and clinical radiation oncology. It includes the essentials of all aspects of radiation oncology with more than 300 practical illustrations, black and white and color figures. The layout and presentation is very practical and enriched with many pearl boxes. Key studies particularly randomized ones are also included at the end of each clinical chapter. Basic knowledge of all high-tech radiation teletherapy units such as tomotherapy, cyberknife, and proton therapy are also given. The first 2 sections review concepts that are crucial in radiation physics and radiobiology. The remaining 11 chapters describe treatment regimens for main cancer sites and tumor types. Basic Radiation Oncology will greatly help meeting the needs for a practical and bedside oriented oncology book for residents, fellows, and clinicians of Radiation, Medical and Surgical Oncology as well as medical students, physicians and medical physicists interested in Clinical Oncology. English Edition of the book Temel Radyasyon Onkolojisi is being published by Springer Heidelberg this year with updated 2009 AJCC Staging as Basic Radiation Oncology

Mapping regional livelihood benefits from local ecosystem services assessments in rural Sahel.

Science.gov (United States)

Malmborg, Katja; Sinare, Hanna; Enfors Kautsky, Elin; Ouedraogo, Issa; Gordon, Line J

2018-01-01

Most current approaches to landscape scale ecosystem service assessments rely on detailed secondary data. This type of data is seldom available in regions with high levels of poverty and strong local dependence on provisioning ecosystem services for livelihoods. We develop a method to extrapolate results from a previously published village scale ecosystem services assessment to a higher administrative level, relevant for land use decision making. The method combines remote sensing (using a hybrid classification method) and interviews with community members. The resulting landscape scale maps show the spatial distribution of five different livelihood benefits (nutritional diversity, income, insurance/saving, material assets and energy, and crops for consumption) that illustrate the strong multifunctionality of the Sahelian landscapes. The maps highlight the importance of a diverse set of sub-units of the landscape in supporting Sahelian livelihoods. We see a large potential in using the resulting type of livelihood benefit maps for guiding future land use decisions in the Sahel.

Mapping regional livelihood benefits from local ecosystem services assessments in rural Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Sinare, Hanna; Enfors Kautsky, Elin; Ouedraogo, Issa; Gordon, Line J.

2018-01-01

Most current approaches to landscape scale ecosystem service assessments rely on detailed secondary data. This type of data is seldom available in regions with high levels of poverty and strong local dependence on provisioning ecosystem services for livelihoods. We develop a method to extrapolate results from a previously published village scale ecosystem services assessment to a higher administrative level, relevant for land use decision making. The method combines remote sensing (using a hybrid classification method) and interviews with community members. The resulting landscape scale maps show the spatial distribution of five different livelihood benefits (nutritional diversity, income, insurance/saving, material assets and energy, and crops for consumption) that illustrate the strong multifunctionality of the Sahelian landscapes. The maps highlight the importance of a diverse set of sub-units of the landscape in supporting Sahelian livelihoods. We see a large potential in using the resulting type of livelihood benefit maps for guiding future land use decisions in the Sahel. PMID:29389965

Mapping regional livelihood benefits from local ecosystem services assessments in rural Sahel.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katja Malmborg

Full Text Available Most current approaches to landscape scale ecosystem service assessments rely on detailed secondary data. This type of data is seldom available in regions with high levels of poverty and strong local dependence on provisioning ecosystem services for livelihoods. We develop a method to extrapolate results from a previously published village scale ecosystem services assessment to a higher administrative level, relevant for land use decision making. The method combines remote sensing (using a hybrid classification method and interviews with community members. The resulting landscape scale maps show the spatial distribution of five different livelihood benefits (nutritional diversity, income, insurance/saving, material assets and energy, and crops for consumption that illustrate the strong multifunctionality of the Sahelian landscapes. The maps highlight the importance of a diverse set of sub-units of the landscape in supporting Sahelian livelihoods. We see a large potential in using the resulting type of livelihood benefit maps for guiding future land use decisions in the Sahel.

Genetic consultation embedded in a gynecologic oncology clinic improves compliance with guideline-based care.

Science.gov (United States)

Senter, Leigha; O'Malley, David M; Backes, Floor J; Copeland, Larry J; Fowler, Jeffery M; Salani, Ritu; Cohn, David E

2017-10-01

Analyze the impact of embedding genetic counseling services in gynecologic oncology on clinician referral and patient uptake of cancer genetics services. Data were reviewed for a total of 737 newly diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer patients seen in gynecologic oncology at a large academic medical center including 401 from 11/2011-7/2014 (a time when cancer genetics services were provided as an off-site consultation). These data were compared to data from 8/2014-9/2016 (n=336), when the model changed to the genetics embedded model (GEM), incorporating a cancer genetic counselor on-site in the gynecologic oncology clinic. A statistically significant difference in proportion of patients referred pre- and post-GEM was observed (21% vs. 44%, pgenetics consultation and post-GEM 82% were scheduled (pgenetics was also statistically significant (3.92months pre-GEM vs. 0.79months post-GEM, pgenetics consultation (2.52months pre-GEM vs. 1.67months post-GEM, pgenetic counselor on the same day as the referral. Providing cancer genetics services on-site in gynecologic oncology and modifying the process by which patients are referred and scheduled significantly increases referral to cancer genetics and timely completion of genetics consultation, improving compliance with guideline-based care. Practice changes are critical given the impact of genetic test results on treatment and familial cancer risks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SODIM: Service Oriented Data Integration based on MapReduce

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghada ElSheikh

2013-09-01

Data integration systems can benefit from innovative dynamic infrastructure solutions such as Clouds, with its more agility, lower cost, device independency, location independency, and scalability. This study consolidates the data integration system, Service Orientation, and distributed processing to develop a new data integration system called Service Oriented Data Integration based on MapReduce (SODIM that improves the system performance, especially with large number of data sources, and that can efficiently be hosted on modern dynamic infrastructures as Clouds.

Quantifying and Mapping Habitat-Based Biodiversity Metrics Within an Ecosystem Services Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Ecosystem services have become a key issue of this century in resource management, conservation planning, human well-being, and environmental decision analysis. Mapping and quantifying ecosystem services have become strategic national interests for integrating ecology with econom...

Industry Funding Among Leadership in Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology in 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Stella K; Ahmed, Awad A; Ileto, Jan; Zaorsky, Nicholas G; Deville, Curtiland; Holliday, Emma B; Wilson, Lynn D; Jagsi, Reshma; Thomas, Charles R

2017-10-01

To quantify and determine the relationship between oncology departmental/division heads and private industry vis-à-vis potential financial conflict of interests (FCOIs) as publicly reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments database. We extracted the names of the chairs/chiefs in medical oncology (MO) and chairs of radiation oncology (RO) for 81 different institutions with both RO and MO training programs as reported by the Association of American Medical Colleges. For each leader, the amount of consulting fees and research payments received in 2015 was determined. Logistic modeling was used to assess associations between the 2 endpoints of receiving a consulting fee and receiving a research payment with various institution-specific and practitioner-specific variables included as covariates: specialty, sex, National Cancer Institute designation, PhD status, and geographic region. The majority of leaders in MO were reported to have received consulting fees or research payments (69.5%) compared with a minority of RO chairs (27.2%). Among those receiving payments, the average (range) consulting fee was $13,413 ($200-$70,423) for MO leaders and $6463 ($837-$16,205) for RO chairs; the average research payment for MO leaders receiving payments was $240,446 ($156-$1,234,762) and $295,089 ($160-$1,219,564) for RO chairs. On multivariable regression when the endpoint was receipt of a research payment, those receiving a consulting fee (odds ratio [OR]: 5.34; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.22-13.65) and MO leaders (OR: 5.54; 95% CI: 2.62-12.18) were more likely to receive research payments. Examination of the receipt of consulting fees as the endpoint showed that those receiving a research payment (OR: 5.41; 95% CI: 2.23-13.99) and MO leaders (OR: 3.06; 95% CI: 1.21-8.13) were more likely to receive a consulting fee. Leaders in academic oncology receive consulting or research payments from industry. Relationships between oncology leaders and

Lymphoscintigraphy in oncology: a rediscovered challenge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valdes Olmos, R.A.; Hoefnagel, C.A. [Netherlands Cancer Inst., Amsterdam (Netherlands). Dept. of Nuclear Medicine; Nieweg, O.E.; Jansen, L.; Rutgers, E.J.T.; Kroon, B.B.R. [Netherlands Cancer Inst., Amsterdam (Netherlands). Dept. of Surgery; Borger, J. [Netherlands Cancer Inst., Amsterdam (Netherlands). Dept. of Radiotherapy; Horenblas, S. [Netherlands Cancer Inst., Amsterdam (Netherlands). Dept. of Urology

1999-04-01

The validation of the sentinel node concept in oncology has led to the rediscovery of lymphoscintigraphy. By combining preoperative lymphatic mapping with intraoperative probe detection this nuclear medicine procedure is being increasingly used to identify and detect the sentinel node in melanoma, breast cancer, and in other malignancies such as penile cancer and vulvar cancer. In the past lymphoscintigraphy has been widely applied for various indications in oncology, and in the case of the internal mammary lymph-node chain its current use in breast cancer remains essential to adjust irradiation treatment to the individual findings of each patient. In another diagnostic area, lymphoscintigraphy is also useful to document altered drainage patterns after surgery and/or radiotherapy; its use in breast cancer patients with upper limb oedema after axillary lymph-node dissection or in melanoma patients with lower-extremity oedema after groin dissection can provide information for physiotherapy or reconstructive surgery. Finally, the renewed interest in lymphoscintigraphy in oncology has led not only to the rediscovery of findings from old literature reports, but also to a discussion about methodological aspects such as tracer characteristics, image acquisition or administration routes, as well as to discussion on the study of migration patterns of radiolabelled colloid particles in the context of cancer dissemination. All this makes the need for standardized guidelines for lymphoscintigraphy mandatory. (orig.) With 10 figs., 1 tab., 56 refs.

Oncology Care Measures – PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Prospective Payment System (PPS)-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting (PCHQR) Program currently uses five oncology care measures. The resulting PPS-Exempt...

TIGERweb, 2017, Series Information for the TIGERweb, Web Mapping Service and REST files

Data.gov (United States)

US Census Bureau, Department of Commerce — TIGERweb allows the viewing of TIGER spatial data online and for TIGER data to be streamed to your mapping application. TIGERweb consists of a web mapping service...

78 FR 25304 - Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, Inc., Oncology Care Systems (Radiation Oncology), Including On...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-30

..., USA, Inc., Oncology Care Systems (Radiation Oncology), Including On-Site Leased Workers From Source... Medical Solutions, USA, Inc., Oncology Care Systems (Radiation Oncology), including on- site leased... of February 2013, Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, Inc., Oncology Care Systems (Radiation Oncology...

Cancer patients and oncology nursing: Perspectives of oncology nurses in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamisli, S; Yuce, D; Karakilic, B; Kilickap, S; Hayran, M

2017-09-01

Burnout and exhaustion is a frequent problem in oncology nursing. The aim of this study is to evaluate the aspects of oncology nurses about their profession in order to enhance the standards of oncology nursing. This survey was conducted with 70 oncology nurses working at Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital. Data were collected between January-April 2012. Each participant provided a study form comprising questions about sociodemographic information; about difficulties, positive aspects and required skills for oncology nursing; and questions evaluating level of participation and clinical perception of oncology nursing. Mean age of nurses was 29.9 ± 5.7 years. More than half of the participants were married (51.4%) and 30% had at least one child. Percent of nurses working in oncology for their entire work life was 75.8%. Most frequently expressed difficulties were exhaustion (58.6%), coping with the psychological problems of the patients (25.7%), and frequent deaths (24.3%); positive aspects were satisfaction (37.1%), changing the perceptions about life (30%), and empathy (14.3%); and required skills were patience (60%), empathy (57.1%), and experience (50%). For difficulties of oncology nursing, 28.3% of difficulties could be attributed to job-related factors, 30.3% to patient-related factors, and 77% of difficulties to individual factors. The independent predictors of participation level of the nurses were self-thoughts of skills and positive aspects of oncology nursing. According to the findings of this study, nurses declared that working with cancer patients increase burnout, they are insufficient in managing work stress and giving psychological care to patients, but their job satisfaction, clinical skills and awareness regarding priorities of life has increased.

Mapping ecosystem services potential in Lithuania

Science.gov (United States)

Depellegrin, Daniel; Misiune, Ieva; Pereira, Paulo

2016-04-01

Ecosystem services (ES) are understood as the benefits that humans get from ecosystems functions. They are divided in providing, regulating, supporting and cultural. The correct management of ES is fundamental to achieve sustainable development goals. A good assessment of ES potential can be obtained using GIS techniques, in order to have a spatial dimension of ES distribution. This will help to have a better territorial planning, improve ES capacity, and have more benefits. ES potential analysis can be carried out based on the ES matrix developed by Burkhard et al. (2009). This method is based on the attribution a rank from 0 to 5 (0= no capacity to 5=very high relevant capacity) to the land use classes of the corine land cover (CLC). This represents an important advantage since a determined land use can be related with a certain number of services. The objective of this work is to Map the ES potential in Lithuania. The results showed that Lithuania has a high potential for regulating services, followed by cultural and provisioning services. Urban areas provide a very small amount of services, contrary to forest, where the highest potential is observed. The most comon land covers in Lithuania are non-irrigated arable land, complex cultivation patterns, mixed and coniferous forest. Total and regulating and cultural ES had dispersed pattern showing that they are scattered in the territory. They are located mainly in forested and coastal areas. In relation to provisioning services they had a clustered distribution, and they were mainly observed in the central part of Lithuania. References Burkhard B, Kroll F, Müller F, Windhorst W. 2009. Landscapes' capacities to provide ecosystem services - a concept for land-cover based assessments. Landsc. Online. 15:1-22

Corporate culture assessments in integrative oncology: a qualitative case study of two integrative oncology centers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mittring, Nadine; Pérard, Marion; Witt, Claudia M

2013-01-01

The offer of "integrative oncology" is one option for clinics to provide safe and evidence-based complementary medicine treatments to cancer patients. As known from merger theories, corporate culture and integration models have a strong influence on the success of such integration. To identify relevant corporate culture aspects that might influence the success in two highly visible integrative oncology clinics, we interviewed physicians, nurses, practitioners, and managers. All interviews (11 in a German breast cancer clinic and 9 in an integrative medicine cancer service in the USA) were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed with content analysis. According to the theoretical framework of mergers, each clinic selected a different integration type ("best of both worlds" and "linking"). Nonetheless, each developed a similar corporate culture that has a strong focus on research and safe and evidence-based treatments, and fosters a holistic and patient-centered approach. Structured communication within the team and with other departments had high relevance. Research was highlighted as a way to open doors and to facilitate a more general acceptance within the hospital. Conventional physicians felt unburdened by the provision of integrative medicine service but also saw problems in the time required for scheduled treatments, which often resulted in long waiting lists.

Postoperative adjuvant therapy of breast cancer. Oncology Overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-12-01

Oncology Overviews are a service of the International Cancer Research Data Bank (ICRDB) Program of the National Cancer Institute, intended to facilitate and promote the exchange of information between cancer scientists by keeping them aware of literature related to their research being published by other laboratories throughout the world. Each Oncology Overview represents a survey of the literature associated with a selected area of cancer research. It contains abstracts of articles which have been selected and organized by researchers associated with the field. Contents: Postoperative chemotherapy; Postoperative radiotherapy; Postoperative hormone therapy; Postoperative immunotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy; Postoperative multimodal therapy; Prognostic factors in postoperative adjuvant therapy

Understanding why cancer patients accept or turn down psycho-oncological support: a prospective observational study including patients' and clinicians' perspectives on communication about distress.

Science.gov (United States)

Zwahlen, Diana; Tondorf, Theresa; Rothschild, Sacha; Koller, Michael T; Rochlitz, Christoph; Kiss, Alexander

2017-05-30

International standards prioritize introducing routine emotional distress screening in cancer care to accurately identify patients who most need psycho-oncological treatment, and ensure that patients can access appropriate supportive care. However, only a moderate proportion of distressed patients accepts referrals to or uses psycho-oncological support services. Predictors and barriers to psycho-oncological support service utilization are under-studied. We know little about how patients and oncologists perceive the discussions when oncologists assess psychosocial distress with a screening instrument. We aim to 1) assess the barriers and predictors of uptake of in-house psycho-oncological support along the distress screening pathway in cancer patients treated at a University Oncology Outpatient Clinic and, 2) determine how patients and clinicians perceive communication about psychosocial distress after screening with the Distress Thermometer. This is a quantitative prospective observational study with qualitative aspects. We will examine medical and demographic variables, cancer patient self-reports of various psychological measures, and aspects of the patient-clinician communication as variables that potentially predict uptake of psycho-oncological support service. We will also assess the patients' reasons for accepting or refusing psycho-oncological support services. We assess at three points in time, based on paper-and-pencil questionnaires and two patient interviews during the study period. We will monitor outcomes (psycho-oncology service uptake) four months after study entry. The study will improve our understanding of characteristics of patients who accept or refuse psycho-oncological support, and help us understand how patients' and oncologists perceive communication about psychosocial distress, and referral to a psycho-oncologist. We believe this is the first study to focus on factors that affect uptake or rejection of psycho-oncological support services

Mapping Urban Ecosystem Services Using High Resolution Aerial Photography

Science.gov (United States)

Pilant, A. N.; Neale, A.; Wilhelm, D.

2010-12-01

Ecosystem services (ES) are the many life-sustaining benefits we receive from nature: e.g., clean air and water, food and fiber, cultural-aesthetic-recreational benefits, pollination and flood control. The ES concept is emerging as a means of integrating complex environmental and economic information to support informed environmental decision making. The US EPA is developing a web-based National Atlas of Ecosystem Services, with a component for urban ecosystems. Currently, the only wall-to-wall, national scale land cover data suitable for this analysis is the National Land Cover Data (NLCD) at 30 m spatial resolution with 5 and 10 year updates. However, aerial photography is acquired at higher spatial resolution (0.5-3 m) and more frequently (1-5 years, typically) for most urban areas. Land cover was mapped in Raleigh, NC using freely available USDA National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) with 1 m ground sample distance to test the suitability of aerial photography for urban ES analysis. Automated feature extraction techniques were used to extract five land cover classes, and an accuracy assessment was performed using standard techniques. Results will be presented that demonstrate applications to mapping ES in urban environments: greenways, corridors, fragmentation, habitat, impervious surfaces, dark and light pavement (urban heat island). Automated feature extraction results mapped over NAIP color aerial photograph. At this scale, we can look at land cover and related ecosystem services at the 2-10 m scale. Small features such as individual trees and sidewalks are visible and mappable. Classified aerial photo of Downtown Raleigh NC Red: impervious surface Dark Green: trees Light Green: grass Tan: soil

Toward a Broader Role for Occupational Therapy in Supportive Oncology Care

Science.gov (United States)

Duker, Leah I. Stein

2016-01-01

Supportive care in oncology helps people cope with cancer and its psychological, physical, and emotional side effects. However, cancer survivors report dissatisfaction with supportive care and a need for more psychosocial and self-management services. Occupational therapy practitioners represent an integral part of the supportive care team because their scope of practice emphasizes function. Through a focus on function, practitioners address the full spectrum of physical and psychosocial care. Currently, conceptualizations of occupational therapy for cancer survivors often focus solely on physical interventions and, therefore, do not represent the unique involvement of the profession in supportive oncology care. We advocate for a focused framework for occupational therapy practitioners in oncology as experts in function and providers of both physical and psychosocial treatments. Barriers to a focus on function are identified, and strategies are suggested for expanding involvement for the profession in supportive oncology care. PMID:27295001

Nanotechnology in Radiation Oncology

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Andrew Z.; Tepper, Joel E.

2014-01-01

Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter on atomic and molecular scales, is a relatively new branch of science. It has already made a significant impact on clinical medicine, especially in oncology. Nanomaterial has several characteristics that are ideal for oncology applications, including preferential accumulation in tumors, low distribution in normal tissues, biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and clearance, that differ from those of small molecules. Because these properties are also well suited for applications in radiation oncology, nanomaterials have been used in many different areas of radiation oncology for imaging and treatment planning, as well as for radiosensitization to improve the therapeutic ratio. In this article, we review the unique properties of nanomaterials that are favorable for oncology applications and examine the various applications of nanotechnology in radiation oncology. We also discuss the future directions of nanotechnology within the context of radiation oncology. PMID:25113769

Exploring the scope of oncology specialist nurses' practice in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, Carole; Molassiotis, Alexander; Beaver, Kinta; Heaven, Cathy

2011-04-01

Revolutionary changes have taken place to nurses' roles and clinical responsibilities over the past decade, leading to new ways of working and higher levels of nursing practice. However, despite the development of nurse-led clinics and services within oncology there has been little formal evaluation. A survey of 103 UK oncology specialist nurses was undertaken to explore their scope of practice, with emphasis on nurse-led services. The survey highlighted significant developments within nurses' roles and nurse-led services, although there was a distinct lack of clarity between nurses' titles and their roles/responsibilities. Most nurses had extended their role. However there were significant differences in the nature of clinical practice, such as clinical examination and nurse prescribing. Overall, new roles were greatly valued by the multidisciplinary team, reducing waiting times and providing benefits for patients. However other nurses felt frustrated by deficiencies in infrastructure and support, which often overshadowed potential benefits. There is a great diversity in oncology specialist nurses' roles; however lack of clarity in titles, training, competencies and responsibilities is creating confusion. Role developments and nurse-led clinics have been ad hoc and poorly evaluated. The introduction of a competency framework, national standards and a system of clinical appraisals seems key to providing increased transparency and vital safeguards for both nurses and patients. Without further exploration and evaluation of nurse-led initiatives it is difficult to fully appreciate their impact on patients, staff and service delivery. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 66773 - Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-29

...] Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food... of Committee: Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee. General... or, are in late stage development for an adult oncology indication. The subcommittee will consider...

77 FR 57095 - Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-17

...] Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food... of Committee: Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee. General... that are in development for an adult oncology indication. The subcommittee will consider and discuss...

76 FR 61713 - Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-05

...] Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food... of Committee: Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee. General... adult oncology indication, or in late stage development in pediatric patients with cancer. The...

78 FR 63224 - Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-23

...] Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food... of Committee: Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee. General... oncology indications. The subcommittee will consider and discuss issues relating to the development of each...

78 FR 63222 - Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-23

...] Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food... the public. Name of Committee: Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory... measures in the pediatric development plans of oncology products. The half-day session will provide an...

Distance learning in the Applied Sciences of Oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barton, Michael B., E-mail: Michael.Barton@swsahs.nsw.gov.a [CCORE and the South Western Clinical School, Liverpool Hospital, University of NSW (Australia); Thode, Richard J [CCORE and the South Western Clinical School, Liverpool Hospital, University of NSW (Australia)

2010-04-15

Background: The major impediment to the expansion of oncology services is a shortage of personnel. Purpose: To develop a distance learning course for radiation oncology trainees. Materials: Under the sponsorship of the Asia Pacific Regional Cooperative Agreement administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a CD ROM-based Applied Sciences of Oncology (ASOC) distance learning course of 71 modules was created. The course covers communications, critical appraisal, functional anatomy, molecular biology, pathology. The materials include interactive text and illustrations that require students to answer questions before they can progress. The course aims to supplement existing oncology curricula and does not provide a qualification. It aims to assist students in acquiring their own profession's qualification. The course was piloted in seven countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America during 2004. After feedback from the pilot course, a further nine modules were added to cover imaging physics (three modules), informed consent, burnout and coping with death and dying, Economic analysis and cancer care, Nutrition, cachexia and fatigue, radiation-induced second cancers and mathematical tools and background for radiation oncology. The course was widely distributed and can be downloaded from (http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Training/Aso/register.html). ASOC has been downloaded over 1100 times in the first year after it was posted. There is a huge demand for educational materials but the interactive approach is labour-intensive and expensive to compile. The course must be maintained to remain relevant.

Distance learning in the Applied Sciences of Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barton, Michael B.; Thode, Richard J.

2010-01-01

Background: The major impediment to the expansion of oncology services is a shortage of personnel. Purpose: To develop a distance learning course for radiation oncology trainees. Materials: Under the sponsorship of the Asia Pacific Regional Cooperative Agreement administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a CD ROM-based Applied Sciences of Oncology (ASOC) distance learning course of 71 modules was created. The course covers communications, critical appraisal, functional anatomy, molecular biology, pathology. The materials include interactive text and illustrations that require students to answer questions before they can progress. The course aims to supplement existing oncology curricula and does not provide a qualification. It aims to assist students in acquiring their own profession's qualification. The course was piloted in seven countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America during 2004. After feedback from the pilot course, a further nine modules were added to cover imaging physics (three modules), informed consent, burnout and coping with death and dying, Economic analysis and cancer care, Nutrition, cachexia and fatigue, radiation-induced second cancers and mathematical tools and background for radiation oncology. The course was widely distributed and can be downloaded from (http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Training/Aso/register.html). ASOC has been downloaded over 1100 times in the first year after it was posted. There is a huge demand for educational materials but the interactive approach is labour-intensive and expensive to compile. The course must be maintained to remain relevant.

Mapping tsunami impacts on land cover and related ecosystem service supply in Phang Nga, Thailand

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, G.; Burkhard, B.; Römer, H.; Sangkaew, S.; Graterol, R.; Haitook, T.; Sterr, H.; Sakuna-Schwartz, D.

2013-12-01

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused damages to coastal ecosystems and thus affected the livelihoods of the coastal communities who depend on services provided by these ecosystems. The paper presents a case study on evaluating and mapping the spatial and temporal impacts of the tsunami on land use and land cover (LULC) and related ecosystem service supply in the Phang Nga province, Thailand. The method includes local stakeholder interviews, field investigations, remote-sensing techniques, and GIS. Results provide an ecosystem services matrix with capacity scores for 18 LULC classes and 17 ecosystem functions and services as well as pre-/post-tsunami and recovery maps indicating changes in the ecosystem service supply capacities in the study area. Local stakeholder interviews revealed that mangroves, casuarina forest, mixed beach forest, coral reefs, tidal inlets, as well as wetlands (peat swamp forest) have the highest capacity to supply ecosystem services, while e.g. plantations have a lower capacity. The remote-sensing based damage and recovery analysis showed a loss of the ecosystem service supply capacities in almost all LULC classes for most of the services due to the tsunami. A fast recovery of LULC and related ecosystem service supply capacities within one year could be observed for e.g. beaches, while mangroves or casuarina forest needed several years to recover. Applying multi-temporal mapping the spatial variations of recovery could be visualised. While some patches of coastal forest were fully recovered after 3 yr, other patches were still affected and thus had a reduced capacity to supply ecosystem services. The ecosystem services maps can be used to quantify ecological values and their spatial distribution in the framework of a tsunami risk assessment. Beyond that they are considered to be a useful tool for spatial analysis in coastal risk management in Phang Nga.

ADVANCED EARTH OBSERVATION APPROACH FOR MULTISCALE FOREST ECOSYSTEM SERVICES MODELING AND MAPPING (MIMOSE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Chirici

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In the last decade ecosystem services (ES have been proposed as a method for quantifying the multifunctional role of forest ecosystems. Their spatial distribution on large areas is frequently limited by the lack of information, because field data collection with traditional methods requires much effort in terms of time and cost.  In this contribution we propose a methodology (namely, MultIscale Mapping Of ecoSystem servicEs - MIMOSE based on the integration of remotely sensed images and field observation to produce a wall-to-wall geodatabase of forest parcels accompanied with several information useful as a basis for future trade-off analysis of different ES. Here, we present the application of the MIMOSE approach to a study area of 443,758 hectares  coincident with administrative Molise Region in Central Italy. The procedure is based on a local high resolution forest types map integrated with information on the main forest management approaches. Through the non-parametric k-Nearest Neighbors techniques, we produced a growing stock volume map integrating a local forest inventory with a multispectral satellite IRS LISS III imagery. With the growing stock volume map we derived a forest age map for even-aged forest types. Later these information were used to automatically create a vector forest parcels map by multidimensional image segmentation that were finally populated with a number of information useful for ES spatial estimation. The contribution briefly introduce to the MIMOSE methodology presenting the preliminary results we achieved which constitute the basis for a future implementation of ES modeling.

Radiolabeled antibodies in cancer. Oncology Overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-11-01

Oncology Overviews are a service of the International Cancer Research Data Bank (ICRDB) Program of the National Cancer Institute, intended to facilitate and promote the exchange of information between cancer scientists by keeping them aware of literature related to their research being published by other laboratories through the world. Each Oncology Overview represents a survey of the literature associated with a selected area of cancer research. It contains abstracts of articles which have been selected and organized by researchers associated with the field. Contents: Radiolabeled antibodies--labeling and imaging techniques; Radiolabeled antibodies--carcinoembryonic antigen; Radiolabeled antibodies--alpha-fetoprotein; Radiolabeled antibodies--human chorionic gonadotropin; Radiolabeled antibodies--ferritin; Radiolabeled antibodies--imaging of colorectal tumors; Radiolabeled antibodies--imaging of malignant melanoma; Radiolabeled antibodies--imaging of urogenital tumors; Radiolabeled antibodies--imaging of thyroid tumors; Radiolabeled antibodies--other clinical studies; Radiolabeled antibodies--selected preclinical studies; Radiolabeled antibodies--reviews

Earth Observation Data for Mapping and Evaluation of Ecosystem Services to Improve Human Livelihoods and Conserve Species

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Aurelie C.; Bhagabati, Nirmal

2010-12-01

Mapping and evaluating ecosystem services is of increasing concern and urgency for conservation organizations such as WWF. Coupling biodiversity assessments with ecosystem services e.g., carbon sequestration, water regulation, sediment reduction, is an effective way to visualize additional financial and human benefits of conservation for decision makers. WWF is eager to apply various Earth Observation data to conservation applications for consistent mapping and monitoring of natural ecosystems and the potential impacts of their loss on humans and wildlife alike. Such examples include forest carbon mapping, integrated evaluation of ecosystem services (via the InVEST tool) and bundling endangered Tiger habitat with various ecosystem services for bundled benefits.

Toward a Broader Role for Occupational Therapy in Supportive Oncology Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Sleight, Alix G; Duker, Leah I Stein

2016-01-01

Supportive care in oncology helps people cope with cancer and its psychological, physical, and emotional side effects. However, cancer survivors report dissatisfaction with supportive care and a need for more psychosocial and self-management services. Occupational therapy practitioners represent an integral part of the supportive care team because their scope of practice emphasizes function. Through a focus on function, practitioners address the full spectrum of physical and psychosocial care. Currently, conceptualizations of occupational therapy for cancer survivors often focus solely on physical interventions and, therefore, do not represent the unique involvement of the profession in supportive oncology care. We advocate for a focused framework for occupational therapy practitioners in oncology as experts in function and providers of both physical and psychosocial treatments. Barriers to a focus on function are identified, and strategies are suggested for expanding involvement for the profession in supportive oncology care. Copyright © 2016 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

A qualitative exploration of oncology nurses' family assessment practices in Denmark and Australia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Coyne, Elisabeth; Dieperink, Karin B

2017-01-01

-term support for the patient, and nurses need to understand the family needs in order to provide holistic care. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study is to understand the factors that influence nurses' family assessment practices in adult oncology setting in Denmark and Australia. METHODS......: An interpretive qualitative study was conducted guided by the family systems theory. Focus groups were completed with 62 nurses working in adult oncology areas in Denmark and Australia. A thematic analysis and a computer-generated concept mapping were completed to identify themes within the data. RESULTS: Overall...... the nurse's role in family assessment. CONCLUSION: This study identified that nurses value family as part of patient care, however struggle to assess and support families during oncology care. There is a need for a structured assessment approach and education on family assessment, which could be used across...

The Future of Gero-Oncology Nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kagan, Sarah H

2016-02-01

To project the future of gero-oncology nursing as a distinct specialty, framed between analysis of current challenges and explication of prospective solutions. Peer-reviewed literature, policy directives, web-based resources, and author expertise. Oncology nursing faces several challenges in meeting the needs of older people living with cancer. Realigning cancer nursing education, practice, and research to match demographic and epidemiological realities mandates redesign. Viewing geriatric oncology as an optional sub-specialty limits oncology nursing, where older people represent the majority of oncology patients and cancer survivors. The future of gero-oncology nursing lies in transforming oncology nursing itself. Specific goals to achieve transformation of oncology nursing into gero-oncology nursing include assuring integrated foundational aging and cancer content across entry-level nursing curricula; assuring a gero-competent oncology nursing workforce with integrated continuing education; developing gero-oncology nurse specialists in advanced practice roles; and cultivating nurse leadership in geriatric oncology program development and administration along with expanding the scope and sophistication of gero-oncology nursing science. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

This paper collects some scientific research works on nuclear medicine developed in Ecuador. The main topics are: Brain metastases, computed tomography assessment; Therapeutic challenge in brain metastases, chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy; Neurocysticercosis and oncogenesis; Neurologic complications of radiation and chemotherapy; Cerebral perfusion gammagraphy in neurology and neurosurgery; Neuro- oncologic surgical patient anesthesic management; Pain management in neuro- oncology; Treatment of metastatic lesions of the spine, surgically decompression vs radiation therapy alone; Neuroimagining in spinal metastases

The Cardio-oncology Program: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Care of Cancer Patients With Cardiovascular Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Parent, Sarah; Pituskin, Edith; Paterson, D Ian

2016-07-01

Improved cancer survivorship has resulted in a growing number of Canadians affected by cancer and cardiovascular disease. As a consequence, cardio-oncology programs are rapidly emerging to treat cancer patients with de novo and preexisting cardiovascular disease. The primary goal of a cardio-oncology program is to preserve cardiovascular health to allow the timely delivery of cancer therapy and achieve disease-free remission. Multidisciplinary programs in oncology and cardiology have been associated with enhanced patient well-being and improved clinical outcomes. Because of the complex needs of these multisystem patients, a similar model of care is gaining acceptance. The optimal composition of the cardio-oncology team will typically involve support from cardiology, oncology, and nursing. Depending on the clinical scenario, additional consultation from dietetics, pharmacy, and social services might be required. Timely access to consultation and testing is another prerequisite for cardio-oncology programs because delays in treating cardiac complications and nonadherence to prescribed cancer therapy are each associated with poor outcomes. Recommended reasons for referral to cardio-oncology programs include primary prevention for those at high risk for cardiotoxicity and the secondary treatment of new or worsening cardiovascular disease in cancer patients and survivors. Management is multifaceted and can involve lifestyle education, pharmacotherapy, enhanced cardiovascular surveillance, and support services, such as exercise training. The lack of evidence to guide clinical decisions and recommendations in cardio-oncology is a major challenge and opportunity for health care professionals. Large multicentre prospective registries are needed to adequately power risk model calculations and generate hypotheses for novel interventions. Copyright © 2016 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

OneGeology-Europe: architecture, portal and web services to provide a European geological map

Science.gov (United States)

Tellez-Arenas, Agnès.; Serrano, Jean-Jacques; Tertre, François; Laxton, John

2010-05-01

OneGeology-Europe is a large ambitious project to make geological spatial data further known and accessible. The OneGeology-Europe project develops an integrated system of data to create and make accessible for the first time through the internet the geological map of the whole of Europe. The architecture implemented by the project is web services oriented, based on the OGC standards: the geological map is not a centralized database but is composed by several web services, each of them hosted by a European country involved in the project. Since geological data are elaborated differently from country to country, they are difficult to share. OneGeology-Europe, while providing more detailed and complete information, will foster even beyond the geological community an easier exchange of data within Europe and globally. This implies an important work regarding the harmonization of the data, both model and the content. OneGeology-Europe is characterised by the high technological capacity of the EU Member States, and has the final goal to achieve the harmonisation of European geological survey data according to common standards. As a direct consequence Europe will make a further step in terms of innovation and information dissemination, continuing to play a world leading role in the development of geosciences information. The scope of the common harmonized data model was defined primarily by the requirements of the geological map of Europe, but in addition users were consulted and the requirements of both INSPIRE and ‘high-resolution' geological maps were considered. The data model is based on GeoSciML, developed since 2006 by a group of Geological Surveys. The data providers involved in the project implemented a new component that allows the web services to deliver the geological map expressed into GeoSciML. In order to capture the information describing the geological units of the map of Europe the scope of the data model needs to include lithology; age; genesis and

A visualization and data-sharing tool for ecosystem service maps : Lessons learnt, challenges and the way forward

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Drakou, E. G.; Crossman, N.D.; Willemen, L.; Burkhard, B.; Palomo, I.; Maes, J.; Peedell, S.

2015-01-01

A plurality in methods, models, terminologies is used to assess, quantify, map and communicate ecosystem services (ES). The Thematic Working Groups on Mapping (TWG4) and Modeling ES (TWG5) of the Ecosystem Service Partnership (ESP), recent literature and expert workshops, have highlighted the need

Psychosocial Issues in Pediatric Oncology

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus, Joel

2012-01-01

Psychosocial oncology, a relatively new discipline, is a multidisciplinary application of the behavioral and social sciences, and pediatric psychosocial oncology is an emerging subspecialty within the domain of psychosocial oncology. This review presents a brief overview of some of the major clinical issues surrounding pediatric psychosocial oncology. PMID:23049457

Implementation of the Mosaic network in work flow and management of a service radiotherapy oncology; Implementacion de la red mosaiq en el flujo de trabajo y gestion de un servicio de oncologia radioterapica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alonso Iracheta, L.; Casa de Julian, M. A. de la; Samper Ots, P.; Panas Cabrera, M. D. de las; Jimenez Gonzalez, J. M.

2013-07-01

The Mosaic network contains a number of powerful and versatile tools for configuring the work flow and management tailored to the needs and working methods of each Service of Radiation Oncology. (Author)

A National Approach to Quantify and Map Biodiversity Conservation Metrics within an Ecosystem Services Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Ecosystem services, i.e., "services provided to humans from natural systems," have become a key issue of this century in resource management, conservation planning, human well-being, and environmental decision analysis. Mapping and quantifying ecosystem services have be...

Development of spatial density maps based on geoprocessing web services: application to tuberculosis incidence in Barcelona, Spain

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Health professionals and authorities strive to cope with heterogeneous data, services, and statistical models to support decision making on public health. Sophisticated analysis and distributed processing capabilities over geocoded epidemiological data are seen as driving factors to speed up control and decision making in these health risk situations. In this context, recent Web technologies and standards-based web services deployed on geospatial information infrastructures have rapidly become an efficient way to access, share, process, and visualize geocoded health-related information. Methods Data used on this study is based on Tuberculosis (TB) cases registered in Barcelona city during 2009. Residential addresses are geocoded and loaded into a spatial database that acts as a backend database. The web-based application architecture and geoprocessing web services are designed according to the Representational State Transfer (REST) principles. These web processing services produce spatial density maps against the backend database. Results The results are focused on the use of the proposed web-based application to the analysis of TB cases in Barcelona. The application produces spatial density maps to ease the monitoring and decision making process by health professionals. We also include a discussion of how spatial density maps may be useful for health practitioners in such contexts. Conclusions In this paper, we developed web-based client application and a set of geoprocessing web services to support specific health-spatial requirements. Spatial density maps of TB incidence were generated to help health professionals in analysis and decision-making tasks. The combined use of geographic information tools, map viewers, and geoprocessing services leads to interesting possibilities in handling health data in a spatial manner. In particular, the use of spatial density maps has been effective to identify the most affected areas and its spatial impact. This

Development of spatial density maps based on geoprocessing web services: application to tuberculosis incidence in Barcelona, Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Dominkovics, Pau; Granell, Carlos; Pérez-Navarro, Antoni; Casals, Martí; Orcau, Angels; Caylà, Joan A

2011-11-29

Health professionals and authorities strive to cope with heterogeneous data, services, and statistical models to support decision making on public health. Sophisticated analysis and distributed processing capabilities over geocoded epidemiological data are seen as driving factors to speed up control and decision making in these health risk situations. In this context, recent Web technologies and standards-based web services deployed on geospatial information infrastructures have rapidly become an efficient way to access, share, process, and visualize geocoded health-related information. Data used on this study is based on Tuberculosis (TB) cases registered in Barcelona city during 2009. Residential addresses are geocoded and loaded into a spatial database that acts as a backend database. The web-based application architecture and geoprocessing web services are designed according to the Representational State Transfer (REST) principles. These web processing services produce spatial density maps against the backend database. The results are focused on the use of the proposed web-based application to the analysis of TB cases in Barcelona. The application produces spatial density maps to ease the monitoring and decision making process by health professionals. We also include a discussion of how spatial density maps may be useful for health practitioners in such contexts. In this paper, we developed web-based client application and a set of geoprocessing web services to support specific health-spatial requirements. Spatial density maps of TB incidence were generated to help health professionals in analysis and decision-making tasks. The combined use of geographic information tools, map viewers, and geoprocessing services leads to interesting possibilities in handling health data in a spatial manner. In particular, the use of spatial density maps has been effective to identify the most affected areas and its spatial impact. This study is an attempt to demonstrate how web

Early Integration of Palliative Care in Oncology Practice: Results of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Zagonel, Vittorina; Torta, Riccardo; Franciosi, Vittorio; Brunello, Antonella; Biasco, Guido; Cattaneo, Daniela; Cavanna, Luigi; Corsi, Domenico; Farina, Gabriella; Fioretto, Luisa; Gamucci, Teresa; Lanzetta, Gaetano; Magarotto, Roberto; Maltoni, Marco; Mastromauro, Cataldo; Melotti, Barbara; Meriggi, Fausto; Pavese, Ida; Piva, Erico; Sacco, Cosimo; Tonini, Giuseppe; Trentin, Leonardo; Ermacora, Paola; Varetto, Antonella; Merlin, Federica; Gori, Stefania; Cascinu, Stefano; Pinto, Carmine

2016-01-01

Early integration of palliative care in oncology practice ("simultaneous care", SC) has been shown to provide better care resulting in improved quality-of-life and also survival. We evaluated the opinions of Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) members. A 37-item questionnaire was delivered to 1119 AIOM members. Main areas covered were: social, ethical, relational aspects of disease and communication, training, research, organizational and management models in SC. Three open questions explored the definition of Quality of Life, Medical Oncologist and Palliative Care. Four hundred and forty-nine (40.1%) medical oncologists returned the questionnaires. Forty-nine percent stated they address non-curability when giving a diagnosis of metastatic tumor, and 43% give the information only to patients who clearly ask for it. Fifty-five percent say the main formative activity in palliative medicine came from attending meetings and 90% agree that specific palliative care training should be part of the core curriculum in oncology. Twenty-two percent stated they consulted guidelines for symptom management, 45% relied upon personal experience and 26% make a referral to a palliative care specialist. Seventy-four percent were in favor of more research in palliative medicine. An integration between Units of Oncology and Palliative Care Services early in the course of advanced disease was advocated by 86%. Diverse and multifaceted definitions were given for the concepts of Quality of Life, Palliative Care and Medical Oncologist. SC is felt as an important task, as well as training of medical oncologists in symptom management and research in this field.

Smoking Cessation Counseling Beliefs and Behaviors of Outpatient Oncology Providers

Science.gov (United States)

Danhauer, Suzanne C.; Tooze, Janet A.; Blackstock, A. William; Spangler, John; Thomas, Leslie; Sutfin, Erin L.

2012-01-01

Purpose. Many cancer patients continue to smoke after diagnosis, increasing their risk for treatment complications, reduced treatment efficacy, secondary cancers, and reduced survival. Outpatient oncology providers may not be using the “teachable moment” of cancer diagnosis to provide smoking cessation assistance. Providers and Methods. Physicians and midlevel providers (n = 74) who provide outpatient oncology services completed an online survey regarding smoking cessation counseling behaviors, beliefs, and perceived barriers. Outpatient medical records for 120 breast, lung, head and neck, colon, prostate, and acute leukemia cancer patients were reviewed to assess current smoking cessation assessment and intervention documentation practices. Results. Providers reported commonly assessing smoking in new patients (82.4% frequently or always), but rates declined at subsequent visits for both current smokers and recent quitters. Rates of advising patients to quit smoking were also high (86.5% frequently or always), but oncology setting. PMID:22334454

Association between psychological distress and cancer type in patients referred to a psycho-oncology service

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Lavelle, C

2017-06-01

Psychological distress is common in patients with cancer and psychological well-being is increasingly seen as an important component of cancer care. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between cancer type and subjective distress. The following data were collected from a database of consecutive psycho-oncology referrals to the Liaison Psychiatry service in Cork University Hospital from 2006 to 2015: demographics, cancer diagnosis, Distress Thermometer (DT) score. 2102 out of 2384 referrals were assessed. Of those assessed, the most common cancer diagnoses were breast (23%, n=486) followed by haematological (21%, n=445). There were significant difference in DT score between the different cancer types, (χ2(13)=33.685, p=0.001, Kruskal–Wallis test). When adjusted for age, gender and whether or not the cancer was recently diagnosed, there was no significant association between cancer type and psychological distress. In conclusion, cancer type is not associated with level of distress in cancer.

Future Research in Psycho-Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Goerling, Ute; Mehnert, Anja

2018-01-01

Since the mid-1970s psycho-oncology and psycho-oncological research have been systematically developed in many industrialized countries and have produced nationally and internationally accepted guidelines. In this article developments and challenges are presented and discussed. From the perspective of various oncological treatment options, different needs for further psycho-oncological research are considered.

USGS Hydrography (NHD) Overlay Map Service from The National Map - National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) service from The National Map (TNM) is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about...

Career opportunities in oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Farrow, L

Oncology nursing offers nurses a wide range of opportunities. Nurses need a wide range of skills in order to care for patients who may have acute oncological illnesses or require palliative care. The nature of the nurse/patient relationship can be intense. Nurses generally find this enhances job satisfaction. The pressures exerted on nurses working in oncology can be immense. Oncology nursing is rewarding but very demanding and therefore the nurse has to be resourceful. Early career planning is advisable to take advantage of the opportunities that are currently available.

Neuro-Oncology Branch

Science.gov (United States)

... BTTC are experts in their respective fields. Neuro-Oncology Clinical Fellowship This is a joint program with ... can increase survival rates. Learn more... The Neuro-Oncology Branch welcomes Dr. Mark Gilbert as new Branch ...

Clinical and Radiation Oncology. Vol. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jurga, L.; Adam, Z.; Autrata, R.

2010-01-01

The work is two-volume set and has 1,658 pages. It is divided into 5 sections: I. Principles Clinical and radiation oncology. II. Hematological Malignant tumors. III. Solid tumors. IV. Treatment options metastatic Disease. V. Clinical practice in oncology. First volume contains following sections a chapters: Section I: Principles of clinical and radiation oncology, it contains following chapters: (1) The history of clinical/experimental and radiation oncology in the Czech Republic; (2) The history of clinical/experimental and radiation oncology in the Slovak Republic - development and development of oncology in Slovakia; (3) Clinical and radiation oncology as part of evidence-based medicine; (4) Molecular biology; (5) Tumor Disease; (6) Epidemiology and prevention of malignant tumors; (7) Diagnosis, staging, stratification and monitoring of patients in oncology; (8) Imaging methods in oncology; (9) Principles of surgical treatment of cancer diseases; (10) Symptomatology and signaling of malignant tumors - systemic, paraneoplastic and paraendocrine manifestations of tumor diseases; (11) Principles of radiation oncology; (12 Modeling radiobiological effects of radiotherapy; (13) Principles of anticancer chemotherapy; (14) Hormonal manipulation in the treatment of tumors; (15) Principles of biological and targeted treatment of solid tumors; (16) Method of multimodal therapy of malignant tumors; (17) Evaluation of treatment response, performance evaluation criteria (RECIST); (18) Adverse effects of cancer chemotherapy and the principles of their prevention and treatment; (19) Biological principles of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; (20) Design, analysis and ethical aspects of clinical studies in oncology; (21) Fundamentals of biostatistics for oncologists; (22) Information infrastructure for clinical and radiological oncology based on evidence; (23) Pharmacoeconomic aspects in oncology; (24) Respecting patient preferences when deciding on the strategy and

Nursing Practice Environment and Outcomes for Oncology Nursing

Science.gov (United States)

Shang, Jingjing; Friese, Christopher R.; Wu, Evan; Aiken, Linda H.

2012-01-01

Background It is commonly assumed that oncology nurses experience high job-related burnout and high turnover because their work involves inherent stressors such as caring for patients with serious and often life-threatening illness. Objectives The objectives of this study were to examine the differences in outcomes such as job dissatisfaction and burnout between oncology nurses and medical-surgical nurses, and to identify factors that affect oncology nurse outcomes. Methods A secondary analysis of nurse survey data collected in 2006 including 4047 nurses from 282 hospitals in 3 states was performed; t test and χ2 test compared differences between oncology nurses and medical-surgical nurses in nurse outcomes and their assessments of nurse practice environment, as measured by the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Logistic regression models estimated the effect of nurse practice environment on 4 nurse-reported outcomes: burnout, job dissatisfaction, intention to leave the current position, and perceived quality of care. Results Oncology nurses reported favorable practice environments and better outcomes than did medical-surgical nurses. All 4 subscales of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index studied were significantly associated with outcomes. Specifically, nurses who reported favorable nursing foundations for quality of care (eg, active in-service or preceptorship programs) were less likely to report burnout and leave their current position. Conclusions Better practice environments, including nurse foundations for quality care, can help to achieve optimal nurse outcomes. Implications for Practice Improving hospital practice environments holds significant potential to improve nurse well-being, retention, and quality of care. Specifically, hospitals should consider preceptor programs and continuing education and increase nurses’ participation in hospital decision making. PMID:22751101

MAP SERVICES FOR MANAGEMENT OF HUNTING ORGANIZATIONS (THE CASE OF HUNTING ORGANIZATION “MEDVEDICA”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. A. Zaichenko

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The current state map support of the system of hunting management requires updating an information database and the creation of new schemes of hunting organization. In this case the beneficial is using of satellite imagery data for the mapping and also for important environmental research. Presentation of the results in the form of Internet web services provides broad benefits to the paper version of the maps.

How integrated are neurology and palliative care services? Results of a multicentre mapping exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

van Vliet, Liesbeth M; Gao, Wei; DiFrancesco, Daniel; Crosby, Vincent; Wilcock, Andrew; Byrne, Anthony; Al-Chalabi, Ammar; Chaudhuri, K Ray; Evans, Catherine; Silber, Eli; Young, Carolyn; Malik, Farida; Quibell, Rachel; Higginson, Irene J

2016-05-10

Patients affected by progressive long-term neurological conditions might benefit from specialist palliative care involvement. However, little is known on how neurology and specialist palliative care services interact. This study aimed to map the current level of connections and integration between these services. The mapping exercise was conducted in eight centres with neurology and palliative care services in the United Kingdom. The data were provided by the respective neurology and specialist palliative care teams. Questions focused on: i) catchment and population served; ii) service provision and staffing; iii) integration and relationships. Centres varied in size of catchment areas (39-5,840 square miles) and population served (142,000-3,500,000). Neurology and specialist palliative care were often not co-terminus. Service provisions for neurology and specialist palliative care were also varied. For example, neurology services varied in the number and type of provided clinics and palliative care services in the settings they work in. Integration was most developed in Motor Neuron Disease (MND), e.g., joint meetings were often held, followed by Parkinsonism (made up of Parkinson's Disease (PD), Multiple-System Atrophy (MSA) and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), with integration being more developed for MSA and PSP) and least in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), e.g., most sites had no formal links. The number of neurology patients per annum receiving specialist palliative care reflected these differences in integration (range: 9-88 MND, 3-25 Parkinsonism, and 0-5 MS). This mapping exercise showed heterogeneity in service provision and integration between neurology and specialist palliative care services, which varied not only between sites but also between diseases. This highlights the need and opportunities for improved models of integration, which should be rigorously tested for effectiveness.

Survey of Radiation Oncology Centres in Australia: report of the radiation oncology treatment quality program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klybaba, M.; Kenny, L.; Kron, T.; Harris, J.; O'Brien, P.

2009-01-01

Full text: One of the first steps towards the development of a comprehensive quality program for radiation oncology in Australia has been a survey of practice. This paper reports on the results of the survey that should inform the development of standards for radiation oncology in Australia. A questionnaire of 108 questions spanning aspects of treatment services, equipment, staff, infrastructure and available quality systems was mailed to all facilities providing radiation treatment services in Australia (n = 45). Information of 42 sites was received by June 2006 providing data on 113 operational linear accelerators of which approximately 2/3 are equipped with multi-leaf collimators. More than 75% of facilities were participating in a formal quality assurance (QA) system, with 63% following a nationally or internationally recognised system. However, there was considerable variation in the availability of policies and procedures specific to quality aspects, and the review of these. Policies for monitoring patient waiting times for treatment were documented at just 71% of all facilities. Although 85% of all centres do, in fact, monitor machine throughput, the number and types of efficiency measures varied markedly, thereby limiting the comparative use of these results. Centres identified workload as the single most common factor responsible for limiting staff involvement in both QA processes and clinical trial participation. The data collected in this 'snapshot' survey provide a unique and comprehensive baseline for future comparisons and evaluation of changes

USGS Topo Base Map from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS Topographic Base Map from The National Map. This tile cached web map service combines the most current data services (Boundaries, Names, Transportation,...

Brief Distress Screening in Clinical Practice: Does it Help to Effectively Allocate Psycho-Oncological Support to Female Cancer Inpatients?

Science.gov (United States)

Hermelink, Kerstin; Höhn, Henrik; Hasmüller, Stephan; Gallwas, Julia; Härtl, Kristin; Würstlein, Rachel; Köhm, Janna

2014-05-01

The usefulness of distress screening in cancer inpatient settings has rarely been investigated. This study evaluated a brief distress screening of inpatients in a breast cancer centre and a gynaecological cancer centre. Hospitalised patients with breast or gynaecological cancers were screened with the Distress Thermometer. Patients who scored above the cut-off, were referred by the medical staff, or self-referred were offered bedside psycho-oncological counselling. Of 125 patients, 68 (54.4%) received an offer of counselling, and 62 patients (49.6%) accepted. Most of the counselling was induced by distress screening. Only 4 (3.2%) patients self-referred to the counselling service. Of the counselled patients, 65.8% stated that they had substantially benefited from psycho-oncological support; only 5.6% of the non-counselled patients indicated that they might have benefited from psycho-oncological support. Almost all patients who will accept and benefit from psycho-oncological counselling can be identified if distress screening is used in conjunction with referrals by physicians and nurses. Distress screening is a worthwhile component in a framework of psycho-oncological support in a cancer inpatient setting. It paves the way to counselling for cancer inpatients who need it and are willing to accept it but hesitate to self-refer to psycho-oncological services.

77 FR 31025 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-24

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

77 FR 58399 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-20

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

78 FR 13348 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2013-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

77 FR 32125 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-31

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

75 FR 9419 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-02

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

78 FR 48690 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-09

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2013-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

77 FR 5813 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-06

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

75 FR 71450 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Amendment of Notice

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-23

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Amendment of Notice AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing an amendment to the notice of a...

76 FR 82309 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-30

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0002] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

76 FR 11489 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-02

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0002] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

77 FR 25184 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

76 FR 44595 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-26

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0002] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

76 FR 82310 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-30

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0002] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

76 FR 65736 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-24

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0002] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

75 FR 75680 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-06

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug...

The Radiation Therapy Oncology in the context of oncological practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasdorf, P.

2010-01-01

This work is about the radiation therapy oncology in the context of oncological practice. The radiotherapy is a speciality within medicine that involves the generation, application and dissemination of knowledge about the biology, causes, prevention and treatment of the cancer and other pathologies by ionising radiation

Psycho-oncology and primary prevention in cancer control plans: an absent voice?

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Jeff; Holland, Jimmie; Hyde, Melissa K; Watson, Maggie

2015-07-27

One third of cancer deaths are attributable to modifiable lifestyle, behaviour and psychosocial risk factors. Psycho-oncology can contribute significantly to prevention initiatives such as those described in national cancer control plans (NCCPs), to reduce or eliminate these risk factors. However, the extent to which psycho-oncology expertise has informed prevention objectives in plans is unclear. Accordingly, 35 English language NCCPs were located via existing databases and were searched using Adobe text searches ('psycho', 'social', 'behav' and 'intervention') to identify (a) representations of psycho-oncology, its dimensions (psychological, social and behavioural) and roles (e.g. psychologist); and (b) behaviour/lifestyle change interventions. A third of NCCPs included the term psycho- or psychosocial-oncology; approximately half referred to a psycho-oncology dimension regarding prevention and early detection and half included actions/objectives relating to health professionals and provision of psychosocial care. The majority of cancer plans included prevention outcomes and focussed primarily on smoking cessation and alcohol reduction. Interventions commonly proposed were education, regulation and service provision; however, many were aspirational statements of intent rather than specific interventions. Psycho-oncology was represented in NCCPs but was limited in reference to prevention with few behavioural interventions utilised. Psycho-oncology input is needed to prescribe evidence-based interventions in cancer plans that not only educate, regulate and provide resources but also motivate, empower and create a supportive normative environment for behaviour change. In this manuscript, and throughout this Special Issue on Cancer Prevention, important principles, ideas and evidence within psycho-oncology are outlined which, if properly implemented, can help reduce the global cancer burden. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley

Comparing speed of Web Map Service with GeoServer on ESRI Shapefile and PostGIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Růžička

2016-07-01

Full Text Available There are several options how to configure Web Map Service using severalmap servers. GeoServer is one of most popular map servers nowadays.GeoServer is able to read data from several sources. Very popular datasource is ESRI Shapefile. It is well documented and most of softwarefor geodata processing is able to read and write data in this format.Another very popular data store is PostgreSQL/PostGIS object-relationaldatabase. Both data sources has advantages and disadvantages and userof GeoServer has to decide which one to use. The paper describescomparison of performance of GeoServer Web Map Service when readingdata from ESRI Shapefile or from PostgreSQL/PostGIS database.

Quality Indicators in Radiation Oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Albert, Jeffrey M. [Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States); Das, Prajnan, E-mail: prajdas@mdanderson.org [Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States)

2013-03-15

Oncologic specialty societies and multidisciplinary collaborative groups have dedicated considerable effort to developing evidence-based quality indicators (QIs) to facilitate quality improvement, accreditation, benchmarking, reimbursement, maintenance of certification, and regulatory reporting. In particular, the field of radiation oncology has a long history of organized quality assessment efforts and continues to work toward developing consensus quality standards in the face of continually evolving technologies and standards of care. This report provides a comprehensive review of the current state of quality assessment in radiation oncology. Specifically, this report highlights implications of the healthcare quality movement for radiation oncology and reviews existing efforts to define and measure quality in the field, with focus on dimensions of quality specific to radiation oncology within the “big picture” of oncologic quality assessment efforts.

Quality Indicators in Radiation Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albert, Jeffrey M.; Das, Prajnan

2013-01-01

Oncologic specialty societies and multidisciplinary collaborative groups have dedicated considerable effort to developing evidence-based quality indicators (QIs) to facilitate quality improvement, accreditation, benchmarking, reimbursement, maintenance of certification, and regulatory reporting. In particular, the field of radiation oncology has a long history of organized quality assessment efforts and continues to work toward developing consensus quality standards in the face of continually evolving technologies and standards of care. This report provides a comprehensive review of the current state of quality assessment in radiation oncology. Specifically, this report highlights implications of the healthcare quality movement for radiation oncology and reviews existing efforts to define and measure quality in the field, with focus on dimensions of quality specific to radiation oncology within the “big picture” of oncologic quality assessment efforts

Quantifying Spatial Variation in Ecosystem Services Demand : A Global Mapping Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolff, S.; Schulp, C. J E; Kastner, T.; Verburg, P. H.

2017-01-01

Understanding the spatial-temporal variability in ecosystem services (ES) demand can help anticipate externalities of land use change. This study presents new operational approaches to quantify and map demand for three non-commodity ES on a global scale: animal pollination, wild medicinal plants and

Quality in radiotherapy: the actions of the French society for radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazeron, J.J.; Mornex, F.; Eschwege, F.; Lartigau, E.

2009-01-01

In response to recent accidents at external radiotherapy units, the t Minister of Health has set up an extensive programme to improve the quality and safety of this type of treatment. We give an account here of the activities carried out by the French Society of Radiation Oncology (SFRO) as part of this programme, commonly referred to as the 'road-map'. (authors)

Conceptualizing Stakeholders' Perceptions of Ecosystem Services: A Participatory Systems Mapping Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Lopes, Rita; Videira, Nuno

2015-12-01

A participatory system dynamics modelling approach is advanced to support conceptualization of feedback processes underlying ecosystem services and to foster a shared understanding of leverage intervention points. The process includes systems mapping workshop and follow-up tasks aiming at the collaborative construction of causal loop diagrams. A case study developed in a natural area in Portugal illustrates how a stakeholder group was actively engaged in the development of a conceptual model depicting policies for sustaining the climate regulation ecosystem service.

Conceptualizing Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Ecosystem Services: A Participatory Systems Mapping Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lopes Rita

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A participatory system dynamics modelling approach is advanced to support conceptualization of feedback processes underlying ecosystem services and to foster a shared understanding of leverage intervention points. The process includes systems mapping workshop and follow-up tasks aiming at the collaborative construction of causal loop diagrams. A case study developed in a natural area in Portugal illustrates how a stakeholder group was actively engaged in the development of a conceptual model depicting policies for sustaining the climate regulation ecosystem service.

77 FR 37911 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Amendment of Notice

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-25

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0001] Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Amendment of Notice AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing an amendment to the notice of meeting of the...

Problems with the Web Map Service Open GIS specification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Šeliga

2005-06-01

Full Text Available The paper is not focused on the area of GeoWeb generally, because there is a lot of papers written on this topic (for examples: see the proceedings from the symposium GIS Ostrava (http://gis.vsb.cz the present. Author looks at the area from a different point of view. Is there anything wrong that comes with the Web Map Service (WMS specification? WMS (antl of course other specifications from the Open GIS Consortium (http://www.opengis.org brings new possibilities how to make GIS interoperable. The map server compatible with WMS specification publishes, upon a user request, the map as a raster (bitmap file that can be visualized by the user’s client. The bitmap can be filled up with pixels with some color values but there can be transparent pixels too. That’s why outputs from more than one map server in one map client (like in the digital cartography can be published. This possibility makes a big family of the data sources from the WMS servers that can be combined in many different ways. The user can obtain actual data from different sources and visualize them together. This advantage brings many disadvantages, which are described in the paper. There are problems with the symbology used. Data publishers can use so much different symbology (for example geologist, demographer, that the map server’s outputs should not be (quite often it is not possible eithn putted together. A more serious is a problem in the quality and temporal extent of the data. The user can combine the data with a different temporal extent and upon a visual comparison he can produce a wrong decision. For example, the harlot must be closed because there is a school in a distance less than 50 meters but the school is closed for more than two years and is used for the accommodation of the foreign workers. Another example: a school administration localised the school building with a precision to the street (it means to the centre of the street, but the school building is at

Communicating and visualizing data quality through Web Map Services

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Charles; Blower, Jon; Maso, Joan; Diaz, Daniel; Griffiths, Guy; Lewis, Jane

2014-05-01

The sharing and visualization of environmental data through OGC Web Map Services is becoming increasingly common. However, information about the quality of data is rarely presented. (In this presentation we consider mostly data uncertainty as a measure of quality, although we acknowledge that many other quality measures are relevant to the geoscience community.) In the context of the GeoViQua project (http://www.geoviqua.org) we have developed conventions and tools for using WMS to deliver data quality information. The "WMS-Q" convention describes how the WMS specification can be used to publish quality information at the level of datasets, variables and individual pixels (samples). WMS-Q requires no extensions to the WMS 1.3.0 specification, being entirely backward-compatible. (An earlier version of WMS-Q was published as OGC Engineering Report 12-160.) To complement the WMS-Q convention, we have also developed extensions to the OGC Symbology Encoding (SE) specification, enabling uncertain geoscience data to be portrayed using a variety of visualization techniques. These include contours, stippling, blackening, whitening, opacity, bivariate colour maps, confidence interval triangles and glyphs. There may also be more extensive applications of these methods beyond the visual representation of uncertainty. In this presentation we will briefly describe the scope of the WMS-Q and "extended SE" specifications and then demonstrate the innovations using open-source software based upon ncWMS (http://ncwms.sf.net). We apply the tools to a variety of datasets including Earth Observation data from the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative. The software allows uncertain raster data to be shared through Web Map Services, giving the user fine control over data visualization.

E-learning programs in oncology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Degerfält, Jan; Sjöstedt, Staffan; Fransson, Per

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: E-learning is an established concept in oncological education and training. However, there seems to be a scarcity of long-term assessments of E-learning programs in oncology vis-á-vis their structural management and didactic value. This study presents descriptive, nationwide data from...... 2005 to 2014. E-learning oncology programs in chemotherapy, general oncology, pain management, palliative care, psycho-social-oncology, and radiotherapy, were reviewed from our databases. Questionnaires of self-perceived didactic value of the programs were examined 2008-2014. RESULTS: The total number.......6% (MDs: 64.9%; RNs: 66.8%; SHCAs: 77.7%) and as good by 30.6% (MDs: 34.5%; RNs: 32.4%; SHCAs: 21.5%) of the responders. CONCLUSIONS: This descriptive study, performed in a lengthy timeframe, presents high-volume data from multi-professional, oncological E-learning programs. While the E-learning paradigm...

Quantifying and Mapping the Supply of and Demand for Carbon Storage and Sequestration Service from Urban Trees

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Chang; Sander, Heather A.

2015-01-01

Studies that assess the distribution of benefits provided by ecosystem services across urban areas are increasingly common. Nevertheless, current knowledge of both the supply and demand sides of ecosystem services remains limited, leaving a gap in our understanding of balance between ecosystem service supply and demand that restricts our ability to assess and manage these services. The present study seeks to fill this gap by developing and applying an integrated approach to quantifying the supply and demand of a key ecosystem service, carbon storage and sequestration, at the local level. This approach follows three basic steps: (1) quantifying and mapping service supply based upon Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) processing and allometric models, (2) quantifying and mapping demand for carbon sequestration using an indicator based on local anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (3) mapping a supply-to-demand ratio. We illustrate this approach using a portion of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of Minnesota, USA. Our results indicate that 1735.69 million kg carbon are stored by urban trees in our study area. Annually, 33.43 million kg carbon are sequestered by trees, whereas 3087.60 million kg carbon are emitted by human sources. Thus, carbon sequestration service provided by urban trees in the study location play a minor role in combating climate change, offsetting approximately 1% of local anthropogenic carbon emissions per year, although avoided emissions via storage in trees are substantial. Our supply-to-demand ratio map provides insight into the balance between carbon sequestration supply in urban trees and demand for such sequestration at the local level, pinpointing critical locations where higher levels of supply and demand exist. Such a ratio map could help planners and policy makers to assess and manage the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration. PMID:26317530

Quantifying and Mapping the Supply of and Demand for Carbon Storage and Sequestration Service from Urban Trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Chang; Sander, Heather A

2015-01-01

Studies that assess the distribution of benefits provided by ecosystem services across urban areas are increasingly common. Nevertheless, current knowledge of both the supply and demand sides of ecosystem services remains limited, leaving a gap in our understanding of balance between ecosystem service supply and demand that restricts our ability to assess and manage these services. The present study seeks to fill this gap by developing and applying an integrated approach to quantifying the supply and demand of a key ecosystem service, carbon storage and sequestration, at the local level. This approach follows three basic steps: (1) quantifying and mapping service supply based upon Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) processing and allometric models, (2) quantifying and mapping demand for carbon sequestration using an indicator based on local anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (3) mapping a supply-to-demand ratio. We illustrate this approach using a portion of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of Minnesota, USA. Our results indicate that 1735.69 million kg carbon are stored by urban trees in our study area. Annually, 33.43 million kg carbon are sequestered by trees, whereas 3087.60 million kg carbon are emitted by human sources. Thus, carbon sequestration service provided by urban trees in the study location play a minor role in combating climate change, offsetting approximately 1% of local anthropogenic carbon emissions per year, although avoided emissions via storage in trees are substantial. Our supply-to-demand ratio map provides insight into the balance between carbon sequestration supply in urban trees and demand for such sequestration at the local level, pinpointing critical locations where higher levels of supply and demand exist. Such a ratio map could help planners and policy makers to assess and manage the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration.

Guidelines on oncologic imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

The present issue of European Journal of Radiology is devoted to guidelines on oncologic imaging. 9 experts on imaging in suspected or evident oncologic disease have compiled a broad survey on strategies as well as techniques on oncologic imaging. The group gives advice for detecting tumours at specific tumour sites and use modern literature to emphasize their recommendations. All recommendations are short, comprehensive and authoritative. (orig./MG)

Tools for mapping ecosystem services

Science.gov (United States)

Palomo, Ignacio; Adamescu, Mihai; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Cazacu, Constantin; Klug, Hermann; Nedkov, Stoyan; Burkhard, Benjamin; Maes, Joachim

2017-01-01

Mapping tools have evolved impressively in recent decades. From early computerised mapping techniques to current cloud-based mapping approaches, we have witnessed a technological evolution that has facilitated the democratisation of Geographic Information

Mapping cultural ecosystem services: A framework to assess the potential for outdoor recreation across the EU

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Paracchini, M.L.; Zulian, G.; Kopperoinen, L.; Maes, J.; Schagner, J.P.; Termansen, M.; Zandersen, M.; Perez-Soba, M.; Scholefield, P.A.; Bidoglio, G.

2014-01-01

Research on ecosystem services mapping and valuing has increased significantly in recent years. However, compared to provisioning and regulating services, cultural ecosystem services have not yet been fully integrated into operational frameworks. One reason for this is that transdisciplinarity is

Breast cancer patients' presentation for oncological treatment: a single centre study.

Science.gov (United States)

Akinkuolie, Akinbolaji Andrew; Etonyeaku, Amarachukwu Chiduziem; Olasehinde, Olalekan; Arowolo, Olukayode Adeolu; Babalola, Rereloluwa Nicodemus

2016-01-01

Breast cancer patients are presenting at advanced stages for oncological treatment in Nigeria and World Health Organization predicted developing countries' breast cancer incidence and mortality to increase by year 2020. Prospective observational hospital based study that enrolled breast cancer patients from catchment area of an oncology service hospital in Nigeria between 2007 and 2013. Patients' demographics, breast cancer burden and health care giver presentation variables were analysed for causal factors of seeking medical help and what determines commencement of effective oncological treatment. Forty-six patients were enrolled, 19.6% of them presented primarily to oncologist while 80.4% presented secondarily for oncological treatment. There is a significant difference in presentation time for oncological treatment (t = -3.56, df = 42.90, p = 0.001) between primary (M =11.56 ± 5.21 weeks) and secondary presentation (M= 52.56 ± 10.27weeks). Tumor burden of those that presented secondarily were significantly more advanced (U = 78.5, p = 0.011) and, univariate analysis reveals that: patients' matrimonial setting, breast cancer awareness and mode of discovery of breast symptoms are patient related factors that determines their choice of health care providers and, determinant of effective oncological treatment is patient first contact health care provider. Patients' bio-characteristics that determine their choice of health care provider should be incorporated into community breast cancer sensitization drives. Additionally, there is a need for a government agency assign the task of accrediting and defining scope of enterprise of health care institutions and their health care providers in our pluralist health system.

Breast cancer patients’ presentation for oncological treatment: a single centre study

Science.gov (United States)

Akinkuolie, Akinbolaji Andrew; Etonyeaku, Amarachukwu Chiduziem; Olasehinde, Olalekan; Arowolo, Olukayode Adeolu; Babalola, Rereloluwa Nicodemus

2016-01-01

Introduction Breast cancer patients are presenting at advanced stages for oncological treatment in Nigeria and World Health Organization predicted developing countries’ breast cancer incidence and mortality to increase by year 2020. Methods Prospective observational hospital based study that enrolled breast cancer patients from catchment area of an oncology service hospital in Nigeria between 2007 and 2013. Patients’ demographics, breast cancer burden and health care giver presentation variables were analysed for causal factors of seeking medical help and what determines commencement of effective oncological treatment. Results Forty-six patients were enrolled, 19.6% of them presented primarily to oncologist while 80.4% presented secondarily for oncological treatment. There is a significant difference in presentation time for oncological treatment (t = -3.56, df = 42.90, p = 0.001) between primary (M =11.56 ± 5.21 weeks) and secondary presentation (M= 52.56 ± 10.27weeks). Tumor burden of those that presented secondarily were significantly more advanced (U = 78.5, p = 0.011) and, univariate analysis reveals that: patients’ matrimonial setting, breast cancer awareness and mode of discovery of breast symptoms are patient related factors that determines their choice of health care providers and, determinant of effective oncological treatment is patient first contact health care provider. Conclusion Patients’ bio-characteristics that determine their choice of health care provider should be incorporated into community breast cancer sensitization drives. Additionally, there is a need for a government agency assign the task of accrediting and defining scope of enterprise of health care institutions and their health care providers in our pluralist health system. PMID:27642404

History and Accomplishments of USDA-ARS Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

The USDA-Agricultural Research Service Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory (ADOL) in East Lansing, Michigan, formerly known as Regional Poultry Research Laboratory, was dedicated on August 8, 1939. Its establishment was the result of joint efforts by the Agricultural Experiment Stations of the Nor...

Global curriculum in surgical oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Are, C; Berman, R S; Wyld, L; Cummings, C; Lecoq, C; Audisio, R A

2016-06-01

The significant global variations in surgical oncology training paradigms can have a detrimental effect on tackling the rising global cancer burden. While some variations in training are essential to account for the differences in types of cancer and biology, the fundamental principles of providing care to a cancer patient remain the same. The development of a global curriculum in surgical oncology with incorporated essential standards could be very useful in building an adequately trained surgical oncology workforce, which in turn could help in tackling the rising global cancer burden. The leaders of the Society of Surgical Oncology and European Society of Surgical Oncology convened a global curriculum committee to develop a global curriculum in surgical oncology. A global curriculum in surgical oncology was developed to incorporate the required domains considered to be essential in training a surgical oncologist. The curriculum was constructed in a modular fashion to permit flexibility to suit the needs of the different regions of the world. Similarly, recognizing the various sociocultural, financial and cultural influences across the world, the proposed curriculum is aspirational and not mandatory in intent. A global curriculum was developed which may be considered as a foundational scaffolding for training surgical oncologists worldwide. It is envisioned that this initial global curriculum will provide a flexible and modular scaffolding that can be tailored by individual countries or regions to train surgical oncologists in a way that is appropriate for practice in their local environment. Copyright © 2016 Society of Surgical Oncology, European Society of Surgical Oncology. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Characterizing and Mapping of Ecosystem Services (CMESs) Literature Database Version 1.0

Science.gov (United States)

Ecosystem services (ESs) represent an ecosystem’s capacity for satisfying essential human needs, directly or indirectly, above that required to maintain ecosystem integrity (structure, function and processes). The spatial characterization and mapping of ESs is an essential first ...

ORGANIZATION AND VISUALIZATION TO OBSERVATIONAL DATA USING WEB MAPPING SERVICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Kadochnikov

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Current trends in the field of nature protection are monitoring environmental pollution resulting from human impact on nature, and as a result of natural processes. Monitoring the state of the environment in the area of the various industries can reduce costs to eliminate the impact of industrial accidents, which in turn reduces the possibility of contamination soil, surface water, loss of vegetation and wildlife. Consider the problem of creation of information-analytical systems for environmental monitoring of the natural environment and resources, built on the basis of GIS technologies, Internet, remote sensing data processing and data from monitoring stations. Considerable attention is given to web services, software interfaces and generally accepted standards. The author were directly involved in the development and implementation of projects of ecological orientation. In developing the software many different software libraries and components were used. Web mapping user interface was created using a number of open source libraries. To create a server-side web application author used GIS platforms MapGuide Open Source and Minnesota MapServer. GeoWebCache was another essential component of distributed web mapping environmental monitoring applications.

2016 Updated American Society of Clinical Oncology/Oncology Nursing Society Chemotherapy Administration Safety Standards, Including Standards for Pediatric Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuss, Michael N; Gilmore, Terry R; Belderson, Kristin M; Billett, Amy L; Conti-Kalchik, Tara; Harvey, Brittany E; Hendricks, Carolyn; LeFebvre, Kristine B; Mangu, Pamela B; McNiff, Kristen; Olsen, MiKaela; Schulmeister, Lisa; Von Gehr, Ann; Polovich, Martha

2016-12-01

Purpose To update the ASCO/Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Chemotherapy Administration Safety Standards and to highlight standards for pediatric oncology. Methods The ASCO/ONS Chemotherapy Administration Safety Standards were first published in 2009 and updated in 2011 to include inpatient settings. A subsequent 2013 revision expanded the standards to include the safe administration and management of oral chemotherapy. A joint ASCO/ONS workshop with stakeholder participation, including that of the Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Nurses and American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, was held on May 12, 2015, to review the 2013 standards. An extensive literature search was subsequently conducted, and public comments on the revised draft standards were solicited. Results The updated 2016 standards presented here include clarification and expansion of existing standards to include pediatric oncology and to introduce new standards: most notably, two-person verification of chemotherapy preparation processes, administration of vinca alkaloids via minibags in facilities in which intrathecal medications are administered, and labeling of medications dispensed from the health care setting to be taken by the patient at home. The standards were reordered and renumbered to align with the sequential processes of chemotherapy prescription, preparation, and administration. Several standards were separated into their respective components for clarity and to facilitate measurement of adherence to a standard. Conclusion As oncology practice has changed, so have chemotherapy administration safety standards. Advances in technology, cancer treatment, and education and training have prompted the need for periodic review and revision of the standards. Additional information is available at http://www.asco.org/chemo-standards .

Outlook of the process of storage of oncology drugs from the logistic operator in Colombia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Vicente Sánchez-Calvera

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This article mainly on the problem of  storage of oncology drugs, which is an important element in the supply chain, applied in the context of warehouse management of oncology drugs, in the logistics operator and providers of health services institutions (IPS for its acronym in Spanish of Bogotá DC and in the contex of a macro project "Methodological proposal for the definition of policies , rules of negotation and coordination in supply management of oncology drugs in Colombia," funded by Colciencias and the Universidad Nacional of Colombia. This article presents the current situation of oncology drugs, marking a characterization, diagnosis and identification and startegies evaluated under different scenarios. Finally, it is presented a proposal of improvement applied tranversely to storage processes including labels such as just in Time and the application of information and communication technologies (ICT.

Impact of provider level, training and gender on the utilization of palliative care and hospice in neuro-oncology: a North-American survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Walbert, Tobias; Glantz, Michael; Schultz, Lonni; Puduvalli, Vinay K

2016-01-01

Specialized palliative care (PC) services have emerged to address symptoms and provide end-of-life management for patients with brain tumors. The utilization patterns of PC in neuro-oncology are unknown. A 22-question survey was distributed to participants of the society for neuro-oncology annual meeting 2012 (n = 4487). Nonparametric methods including Wilcoxon two-sample and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to assess differences in responses. 239 (5.3 %) evaluable responses were received; 79 % of respondents were physicians, and 17 % were nurses or midlevel providers. Forty-seven percent were medical or neuro-oncologists, 31 % neurosurgeons and 11 % radiation oncologists. Forty percent had no formal training in PC, 57 % had some formal training and 3 % completed a PC fellowship. Seventy-nine percent practiced in an academic setting. Of the respondents, 57 % referred patients to PC when symptoms required treatment and 18 % at end of life. Only 51 % of all providers felt comfortable dealing with end-of-life issues and symptoms, while 33 % did not. Fifty-one percent preferred a service named "Supportive Care" rather than "Palliative Care" (MDs > midlevel providers, p training in neuro-oncology and PC, and medical versus surgical neuro-oncology training were significantly associated with hospice referral, comfort in dealing with end-of-life issues, and ease of access to PC services. Provider level, specialty, gender, training in PC and neuro-oncology have significant impact on the utilization of PC and hospice in neuro-oncology.

Denitrification and Ecosystem Services: Mapping and Modeling Conservation Effects

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, C. K.; Walter, T.

2012-12-01

Precision conservation is the latest effort to increase higher efficiency in agricultural best management practices by considering the spatial and temporal variability in agroecosystems. The authors have developed a framework for incorporating the ecosystem service of denitrification into an existing precision conservation mapping tool. The model identifies areas of denitirification and quantifies potential denitrification when a conservation practice is adopted. The methodology is being tested in a small subwatershed in the Upper Susquehanna Basin of New York State.

Clinical trial or standard treatment? Shared decision making at the department of oncology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Trine Ammentorp; Birkelund, Regner; Ammentorp, Jette

2016-01-01

Title: Clinical trial or standard treatment? Shared decision making at the department of oncology. Authors: Ph.d. student, Trine A. Gregersen. Trine.gregersen@rsyd.dk. Department of Oncology. Health Services Research Unit Lillebaelt Hospital / IRS University of Southern Denmark. Professor, Regner...... are involved in difficult treatment decisions including participation in clinical trials. The literature indicates that the decision is very often based on little knowledge about the treatment and that many patients who have consented to participate in a clinical trial are not always aware...... that they are participating in a trial. This place great demand on the healthcare providers’ ability to involve and advise patients in the decisions. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of the communication when decisions about participation in clinical oncology trial are made and the patients...

A Map/INS/Wi-Fi Integrated System for Indoor Location-Based Service Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Chunyang; Lan, Haiyu; Gu, Fuqiang; Yu, Fei; El-Sheimy, Naser

2017-06-02

In this research, a new Map/INS/Wi-Fi integrated system for indoor location-based service (LBS) applications based on a cascaded Particle/Kalman filter framework structure is proposed. Two-dimension indoor map information, together with measurements from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) value, are integrated for estimating positioning information. The main challenge of this research is how to make effective use of various measurements that complement each other in order to obtain an accurate, continuous, and low-cost position solution without increasing the computational burden of the system. Therefore, to eliminate the cumulative drift caused by low-cost IMU sensor errors, the ubiquitous Wi-Fi signal and non-holonomic constraints are rationally used to correct the IMU-derived navigation solution through the extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Moreover, the map-aiding method and map-matching method are innovatively combined to constrain the primary Wi-Fi/IMU-derived position through an Auxiliary Value Particle Filter (AVPF). Different sources of information are incorporated through a cascaded structure EKF/AVPF filter algorithm. Indoor tests show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the accumulation of positioning errors of a stand-alone Inertial Navigation System (INS), and provide a stable, continuous and reliable indoor location service.

USGS Elevation Availability (NED) Overlay Map Service from The National Map - National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) National Elevation Data Set (NED)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — The USGS Elevation Availability service from The National Map (TNM) shows the best available resolution of downloadable elevation data, and is updated approximately...

Indian Country Leaking Underground Storage Tanks (LUST) Map Service, Region 9, 2016, US EPA Region 9

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service displays Leaking Underground Storage Tanks in US EPA Region 9 Indian Country. The service is composed of three layers; one for each unique LUST...

Creation and Implementation of an Environmental Scan to Assess Cancer Genetics Services at Three Oncology Care Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Bednar, Erica M; Walsh, Michael T; Baker, Ellen; Muse, Kimberly I; Oakley, Holly D; Krukenberg, Rebekah C; Dresbold, Cara S; Jenkinson, Sandra B; Eppolito, Amanda L; Teed, Kelly B; Klein, Molly H; Morman, Nichole A; Bowdish, Elizabeth C; Russ, Pauline; Wise, Emaline E; Cooper, Julia N; Method, Michael W; Henson, John W; Grainger, Andrew V; Arun, Banu K; Lu, Karen H

2018-05-16

An environmental scan (ES) is an efficient mixed-methods approach to collect and interpret relevant data for strategic planning and project design. To date, the ES has not been used nor evaluated in the clinical cancer genetics setting. We created and implemented an ES to inform the design of a quality improvement (QI) project to increase the rates of adherence to national guidelines for cancer genetic counseling and genetic testing at three unique oncology care settings (OCS). The ES collected qualitative and quantitative data from reviews of internal processes, past QI efforts, the literature, and each OCS. The ES used a data collection form and semi-structured interviews to aid in data collection. The ES was completed within 6 months, and sufficient data were captured to identify opportunities and threats to the QI project's success, as well as potential barriers to, and facilitators of guideline-based cancer genetics services at each OCS. Previously unreported barriers were identified, including inefficient genetic counseling appointment scheduling processes and the inability to track referrals, genetics appointments, and genetic test results within electronic medical record systems. The ES was a valuable process for QI project planning at three OCS and may be used to evaluate genetics services in other settings.

The UK Human Genome Mapping Project online computing service.

Science.gov (United States)

Rysavy, F R; Bishop, M J; Gibbs, G P; Williams, G W

1992-04-01

This paper presents an overview of computing and networking facilities developed by the Medical Research Council to provide online computing support to the Human Genome Mapping Project (HGMP) in the UK. The facility is connected to a number of other computing facilities in various centres of genetics and molecular biology research excellence, either directly via high-speed links or through national and international wide-area networks. The paper describes the design and implementation of the current system, a 'client/server' network of Sun, IBM, DEC and Apple servers, gateways and workstations. A short outline of online computing services currently delivered by this system to the UK human genetics research community is also provided. More information about the services and their availability could be obtained by a direct approach to the UK HGMP-RC.

AMCO Scribe Sampling Data Map Service, Oakland CA, 2017, US EPA Region 9

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service contains a single layer: Groundwater Samples. The layer draws at all scales. Full FGDC metadata for the layer may be found by clicking the layer...

Diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Oncology overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-09-01

Oncology Overviews are a service of the International Cancer Research Data Bank (ICRDB) Program of the National Cancer Institute, intended to facilitate and promote the exchange of information between cancer scientists by keeping them aware of literature related to their research being published by other laboratories throughout the world. Each Oncology Overview represents a survey of the literature associated with a selected area of cancer research. It contains abstracts of articles which have been selected and organized by researchers associated with the field. Contents: Radiological diagnosis of pancreatic cancer; Biopsy and cytology in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer; Pathology and morphology of pancreatic cancer; Staging and prognosis of pancreatic cancer; Biological and immunological markers in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer; Surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer; Drug therapy of pancreatic cancer; Radiation therapy of pancreatic cancer; Selected studies on the epidemiology of pancreatic cancer; Clinical correlates and syndromes associated with pancreatic neoplasia

Clinical and Radiation Oncology. Vol. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jurga, L.; Adam, Z.; Autrata, R.

2010-01-01

The work is two-volume set and has 1,658 pages. It is divided into 5 sections: I. Principles Clinical and radiation oncology. II. Hematological Malignant tumors. III. Solid tumors. IV. Treatment options metastatic Disease. V. Clinical practice in oncology. Second volume contains following sections a chapters: Section III: Solid nodes, it contains following chapters: (38) Central nervous system tumors; (39) Tumors of the eye, orbits and adnexas; (40) Head and neck carcinomas; (41) Lung carcinomas and pleural mesothelioma; (42) Mediastinal tumors; (43) Tumors of the esophagus; (44) Gastric carcinomas; (45) Carcinoma of the colon, rectum and anus; (46) Small intestinal cancer; (47) Liver and biliary tract carcinomas; (48) Tumors of the pancreas; (49) Tumors of the kidney and upper urinary tract; (50) Bladder tumors of the bladder, urinary tract and penis; (51) Prostate Carcinoma; (52) Testicular tumors; (53) Malignant neoplasm of the cervix, vulva and vagina; (54) Endometrial carcinoma; (55) Malignant ovarian tumors; (56) Gestational trophoblastic disease; (57) Breast carcinoma - based on a evidence-based approach; (58) Thyroid and parathyroid carcinomas; (59) Dental tumors of endocrine glands; (60) Tumors of the locomotory system; (61) Malignant melanoma; (62) Carcinomas of the skin and skin adnexa; (63) Malignant tumors in immunosuppressed patients; (64) Tumors of unknown primary localization; (65) Children's oncology; (66) Geriatric Oncology; (67) Principles of long-term survival of patients with medically and socially significant types of malignant tumors after treatment. Section IV: Options of metastic disease disease, it contains following chapters: (68) Metastases to the central nervous system; (69) Metastases in the lungs; (70) Metastases in the liver; (71) Metastases into the skeleton. Section V: Clinical practice in oncology, it contains following chapters: (72) Acute conditions in oncology; (73) Prevention and management of radiation and chemical toxicity

The American Society for Radiation Oncology's 2015 Core Physics Curriculum for Radiation Oncology Residents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burmeister, Jay; Chen, Zhe; Chetty, Indrin J.; Dieterich, Sonja; Doemer, Anthony; Dominello, Michael M.; Howell, Rebecca M.; McDermott, Patrick; Nalichowski, Adrian; Prisciandaro, Joann; Ritter, Tim; Smith, Chadd; Schreiber, Eric; Shafman, Timothy; Sutlief, Steven; Xiao, Ying

2016-01-01

Purpose: The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Physics Core Curriculum Subcommittee (PCCSC) has updated the recommended physics curriculum for radiation oncology resident education to improve consistency in teaching, intensity, and subject matter. Methods and Materials: The ASTRO PCCSC is composed of physicists and physicians involved in radiation oncology residency education. The PCCSC updated existing sections within the curriculum, created new sections, and attempted to provide additional clinical context to the curricular material through creation of practical clinical experiences. Finally, we reviewed the American Board of Radiology (ABR) blueprint of examination topics for correlation with this curriculum. Results: The new curriculum represents 56 hours of resident physics didactic education, including a 4-hour initial orientation. The committee recommends completion of this curriculum at least twice to assure both timely presentation of material and re-emphasis after clinical experience. In addition, practical clinical physics and treatment planning modules were created as a supplement to the didactic training. Major changes to the curriculum include addition of Fundamental Physics, Stereotactic Radiosurgery/Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, and Safety and Incidents sections, and elimination of the Radiopharmaceutical Physics and Dosimetry and Hyperthermia sections. Simulation and Treatment Verification and optional Research and Development in Radiation Oncology sections were also added. A feedback loop was established with the ABR to help assure that the physics component of the ABR radiation oncology initial certification examination remains consistent with this curriculum. Conclusions: The ASTRO physics core curriculum for radiation oncology residents has been updated in an effort to identify the most important physics topics for preparing residents for careers in radiation oncology, to reflect changes in technology and practice since

Development of Web Mapping Service Capabilities to Support NASA Disasters Applications/App Development

Science.gov (United States)

Burks, Jason E.; Molthan, Andrew L.; McGrath, Kevin M.

2014-01-01

During the last year several significant disasters have occurred such as Superstorm Sandy on the East coast of the United States, and Typhoon Bopha in the Phillipines, along with several others. In support of these disasters NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center delivered various products derived from satellite imagery to help in the assessment of damage and recovery of the affected areas. To better support the decision makers responding to the disasters SPoRT quickly developed several solutions to provide the data using open Geographical Information Service (GIS) formats. Providing the data in open GIS standard formats allowed the end user to easily integrate the data into existing Decision Support Systems (DSS). Both Tile Mapping Service (TMS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS) were leveraged to quickly provide the data to the end-user. Development of the deliver methodology allowed quick response to rapidly developing disasters and enabled NASA SPoRT to bring science data to decision makers in a successful research to operations transition.

Mapping ecosystem services demand: A review of current research and future perspectives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolff, S.; Schulp, C.J.E.; Verburg, P.H.

2015-01-01

Mapping the demand for ecosystem services (ES) has received increased attention in scientific research and is seen as a relevant tool to inform conservation planning, land use planning and management. Yet, there is a varying understanding of the concept of ES demand, which has implications on how

MareyMap Online: A User-Friendly Web Application and Database Service for Estimating Recombination Rates Using Physical and Genetic Maps.

Science.gov (United States)

Siberchicot, Aurélie; Bessy, Adrien; Guéguen, Laurent; Marais, Gabriel A B

2017-10-01

Given the importance of meiotic recombination in biology, there is a need to develop robust methods to estimate meiotic recombination rates. A popular approach, called the Marey map approach, relies on comparing genetic and physical maps of a chromosome to estimate local recombination rates. In the past, we have implemented this approach in an R package called MareyMap, which includes many functionalities useful to get reliable recombination rate estimates in a semi-automated way. MareyMap has been used repeatedly in studies looking at the effect of recombination on genome evolution. Here, we propose a simpler user-friendly web service version of MareyMap, called MareyMap Online, which allows a user to get recombination rates from her/his own data or from a publicly available database that we offer in a few clicks. When the analysis is done, the user is asked whether her/his curated data can be placed in the database and shared with other users, which we hope will make meta-analysis on recombination rates including many species easy in the future. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1977-01-01

The Radiation Oncology Division has had as its main objectives both to operate an academic training program and to carry out research on radiation therapy of cancer. Since fiscal year 1975, following a directive from ERDA, increased effort has been given to research. The research activities have been complemented by the training program, which has been oriented toward producing radiation oncologists, giving physicians short-term experience in radiation oncology, and teaching medical students about clinical cancer and its radiation therapy. The purpose of the research effort is to improve present modalities of radiation therapy of cancer. As in previous years, the Division has operated as the Radiation Oncology Program of the Department of Radiological Sciences of the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. It has provided radiation oncology support to patients at the University Hospital and to academic programs of the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus. The patients, in turn, have provided the clinical basis for the educational and research projects of the Division. Funding has been primarily from PRNC (approx. 40%) and from National Cancer Institute grants channeled through the School of Medicine (approx. 60%). Special inter-institutional relationships with the San Juan Veterans Administration Hospital and the Metropolitan Hospital in San Juan have permitted inclusion of patients from these institutions in the Division's research projects. Medical physics and radiotherapy consultations have been provided to the Radiotherapy Department of the VA Hospital

Imaging Opportunities in Radiation Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balter, James M.; Haffty, Bruce G.; Dunnick, N. Reed; Siegel, Eliot L.

2011-01-01

Interdisciplinary efforts may significantly affect the way that clinical knowledge and scientific research related to imaging impact the field of Radiation Oncology. This report summarizes the findings of an intersociety workshop held in October 2008, with the express purpose of exploring 'Imaging Opportunities in Radiation Oncology.' Participants from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), American Association of physicists in Medicine (AAPM), American Board of Radiology (ABR), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), and Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) discussed areas of education, clinical practice, and research that bridge disciplines and potentially would lead to improved clinical practice. Findings from this workshop include recommendations for cross-training opportunities within the allowed structured of Radiology and Radiation Oncology residency programs, expanded representation of ASTRO in imaging related multidisciplinary groups (and reciprocal representation within ASTRO committees), increased attention to imaging validation and credentialing for clinical trials (e.g., through the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN)), and building ties through collaborative research as well as smaller joint workshops and symposia.

Radiation Oncology Terminology Linker: A Step Towards a Linked Data Knowledge Base.

Science.gov (United States)

Lustberg, Tim; van Soest, Johan; Fick, Peter; Fijten, Rianne; Hendriks, Tim; Puts, Sander; Dekker, Andre

2018-01-01

Performing image feature extraction in radiation oncology is often dependent on the organ and tumor delineations provided by clinical staff. These delineation names are free text DICOM metadata fields resulting in undefined information, which requires effort to use in large-scale image feature extraction efforts. In this work we present a scale-able solution to overcome these naming convention challenges with a REST service using Semantic Web technology to convert this information to linked data. As a proof of concept an open source software is used to compute radiation oncology image features. The results of this work can be found in a public Bitbucket repository.

[Therapeutic Aggressiveness and Liquid Oncology].

Science.gov (United States)

Barón Duarte, F J; Rodríguez Calvo, M S; Amor Pan, J R

2017-01-01

Aggressiveness criteria proposed in the scientific literature a decade ago provide a quality judgment and are a reference in the care of patients with advanced cancer, but their use is not generalized in the evaluation of Oncology Services. In this paper we analyze the therapeutic aggressiveness, according to standard criteria, in 1.001 patients with advanced cancer who died in our Institution between 2010 and 2013. The results seem to show that aggressiveness at the end of life is present more frequently than experts recommend. About 25% of patients fulfill at least one criterion of aggressiveness. This result could be explained by a liquid Oncology which does not prioritize the patient as a moral subject in the clinical appointment. Medical care is oriented to necessities and must be articulated in a model focused on dignity and communication. Its implementation through Advanced Care Planning, consideration of patient's values and preferences, and Limitation of therapeutic effort are ways to reduce aggressiveness and improve clinical practice at the end of life. We need to encourage synergic and proactive attitudes, adding the best of cancer research with the best clinical care for the benefit of human being, moral subject and main goal of Medicine.

Specialty Payment Model Opportunities and Assessment: Oncology Model Design Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Huckfeldt, Peter J; Chan, Chris; Hirshman, Samuel; Kofner, Aaron; Liu, Jodi L; Mulcahy, Andrew W; Popescu, Ioana; Stevens, Clare; Timbie, Justin W; Hussey, Peter S

2015-07-15

This article describes research related to the design of a payment model for specialty oncology services for possible testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Cancer is a common and costly condition. Episode-based payment, which aims to create incentives for high-quality, low-cost care, has been identified as a promising alternative payment model for oncology care. Episode-based payment systems can provide flexibility to health care providers to select among the most effective and efficient treatment alternatives, including activities that are not currently reimbursed under Medicare payment policies. However, the model design also needs to ensure that high-quality care is delivered and that beneficial treatments are not withheld from patients. CMS asked MITRE and RAND to conduct analyses to inform design decisions related to an episode-based oncology model for Medicare beneficiaries undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. In particular, this study focuses on analyses of Medicare claims data related to the definition of the initiation of an episode of chemotherapy, patterns of spending during and surrounding episodes of chemotherapy, and attribution of episodes of chemotherapy to physician practices. We found that the time between the primary cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy initiation varied widely across patients, ranging from one day to over seven years, with a median of 2.4 months. The average level of total monthly payments varied considerably across cancers, with the highest spending peak of $9,972 for lymphoma, and peaks of $3,109 for breast cancer and $2,135 for prostate cancer.

Considerations for Observational Research Using Large Data Sets in Radiation Oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jagsi, Reshma, E-mail: rjagsi@med.umich.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States); Bekelman, Justin E. [Departments of Radiation Oncology and Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Chen, Aileen [Department of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Chen, Ronald C. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (United States); Hoffman, Karen [Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States); Tina Shih, Ya-Chen [Department of Medicine, Section of Hospital Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (United States); Smith, Benjamin D. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, and Department of Health Services Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States); Yu, James B. [Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut (United States)

2014-09-01

The radiation oncology community has witnessed growing interest in observational research conducted using large-scale data sources such as registries and claims-based data sets. With the growing emphasis on observational analyses in health care, the radiation oncology community must possess a sophisticated understanding of the methodological considerations of such studies in order to evaluate evidence appropriately to guide practice and policy. Because observational research has unique features that distinguish it from clinical trials and other forms of traditional radiation oncology research, the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics assembled a panel of experts in health services research to provide a concise and well-referenced review, intended to be informative for the lay reader, as well as for scholars who wish to embark on such research without prior experience. This review begins by discussing the types of research questions relevant to radiation oncology that large-scale databases may help illuminate. It then describes major potential data sources for such endeavors, including information regarding access and insights regarding the strengths and limitations of each. Finally, it provides guidance regarding the analytical challenges that observational studies must confront, along with discussion of the techniques that have been developed to help minimize the impact of certain common analytical issues in observational analysis. Features characterizing a well-designed observational study include clearly defined research questions, careful selection of an appropriate data source, consultation with investigators with relevant methodological expertise, inclusion of sensitivity analyses, caution not to overinterpret small but significant differences, and recognition of limitations when trying to evaluate causality. This review concludes that carefully designed and executed studies using observational data that possess these qualities hold

Considerations for Observational Research Using Large Data Sets in Radiation Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jagsi, Reshma; Bekelman, Justin E.; Chen, Aileen; Chen, Ronald C.; Hoffman, Karen; Tina Shih, Ya-Chen; Smith, Benjamin D.; Yu, James B.

2014-01-01

The radiation oncology community has witnessed growing interest in observational research conducted using large-scale data sources such as registries and claims-based data sets. With the growing emphasis on observational analyses in health care, the radiation oncology community must possess a sophisticated understanding of the methodological considerations of such studies in order to evaluate evidence appropriately to guide practice and policy. Because observational research has unique features that distinguish it from clinical trials and other forms of traditional radiation oncology research, the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics assembled a panel of experts in health services research to provide a concise and well-referenced review, intended to be informative for the lay reader, as well as for scholars who wish to embark on such research without prior experience. This review begins by discussing the types of research questions relevant to radiation oncology that large-scale databases may help illuminate. It then describes major potential data sources for such endeavors, including information regarding access and insights regarding the strengths and limitations of each. Finally, it provides guidance regarding the analytical challenges that observational studies must confront, along with discussion of the techniques that have been developed to help minimize the impact of certain common analytical issues in observational analysis. Features characterizing a well-designed observational study include clearly defined research questions, careful selection of an appropriate data source, consultation with investigators with relevant methodological expertise, inclusion of sensitivity analyses, caution not to overinterpret small but significant differences, and recognition of limitations when trying to evaluate causality. This review concludes that carefully designed and executed studies using observational data that possess these qualities hold

Biosimilars: Considerations for Oncology Nurses
.

Science.gov (United States)

Vizgirda, Vida; Jacobs, Ira

2017-04-01

Biosimilars are developed to be highly similar to and treat the same conditions as licensed biologics. As they are approved and their use becomes more widespread, oncology nurses should be aware of their development and unique considerations. This article reviews properties of biosimilars; their regulation and approval process; the ways in which their quality, safety, and efficacy are evaluated; their postmarketing safety monitoring; and their significance to oncology nurses and oncology nursing.
. A search of PubMed and regulatory agency websites was conducted for references related to the development and use of biosimilars in oncology. 
. Because biologics are large, structurally complex molecules, biosimilars cannot be considered generic equivalents to licensed biologic products. Consequently, regulatory approval for biosimilars is different from approval for small-molecule generics. Oncology nurses are in a unique position to educate themselves, other clinicians, and patients and their families about biosimilars to ensure accurate understanding, as well as optimal and safe use, of biosimilars.

Metabolic complications in oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sycova-Mila, Z.

2012-01-01

Currently, a lot of space and time is devoted to the therapy of oncologic diseases itself. To reach the good therapy results, complex care of the oncologic patient is needed. Management of complications linked with the disease itself and management of complications emerged after administration of chemotherapy, radiotherapy or targeted therapy, plays a significant role. In addition to infectious, hematological, neurological, cardiac or other complications, metabolic complications are relatively extensive and serious. One of the most frequent metabolic complications in oncology is tumor lysis syndrome, hyperuricemia, hypercalcaemia and syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone. (author)

Innovations in radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Withers, H.R.

1988-01-01

The series 'Medical Radiology - Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Oncology' is the successor to the well known 'Encyclopedia of Medical Radiology/Handbuch der medizinischen Radiologie'. 'Medical Radiology' brings the state of the art on special topics in a timely fashion. This volume 'Innovation in Radiation Oncology', edited by H.R. Withers and L.J. Peters, presents data on the development of new therapeutic strategies in different oncologic diseases. 57 authors wrote 32 chapters covering a braod range of topics. The contributors have written their chapters with the practicing radiation oncologist in mind. The first chapter sets the stage by reviewing the quality of radiation oncology as it is practiced in the majority of radiation oncology centers in the United States. The second chapter examines how we may better predict the possible causes of failure of conventional radiotherapy in order that the most appropriate of a variety of therapeutic options may eventually be offered to patients on an individual basis. The third chapter discussed how our therapeutic endeavors affect the quality of life, a problem created by our ability to be successful. Following these three introductory chapters there are 29 chapters by highly qualified specialists discussing the newest ideas in subjects of concern to the practicing radiation oncologist. With 111 figs

Overview of pediatric oncology and hematology in Myanmar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jay Halbert

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Myanmar is a country in southeast Asia in political, economic and healthcare transition. There are currently only two pediatric oncology centers serving a population of almost 19 million children. An estimated 85-92% of children with cancer are undiagnosed or not receiving treatment. Abandonment of treatment is as high as 60%. Although a number of chemotherapy agents are available, difficulties remain concerning treatment costs, quality control and the availability of supportive care. Radiotherapy services are also limited and not usually included in pediatric protocols. Healthcare professional training, improved diagnostics, strategies to tackle abandonment of treatment and the development of a parents′ support group are major priorities. Local and international partnerships including a recent partnership with world child cancer are essential in the interim to support the development of pediatric oncology and hematology in Myanmar. A unique opportunity exists to support the development of preventive, diagnostic, curative and palliative care for children′s cancer in Myanmar from the outset.

Exercise Promotion in Geriatric Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Burhenn, Peggy S; Bryant, Ashley Leak; Mustian, Karen M

2016-09-01

Evidence of the benefits of exercise for people with cancer from diagnosis through survivorship is growing. However, most cancers occur in older adults and little exercise advice is available for making specific recommendations for older adults with cancer. Individualized exercise prescriptions are safe, feasible, and beneficial for the geriatric oncology population. Oncology providers must be equipped to discuss the short- and long-term benefits of exercise and assist older patients in obtaining appropriate exercise prescriptions. This review provides detailed information about professionals and their roles as it relates to functional assessment, intervention, and evaluation of the geriatric oncology population. This review addresses the importance of functional status assessment and appropriate referrals to other oncology professionals.

Geriatric Oncology Program Development and Gero-Oncology Nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, Mary Pat; DeDonato, Dana Marcone; Kutney-Lee, Ann

2016-02-01

To provide a critical analysis of current approaches to the care of older adults with cancer, outline priority areas for geriatric oncology program development, and recommend strategies for improvement. Published articles and reports between 1999 and 2015. Providing an interdisciplinary model that incorporates a holistic geriatric assessment will ensure the delivery of patient-centered care that is responsive to the comprehensive needs of older patients. Nursing administrators and leaders have both an opportunity and responsibility to shape the future of geriatric oncology. Preparations include workforce development and the creation of programs that are designed to meet the complex needs of this population. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pediatric psycho-oncology care: standards, guidelines, and consensus reports.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiener, Lori; Viola, Adrienne; Koretski, Julia; Perper, Emily Diana; Patenaude, Andrea Farkas

2015-02-01

The aim of this study was to identify existing guidelines, standards, or consensus-based reports for psychosocial care of children with cancer and their families. Psychosocial standards of care for children with cancer can systematize the approach to care and create a replicable model that can be utilized in pediatric hospitals around the world. Determining gaps in existing standards in pediatric psycho-oncology can guide development of useful evidence-based and consensus-based standards. The MEDLINE and PubMed databases were searched by investigators at two major pediatric oncology centers for existing guidelines, consensus-based reports, or standards for psychosocial care of patients with pediatric cancer and their families published in peer-reviewed journals in English between 1980 and 2013. We located 27 articles about psychosocial care that met inclusion criteria: 5 set forth standards, 19 were guidelines, and 3 were consensus-based reports. None was sufficiently up to date, comprehensive, specific enough, or evidence- or consensus-based to serve as a current standard for psychosocial care for children with cancer and their families. Despite calls by a number of international pediatric oncology and psycho-oncology professional organizations about the urgency of addressing the psychosocial needs of the child with cancer to reduce suffering, there remains a need for development of a widely acceptable, evidence-based and consensus-based, comprehensive standard of care to guide provision of essential psychosocial services to all patients with pediatric cancer. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Prevalence of burnout syndrome in oncology nursing: A meta-analytic study.

Science.gov (United States)

Cañadas-De la Fuente, Guillermo A; Gómez-Urquiza, Jose L; Ortega-Campos, Elena M; Cañadas, Gustavo R; Albendín-García, Luis; De la Fuente-Solana, Emilia I

2018-05-01

To determine the prevalence of high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and low personal accomplishment in nursing professionals in oncology services. A meta-analytical study was performed. The search was carried out in March 2017 in Pubmed, CINAHL, Scopus, Scielo, Proquest, CUIDEN, and LILACS databases. Studies using Maslach Burnout Inventory for the assessment of burnout were included. The total sample of oncology nurses was n = 9959. The total number of included studies was n = 17, with n = 21 samples for the meta-analysis of emotional exhaustion and n = 18 for depersonalization and low personal accomplishment. The prevalence of emotional exhaustion and of depersonalization was 30% (95% CI = 26%-33%) and 15% (95% CI = 9%-23%), respectively, and that of low personal performance was 35% (95% CI = 27%-43%). The are many oncology nurses with emotional exhaustion and low levels of personal accomplishment. The presence and the risk of burnout among these staff members are considerable. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Continuing medical education in radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chauvet, B.; Barillot, I.; Denis, F.; Cailleux, P.E.; Ardiet, J.M.; Mornex, F.

2012-01-01

In France, continuing medical education (CME) and professional practice evaluation (PPE) became mandatory by law in July 2009 for all health professionals. Recently published decrees led to the creation of national specialty councils to implement this organizational device. For radiation oncology, this council includes the French Society for Radiation Oncology (SFRO), the National Radiation Oncology Syndicate (SNRO) and the Association for Continuing Medical Education in Radiation Oncology (AFCOR). The Radiation Oncology National Council will propose a set of programs including CME and PPE, professional thesaurus, labels for CME actions consistent with national requirements, and will organize expertise for public instances. AFCOR remains the primary for CME, but each practitioner can freely choose an organisation for CME, provided that it is certified by the independent scientific commission. The National Order for physicians is the control authority. Radiation oncology has already a strong tradition of independent CME that will continue through this major reform. (authors)

Results of the 2004 Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO) Survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patel, Shilpen; Jagsi, Reshma; Wilson, John; Frank, Steven; Thakkar, Vipul V.; Hansen, Eric K.

2006-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to document adequacy of training, career plans after residency, use of the in-service examination, and motivation for choice of radiation oncology as a specialty. Methods and Materials: In 2004, the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO) conducted a nationwide survey of all radiation oncology residents in the United States. Results: The survey was returned by 297 residents (response rate, 54%). Of the respondents, 29% were female and 71% male. The most popular career choice was joining an established private practice (38%), followed by a permanent academic career (29%). Residents for whom a permanent academic career was not their first choice were asked whether improvements in certain areas would have led them to be more likely to pursue an academic career. The most commonly chosen factors that would have had a strong or moderate influence included higher salary (81%), choice of geographic location (76%), faculty encouragement (68%), and less time commitment (68%). Of respondents in the first 3 years of training, 78% believed that they had received adequate training to proceed to the next level of training. Of those in their fourth year of training, 75% believed that they had received adequate training to enter practice. Conclusions: Multiple factors affect the educational environment of physicians in training. Data describing concerns unique to resident physicians in radiation oncology are limited. The current survey was designed to explore a variety of issues confronting radiation oncology residents. Training programs and the Residency Review Committee should consider these results when developing new policies to improve the educational experiences of residents in radiation oncology

Design, Development and Testing of Web Services for Multi-Sensor Snow Cover Mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Kadlec, Jiri

This dissertation presents the design, development and validation of new data integration methods for mapping the extent of snow cover based on open access ground station measurements, remote sensing images, volunteer observer snow reports, and cross country ski track recordings from location-enabled mobile devices. The first step of the data integration procedure includes data discovery, data retrieval, and data quality control of snow observations at ground stations. The WaterML R package developed in this work enables hydrologists to retrieve and analyze data from multiple organizations that are listed in the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences Inc (CUAHSI) Water Data Center catalog directly within the R statistical software environment. Using the WaterML R package is demonstrated by running an energy balance snowpack model in R with data inputs from CUAHSI, and by automating uploads of real time sensor observations to CUAHSI HydroServer. The second step of the procedure requires efficient access to multi-temporal remote sensing snow images. The Snow Inspector web application developed in this research enables the users to retrieve a time series of fractional snow cover from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for any point on Earth. The time series retrieval method is based on automated data extraction from tile images provided by a Web Map Tile Service (WMTS). The average required time for retrieving 100 days of data using this technique is 5.4 seconds, which is significantly faster than other methods that require the download of large satellite image files. The presented data extraction technique and space-time visualization user interface can be used as a model for working with other multi-temporal hydrologic or climate data WMTS services. The third, final step of the data integration procedure is generating continuous daily snow cover maps. A custom inverse distance weighting method has been developed

Radiation oncology training in the United States: report from the Radiation Oncology Resident Training Working Group organized by the Society of Chairman of Academic Radiation Oncology Programs (SCAROP)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

Purpose: In response to the major changes occurring in healthcare, medical education, and cancer research, SCAROP addressed issues related to post-graduate education that could enhance existing programs and complement the present system. Methods and Materials: SCAROP brought together a Working Group with a broad range of representatives organized in subcommittees to address: training, curriculum, and model building. Results: The Working Group emphasized the importance of training physicians with the necessary clinical, scientific, and analytical skills, and the need to provide expert radiation oncology services to patients throughout the United States. Opportunities currently exist for graduates in academic medicine, although there may be limited time and financial resources available to support academic pursuits. Conclusions: In the face of diminishing resources for training and education and the increased scope of knowledge required, a number of models for resident training are considered that can provide flexibility to complement the present system. This report is intended to initiate dialogue among the organizations responsible for radiation oncology resident education so that resident training can continually evolve to meet the needs of cancer patients and take advantage of opportunities for progress through innovative cancer care and research

Ecosystem services - from assessements of estimations to quantitative, validated, high-resolution, continental-scale mapping via airborne LIDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Zlinszky, András; Pfeifer, Norbert

2016-04-01

"Ecosystem services" defined vaguely as "nature's benefits to people" are a trending concept in ecology and conservation. Quantifying and mapping these services is a longtime demand of both ecosystems science and environmental policy. The current state of the art is to use existing maps of land cover, and assign certain average ecosystem service values to their unit areas. This approach has some major weaknesses: the concept of "ecosystem services", the input land cover maps and the value indicators. Such assessments often aim at valueing services in terms of human currency as a basis for decision-making, although this approach remains contested. Land cover maps used for ecosystem service assessments (typically the CORINE land cover product) are generated from continental-scale satellite imagery, with resolution in the range of hundreds of meters. In some rare cases, airborne sensors are used, with higher resolution but less covered area. Typically, general land cover classes are used instead of categories defined specifically for the purpose of ecosystem service assessment. The value indicators are developed for and tested on small study sites, but widely applied and adapted to other sites far away (a process called benefit transfer) where local information may not be available. Upscaling is always problematic since such measurements investigate areas much smaller than the output map unit. Nevertheless, remote sensing is still expected to play a major role in conceptualization and assessment of ecosystem services. We propose that an improvement of several orders of magnitude in resolution and accuracy is possible through the application of airborne LIDAR, a measurement technique now routinely used for collection of countrywide three-dimensional datasets with typically sub-meter resolution. However, this requires a clear definition of the concept of ecosystem services and the variables in focus: remote sensing can measure variables closely related to "ecosystem

Mapping Ecosystem Services

OpenAIRE

Georgiev,Teodor; Burkhard,Benjamin; Maes,Joachim

2017-01-01

Ecosystem services are the contributions of ecosystem structure and function (in combination with other inputs) to human well-being. That means, humankind is strongly dependent on well-functioning ecosystems and natural capital that are the base for a constant flow of ecosystem services from nature to society. Therefore ecosystem services have the potential to become a major tool for policy and decision making on global, national, regional and local scales. Possible applications are manifold:...

Palliative Care: Delivering Comprehensive Oncology Nursing Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Dahlin, Constance

2015-11-01

To describe palliative care as part of comprehensive oncology nursing care. A review of the palliative care, oncology, and nursing literature over the past 10 years. Palliative care is mandated as part of comprehensive cancer care. A cancer diagnosis often results in distress in the physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and emotional domains of care. Oncology nurses are essential in providing palliative care from diagnosis to death to patients with cancer. They address the myriad aspects of cancer. With palliative care skills and knowledge, oncology nurses can provide quality cancer care. There are many opportunities in which oncology nurses can promote palliative care. Oncology nurses must obtain knowledge and skills in primary palliative care to provide comprehensive cancer care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Research Agenda for Radiation Oncology: Results of the Radiation Oncology Institute’s Comprehensive Research Needs Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jagsi, Reshma; Bekelman, Justin E.; Brawley, Otis W.; Deasy, Joseph O.; Le, Quynh-Thu; Michalski, Jeff M.; Movsas, Benjamin; Thomas, Charles R.; Lawton, Colleen A.; Lawrence, Theodore S.; Hahn, Stephen M.

2012-01-01

Purpose: To promote the rational use of scarce research funding, scholars have developed methods for the systematic identification and prioritization of health research needs. The Radiation Oncology Institute commissioned an independent, comprehensive assessment of research needs for the advancement of radiation oncology care. Methods and Materials: The research needs assessment used a mixed-method, qualitative and quantitative social scientific approach, including structured interviews with diverse stakeholders, focus groups, surveys of American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) members, and a prioritization exercise using a modified Delphi technique. Results: Six co-equal priorities were identified: (1) Identify and develop communication strategies to help patients and others better understand radiation therapy; (2) Establish a set of quality indicators for major radiation oncology procedures and evaluate their use in radiation oncology delivery; (3) Identify best practices for the management of radiation toxicity and issues in cancer survivorship; (4) Conduct comparative effectiveness studies related to radiation therapy that consider clinical benefit, toxicity (including quality of life), and other outcomes; (5) Assess the value of radiation therapy; and (6) Develop a radiation oncology registry. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this prioritization exercise is the only comprehensive and methodologically rigorous assessment of research needs in the field of radiation oncology. Broad dissemination of these findings is critical to maximally leverage the impact of this work, particularly because grant funding decisions are often made by committees on which highly specialized disciplines such as radiation oncology are not well represented.

AMCO Off-Site Air Monitoring Map Service, Oakland CA, 2017, US EPA Region 9

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service contains a single layer: Off-Site Air Monitors. The layer draws at all scales. Full FGDC metadata for the layer may be found by clicking the layer...

Day Service Provision for People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Case Study Mapping 15-Year Trends in Ireland

Science.gov (United States)

Fleming, Padraic; McGilloway, Sinead; Barry, Sarah

2017-01-01

Background: Day services for people with intellectual disabilities are experiencing a global paradigm shift towards innovative person-centred models of care. This study maps changing trends in day service utilization to highlight how policy, emergent patterns and demographic trends influence service delivery. Methods: National intellectual…

A Comprehensive Definition for Integrative Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Witt, Claudia M; Balneaves, Lynda G; Cardoso, Maria J; Cohen, Lorenzo; Greenlee, Heather; Johnstone, Peter; Kücük, Ömer; Mailman, Josh; Mao, Jun J

2017-11-01

Integrative oncology, which is generally understood to refer to the use of a combination of complementary medicine therapies in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments, has been defined in different ways, but there is no widely accepted definition. We sought to develop and establish a consensus for a comprehensive definition of the field of integrative oncology. We used a mixed-methods approach that included a literature analysis and a consensus procedure, including an interdisciplinary expert panel and surveys, to develop a comprehensive and acceptable definition for the term "integrative oncology." The themes identified in the literature and from the expert discussion were condensed into a two-sentence definition. Survey respondents had very positive views on the draft definition, and their comments helped to shape the final version. The final definition for integrative oncology is: "Integrative oncology is a patient-centered, evidence-informed field of cancer care that utilizes mind and body practices, natural products, and/or lifestyle modifications from different traditions alongside conventional cancer treatments. Integrative oncology aims to optimize health, quality of life, and clinical outcomes across the cancer care continuum and to empower people to prevent cancer and become active participants before,during, and beyond cancer treatment." This short and comprehensive definition for the term integrative oncology will facilitate a better understanding and communication of this emerging field. This definition will also drive focused and cohesive effort to advance the field of integrative oncology. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Pediatric nuclear oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howman Giles, R.; Bernard, E.; Uren, R.

1997-01-01

Nuclear medicine plays an important and increasing role in the management of childhood malignancy. This is particularly true in the solid tumours of childhood. It is also helpful in the management of the complications of cancer treatment such as the infections which often accompany immune suppression in oncology patients. Scintigraphy is a complementary investigation to other radiological techniques and adds the functional dimension to anatomical investigations such as CT, MRI and ultrasound. In selected malignancies radionuclides are also used in treatment. This review discusses the technical considerations relating to children and the specific techniques relating to pediatric oncology. Specific tumours and the various applications of radionuclides are discussed in particular lymphoma, primary bone tumours, soft tissue sarcomas, neuroblastoma, Wilms' tumour, brain tumours and leukemia. Uncommon tumours are also discussed and how radionuclides are useful in the investigation of various complications which occur in oncology patients

Nanomedicine in veterinary oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Tzu-Yin; Rodriguez, Carlos O; Li, Yuanpei

2015-08-01

Nanomedicine is an interdisciplinary field that combines medicine, engineering, chemistry, biology and material sciences to improve disease management and can be especially valuable in oncology. Nanoparticle-based agents that possess functions such as tumor targeting, imaging and therapy are currently under intensive investigation. This review introduces the basic concept of nanomedicine and the classification of nanoparticles. Because of their favorable pharmacokinetics, tumor targeting properties, and resulting superior efficacy and toxicity profiles, nanoparticle-based agents can overcome several limitations associated with conventional diagnostic and therapeutic protocols in veterinary oncology. The two most important tumor targeting mechanisms (passive and active tumor targeting) and their dominating factors (i.e. shape, charge, size and nanoparticle surface display) are discussed. The review summarizes published clinical and preclinical studies that utilize different nanoformulations in veterinary oncology, as well as the application of nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and imaging. The toxicology of various nanoformulations is also considered. Given the benefits of nanoformulations demonstrated in human medicine, nanoformulated drugs are likely to gain more traction in veterinary oncology. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Semantically Automated Protocol Adapter for Mapping SOAP Web Services to RESTful HTTP Format to Enable the Web Infrastructure, Enhance Web Service Interoperability and Ease Web Service Migration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frank Doheny

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Semantic Web Services (SWS are Web Service (WS descriptions augmented with semantic information. SWS enable intelligent reasoning and automation in areas such as service discovery, composition, mediation, ranking and invocation. This paper applies SWS to a previous protocol adapter which, operating within clearly defined constraints, maps SOAP Web Services to RESTful HTTP format. However, in the previous adapter, the configuration element is manual and the latency implications are locally based. This paper applies SWS technologies to automate the configuration element and the latency tests are conducted in a more realistic Internet based setting.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology's 2015 Core Physics Curriculum for Radiation Oncology Residents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burmeister, Jay, E-mail: burmeist@karmanos.org [Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Center/Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (United States); Chen, Zhe [Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (United States); Chetty, Indrin J. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan (United States); Dieterich, Sonja [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California – Davis, Sacramento, California (United States); Doemer, Anthony [Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan (United States); Dominello, Michael M. [Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Center/Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (United States); Howell, Rebecca M. [Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States); McDermott, Patrick [Department of Radiation Oncology, Beaumont Health, Royal Oak, Michigan (United States); Nalichowski, Adrian [Karmanos Cancer Center, Detroit, Michigan (United States); Prisciandaro, Joann [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States); Ritter, Tim [VA Ann Arbor Healthcare and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States); Smith, Chadd [Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan (United States); Schreiber, Eric [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (United States); Shafman, Timothy [21st Century Oncology, Fort Myers, Florida (United States); Sutlief, Steven [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California – San Diego, La Jolla, California (United States); Xiao, Ying [Department of Radiation Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States)

2016-07-15

Purpose: The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Physics Core Curriculum Subcommittee (PCCSC) has updated the recommended physics curriculum for radiation oncology resident education to improve consistency in teaching, intensity, and subject matter. Methods and Materials: The ASTRO PCCSC is composed of physicists and physicians involved in radiation oncology residency education. The PCCSC updated existing sections within the curriculum, created new sections, and attempted to provide additional clinical context to the curricular material through creation of practical clinical experiences. Finally, we reviewed the American Board of Radiology (ABR) blueprint of examination topics for correlation with this curriculum. Results: The new curriculum represents 56 hours of resident physics didactic education, including a 4-hour initial orientation. The committee recommends completion of this curriculum at least twice to assure both timely presentation of material and re-emphasis after clinical experience. In addition, practical clinical physics and treatment planning modules were created as a supplement to the didactic training. Major changes to the curriculum include addition of Fundamental Physics, Stereotactic Radiosurgery/Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, and Safety and Incidents sections, and elimination of the Radiopharmaceutical Physics and Dosimetry and Hyperthermia sections. Simulation and Treatment Verification and optional Research and Development in Radiation Oncology sections were also added. A feedback loop was established with the ABR to help assure that the physics component of the ABR radiation oncology initial certification examination remains consistent with this curriculum. Conclusions: The ASTRO physics core curriculum for radiation oncology residents has been updated in an effort to identify the most important physics topics for preparing residents for careers in radiation oncology, to reflect changes in technology and practice since

Mapping optimal areas of ecosystem services potential in Vilnius (Lithuania)

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Paulo; Depellegrin, Daniel; Misiune, Ieva; Cerda, Artemi

2016-04-01

Maps are fundamental to understand the spatial pattern of natural and human impacts on the landscape (Brevik et al., 2016; Lavado Contador et al., 2009; Pereira et al., 2010a,b). Urban areas are subjected to an intense human pressure (Beniston et al., 2015), contributing to the degradation of the ecosystems, reducing their capacity to provide services in quality and quantity (Requier-Desjardins et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2011). Environments that can provide a high number and quality of ecosystem services (ES) must be identified and managed correctly, since are spaces that can mitigate the impacts of human settlements and improve their quality. thus is of major importance have identify the areas that can provide better ES (Deppelegrin and Pereira, 2015). The aim of this work is to identify areas with high ES potential in Vilnius city. Here, we identified a total of 4 different land uses, agricultural areas (32.48%), water bodies (1.46%), forest and semi-natural (31.91%) areas and artificial surfaces (34.16%). CORINE land cover 2006 was used as base information to classify ES potential. The assessment of each land cover potential was carried out using expert assessment. Each land use type was ranked from 0 (no potential) to 5 (High potential). In this work the sum of total regulating, providing and cultural ES were assessed. The areas with optimal ES were the ones with the sum of all ranks equal or higher than the 3rd Quartil of each distribution. After identifying these areas, data was mapped using ArcGIS software. The results showed that on average Vilnius city has a higher potential for regulating services (20.35±15.92), followed by cultural (14.43±8.81) and providing (14.26±8.87). There was a significant correlation among the different type of services. Regulating vs cultural (0.92, p<0.001), regulating vs providing (0.72, p<0.001) and providing vs cultural (0.65, p<0.001). The results of Morans I autocorrelation index showed that regulating (Z-score: 10

Internet utilization by radiation oncology patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metz, J.M.; Devine, P.; DeNittis, A.; Stambaugh, M.; Jones, H.; Goldwein, J.; Whittington, R.

2001-01-01

Purpose: Studies describing the use of the Internet by radiation oncology patients are lacking. This multi-institutional study of cancer patients presenting to academic (AC), community (CO) and veterans (VA) radiation oncology centers was designed to analyze the use of the Internet, predictive factors for utilization, and barriers to access to the Internet. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire evaluating the use of the Internet was administered to 921 consecutive patients presenting to radiation oncology departments at AC, CO and VA Medical Centers. The study included 436 AC patients (47%), 284 CO patients (31%), and 201 VA patients (22%). A computer was available at home to 427 patients (46%) and 337 patients (37%) had Email access. The mean age of the patient population was 64 years (range=14-93). Males represented 70% of the patient population. The most common diagnoses included prostate cancer (33%), breast cancer (13%), and lung cancer (11%). Results: Overall, 265/921 patients (29%) were using the Internet to find cancer related information. The Internet was used by 42% of AC patients, 25% of CO patients and only 5% of VA patients (p<.0001). A computer was available at home in 62% AC vs. 45% CO vs. 12% VA patients (p<.0001). Patients < 60 years were much more likely to use the Internet than older patients (p<.0001). Most of the Internet users considered the information either very reliable (22%) or somewhat reliable (70%). Most patients were looking for information regarding treatment of their cancer (90%), management of side effects of treatment (74%), alternative/complementary treatments (65%) and clinical trials (51%). Unconventional medical therapies were purchased over the Internet by 12% of computer users. Products or services for the treatment or management of cancer were purchased online by 12% of Internet users. Conclusion: A significant number of cancer patients seen in radiation oncology departments at academic and community medical centers

'Mind the gap'--mapping services for young people with ADHD transitioning from child to adult mental health services.

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Charlotte L; Newell, Karen; Taylor, John; Sayal, Kapil; Swift, Katie D; Hollis, Chris

2013-07-10

Once considered to be a disorder restricted to childhood, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is now recognised to persist into adult life. However, service provision for adults with ADHD is limited. Additionally, there is little guidance or research on how best to transition young people with ADHD from child to adult services. We report the findings of a survey of 96 healthcare professionals working in children's (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Community Paediatrics) and adult services across five NHS Trusts within the East Midlands region of England to gain a better understanding of the current provision of services for young people with ADHD transitioning into adult mental health services. Our findings indicate a lack of structured guidelines on transitioning and little communication between child and adult services. Child and adult services had differing opinions on what they felt adult services should provide for ADHD cases. Adult services reported feeling ill-prepared to deal with ADHD patients, with clinicians in these services citing a lack of specific knowledge of ADHD and a paucity of resources to deal with such cases. We discuss suggestions for further research, including the need to map the national provision of services for adults with ADHD, and provide recommendations for commissioned adult ADHD services. We specifically advocate an increase in ADHD-specific training for clinicians in adult services, the development of specialist adult ADHD clinics and greater involvement of Primary Care to support the work of generic adult mental health services in adult ADHD management.

Integration of oncology and palliative care: setting a benchmark.

Science.gov (United States)

Vayne-Bossert, P; Richard, E; Good, P; Sullivan, K; Hardy, J R

2017-10-01

Integration of oncology and palliative care (PC) should be the standard model of care for patients with advanced cancer. An expert panel developed criteria that constitute integration. This study determined whether the PC service within this Health Service, which is considered to be fully "integrated", could be benchmarked against these criteria. A survey was undertaken to determine the perceived level of integration of oncology and palliative care by all health care professionals (HCPs) within our cancer centre. An objective determination of integration was obtained from chart reviews of deceased patients. Integration was defined as >70% of all respondents answered "agree" or "strongly agree" to each indicator and >70% of patient charts supported each criteria. Thirty-four HCPs participated in the survey (response rate 69%). Over 90% were aware of the outpatient PC clinic, interdisciplinary and consultation team, PC senior leadership, and the acceptance of concurrent anticancer therapy. None of the other criteria met the 70% agreement mark but many respondents lacked the necessary knowledge to respond. The chart review included 67 patients, 92% of whom were seen by the PC team prior to death. The median time from referral to death was 103 days (range 0-1347). The level of agreement across all criteria was below our predefined definition of integration. The integration criteria relating to service delivery are medically focused and do not lend themselves to interdisciplinary review. The objective criteria can be audited and serve both as a benchmark and a basis for improvement activities.

The Danish Neuro-Oncology Registry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Steinbjørn

2016-01-01

AIM OF DATABASE: The Danish Neuro-Oncology Registry (DNOR) was established by the Danish Neuro-Oncology Group as a national clinical database. It was established for the purpose of supporting research and development in adult patients with primary brain tumors in Denmark. STUDY POPULATION: DNOR has...... advantage of reporting indicators is the related multidisciplinary discussions giving a better understanding of what actually is going on, thereby facilitating the work on adjusting the national guidelines in the Danish Neuro-Oncology Group. CONCLUSION: The establishment of DNOR has optimized the quality...

American Society of Clinical Oncology Policy Statement Update: Genetic and Genomic Testing for Cancer Susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Robson, Mark E; Bradbury, Angela R; Arun, Banu; Domchek, Susan M; Ford, James M; Hampel, Heather L; Lipkin, Stephen M; Syngal, Sapna; Wollins, Dana S; Lindor, Noralane M

2015-11-01

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has long affirmed that the recognition and management of individuals with an inherited susceptibility to cancer are core elements of oncology care. ASCO released its first statement on genetic testing in 1996 and updated that statement in 2003 and 2010 in response to developments in the field. In 2014, the Cancer Prevention and Ethics Committees of ASCO commissioned another update to reflect the impact of advances in this area on oncology practice. In particular, there was an interest in addressing the opportunities and challenges arising from the application of massively parallel sequencing-also known as next-generation sequencing-to cancer susceptibility testing. This technology introduces a new level of complexity into the practice of cancer risk assessment and management, requiring renewed effort on the part of ASCO to ensure that those providing care to patients with cancer receive the necessary education to use this new technology in the most effective, beneficial manner. The purpose of this statement is to explore the challenges of new and emerging technologies in cancer genetics and provide recommendations to ensure their optimal deployment in oncology practice. Specifically, the statement makes recommendations in the following areas: germline implications of somatic mutation profiling, multigene panel testing for cancer susceptibility, quality assurance in genetic testing, education of oncology professionals, and access to cancer genetic services. © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Effect of Reiki on symptom management in oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Demir, Melike; Can, Gulbeyaz; Celek, Enis

2013-01-01

Reiki is a form of energy therapy in which the therapist, with or without light touch, is believed to access universal energy sources that can strengthen the body's ability to heal itself, reduce inflammation, and relieve pain and stress. There is currently no licensing for Reiki nor, given its apparent low risk, is there likely to be. Reiki appears to be generally safe, and serious adverse effects have not been reported. So in this article provides coverage of how to use Reiki in oncology services.

Oncology practice trends from the national practice benchmark.

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, Thomas R; Towle, Elaine L

2012-09-01

In 2011, we made predictions on the basis of data from the National Practice Benchmark (NPB) reports from 2005 through 2010. With the new 2011 data in hand, we have revised last year's predictions and projected for the next 3 years. In addition, we make some new predictions that will be tracked in future benchmarking surveys. We also outline a conceptual framework for contemplating these data based on an ecological model of the oncology delivery system. The 2011 NPB data are consistent with last year's prediction of a decrease in the operating margins necessary to sustain a community oncology practice. With the new data in, we now predict these reductions to occur more slowly than previously forecast. We note an ease to the squeeze observed in last year's trend analysis, which will allow more time for practices to adapt their business models for survival and offer the best of these practices an opportunity to invest earnings into operations to prepare for the inevitable shift away from historic payment methodology for clinical service. This year, survey respondents reported changes in business structure, first measured in the 2010 data, indicating an increase in the percentage of respondents who believe that change is coming soon, but the majority still have confidence in the viability of their existing business structure. Although oncology practices are in for a bumpy ride, things are looking less dire this year for practices participating in our survey.

Topographical Hill Shading Map Production Based Tianditu (map World)

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, C.; Zha, Z.; Tang, D.; Yang, J.

2018-04-01

TIANDITU (Map World) is the public version of National Platform for Common Geospatial Information Service, and the terrain service is an important channel for users on the platform. With the development of TIANDITU, topographical hill shading map production for providing and updating global terrain map on line becomes necessary for the characters of strong intuition, three-dimensional sense and aesthetic effect. As such, the terrain service of TIANDITU focuses on displaying the different scales of topographical data globally. And this paper mainly aims to research the method of topographical hill shading map production globally using DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data between the displaying scales about 1 : 140,000,000 to 1 : 4,000,000, corresponded the display level from 2 to 7 on TIANDITU website.

Digitization and its discontents: future shock in predictive oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Richard J

2010-02-01

Clinical cancer care is being transformed by a high-technology informatics revolution fought out between the forces of personalized (biomarker-guided) and depersonalized (bureaucracy-controlled) medicine. Factors triggering this conflict include the online proliferation of treatment algorithms, rising prices of biological drug therapies, increasing sophistication of genomic-based predictive tools, and the growing entrepreneurialism of offshore treatment facilities. The resulting Napster-like forces unleashed within the oncology marketplace will deliver incremental improvements in cost-efficacy to global healthcare consumers. There will also be a price to pay, however, as the rising wave of digitization encourages third-party payers to make more use of biomarkers for tightening reimbursement criteria. Hence, as in other digitally transformed industries, a new paradigm of professional service delivery-less centered on doctor-patient relationships than in the past, and more dependent on pricing and marketing for standardized biomarker-defined indications-seems set to emerge as the unpredicted deliverable from this brave new world of predictive oncology. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

2014 President's plenary international psycho-oncology society: moving toward cancer care for the whole patient.

Science.gov (United States)

Bultz, Barry D; Travado, Luzia; Jacobsen, Paul B; Turner, Jane; Borras, Josep M; Ullrich, Andreas W H

2015-12-01

The International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS) has just celebrated its 30th anniversary. The growth of psychosocial oncology has been exponential, and this relatively new field is becoming a core service that focuses on prevention, reducing the burden of cancer, and enhancing the quality of life from time of diagnosis, through treatment, survivorship, and palliative care. Looking back over the past 30 years, we see that cancer care globally has evolved to a new and higher standard. Today, 'cancer care for the whole patient' is being accomplished with an evidence-based model that addresses psychosocial needs and integrates psycho-oncology into the treatment and care of patients. The President's Plenary Session in Lisbon, Portugal, highlighted the IPOS Mission of promoting global excellence in psychosocial care of people affected by cancer through our research, public policy, advocacy, and education. The internationally endorsed IPOS Standard of Quality Cancer Care, for example, clearly states the necessity of integrating the psychosocial domain into routine care, and that distress should be measured as the sixth vital sign after temperature, blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and pain. The plenary paper also discussed the global progress being made in Europe, North America, and Australia in providing quality cancer care for the whole patient. Collaborative partnerships between IPOS and organizations such as the European Partnership Action Against Cancer and the World Health Organization are essential in building capacity for the delivery of high-quality psycho-oncology services in the future. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Research Agenda for Radiation Oncology: Results of the Radiation Oncology Institute's Comprehensive Research Needs Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jagsi, Reshma, E-mail: rjagsi@med.umich.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Bekelman, Justin E. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Brawley, Otis W. [Department of Hematology and Oncology, Emory University, and American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia (United States); Deasy, Joseph O. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States); Le, Quynh-Thu [Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (United States); Michalski, Jeff M. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO (United States); Movsas, Benjamin [Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States); Thomas, Charles R. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR (United States); Lawton, Colleen A. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI (United States); Lawrence, Theodore S. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Hahn, Stephen M. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)

2012-10-01

Purpose: To promote the rational use of scarce research funding, scholars have developed methods for the systematic identification and prioritization of health research needs. The Radiation Oncology Institute commissioned an independent, comprehensive assessment of research needs for the advancement of radiation oncology care. Methods and Materials: The research needs assessment used a mixed-method, qualitative and quantitative social scientific approach, including structured interviews with diverse stakeholders, focus groups, surveys of American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) members, and a prioritization exercise using a modified Delphi technique. Results: Six co-equal priorities were identified: (1) Identify and develop communication strategies to help patients and others better understand radiation therapy; (2) Establish a set of quality indicators for major radiation oncology procedures and evaluate their use in radiation oncology delivery; (3) Identify best practices for the management of radiation toxicity and issues in cancer survivorship; (4) Conduct comparative effectiveness studies related to radiation therapy that consider clinical benefit, toxicity (including quality of life), and other outcomes; (5) Assess the value of radiation therapy; and (6) Develop a radiation oncology registry. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this prioritization exercise is the only comprehensive and methodologically rigorous assessment of research needs in the field of radiation oncology. Broad dissemination of these findings is critical to maximally leverage the impact of this work, particularly because grant funding decisions are often made by committees on which highly specialized disciplines such as radiation oncology are not well represented.

Developing Pre-Service Teachers' Subject Matter Knowledge of Electromagnetism by Integrating Concept Maps and Collaborative Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Govender, Nadaraj

2015-01-01

This case study explored the development of two pre-service teachers' subject matter knowledge (SMK) of electromagnetism while integrating the use of concept maps (CM) and collaborative learning (CL) strategies. The study aimed at capturing how these pre-service teachers' SMK in electromagnetism was enhanced after having been taught SMK in a…

How integrated are neurology and palliative care services? Results of a multicentre mapping exercise.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vliet, L.M. van; Gao, W.; DiFrancesco, D.; Crosby, V.; Wilcock, A.; Byrne, A.; Al-Chalabi, A.; Chaudhuri, K.R.; Evans, C.; Silber, E.; Young, C.; Malik, F.; Quibell, R.; Higginson, I.J.

2016-01-01

Background: Patients affected by progressive long-term neurological conditions might benefit from specialist palliative care involvement. However, little is known on how neurology and specialist palliative care services interact. This study aimed to map the current level of connections and

The Negative Impact of Stark Law Exemptions on Graduate Medical Education and Health Care Costs: The Example of Radiation Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anscher, Mitchell S.; Anscher, Barbara M.; Bradley, Cathy J.

2010-01-01

Purpose: To survey radiation oncology training programs to determine the impact of ownership of radiation oncology facilities by non-radiation oncologists on these training programs and to place these findings in a health policy context based on data from the literature. Methods and Materials: A survey was designed and e-mailed to directors of all 81 U.S. radiation oncology training programs in this country. Also, the medical and health economic literature was reviewed to determine the impact that ownership of radiation oncology facilities by non-radiation oncologists may have on patient care and health care costs. Prostate cancer treatment is used to illustrate the primary findings. Results: Seventy-three percent of the surveyed programs responded. Ownership of radiation oncology facilities by non-radiation oncologists is a widespread phenomenon. More than 50% of survey respondents reported the existence of these arrangements in their communities, with a resultant reduction in patient volumes 87% of the time. Twenty-seven percent of programs in communities with these business arrangements reported a negative impact on residency training as a result of decreased referrals to their centers. Furthermore, the literature suggests that ownership of radiation oncology facilities by non-radiation oncologists is associated with both increased utilization and increased costs but is not associated with increased access to services in traditionally underserved areas. Conclusions: Ownership of radiation oncology facilities by non-radiation oncologists appears to have a negative impact on residency training by shifting patients away from training programs and into community practices. In addition, the literature supports the conclusion that self-referral results in overutilization of expensive services without benefit to patients. As a result of these findings, recommendations are made to study further how physician ownership of radiation oncology facilities influence graduate

Current Status and Recommendations for the Future of Research, Teaching, and Testing in the Biological Sciences of Radiation Oncology: Report of the American Society for Radiation Oncology Cancer Biology/Radiation Biology Task Force, Executive Summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wallner, Paul E., E-mail: pwallner@theabr.org [21st Century Oncology, LLC, and the American Board of Radiology, Bethesda, Maryland (United States); Anscher, Mitchell S. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia (United States); Barker, Christopher A. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Bassetti, Michael [Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin (United States); Bristow, Robert G. [Departments of Radiation Oncology and Medical Biophysics, Princess Margaret Cancer Center/University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Cha, Yong I. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Norton Cancer Center, Louisville, Kentucky (United States); Dicker, Adam P. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Formenti, Silvia C. [Department of Radiation Oncology, New York University, New York, New York (United States); Graves, Edward E. [Departments of Radiation Oncology and Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California (United States); Hahn, Stephen M. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania (United States); Hei, Tom K. [Center for Radiation Research, Columbia University, New York, New York (United States); Kimmelman, Alec C. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Kirsch, David G. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Kozak, Kevin R. [Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin (United States); Lawrence, Theodore S. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan (United States); Marples, Brian [Department of Radiation Oncology, Oakland University, Oakland, California (United States); and others

2014-01-01

In early 2011, a dialogue was initiated within the Board of Directors (BOD) of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) regarding the future of the basic sciences of the specialty, primarily focused on the current state and potential future direction of basic research within radiation oncology. After consideration of the complexity of the issues involved and the precise nature of the undertaking, in August 2011, the BOD empanelled a Cancer Biology/Radiation Biology Task Force (TF). The TF was charged with developing an accurate snapshot of the current state of basic (preclinical) research in radiation oncology from the perspective of relevance to the modern clinical practice of radiation oncology as well as the education of our trainees and attending physicians in the biological sciences. The TF was further charged with making suggestions as to critical areas of biological basic research investigation that might be most likely to maintain and build further the scientific foundation and vitality of radiation oncology as an independent and vibrant medical specialty. It was not within the scope of service of the TF to consider the quality of ongoing research efforts within the broader radiation oncology space, to presume to consider their future potential, or to discourage in any way the investigators committed to areas of interest other than those targeted. The TF charge specifically precluded consideration of research issues related to technology, physics, or clinical investigations. This document represents an Executive Summary of the Task Force report.

A changing landscape: mapping provider organisations for community nursing services in England.

Science.gov (United States)

Spilsbury, Karen; Pender, Sue

2015-01-01

To scope the provision of community nursing services in England after implementation of the Transforming Community Services Programme. Over the past decade, significant UK policy initiatives have shaped the structure, organisation and responsibilities of community nursing services. Understanding these organisational changes is important in the context of organisations seeking to deliver 'care closer to home'. A systematic mapping exercise to scope and categorise community nursing service organisation provider models. There are 102 provider organisations representing a range of organisational models. Two-thirds of these organisations have structurally integrated with another NHS Trust. Smaller numbers reorganised to form community trusts or community interest companies. Only a few services have been tendered to an accredited willing provider while a small number have yet to establish their new service model. Local discretion appears to have dominated the choice of organisational form. National policies have driven the reorganisation of community nursing services and we have been able to describe, for the first time, these 'transformed' structures and organisations. Providing detail of these 'new' models of service provision, and where these have been introduced, is new information for nurse managers, policy makers and organisational leaders, as well as researchers. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Meeting the challenge of managed care - Part I: Radiation oncology as an important part of multi-modal care

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rose, Christopher M.; Botnick, Leslie E.; Hinkle, Milton; Linden, Jeffrey

1997-01-01

Radiation Oncology is an important component in multi-modality cancer care. Managed care has defined a number of different ways that radiation oncologists can interact with the other members of the cancer team. This course will review those options. The change in health care delivery is forcing radiation oncologists to examine every aspect of how they organize themselves, deliver care, evaluate that care, and how they are reimbursed for this process. This course will attempt to examine how the pressures of the new paradigms of health care delivery; managed care and outcomes research are impacting upon radiation therapy practice, and what radiation oncologists can do to maintain patient care standards. I. Introduction: A. Managed Care: What it is and where it is going 1. PPO's 2. HMO's 3. POS plans 4. Carve-outs B. Outcomes Research: What it can and cannot do 1. Patterns of care and SEER 2. Rand 3. ''Surrogate outcomes:'' patient satisfaction, quality of life indicators II. Moving from QA and CQI and Benchmarking A. Radiation Oncologists cannot take anything for granted B. Using analytical tools to evaluate all aspects of the radiation oncology practice. 1. Capital Purchases 2. Operational Aspects III Evaluating Staffing Needs A. What traditional jobs in the department should stay? B. Is the cross-training seen in the rest of the hospital appropriate in radiation oncology C. Outsourcing and multi-department organization as ways to improve efficiency D. What about physician extenders? E. What residents, newly trained radiation oncologists, and physician-practice managers must acknowledge to each other IV. Evaluating Technology A. See second and third talks in this series B. Improving efficiency: how does this help when one is not at capacity C. Increasing throughput D. Decreasing cost V. Informatics A. See second and third talks in this series B. What should one expect the computer to do for you C. Some personal observations VI. Gains from Share Services A. Should

Labeling for Big Data in radiation oncology: The Radiation Oncology Structures ontology.

Science.gov (United States)

Bibault, Jean-Emmanuel; Zapletal, Eric; Rance, Bastien; Giraud, Philippe; Burgun, Anita

2018-01-01

Leveraging Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Oncology Information Systems (OIS) has great potential to generate hypotheses for cancer treatment, since they directly provide medical data on a large scale. In order to gather a significant amount of patients with a high level of clinical details, multicenter studies are necessary. A challenge in creating high quality Big Data studies involving several treatment centers is the lack of semantic interoperability between data sources. We present the ontology we developed to address this issue. Radiation Oncology anatomical and target volumes were categorized in anatomical and treatment planning classes. International delineation guidelines specific to radiation oncology were used for lymph nodes areas and target volumes. Hierarchical classes were created to generate The Radiation Oncology Structures (ROS) Ontology. The ROS was then applied to the data from our institution. Four hundred and seventeen classes were created with a maximum of 14 children classes (average = 5). The ontology was then converted into a Web Ontology Language (.owl) format and made available online on Bioportal and GitHub under an Apache 2.0 License. We extracted all structures delineated in our department since the opening in 2001. 20,758 structures were exported from our "record-and-verify" system, demonstrating a significant heterogeneity within a single center. All structures were matched to the ROS ontology before integration into our clinical data warehouse (CDW). In this study we describe a new ontology, specific to radiation oncology, that reports all anatomical and treatment planning structures that can be delineated. This ontology will be used to integrate dosimetric data in the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris CDW that stores data from 6.5 million patients (as of February 2017).

Measuring, modeling and mapping ecosystem services in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fisher, B.; Turner, R. K.; Burgess, Neil David

2011-01-01

sourced data, data-driven models, and socio-economic scenarios coupled with rule-based assumptions. Here we describe the construction of this spatial information and how it can help to shed light on the complex relationships between ecological and social systems. There are obvious difficulties......In light of the significance that ecosystem service research is likely to play in linking conservation activities and human welfare, systematic approaches to measuring, modeling and mapping ecosystem services (and their value to society) are sorely needed. In this paper we outline one such approach...

An Increase in Medical Student Knowledge of Radiation Oncology: A Pre-Post Examination Analysis of the Oncology Education Initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirsch, Ariel E.; Mulleady Bishop, Pauline; Dad, Luqman; Singh, Deeptej; Slanetz, Priscilla J.

2009-01-01

Purpose: The Oncology Education Initiative was created to advance oncology and radiation oncology education by integrating structured didactics into the existing core radiology clerkship. We set out to determine whether the addition of structured didactics could lead to a significant increase in overall medical student knowledge about radiation oncology. Methods and Materials: We conducted a pre- and posttest examining concepts in general radiation oncology, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. The 15-question, multiple-choice exam was administered before and after a 1.5-hour didactic lecture by an attending physician in radiation oncology. Individual question changes, overall student changes, and overall categorical changes were analyzed. All hypothesis tests were two-tailed (significance level 0.05). Results: Of the 153 fourth-year students, 137 (90%) took the pre- and posttest and were present for the didactic lecture. The average test grade improved from 59% to 70% (p = 0.011). Improvement was seen in all questions except clinical vignettes involving correct identification of TNM staging. Statistically significant improvement (p ≤ 0.03) was seen in the questions regarding acute and late side effects of radiation, brachytherapy for prostate cancer, delivery of radiation treatment, and management of early-stage breast cancer. Conclusions: Addition of didactics in radiation oncology significantly improves medical students' knowledge of the topic. Despite perceived difficulty in teaching radiation oncology and the assumption that it is beyond the scope of reasonable knowledge for medical students, we have shown that even with one dedicated lecture, students can learn and absorb general principles regarding radiation oncology

The characteristics of oncology social work in Australia: Implications for workforce planning in integrated cancer care.

Science.gov (United States)

Pockett, Rosalie; Peate, Michelle; Hobbs, Kim; Dzidowska, Monika; L Bell, Melanie; Baylock, Brandi; Epstein, Irwin

2016-12-01

To describe the demographics, professional characteristics, self-reported professional development needs and research involvement of oncology social workers in Australia and to describe perceived barriers to provision of quality psychosocial care. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to social workers working in the oncology field who were contacted through three professional organizations; the Australian Association of Social Workers, Oncology Social Work Australia and the Psycho-oncology Co-operative Research Group, the University of Sydney. A snowball recruitment method was adopted to maximize the sample size. Two thirds of respondents had over 10 years professional practice experience but with lesser experience in oncology settings. Twenty-eight percent had post-graduate qualifications. Professional development needs were reported as moderate or high by 68% of respondents. No association between professional needs and work setting was found. Years of experience in oncology practice and living in an urban area increased the likelihood of involvement in research. Barriers to psychosocial care included poor understandings of the social work role, time constraints and an inadequate number of social work positions. In this first Australian study of the social work oncology workforce, the results demonstrated active, well-qualified and experienced social workers providing frontline services to people with cancer and their caregivers in geographically diverse locations across Australia. Inadequate resources and a lack of integrated psychosocial care were identified as barriers to comprehensive cancer care. The need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social workers was identified as an urgent workforce priority. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

USGS Imagery Only Base Map Service from The National Map

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — USGS Imagery Only is a tile cache base map of orthoimagery in The National Map visible to the 1:18,000 scale. Orthoimagery data are typically high resolution images...

Molecular imaging in oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schober, Otmar; Riemann, Burkhard (eds.) [Universitaetsklinikum Muenster (Germany). Klinik fuer Nuklearmedizin

2013-02-01

Considers in detail all aspects of molecular imaging in oncology, ranging from basic research to clinical applications in the era of evidence-based medicine. Examines technological issues and probe design. Discusses preclinical studies in detail, with particular attention to multimodality imaging. Presents current clinical use of PET/CT, SPECT/CT, and optical imagingWritten by acknowledged experts. The impact of molecular imaging on diagnostics, therapy, and follow-up in oncology is increasing significantly. The process of molecular imaging includes key biotarget identification, design of specific molecular imaging probes, and their preclinical evaluation, e.g., in vivo using small animal studies. A multitude of such innovative molecular imaging probes have already entered clinical diagnostics in oncology. There is no doubt that in future the emphasis will be on multimodality imaging in which morphological, functional, and molecular imaging techniques are combined in a single clinical investigation that will optimize diagnostic processes. This handbook addresses all aspects of molecular imaging in oncology, ranging from basic research to clinical applications in the era of evidence-based medicine. The first section is devoted to technology and probe design, and examines a variety of PET and SPECT tracers as well as multimodality probes. Preclinical studies are then discussed in detail, with particular attention to multimodality imaging. In the third section, diverse clinical applications are presented, and the book closes by looking at future challenges. This handbook will be of value to all who are interested in the revolution in diagnostic oncology that is being brought about by molecular imaging.

Molecular imaging in oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schober, Otmar; Riemann, Burkhard

2013-01-01

Considers in detail all aspects of molecular imaging in oncology, ranging from basic research to clinical applications in the era of evidence-based medicine. Examines technological issues and probe design. Discusses preclinical studies in detail, with particular attention to multimodality imaging. Presents current clinical use of PET/CT, SPECT/CT, and optical imagingWritten by acknowledged experts. The impact of molecular imaging on diagnostics, therapy, and follow-up in oncology is increasing significantly. The process of molecular imaging includes key biotarget identification, design of specific molecular imaging probes, and their preclinical evaluation, e.g., in vivo using small animal studies. A multitude of such innovative molecular imaging probes have already entered clinical diagnostics in oncology. There is no doubt that in future the emphasis will be on multimodality imaging in which morphological, functional, and molecular imaging techniques are combined in a single clinical investigation that will optimize diagnostic processes. This handbook addresses all aspects of molecular imaging in oncology, ranging from basic research to clinical applications in the era of evidence-based medicine. The first section is devoted to technology and probe design, and examines a variety of PET and SPECT tracers as well as multimodality probes. Preclinical studies are then discussed in detail, with particular attention to multimodality imaging. In the third section, diverse clinical applications are presented, and the book closes by looking at future challenges. This handbook will be of value to all who are interested in the revolution in diagnostic oncology that is being brought about by molecular imaging.

AMCO On-Site Air Monitoring Map Service, Oakland CA, Live 2017, US EPA Region 9

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service contains the following layers: All On-Site Air Monitors, TCE, PCE, and Vinyl Chloride. The layers draws at all scales. Full FGDC metadata for the...

Description of the role of nonphysician practitioners in radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelvin, Joanne Frankel; Moore-Higgs, Giselle Josephine

1999-01-01

Purpose: With changes in reimbursement and a decrease in the number of residents, there is a need to explore new ways of achieving high-quality patient care in radiation oncology. One mechanism is the implementation of nonphysician practitioner roles. The purpose of this paper is to describe the roles and responsibilities of clinical nurse specialists (CNSs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs) currently working in the field of radiation oncology in the United States. Methods and Materials: A nationwide mailing was sent to elicit responses to an 8-page self-report questionnaire. Results: The final sample of 86 included 45 (52%) CNSs, 31 (36%) NPs, and 10 (12%) PAs. Two-thirds worked in private practice settings. Most of the nonphysician practitioners frequently obtained histories (57-90%) and ordered laboratory studies (52-68%). However, NPs and PAs were more likely than CNSs to frequently perform 'medical' services such as perform physical exams (42-80% vs. 19-36%), order radiologic studies (50% vs. 17%), and prescribe medication (60-84% vs. 26%). CNSs were more likely to provide 'supportive' services such as develop educational materials, participate in quality improvement initiatives, and develop policies and procedures. Conclusions: Nonphysician practitioners are not substituting for physicians, but rather are working in collaboration with them, performing designated tasks

American Society of Clinical Oncology Strategic Plan for Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Oncology Workforce.

Science.gov (United States)

Winkfield, Karen M; Flowers, Christopher R; Patel, Jyoti D; Rodriguez, Gladys; Robinson, Patricia; Agarwal, Amit; Pierce, Lori; Brawley, Otis W; Mitchell, Edith P; Head-Smith, Kimberly T; Wollins, Dana S; Hayes, Daniel F

2017-08-01

In December 2016, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Board of Directors approved the ASCO Strategic Plan to Increase Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Oncology Workforce. Developed through a multistakeholder effort led by the ASCO Health Disparities Committee, the purpose of the plan is to guide the formal efforts of ASCO in this area over the next three years (2017 to 2020). There are three primary goals: (1) to establish a longitudinal pathway for increasing workforce diversity, (2) to enhance ASCO leadership diversity, and (3) to integrate a focus on diversity across ASCO programs and policies. Improving quality cancer care in the United States requires the recruitment of oncology professionals from diverse backgrounds. The ASCO Strategic Plan to Increase Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Oncology Workforce is designed to enhance existing programs and create new opportunities that will move us closer to the vision of achieving an oncology workforce that reflects the demographics of the US population it serves.

American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Science.gov (United States)

... Learn More Explore career opportunities in pediatric hematology/oncology Visit the ASPHO Career Center. Learn More Join ... Privacy Policy » © The American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Home care and short-run nursing homes: organizational aspects of their integration with oncological organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Zavaroni, C

2001-09-01

Social-health care to oncological elderly patients implies interconnection among oncological hospital and sub-district services and acknowledgement of a sole access channel. The project requires the formation of an inter-administrative coordination group and of functional transmural units with evaluational and operative roles. Various care levels (protected hospital admission and discharge, continuity visits, evaluational-therapeutic integration during treatment, palliative cures) implicate specific criterion of eligibility and actions to rationalize organization, coordination and distribution of interventions. Efficiency and effectiveness depend on integration with the services that supply material and with the diagnostic and ambulatory ones. The mid-term prospectives of the integration regard computerization of diagnostic, therapeutic, care and rehabilitation courses of patients (Regional Computerized Register of Disability) and formation of polyfunctional centres that concern home, residential and hospital intervention. Powerful technological instruments and the new organizational forms now available should encourage the formation of a morally upright society.

US EPA Office of Research and Development Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST) Air web mapping service

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service displays all air-related layers used in the USEPA Community/Tribal-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C/T-FERST) mapping application...

Current status of medical oncology in Japan--reality gleaned from a questionnaire sent to designated cancer care hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Takiguchi, Yuichi; Sekine, Ikuo; Iwasawa, Shunichiro; Kurimoto, Ryota; Sakaida, Emiko; Tamura, Kenji

2014-07-01

Medical oncology in Japan has a relatively short history, with specialist certification starting in 2006, resulting in 867 certified medical oncologists as of 2014. Although the national government has appointed 397 Designated Cancer Care Hospitals, little is known about the actual situations of medical oncology services at these institutions. Questionnaires regarding the presence of a medical oncology department, the number of physicians in the department, the presence of certified medical oncologists and the degree of the medical oncologists' responsibilities for drug therapies in adults with solid cancers were sent to all 397 institutions between 21 January and 1 May 2013. The response rate was 68.0%. Among the responses, 39.4% of the institutions had medical oncology departments with a median of three physicians. Most of the medical oncology departments were primarily responsible, as evaluated according to patient number, for the treatment of limited disease categories. The medical oncologists were significantly more responsible for molecular-targeted therapy than for chemotherapy in head and neck cancer or for cytokine therapy in renal cell carcinoma. The wide variety of adverse events associated with molecular-targeted therapy might have enhanced the roles of medical oncologists. As the proportion of hospitals with a medical oncology department increased according to the number of certified medical oncologists working at the institution, cultivating medical oncologists seems to be an urgent task for advancing medical oncology in Japan. The present study provides fundamental data for the future development of medical oncology in Japan. The present study is to uncover the current situation of medical oncology in Japan. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Mapping and Quantifying Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Related to Terrestrial Vertebrates: A National Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Biodiversity is crucial for the functioning of ecosystems and the products and services from which we transform natural assets of the Earth for human survival, security, and well-being. The ability to assess, report, map, and forecast the life support functions of ecosystems is a...

77 FR 20355 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Award Amendment Requests and Project Service Maps

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-04

... collection). Affected Public: Current recipients of EDA assistance, to include (1) cities or other political... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Economic Development Administration Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Award Amendment Requests and Project Service Maps AGENCY: Economic Development...

Deriving soil function maps to assess related ecosystem services using imaging spectroscopy in the Lyss agricultural area, Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Diek, Sanne; de Jong, Rogier; Braun, Daniela; Böhler, Jonas; Schaepman, Michael

2014-05-01

Soils play an important role in the benefits offered by ecosystems services. In densely populated Switzerland soils are a scarce resource, with high pressure on services ranging from urban expansion to over-utilization. Key change drivers include erosion, soil degradation, land management change and (chemical) pollution, which should be taken into consideration. Therefore there is an emerging need for an integrated, sustainable and efficient system assessing the management of soil and land as a resource. The use of remote sensing can offer spatio-temporal and quantitative information of extended areas. In particular imaging spectroscopy has shown to perfectly complement existing sampling schemes as secondary information for digital soil mapping. Although only the upper-most layer of soil interacts with light when using reflectance spectroscopy, it still can offer valuable information that can be utilized by farmers and decision makers. Fully processed airborne imaging spectrometer data from APEX as well as land cover classification for the agricultural area in Lyss were available. Based on several spectral analysis methods we derived multiple soil properties, including soil organic matter, soil texture, and mineralogy; complemented by vegetation parameters, including leaf area index, chlorophyll content, pigment distribution, and water content. The surface variables were retrieved using a combination of index-based and physically-based retrievals. Soil properties in partly to fully vegetated areas were interpolated using regression kriging based methods. This allowed the continuous assessment of potential soil functions as well as non-contiguous maps of abundances of combined soil and vegetation parameters. Based on a simple regression model we could make a rough estimate of ecosystem services. This provided the opportunity to look at the differences between the interpolated soil function maps and the non-contiguous (but combined) vegetation and soil function maps

Evaluation of Safety in a Radiation Oncology Setting Using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, Eric C.; Gaudette, Ray; Myers, Lee; Vanderver, Bruce; Engineer, Lilly; Zellars, Richard; Song, Danny Y.; Wong, John; DeWeese, Theodore L.

2009-01-01

Purpose: Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a widely used tool for prospectively evaluating safety and reliability. We report our experiences in applying FMEA in the setting of radiation oncology. Methods and Materials: We performed an FMEA analysis for our external beam radiation therapy service, which consisted of the following tasks: (1) create a visual map of the process, (2) identify possible failure modes; assign risk probability numbers (RPN) to each failure mode based on tabulated scores for the severity, frequency of occurrence, and detectability, each on a scale of 1 to 10; and (3) identify improvements that are both feasible and effective. The RPN scores can span a range of 1 to 1000, with higher scores indicating the relative importance of a given failure mode. Results: Our process map consisted of 269 different nodes. We identified 127 possible failure modes with RPN scores ranging from 2 to 160. Fifteen of the top-ranked failure modes were considered for process improvements, representing RPN scores of 75 and more. These specific improvement suggestions were incorporated into our practice with a review and implementation by each department team responsible for the process. Conclusions: The FMEA technique provides a systematic method for finding vulnerabilities in a process before they result in an error. The FMEA framework can naturally incorporate further quantification and monitoring. A general-use system for incident and near miss reporting would be useful in this regard.

Attitudes and Perceptions of Surgical Oncology Fellows on ACGME Accreditation and the Complex General Surgical Oncology Certification.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, David Y; Flaherty, Devin C; Lau, Briana J; Deutsch, Gary B; Kirchoff, Daniel D; Huynh, Kelly T; Lee, Ji-Hey; Faries, Mark B; Bilchik, Anton J

2015-11-01

With the first qualifying examination administered September 15, 2014, complex general surgical oncology (CGSO) is now a board-certified specialty. We aimed to assess the attitudes and perceptions of current and future surgical oncology fellows regarding the recently instituted Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accreditation. A 29-question anonymous survey was distributed to fellows in surgical oncology fellowship programs and applicants interviewing at our fellowship program. There were 110 responses (79 fellows and 31 candidates). The response rate for the first- and second-year fellows was 66 %. Ninety-percent of the respondents were aware that completing an ACGME-accredited fellowship leads to board eligibility in CGSO. However, the majority (80 %) of the respondents stated that their decision to specialize in surgical oncology was not influenced by the ACGME accreditation. The fellows in training were concerned about the cost of the exam (90 %) and expressed anxiety in preparing for another board exam (83 %). However, the majority of the respondents believed that CGSO board certification will be helpful (79 %) in obtaining their future career goals. Interestingly, candidate fellows appeared more focused on a career in general complex surgical oncology (p = 0.004), highlighting the impact that fellowship training may have on organ-specific subspecialization. The majority of the surveyed surgical oncology fellows and candidates believe that obtaining board certification in CGSO is important and will help them pursue their career goals. However, the decision to specialize in surgical oncology does not appear to be motivated by ACGME accreditation or the new board certification.

Social values for ecosystem services (SolVES): A GIS application for assessing, mapping, and quantifying the social values of ecosystem services-Documentation and user manual, version 1.0

Science.gov (United States)

Sherrouse, Benson C.; Riegle, Jodi L.; Semmens, Darius J.

2010-01-01

In response to the need for incorporating quantified and spatially explicit measures of social values into ecosystem services assessments, the Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center, in collaboration with Colorado State University, has developed a geographic information system application, Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES). SolVES can be used to assess, map, and quantify the perceived social values of ecosystem services. SolVES derives a quantitative social values metric, the Value Index, from a combination of spatial and nonspatial responses to public attitude and preference surveys. SolVES also generates landscape metrics, such as average elevation and distance to water, calculated from spatial data layers describing the underlying physical environment. Using kernel density calculations and zonal statistics, SolVES derives and maps the 10-point Value Index and reports landscape metrics associated with each index value for social value types such as aesthetics, biodiversity, and recreation. This can be repeated for various survey subgroups as distinguished by their attitudes and preferences regarding public uses of the forests such as motorized recreation and logging for fuels reduction. The Value Index provides a basis of comparison within and among survey subgroups to consider the effect of social contexts on the valuation of ecosystem services. SolVES includes regression coefficients linking the predicted value (the Value Index) to landscape metrics. These coefficients are used to generate predicted social value maps using value transfer techniques for areas where primary survey data are not available. SolVES was developed, and will continue to be enhanced through future versions, as a public domain tool to enable decision makers and researchers to map the social values of ecosystem services and to facilitate discussions among diverse stakeholders regarding tradeoffs between different ecosystem services in a variety of physical and social contexts.

Comprehensive Oncologic Emergencies Research Network (CONCERN)

Science.gov (United States)

The Comprehensive Oncologic Emergencies Research Network (CONCERN) was established in March 2015 with the goal to accelerate knowledge generation, synthesis and translation of oncologic emergency medicine research through multi-center collaborations.

Results of the Association of Directors of Radiation Oncology Programs (ADROP) Survey of Radiation Oncology Residency Program Directors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, Eleanor; Abdel-Wahab, May; Spangler, Ann E.; Lawton, Colleen A.; Amdur, Robert J.

2009-01-01

Purpose: To survey the radiation oncology residency program directors on the topics of departmental and institutional support systems, residency program structure, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements, and challenges as program director. Methods: A survey was developed and distributed by the leadership of the Association of Directors of Radiation Oncology Programs to all radiation oncology program directors. Summary statistics, medians, and ranges were collated from responses. Results: Radiation oncology program directors had implemented all current required aspects of the ACGME Outcome Project into their training curriculum. Didactic curricula were similar across programs nationally, but research requirements and resources varied widely. Program directors responded that implementation of the ACGME Outcome Project and the external review process were among their greatest challenges. Protected time was the top priority for program directors. Conclusions: The Association of Directors of Radiation Oncology Programs recommends that all radiation oncology program directors have protected time and an administrative stipend to support their important administrative and educational role. Departments and institutions should provide adequate and equitable resources to the program directors and residents to meet increasingly demanding training program requirements.

Hospitalization and other risk factors for depressive and anxious symptoms in oncological and non-oncological patients.

Science.gov (United States)

De Fazio, Pasquale; Cerminara, Gregorio; Ruberto, Stefania; Caroleo, Mariarita; Puca, Maurizio; Rania, Ornella; Suffredini, Elina; Procopio, Leonardo; Segura-Garcìa, Cristina

2017-04-01

Depression and anxiety are common in hospitalized patients. In particular, oncological patients might be vulnerable to depression and anxiety. The aim of this study is to assess and compare different variables and the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms between oncological and medically ill inpatients and to identify variables that can influence depressive and anxious symptoms during hospitalization of patients. A total of 360 consecutive hospitalized patients completed the following questionnaires: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Patients Health Questionnaire-9, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), 12-Item Short-Form Survey: physical component summary (PCS), and mental component summary (MCS). Patients were divided into oncological patients and non-oncological patients: groups 1 and 2. Only two significant differences were evident between the groups: the PCS of 12-item Short-form Survey was higher in non-oncological patient (p < 0.000), and the GHQ total score was higher in oncological patients. Variables significantly associated with HADS-D ≥ 8 were lower MCS, higher GHQ-12 score, lower PCS, more numerous previous hospitalizations, longer duration of hospitalization, and positive psychiatric family history. Variables significantly associated with HADS-A ≥ 8 were lower MCS, higher GHQ-12 score, positive psychiatric family history, longer duration of hospitalization, and younger age. Anxiety and depression symptoms in concurrent general medical conditions were associated with a specific sociodemographic profile, and this association has implications for clinical care. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Actividad quirúrgica en el servicio de mastología del Centro Nacional de Oncología de Luanda (2007 Surgical activity in the mastology service of the National Center of Oncology, Luanda, Angola (2007

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Antonio Fernández Sarabia

2010-12-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCCIÓN. Las enfermedades mamarias son un problema de salud también en los países subdesarrollados. Ello motivó la creación del Servicio de Mastología en el Centro Nacional de Oncología de Luanda (Angola, en el año 2007. La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo describir la actividad quirúrgica de este centro durante el año 2007. MÉTODOS. Se realizó un estudio transversal descriptivo que incluyó a los 183 pacientes sometidos a algún tipo de cirugía mamaria en el Servicio de Mastología en el Centro Nacional de Oncología de Luanda durante ese período. Los datos fueron recogidos en un formulario confeccionado por los autores y se procesaron mediante el programa estadístico SPSS (versión 13.0. La información fue resumida en frecuencias absolutas y porcentajes. RESULTADOS. En los pacientes intervenidos quirúrgicamente predominaron las enfermedades benignas sobre las malignas, con alta incidencia de fibroadenomas gigantes. La tumorectomía fue el tipo de cirugía más empleada en las enfermedades benignas, acompañadas de técnicas de cirugía plástica en pacientes con fibroadenoma gigante. Todos los pacientes con tumores malignos requirieron cirugías radicales en correspondencia con la estadificación tardía que predominó en esta serie de casos. El índice de complicaciones quirúrgicas fue bajo. CONCLUSIONES. Las enfermedades de la mama constituyen un problema de salud en la población estudiada. El diagnóstico tardío de tumores en etapas avanzadas determina el tratamiento quirúrgico radical sobre el conservador.INTRODUCTION. Breast diseases are also a health problem in developing countries. Hence, the creation of the Mastology Service in the National Center of Oncology of Luanda, Angola in 2007. The aim of present paper was to describe the surgical activity of this institution during 2007. METHODS. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted including 183 patients undergoing some type of breast

Design of a High Resolution Open Access Global Snow Cover Web Map Service Using Ground and Satellite Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Kadlec, J.; Ames, D. P.

2014-12-01

The aim of the presented work is creating a freely accessible, dynamic and re-usable snow cover map of the world by combining snow extent and snow depth datasets from multiple sources. The examined data sources are: remote sensing datasets (MODIS, CryoLand), weather forecasting model outputs (OpenWeatherMap, forecast.io), ground observation networks (CUAHSI HIS, GSOD, GHCN, and selected national networks), and user-contributed snow reports on social networks (cross-country and backcountry skiing trip reports). For adding each type of dataset, an interface and an adapter is created. Each adapter supports queries by area, time range, or combination of area and time range. The combined dataset is published as an online snow cover mapping service. This web service lowers the learning curve that is required to view, access, and analyze snow depth maps and snow time-series. All data published by this service are licensed as open data; encouraging the re-use of the data in customized applications in climatology, hydrology, sports and other disciplines. The initial version of the interactive snow map is on the website snow.hydrodata.org. This website supports the view by time and view by site. In view by time, the spatial distribution of snow for a selected area and time period is shown. In view by site, the time-series charts of snow depth at a selected location is displayed. All snow extent and snow depth map layers and time series are accessible and discoverable through internationally approved protocols including WMS, WFS, WCS, WaterOneFlow and WaterML. Therefore they can also be easily added to GIS software or 3rd-party web map applications. The central hypothesis driving this research is that the integration of user contributed data and/or social-network derived snow data together with other open access data sources will result in more accurate and higher resolution - and hence more useful snow cover maps than satellite data or government agency produced data by

Online Maps and Cloud-Supported Location-Based Services across a Manifold of Devices

Science.gov (United States)

Kröpfl, M.; Buchmüller, D.; Leberl, F.

2012-07-01

Online mapping, miniaturization of computing devices, the "cloud", Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and cell tower triangulation all coalesce into an entirely novel infrastructure for numerous innovative map applications. This impacts the planning of human activities, navigating and tracking these activities as they occur, and finally documenting their outcome for either a single user or a network of connected users in a larger context. In this paper, we provide an example of a simple geospatial application making use of this model, which we will use to explain the basic steps necessary to deploy an application involving a web service hosting geospatial information and a client software consuming the web service through an API. The application allows an insurance claim specialist to add claims to a cloud-based database including a claim location. A field agent then uses a smartphone application to query the database by proximity, and heads out to capture photographs as supporting documentation for the claim. Once the photos have been uploaded to the web service, a second web service for image matching is called in order to try and match the current photograph to previously submitted assets. Image matching is used as a pre-verification step to determine whether the coverage of the respective object is sufficient for the claim specialist to process the claim. The development of the application was based on Microsoft's® Bing Maps™, Windows Phone™, Silverlight™, Windows Azure™ and Visual Studio™, and was completed in approximately 30 labour hours split among two developers.

ONLINE MAPS AND CLOUD-SUPPORTED LOCATION-BASED SERVICES ACROSS A MANIFOLD OF DEVICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Kröpfl

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Online mapping, miniaturization of computing devices, the "cloud", Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS and cell tower triangulation all coalesce into an entirely novel infrastructure for numerous innovative map applications. This impacts the planning of human activities, navigating and tracking these activities as they occur, and finally documenting their outcome for either a single user or a network of connected users in a larger context. In this paper, we provide an example of a simple geospatial application making use of this model, which we will use to explain the basic steps necessary to deploy an application involving a web service hosting geospatial information and a client software consuming the web service through an API. The application allows an insurance claim specialist to add claims to a cloud-based database including a claim location. A field agent then uses a smartphone application to query the database by proximity, and heads out to capture photographs as supporting documentation for the claim. Once the photos have been uploaded to the web service, a second web service for image matching is called in order to try and match the current photograph to previously submitted assets. Image matching is used as a pre-verification step to determine whether the coverage of the respective object is sufficient for the claim specialist to process the claim. The development of the application was based on Microsoft's® Bing Maps™, Windows Phone™, Silverlight™, Windows Azure™ and Visual Studio™, and was completed in approximately 30 labour hours split among two developers.

Radiation Oncology in Undergraduate Medical Education: A Literature Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dennis, Kristopher E.B.; Duncan, Graeme

2010-01-01

Purpose: To review the published literature pertaining to radiation oncology in undergraduate medical education. Methods and Materials: Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE Daily Update and EMBASE databases were searched for the 11-year period of January 1, 1998, through the last week of March 2009. A medical librarian used an extensive list of indexed subject headings and text words. Results: The search returned 640 article references, but only seven contained significant information pertaining to teaching radiation oncology to medical undergraduates. One article described a comprehensive oncology curriculum including recommended radiation oncology teaching objectives and sample student evaluations, two described integrating radiation oncology teaching into a radiology rotation, two described multidisciplinary anatomy-based courses intended to reinforce principles of tumor biology and radiotherapy planning, one described an exercise designed to test clinical reasoning skills within radiation oncology cases, and one described a Web-based curriculum involving oncologic physics. Conclusions: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first review of the literature pertaining to teaching radiation oncology to medical undergraduates, and it demonstrates the paucity of published work in this area of medical education. Teaching radiation oncology should begin early in the undergraduate process, should be mandatory for all students, and should impart knowledge relevant to future general practitioners rather than detailed information relevant only to oncologists. Educators should make use of available model curricula and should integrate radiation oncology teaching into existing curricula or construct stand-alone oncology rotations where the principles of radiation oncology can be conveyed. Assessments of student knowledge and curriculum effectiveness are critical.

Effectiveness of a psycho-oncology training program for oncology nurses: a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Kubota, Yosuke; Okuyama, Toru; Uchida, Megumi; Umezawa, Shino; Nakaguchi, Tomohiro; Sugano, Koji; Ito, Yoshinori; Katsuki, Fujika; Nakano, Yumi; Nishiyama, Takeshi; Katayama, Yoshiko; Akechi, Tatsuo

2016-06-01

Oncology nurses are expected to play an important role in psychosocial care for cancer patients. The aim of this study was to examine whether a novel training program aimed at enhancing oncology nurses' ability to assess and manage common psychological problems in cancer patients would improve participants' self-reported confidence, knowledge, and attitudes regarding care of patients with common psychological problems (trial register: UMIN000008559). Oncology nurses were assigned randomly to either the intervention group (N = 50) or the waiting list control group (N = 46). The intervention group received a 16-h program, the content of which focused on four psychological issues: normal reactions, clinically significant distress, suicidal thoughts, and delirium. Each session included a role-play exercise, group work, and didactic lecture regarding assessment and management of each problem. Primary outcomes were changes in self-reported confidence, knowledge, and attitudes toward the common psychological problems between pre-intervention and 3 months post-intervention. Secondary outcomes were job-related stress and burnout. Intervention acceptability to participants was also assessed. In the intervention group, confidence and knowledge but not attitudes were significantly improved relative to the control group. No significant intervention effects were found for job- related stress and burnout. A high percentage (98%) of participants considered the program useful in clinical practice. This psycho-oncology training program improved oncology nurses' confidence and knowledge regarding care for patients with psychological problems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Burnout in United States Academic Chairs of Radiation Oncology Programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kusano, Aaron S. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington (United States); Thomas, Charles R., E-mail: thomasch@ohsu.edu [Department of Radiation Medicine, Knight Cancer Institute/Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon (United States); Bonner, James A. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama (United States); DeWeese, Theodore L. [Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland (United States); Formenti, Silvia C. [Department of Radiation Oncology, New York University, New York, New York (United States); Hahn, Stephen M. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Lawrence, Theodore S. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States); Mittal, Bharat B. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ilinois (United States)

2014-02-01

Purpose: The aims of this study were to determine the self-reported prevalence of burnout in chairs of academic radiation oncology departments, to identify factors contributing to burnout, and to compare the prevalence of burnout with that seen in other academic chair groups. Methods and Materials: An anonymous online survey was administered to the membership of the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiation Oncology Programs (SCAROP). Burnout was measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS). Results: Questionnaires were returned from 66 of 87 chairs (76% response rate). Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported satisfaction with their current positions. Common major stressors were budget deficits and human resource issues. One-quarter of chairs reported that it was at least moderately likely that they would step down in the next 1 to 2 years; these individuals demonstrated significantly higher emotional exhaustion. Twenty-five percent of respondents met the MBI-HSS criteria for low burnout, 75% for moderate burnout, and none for high burnout. Group MBI-HSS subscale scores demonstrated a pattern of moderate emotional exhaustion, low depersonalization, and moderate personal accomplishment, comparing favorably with other specialties. Conclusions: This is the first study of burnout in radiation oncology chairs with a high response rate and using a validated psychometric tool. Radiation oncology chairs share similar major stressors to other chair groups, but they demonstrate relatively high job satisfaction and lower burnout. Emotional exhaustion may contribute to the anticipated turnover in coming years. Further efforts addressing individual and institutional factors associated with burnout may improve the relationship with work of chairs and other department members.

Burnout in United States Academic Chairs of Radiation Oncology Programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kusano, Aaron S.; Thomas, Charles R.; Bonner, James A.; DeWeese, Theodore L.; Formenti, Silvia C.; Hahn, Stephen M.; Lawrence, Theodore S.; Mittal, Bharat B.

2014-01-01

Purpose: The aims of this study were to determine the self-reported prevalence of burnout in chairs of academic radiation oncology departments, to identify factors contributing to burnout, and to compare the prevalence of burnout with that seen in other academic chair groups. Methods and Materials: An anonymous online survey was administered to the membership of the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiation Oncology Programs (SCAROP). Burnout was measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS). Results: Questionnaires were returned from 66 of 87 chairs (76% response rate). Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported satisfaction with their current positions. Common major stressors were budget deficits and human resource issues. One-quarter of chairs reported that it was at least moderately likely that they would step down in the next 1 to 2 years; these individuals demonstrated significantly higher emotional exhaustion. Twenty-five percent of respondents met the MBI-HSS criteria for low burnout, 75% for moderate burnout, and none for high burnout. Group MBI-HSS subscale scores demonstrated a pattern of moderate emotional exhaustion, low depersonalization, and moderate personal accomplishment, comparing favorably with other specialties. Conclusions: This is the first study of burnout in radiation oncology chairs with a high response rate and using a validated psychometric tool. Radiation oncology chairs share similar major stressors to other chair groups, but they demonstrate relatively high job satisfaction and lower burnout. Emotional exhaustion may contribute to the anticipated turnover in coming years. Further efforts addressing individual and institutional factors associated with burnout may improve the relationship with work of chairs and other department members

Oncology nursing in Cuba: report of the delegation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheldon, Lisa Kennedy; Leonard, Kathleen; Gross, Anne; Hartnett, Erin; Poage, Ellen; Squires, Jennifer; Ullemeyer, Vicki; Schueller, Mary; Stary, Susan; Miller, Mary Alice

2012-08-01

In December 2011, the first delegation of oncology nurses from the United States visited Havana, Cuba. The delegation included oncology nurses, educators, and leaders from across America and provided opportunities to learn about the healthcare system, cancer, and oncology nursing in Cuba. Delegation members attended lectures, toured facilities, and enjoyed Cuban culture. This exchange highlighted the similarities in cancer care and oncology nursing between countries and opened doors for future collaborations.

Delivering care to oncology patients in the community: an innovative integrated approach.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Hanan, Terry

2014-08-01

A community oncology nursing programme was developed in Ireland between the hospital and community health services for patients receiving systemic cancer therapy, in response to a service need. A robust evaluation of the pilot programme was undertaken, which found that defined clinical procedures traditionally undertaken in hospitals were safely undertaken in the patient\\'s home with no adverse effects. There was a dramatic decrease in hospital attendances for these defined clinical procedures, and hospital capacity was consequently freed up. Patients valued having aspects of their care delivered at home and reported that it improved their quality of life, including reduced hospital visits and travel time. Community nurses expanded their scope of practice and became partners with oncology day-ward nurses in caring for these patients. Community nurses developed the competence and confidence to safely deliver cancer care in the community. This initiative shows that defined elements of acute cancer care can be safely delivered in the community so long as the training and support are provided. The findings and recommendations of the evaluation resulted in university accreditation and approval for national roll-out of the programme. Integration of services between primary and secondary care is a key priority. This innovative programme is a good example of shared integrated care that benefits both patients and health-care providers.

Lower Colorado River Geographic Response Plan Web Mapping Service, Region 9, 2012, US EPA Region 9

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service is comprised of data related to Geographic Response Plans (GRPs) for the Lower Colorado River. Data layers were obtained from nationwide GIS...

Surgical Oncology Nursing: Looking Back, Looking Forward.

Science.gov (United States)

Crane, Patrick C; Selanders, Louise

2017-02-01

To provide a historical perspective in the development of oncology nursing and surgical oncology as critical components of today's health care system. Review of the literature and Web sites of key organizations. The evolution of surgical oncology nursing has traversed a historical journey from that of a niche subspecialty of nursing that had very little scientific underpinning, to a highly sophisticated discipline within a very short time. Nursing continues to contribute its expertise to the encyclopedic knowledge base of surgical oncology and cancer care, which have helped improve the lives of countless patients and families who have had to face the difficulties of this diagnosis. An understanding of the historical context for which a nursing specialty such as surgical oncology nursing evolves is critical to gaining an appreciation for the contributions of nursing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Building a grid-semantic map for the navigation of service robots through human–robot interaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Zhao

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an interactive approach to the construction of a grid-semantic map for the navigation of service robots in an indoor environment. It is based on the Robot Operating System (ROS framework and contains four modules, namely Interactive Module, Control Module, Navigation Module and Mapping Module. Three challenging issues have been focused during its development: (i how human voice and robot visual information could be effectively deployed in the mapping and navigation process; (ii how semantic names could combine with coordinate data in an online Grid-Semantic map; and (iii how a localization–evaluate–relocalization method could be used in global localization based on modified maximum particle weight of the particle swarm. A number of experiments are carried out in both simulated and real environments such as corridors and offices to verify its feasibility and performance.

Validation of a next-generation sequencing assay for clinical molecular oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cottrell, Catherine E; Al-Kateb, Hussam; Bredemeyer, Andrew J; Duncavage, Eric J; Spencer, David H; Abel, Haley J; Lockwood, Christina M; Hagemann, Ian S; O'Guin, Stephanie M; Burcea, Lauren C; Sawyer, Christopher S; Oschwald, Dayna M; Stratman, Jennifer L; Sher, Dorie A; Johnson, Mark R; Brown, Justin T; Cliften, Paul F; George, Bijoy; McIntosh, Leslie D; Shrivastava, Savita; Nguyen, Tudung T; Payton, Jacqueline E; Watson, Mark A; Crosby, Seth D; Head, Richard D; Mitra, Robi D; Nagarajan, Rakesh; Kulkarni, Shashikant; Seibert, Karen; Virgin, Herbert W; Milbrandt, Jeffrey; Pfeifer, John D

2014-01-01

Currently, oncology testing includes molecular studies and cytogenetic analysis to detect genetic aberrations of clinical significance. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) allows rapid analysis of multiple genes for clinically actionable somatic variants. The WUCaMP assay uses targeted capture for NGS analysis of 25 cancer-associated genes to detect mutations at actionable loci. We present clinical validation of the assay and a detailed framework for design and validation of similar clinical assays. Deep sequencing of 78 tumor specimens (≥ 1000× average unique coverage across the capture region) achieved high sensitivity for detecting somatic variants at low allele fraction (AF). Validation revealed sensitivities and specificities of 100% for detection of single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) within coding regions, compared with SNP array sequence data (95% CI = 83.4-100.0 for sensitivity and 94.2-100.0 for specificity) or whole-genome sequencing (95% CI = 89.1-100.0 for sensitivity and 99.9-100.0 for specificity) of HapMap samples. Sensitivity for detecting variants at an observed 10% AF was 100% (95% CI = 93.2-100.0) in HapMap mixes. Analysis of 15 masked specimens harboring clinically reported variants yielded concordant calls for 13/13 variants at AF of ≥ 15%. The WUCaMP assay is a robust and sensitive method to detect somatic variants of clinical significance in molecular oncology laboratories, with reduced time and cost of genetic analysis allowing for strategic patient management. Copyright © 2014 American Society for Investigative Pathology and the Association for Molecular Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The context of oncology nursing practice: an integrative review.

Science.gov (United States)

Bakker, Debra; Strickland, Judith; Macdonald, Catherine; Butler, Lorna; Fitch, Margaret; Olson, Karin; Cummings, Greta

2013-01-01

In oncology, where the number of patients is increasing, there is a need to sustain a quality oncology nursing workforce. Knowledge of the context of oncology nursing can provide information about how to create practice environments that will attract and retain specialized oncology nurses. The aims of this review were to determine the extent and quality of the literature about the context of oncology nursing, explicate how "context" has been described as the environment where oncology nursing takes place, and delineate forces that shape the oncology practice environment. The integrative review involved identifying the problem, conducting a structured literature search, appraising the quality of data, extracting and analyzing data, and synthesizing and presenting the findings. Themes identified from 29 articles reflected the surroundings or background (structural environment, world of cancer care), and the conditions and circumstances (organizational climate, nature of oncology nurses' work, and interactions and relationships) of oncology nursing practice settings. The context of oncology nursing was similar yet different from other nursing contexts. The uniqueness was attributed to the dynamic and complex world of cancer control and the personal growth that is gained from the intense therapeutic relationships established with cancer patients and their families. The context of healthcare practice has been linked with patient, professional, or system outcomes. To achieve quality cancer care, decision makers need to understand the contextual features and forces that can be modified to improve the oncology work environment for nurses, other providers, and patients.

Cancer Patients and Oncology Nursing: Perspectives of Oncology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2017-10-26

Oct 26, 2017 ... findings of this study, nurses declared that working with cancer patients increase burnout, they are ..... of working in oncology to entire work life was 75.8% for nurses in the study .... This professional balance is important for ...

American Society of Clinical Oncology position statement on obesity and cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Ligibel, Jennifer A; Alfano, Catherine M; Courneya, Kerry S; Demark-Wahnefried, Wendy; Burger, Robert A; Chlebowski, Rowan T; Fabian, Carol J; Gucalp, Ayca; Hershman, Dawn L; Hudson, Melissa M; Jones, Lee W; Kakarala, Madhuri; Ness, Kirsten K; Merrill, Janette K; Wollins, Dana S; Hudis, Clifford A

2014-11-01

Rates of obesity have increased significantly over the last three decades in the United States and globally. In addition to contributing to heart disease and diabetes, obesity is a major unrecognized risk factor for cancer. Obesity is associated with worsened prognosis after cancer diagnosis and also negatively affects the delivery of systemic therapy, contributes to morbidity of cancer treatment, and may raise the risk of second malignancies and comorbidities. Research shows that the time after a cancer diagnosis can serve as a teachable moment to motivate individuals to adopt risk-reducing behaviors. For this reason, the oncology care team--the providers with whom a patient has the closest relationships in the critical period after a cancer diagnosis--is in a unique position to help patients lose weight and make other healthy lifestyle changes. The American Society of Clinical Oncology is committed to reducing the impact of obesity on cancer and has established a multipronged initiative to accomplish this goal by 1) increasing education and awareness of the evidence linking obesity and cancer; 2) providing tools and resources to help oncology providers address obesity with their patients; 3) building and fostering a robust research agenda to better understand the pathophysiology of energy balance alterations, evaluate the impact of behavior change on cancer outcomes, and determine the best methods to help cancer survivors make effective and useful changes in lifestyle behaviors; and 4) advocating for policy and systems change to address societal factors contributing to obesity and improve access to weight management services for patients with cancer. © 2014 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Exploring the potential offered by legacy soil databases for ecosystem services mapping of Central African soils

Science.gov (United States)

Verdoodt, Ann; Baert, Geert; Van Ranst, Eric

2014-05-01

Central African soil resources are characterised by a large variability, ranging from stony, shallow or sandy soils with poor life-sustaining capabilities to highly weathered soils that recycle and support large amounts of biomass. Socio-economic drivers within this largely rural region foster inappropriate land use and management, threaten soil quality and finally culminate into a declining soil productivity and increasing food insecurity. For the development of sustainable land use strategies targeting development planning and natural hazard mitigation, decision makers often rely on legacy soil maps and soil profile databases. Recent development cooperation financed projects led to the design of soil information systems for Rwanda, D.R. Congo, and (ongoing) Burundi. A major challenge is to exploit these existing soil databases and convert them into soil inference systems through an optimal combination of digital soil mapping techniques, land evaluation tools, and biogeochemical models. This presentation aims at (1) highlighting some key characteristics of typical Central African soils, (2) assessing the positional, geographic and semantic quality of the soil information systems, and (3) revealing its potential impacts on the use of these datasets for thematic mapping of soil ecosystem services (e.g. organic carbon storage, pH buffering capacity). Soil map quality is assessed considering positional and semantic quality, as well as geographic completeness. Descriptive statistics, decision tree classification and linear regression techniques are used to mine the soil profile databases. Geo-matching as well as class-matching approaches are considered when developing thematic maps. Variability in inherent as well as dynamic soil properties within the soil taxonomic units is highlighted. It is hypothesized that within-unit variation in soil properties highly affects the use and interpretation of thematic maps for ecosystem services mapping. Results will mainly be based

Robot-assisted surgery in gynecological oncology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Steffen E; Mosgaard, Berit J; Rosendahl, Mikkel

2017-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Robot-assisted surgery has become more widespread in gynecological oncology. The purpose of this systematic review is to present current knowledge on robot-assisted surgery, and to clarify and discuss controversies that have arisen alongside the development and deployment. MATERIAL...... was performed by screening of titles and abstracts, and by full text scrutiny. From 2001 to 2016, a total of 76 references were included. RESULTS: Robot-assisted surgery in gynecological oncology has increased, and current knowledge supports that the oncological safety is similar, compared with previous...

[The concept mapping of representations of the future of health services in French in linguistic minority].

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Bouchard, Louise

2013-06-06

In the context of institutional incompleteness affecting the official minority language communities, we examine how the Francophones in a minority context see the future of health services offered in French. The study is based on a participatory methodology: the concept mapping will serve to identify the conceptual universe of a given problem. From a master statement such as: "When I think about the future of health services in French, I think of ...", participants are invited to make as many statements as come to mind. These statements are then categorized individually and treated collectively through a multivariate analysis. The main themes emerging from the mapping exercise indicate the issues and challenges raised by the participants, namely the geographical context, specific needs, language rights, education and training, human resources, bilingualism and translation, the minority experience, active offer, the role of governmental bodies, community mobilization, collaboration and networking. The participatory approach that concept mapping allows is interesting in more than one way: its flexibility provides a space for both individual and collective reflection; it allows identification and structuring of the crucial dimensions of an issue; and the research outcomes are useful both to researchers and participants in guiding action and achieving goals. Social actors can therefore benefit from a collective dynamic to reflect on the foundations for the development and organization of health services in French.

Burnout and its relationship with personality factors in oncology nurses.

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De la Fuente-Solana, Emilia I; Gómez-Urquiza, José L; Cañadas, Gustavo R; Albendín-García, Luis; Ortega-Campos, Elena; Cañadas-De la Fuente, Guillermo A

2017-10-01

To assess burnout levels in oncology nurses, to evaluate at what stage of burnout suffering they are and to analyze the relationship between burnout with personality factors. A quantitative, observational, cross-sectional multicenter study was done. Oncology nurses (n = 101) from the Andalusian Health Service (Andalusia, Spain) were included. The main variables were personality factors, assessed with the NEO-FFI questionnaire, anxiety and depression, assessed with the Educational-Clinical Questionnaire: Anxiety and Depression, and burnout, evaluated with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Student t-statistic was used for hypothesis contrasts and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to establish the association between personality factors and burnout. According to the burnout phases model, 29.6% of the sample is in the most severe phases. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are positively correlated with neuroticism and negatively correlated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness. Personal accomplishment has a negative correlation with neuroticism and negative correlations with agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness. Finally, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization have a positive correlation with anxiety and depression, while personal accomplishment has a negative correlation with anxiety and depression. A significant number of oncology nurses are in the most severe stages of burnout suffering. Personality factors have a key role in burnout development. The importance of personality factors in burnout development should be taken into account. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psycho-oncology in Korea: past, present and future.

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Lee, Hyun Jeong; Lee, Kwang-Min; Jung, Dooyoung; Shim, Eun-Jung; Hahm, Bong-Jin; Kim, Jong-Heun

2017-01-01

Psycho-oncology in Korea was introduced among the circle of consultation-liaison psychiatrists, in the 1990s. For almost 25 years, the field has been developing at a steady pace as the psychosocial needs of patients with cancer continue to increase. In this study, we review the history of psycho-oncology in Korea, in a chronological order, within the domains of clinical practice, research activity, training, and public policy. Before the 1990s, patients with cancer with psychiatric comorbidities were usually taken care of by consultation-liaison psychiatrists in general hospitals. In 1993, psycho-oncology was first introduced by psychiatrists. Psychologists, nurses, and social workers have also been increasingly involved in providing psychosocial care for patients with cancer. Professionals from various disciplines began to communicate, and agreed to found the Korean Psycho-Oncology Study Group (KPOSG) in 2006, the first academic society in this field. In 2009, National Cancer Center published the "Recommendations for Distress Management in Patients with Cancer", which are consensus-based guidelines for Korean patients. In 2014, the KPOSG was dissolved and absorbed into a new organization, the Korean Psycho-Oncology Society (KPOS). It functions as a center of development of psycho-oncology, publishing official journals, and hosting annual conferences. There are many challenges, including, low awareness of psycho-oncology, presence of undertreated psychiatric disorders in patients with cancer, shortage of well-trained psycho-oncologists, stigma, and suicide risk. It is important to improve the cancer care system to the extent that psycho-oncology is integrated with mainstream oncology. Considering the socio-cultural characteristics of Korean cancer care, a Korean model of distress management is being prepared by the KPOS. This article provides an overview of the development, current issues, and future challenges of psycho-oncology in Korea. Through its long journey

Level of burnout among nurses working in oncology in an Italian region.

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Quattrin, Rosanna; Zanini, Antonietta; Nascig, Ester; Annunziata, Maria; Calligaris, Laura; Brusaferro, Silvio

2006-07-01

To estimate the level of burnout among nurses working on oncology wards and to identify the risk factors of burnout and the strategies used to prevent and deal with stress. Descriptive study. Oncology wards in public hospitals in a northeastern Italian region. 100 nurses working on oncology wards. Head nurses of the oncology wards were personally informed about the aims of the study and were asked to distribute a questionnaire among the staff nurses and collect them after completion. The questionnaire had 58 items divided into three parts: sociodemographic and job characteristics of the population, the Maslach Burnout Inventory modified for Italian healthcare workers, and the respondents' perceptions about coping mechanisms and strategies adopted by the organization to help the nurses cope with stress. Levels of burnout according to the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The global response rate was 71% (100 of 140); 35% of the nurses had a high level of emotional exhaustion, 17% had a high level of depersonalization, and 11% had a high level of personal achievement. Significantly high levels of emotional exhaustion were found in nurses older than 40 with a working seniority of more than 15 years, those who had chosen to work on an oncology ward, and those who wanted another work assignment. The mean emotional exhaustion in subjects who identified lack of coordination (disorganization) as an important cause of stress was 24.5 (SD = 10.6), whereas the mean score in the nurses who did not cite disorganization as a cause of stress was 18.3 (SD = 12.0). An important cause of stress reported by nurses is poor organization; therefore, hospitals should focus attention on specific organizational aspects. Knowledge of the mechanisms of burnout and strategies to prevent and deal with them are important for nurses' psychophysical health and constitute a fundamental requirement in a policy that aims to improve quality in health services.

A Nationwide Medical Student Assessment of Oncology Education.

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Mattes, Malcolm D; Patel, Krishnan R; Burt, Lindsay M; Hirsch, Ariel E

2016-12-01

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the USA, but there is minimal data on how oncology is taught to medical students. The purpose of this study is to characterize oncology education at US medical schools. An electronic survey was sent between December 2014 and February 2015 to a convenience sample of medical students who either attended the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting or serve as delegates to the American Association of Medical Colleges. Information on various aspects of oncology instruction at participants' medical schools was collected. Seventy-six responses from students in 28 states were received. Among the six most common causes of death in the USA, cancer reportedly received the fourth most curricular time. During the first, second, and third years of medical school, participants most commonly reported 6-10, 16-20, and 6-10 h of oncology teaching, respectively. Participants were less confident in their understanding of cancer treatment than workup/diagnosis or basic science/natural history of cancer (p oncology-oriented clerkship. During each mandatory rotation, Oncology education is often underemphasized and fragmented with wide variability in content and structure between medical schools, suggesting a need for reform.

Disparities in psychosocial cancer care: a report from the International Federation of Psycho-oncology Societies.

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Grassi, Luigi; Fujisawa, Daisuke; Odyio, Philip; Asuzu, Chioma; Ashley, Laura; Bultz, Barry; Travado, Luzia; Fielding, Richard

2016-10-01

The aim of the study was to understand the characteristics of the International Federation of Psycho-oncology Societies (FPOS) and possible disparities in providing psychosocial care in countries where psycho-oncology societies exist. A survey was conducted among 29 leaders of 28 countries represented within the FPOS by using a questionnaire covering (i) characteristics of the society; (ii) characteristics of the national health care system; (iii) level of implementation of psycho-oncology; and (iv) main problems of psycho-oncology in the country. Twenty-six (90%) FPOS returned the questionnaires. One-third reported to have links with and support from their government, while almost all had links with other scientific societies. The FPOS varied in their composition of members' professions. Psychosocial care provision was covered by state-funded health services in a minority of countries. Disparities between countries arose from different causes and were problematic in some parts of the world (eg, Africa and SE Asia). Elsewhere (eg, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe), austerity policies were reportedly responsible for resource shortages with negative consequences on psychosocial cancer care. Half of FPOS rated themselves to be integrated into mainstream provision of care, although lack of funding was the most common complain. The development and implementation of psycho-oncology is fragmented and undeveloped, particularly in some parts of the world. More effort is needed at national level by strong coalitions with oncology societies, better national research initiatives, cancer plans, and patient advocacy, as well as by stronger partnership with international organizations (eg, World Health Organization and Union for International Cancer Control). Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[Diagnosis-related groups as an instrument to develop suitable case-based lump sums in hematology and oncology].

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Thalheimer, Markus

2011-01-01

In 2003 a new reimbursement system was established for German hospitals. The approximately 17 million inpatient cases per year are now reimbursed based on a per-case payment regarding diagnoses and procedures, which was developed from an internationally approved system. The aim was a better conformity of costs and efforts in in-patient cases. In the first 2 years after implementation, the German diagnosis-related group (DRG) system was not able to adequately represent the complex structures of treatment in hematological and oncological in-patients. By creating new diagnoses and procedures (International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) and Surgical Operations and Procedures Classification System (OPS) catalogues), generating new DRGs and better splitting of existing ones, the hematology and oncology field could be much better described in the following years. The implementation of about 70 'co-payment structures' for new and expensive drugs and procedures in oncology was also crucial. To reimburse innovations, an additional system of co-payments for innovations was established to bridge the time until innovations are represented within the DRG system itself. In summary, hematological and oncological in-patients, including cases with extraordinary costs, are meanwhile well mapped in the German reimbursement system. Any tendencies to rationing could thereby be avoided, as most of the established procedures and costly drugs are adequately represented in the DRG system. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Multi-disciplinary summit on genetics services for women with gynecologic cancers: A Society of Gynecologic Oncology White Paper.

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Randall, Leslie M; Pothuri, Bhavana; Swisher, Elizabeth M; Diaz, John P; Buchanan, Adam; Witkop, Catherine T; Bethan Powell, C; Smith, Ellen Blair; Robson, Mark E; Boyd, Jeff; Coleman, Robert L; Lu, Karen

2017-08-01

To assess current practice, advise minimum standards, and identify educational gaps relevant to genetic screening, counseling, and testing of women affected by gynecologic cancers. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) organized a multidisciplinary summit that included representatives from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Society Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC), and patient advocacy groups, BrightPink and Facing our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE). Three subject areas were discussed: care delivery models for genetic testing, barriers to genetic testing, and educational opportunities for providers of genetic testing. The group endorsed current SGO, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), and NSGC genetic testing guidelines for women affected with ovarian, tubal, peritoneal cancers, or DNA mismatch repair deficient endometrial cancer. Three main areas of unmet need were identified: timely and universal genetic testing for women with ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancers; education regarding minimum standards for genetic counseling and testing; and barriers to implementation of testing of both affected individuals as well as cascade testing of family members. Consensus building among all stakeholders resulted in an action plan to address gaps in education of gynecologic oncology providers and delivery of cancer genetics care. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Secure positioning technique based on encrypted visible light map for smart indoor service

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Lee, Yong Up; Jung, Gillyoung

2018-03-01

Indoor visible light (VL) positioning systems for smart indoor services are negatively affected by both cochannel interference from adjacent light sources and VL reception position irregularity in the three-dimensional (3-D) VL channel. A secure positioning methodology based on a two-dimensional (2-D) encrypted VL map is proposed, implemented in prototypes of the specific positioning system, and analyzed based on performance tests. The proposed positioning technique enhances the positioning performance by more than 21.7% compared to the conventional method in real VL positioning tests. Further, the pseudonoise code is found to be the optimal encryption key for secure VL positioning for this smart indoor service.

Encyclopedia of radiation oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brady, Luther W. [Drexel Univ. College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Yaeger, Theodore E. (eds.) [Wake Forest Univ. School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (United States). Dept. of Radiation Oncology

2013-02-01

The simple A to Z format provides easy access to relevant information in the field of radiation oncology. Extensive cross references between keywords and related articles enable efficient searches in a user-friendly manner. Fully searchable and hyperlinked electronic online edition. The aim of this comprehensive encyclopedia is to provide detailed information on radiation oncology. The wide range of entries are written by leading experts. They will provide basic and clinical scientists in academia, practice and industry with valuable information about the field of radiation oncology. Those in related fields, students, teachers, and interested laypeople will also benefit from the important and relevant information on the most recent developments. Please note that this publication is available as print only or online only or print + online set. Save 75% of the online list price when purchasing the bundle. For more information on the online version please type the publication title into the search box above, then click on the eReference version in the results list.

The Evolution of Gero-Oncology Nursing.

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Bond, Stewart M; Bryant, Ashley Leak; Puts, Martine

2016-02-01

This article summarizes the evolution of gero-oncology nursing and highlights key educational initiatives, clinical practice issues, and research areas to enhance care of older adults with cancer. Peer-reviewed literature, position statements, clinical practice guidelines, Web-based materials, and professional organizations' resources. Globally, the older adult cancer population is rapidly growing. The care of older adults with cancer requires an understanding of their diverse needs and the intersection of cancer and aging. Despite efforts to enhance competence in gero-oncology and to develop a body of evidence, nurses and health care systems remain under-prepared to provide high-quality care for older adults with cancer. Nurses must take a leadership role in integrating gerontological principles into oncology settings. Working closely with interdisciplinary team members, nurses should utilize available resources and continue to build evidence through gero-oncology nursing research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A National Approach to Map and Quantify Terrestrial Vertebrate Biodiversity within an Ecosystem Services Framework

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Biodiversity is crucial for the functioning of ecosystems and the products and services from which we transform natural assets of the Earth for human survival, security, and well-being. The ability to assess, report, map, and forecast the life support functions of ecosystems is a...

Mapping Ecosystem Service Bundles to Detect Distinct Types of Multifunctionality within the Diverse Landscape of the Yangtze River Basin, China

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Lingqiao Kong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The tradeoffs and synergies of ecosystem services are widely discussed and recognized. However, explicit information for understanding and managing the complex relationships of multiple ecosystem services at regional scales is still lacking, which often leads to the degradation of important ecosystem services due to one ecosystem service being enhanced over another. We assessed the biodiversity and the production of nine ESs (ecosystem services across 779 counties in the Yangtze River Basin, the largest basin in China. Then, we mapped the distribution of ES for each county and used correlations and “partitioning around medoids” clustering analysis to assess the existence of ES bundles. We found five distinct types of bundles of ecosystem services spatially agglomerated in the landscape, which could be mainly explained by land use, slope and altitude gradients. Our results also show landscape-scale tradeoffs between provisioning and almost all regulating services (and biodiversity, and synergies among almost all regulating services (and biodiversity. Mapping ecosystem service bundles can identify areas in a landscape where ecosystem management has produced exceptionally desirable or undesirable sets of ecosystem services, and can also provide explicit, tailored information on landscape planning for ecosystem service conservation and the design of payment policies for ecosystem services within diverse landscapes at watershed scales.

Current management of surgical oncologic emergencies.

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Marianne R F Bosscher

Full Text Available For some oncologic emergencies, surgical interventions are necessary for dissolution or temporary relieve. In the absence of guidelines, the most optimal method for decision making would be in a multidisciplinary cancer conference (MCC. In an acute setting, the opportunity for multidisciplinary discussion is often not available. In this study, the management and short term outcome of patients after surgical oncologic emergency consultation was analyzed.A prospective registration and follow up of adult patients with surgical oncologic emergencies between 01-11-2013 and 30-04-2014. The follow up period was 30 days.In total, 207 patients with surgical oncologic emergencies were included. Postoperative wound infections, malignant obstruction, and clinical deterioration due to progressive disease were the most frequent conditions for surgical oncologic emergency consultation. During the follow up period, 40% of patients underwent surgery. The median number of involved medical specialties was two. Only 30% of all patients were discussed in a MCC within 30 days after emergency consultation, and only 41% of the patients who underwent surgery were discussed in a MCC. For 79% of these patients, the surgical procedure was performed before the MCC. Mortality within 30 days was 13%.In most cases, surgery occurred without discussing the patient in a MCC, regardless of the fact that multiple medical specialties were involved in the treatment process. There is a need for prognostic aids and acute oncology pathways with structural multidisciplinary management. These will provide in faster institution of the most appropriate personalized cancer care, and prevent unnecessary investigations or invasive therapy.

Current management of surgical oncologic emergencies.

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Bosscher, Marianne R F; van Leeuwen, Barbara L; Hoekstra, Harald J

2015-01-01

For some oncologic emergencies, surgical interventions are necessary for dissolution or temporary relieve. In the absence of guidelines, the most optimal method for decision making would be in a multidisciplinary cancer conference (MCC). In an acute setting, the opportunity for multidisciplinary discussion is often not available. In this study, the management and short term outcome of patients after surgical oncologic emergency consultation was analyzed. A prospective registration and follow up of adult patients with surgical oncologic emergencies between 01-11-2013 and 30-04-2014. The follow up period was 30 days. In total, 207 patients with surgical oncologic emergencies were included. Postoperative wound infections, malignant obstruction, and clinical deterioration due to progressive disease were the most frequent conditions for surgical oncologic emergency consultation. During the follow up period, 40% of patients underwent surgery. The median number of involved medical specialties was two. Only 30% of all patients were discussed in a MCC within 30 days after emergency consultation, and only 41% of the patients who underwent surgery were discussed in a MCC. For 79% of these patients, the surgical procedure was performed before the MCC. Mortality within 30 days was 13%. In most cases, surgery occurred without discussing the patient in a MCC, regardless of the fact that multiple medical specialties were involved in the treatment process. There is a need for prognostic aids and acute oncology pathways with structural multidisciplinary management. These will provide in faster institution of the most appropriate personalized cancer care, and prevent unnecessary investigations or invasive therapy.

Access to dialysis services: A systematic mapping review based on geographical information systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoseini, Benyamin; Bagheri, Nasser; Kiani, Behzad; Azizi, Amirabbas; Tabesh, Hamed; Tara, Mahmood

2018-05-07

Equitable access to healthcare services constitutes one of the leading priorities of healthcare provision and access to dialysis services (ADS) has an essential impact on patients depending on renal dialysis. The many existing GIS-based ADS evaluations include various spatial and non-spatial factors affecting ADS. We systematically mapped and reviewed the available literature with reference to this area identifying gaps in current GIS-based ADS measurements and developing recommendations for future studies. A threestep, systematic mapping review of the available GIS-related evidence in PubMed, Embase, Web of science, Scopus, Science Direct and IEEE Xplore was performed in May 2016 and the information collected updated October 2017 by two independent selection processes. The quality of the studies was assessed using an informal, mixed-approach scoring system. Out of 1119 literature references identified, 36 were identified and used for final review after removal of duplicates, study screenings and applying inclusion/exclusion criteria. Given the contents of the selected studies, three study groups were identified and 41 factors with potential effects on ADS determined. These studies mainly addressed the potential and/or spatial aspects of ADS. Our systematic mapping review of the evidence revealed that current GIS-based measures of ADS tend to calculate potential ADS instead of a realized one. It was also noted that listed factors affecting ADS were mainly nonspatial bringing forth the hypothesis that designing an integrated ADS index could possibly produce better ADS score than those currently advocated. Some primary and secondary research suggestions are made and a list of recommendations offered.

Access to dialysis services: A systematic mapping review based on geographical information systems

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Benyamin Hoseini

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Equitable access to healthcare services constitutes one of the leading priorities of healthcare provision and access to dialysis services (ADS has an essential impact on patients depending on renal dialysis. The many existing GIS-based ADS evaluations include various spatial and non-spatial factors affecting ADS. We systematically mapped and reviewed the available literature with reference to this area identifying gaps in current GIS-based ADS measurements and developing recommendations for future studies. A threestep, systematic mapping review of the available GIS-related evidence in PubMed, Embase, Web of science, Scopus, Science Direct and IEEE Xplore was performed in May 2016 and the information collected updated October 2017 by two independent selection processes. The quality of the studies was assessed using an informal, mixed-approach scoring system. Out of 1119 literature references identified, 36 were identified and used for final review after removal of duplicates, study screenings and applying inclusion/exclusion criteria. Given the contents of the selected studies, three study groups were identified and 41 factors with potential effects on ADS determined. These studies mainly addressed the potential and/or spatial aspects of ADS. Our systematic mapping review of the evidence revealed that current GIS-based measures of ADS tend to calculate potential ADS instead of a realized one. It was also noted that listed factors affecting ADS were mainly nonspatial bringing forth the hypothesis that designing an integrated ADS index could possibly produce better ADS score than those currently advocated. Some primary and secondary research suggestions are made and a list of recommendations offered.

Geographic Analysis of the Radiation Oncology Workforce

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Aneja, Sanjay [Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (United States); Cancer Outcomes, Policy, and Effectiveness Research Center at Yale, New Haven, CT (United States); Smith, Benjamin D. [University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Gross, Cary P. [Cancer Outcomes, Policy, and Effectiveness Research Center at Yale, New Haven, CT (United States); Department of General Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (United States); Wilson, Lynn D. [Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (United States); Haffty, Bruce G. [Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ (United States); Roberts, Kenneth [Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (United States); Yu, James B., E-mail: james.b.yu@yale.edu [Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (United States); Cancer Outcomes, Policy, and Effectiveness Research Center at Yale, New Haven, CT (United States)

2012-04-01

Purpose: To evaluate trends in the geographic distribution of the radiation oncology (RO) workforce. Methods and Materials: We used the 1995 and 2007 versions of the Area Resource File to map the ratio of RO to the population aged 65 years or older (ROR) within different health service areas (HSA) within the United States. We used regression analysis to find associations between population variables and 2007 ROR. We calculated Gini coefficients for ROR to assess the evenness of RO distribution and compared that with primary care physicians and total physicians. Results: There was a 24% increase in the RO workforce from 1995 to 2007. The overall growth in the RO workforce was less than that of primary care or the overall physician workforce. The mean ROR among HSAs increased by more than one radiation oncologist per 100,000 people aged 65 years or older, from 5.08 per 100,000 to 6.16 per 100,000. However, there remained consistent geographic variability concerning RO distribution, specifically affecting the non-metropolitan HSAs. Regression analysis found higher ROR in HSAs that possessed higher education (p = 0.001), higher income (p < 0.001), lower unemployment rates (p < 0.001), and higher minority population (p = 0.022). Gini coefficients showed RO distribution less even than for both primary care physicians and total physicians (0.326 compared with 0.196 and 0.292, respectively). Conclusions: Despite a modest growth in the RO workforce, there exists persistent geographic maldistribution of radiation oncologists allocated along socioeconomic and racial lines. To solve problems surrounding the RO workforce, issues concerning both gross numbers and geographic distribution must be addressed.

Geographic Analysis of the Radiation Oncology Workforce

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aneja, Sanjay; Smith, Benjamin D.; Gross, Cary P.; Wilson, Lynn D.; Haffty, Bruce G.; Roberts, Kenneth; Yu, James B.

2012-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate trends in the geographic distribution of the radiation oncology (RO) workforce. Methods and Materials: We used the 1995 and 2007 versions of the Area Resource File to map the ratio of RO to the population aged 65 years or older (ROR) within different health service areas (HSA) within the United States. We used regression analysis to find associations between population variables and 2007 ROR. We calculated Gini coefficients for ROR to assess the evenness of RO distribution and compared that with primary care physicians and total physicians. Results: There was a 24% increase in the RO workforce from 1995 to 2007. The overall growth in the RO workforce was less than that of primary care or the overall physician workforce. The mean ROR among HSAs increased by more than one radiation oncologist per 100,000 people aged 65 years or older, from 5.08 per 100,000 to 6.16 per 100,000. However, there remained consistent geographic variability concerning RO distribution, specifically affecting the non-metropolitan HSAs. Regression analysis found higher ROR in HSAs that possessed higher education (p = 0.001), higher income (p < 0.001), lower unemployment rates (p < 0.001), and higher minority population (p = 0.022). Gini coefficients showed RO distribution less even than for both primary care physicians and total physicians (0.326 compared with 0.196 and 0.292, respectively). Conclusions: Despite a modest growth in the RO workforce, there exists persistent geographic maldistribution of radiation oncologists allocated along socioeconomic and racial lines. To solve problems surrounding the RO workforce, issues concerning both gross numbers and geographic distribution must be addressed.

MAPPING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES SUPPLY IN MOUNTAIN REGIONS: A CASE STUDY FROM SOUTH TYROL (ITALY

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U. Schirpke

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Mountain regions provide many ecosystem services and spatially explicit assessments have to account for their specific topographic and climatic conditions. Moreover, it is fundamental to understand synergies and trade-offs of multiple ecosystem services. In this study, ecosystem services supply, including forage production, timber production, water supply, carbon sequestration, soil stability, soil quality, and the aesthetic value, was quantified in bio-physical terms on the landscape scale for South Tyrol. Mean ecosystem services values of the 116 municipalities were grouped in 5 clusters. The results indicate that carbon stock is the prevailing ecosystem service of valley municipalities. On contrast, they suffer from water deficit and depend on water supply from high mountain municipalities. Trade-offs can be also found between the aesthetic value on one hand and timber production, carbon sequestration and soil stability on the other hand. The latter are characteristic for municipalities dominated by forest. The resulting maps can support landscape planning, ecosystem management and conservation of biodiversity.

Precision oncology: origins, optimism, and potential.

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Prasad, Vinay; Fojo, Tito; Brada, Michael

2016-02-01

Imatinib, the first and arguably the best targeted therapy, became the springboard for developing drugs aimed at molecular targets deemed crucial to tumours. As this development unfolded, a revolution in the speed and cost of genetic sequencing occurred. The result--an armamentarium of drugs and an array of molecular targets--set the stage for precision oncology, a hypothesis that cancer treatment could be markedly improved if therapies were guided by a tumour's genomic alterations. Drawing lessons from the biological basis of cancer and recent empirical investigations, we take a more measured view of precision oncology's promise. Ultimately, the promise is not our concern, but the threshold at which we declare success. We review reports of precision oncology alongside those of precision diagnostics and novel radiotherapy approaches. Although confirmatory evidence is scarce, these interventions have been widely endorsed. We conclude that the current path will probably not be successful or, at a minimum, will have to undergo substantive adjustments before it can be successful. For the sake of patients with cancer, we hope one form of precision oncology will deliver on its promise. However, until confirmatory studies are completed, precision oncology remains unproven, and as such, a hypothesis in need of rigorous testing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psycho-oncology in India: Emerging trends from Kerala

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Venkateswaran Chitra

2006-01-01

Full Text Available It is estimated that around 2.5 million people suffer from cancer at any given time in India. Almost 80% of patients reach hospitals in advanced stages of the disease. The majority needs palliative care, whereas only a minority of the needy receives this input. The challenge in the developing world is to evolve a culturally and socio-economically appropriate and acceptable system of care, while addressing psychosocial issues along with long-term care needs, that is accessible to the majority of those who need it. The evolution of a specific service for psychosocial care for persons and families started in the 1970s, initial work focusing mainly on research. Contributions from persons in varied topics have been outlined. Only a few organized clinical services function as part of large tertiary hospitals, oncology centers or palliative care units. The emerging trend in Northern Kerala is based on an integrated service linking training, clinical services and research activities which are linked at several levels, involving volunteers in the community. Future hopes lie in developing core groups; establishing specific clinical services liaising with cancer care teams, large scale research projects and discussion with policy makers to develop guidelines at national level.

Family-centred care: a qualitative study of Chinese and South Asian immigrant parents' experiences of care in paediatric oncology.

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Watt, L; Dix, D; Gulati, S; Sung, L; Klaassen, R J; Shaw, N T; Klassen, A F

2013-03-01

Over the past two decades, there is increasing emphasis being placed upon providing family-centred care (FCC) in paediatric oncology settings. However, there is a lack of knowledge of FCC in paediatric oncology from the perspectives of immigrant parents. The purpose of this paper is to describe Chinese and South Asian immigrant parents' experiences of FCC in paediatric oncology settings in Canada. This study adopted a constructivist grounded theory approach. Fifty first generation Chinese and South Asian parents of children with cancer who were at least 6 months post-diagnosis were recruited from six Canadian paediatric oncology centres. Interviews were conducted in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi, and transcribed into English. Analysis involved line-by-line, focused and theoretical coding, and the use of the constant comparison method. Findings indicated that overall parents were highly satisfied with the care and services they received, and their experiences were reflective of the key elements of FCC. However, there were some areas of concern identified by participants: parents not perceiving themselves as a member of the medical team; inconsistency in the quality and co-ordination of services among healthcare providers; disrespectful and mechanical manner of a few healthcare providers; and parents' discomfort with healthcare providers communicating sensitive health-related information directly with their child. In order to successfully provide family-centred services to immigrant parents of children with cancer, better communication of the elements of FCC between healthcare staff and families is needed to negotiate a clear role for the parents as partners of the healthcare team. Moreover, a better understanding of how family relationships are structured in immigrant families will assist healthcare providers to balance the best interests of the child with that of the family as a unit. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Quality Assessment in Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albert, Jeffrey M.; Das, Prajnan

2012-01-01

The movement to improve healthcare quality has led to a need for carefully designed quality indicators that accurately reflect the quality of care. Many different measures have been proposed and continue to be developed by governmental agencies and accrediting bodies. However, given the inherent differences in the delivery of care among medical specialties, the same indicators will not be valid across all of them. Specifically, oncology is a field in which it can be difficult to develop quality indicators, because the effectiveness of an oncologic intervention is often not immediately apparent, and the multidisciplinary nature of the field necessarily involves many different specialties. Existing and emerging comparative effectiveness data are helping to guide evidence-based practice, and the increasing availability of these data provides the opportunity to identify key structure and process measures that predict for quality outcomes. The increasing emphasis on quality and efficiency will continue to compel the medical profession to identify appropriate quality measures to facilitate quality improvement efforts and to guide accreditation, credentialing, and reimbursement. Given the wide-reaching implications of quality metrics, it is essential that they be developed and implemented with scientific rigor. The aims of the present report were to review the current state of quality assessment in oncology, identify existing indicators with the best evidence to support their implementation, and propose a framework for identifying and refining measures most indicative of true quality in oncologic care.

Quality Assessment in Oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Albert, Jeffrey M. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States); Das, Prajnan, E-mail: prajdas@mdanderson.org [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States)

2012-07-01

The movement to improve healthcare quality has led to a need for carefully designed quality indicators that accurately reflect the quality of care. Many different measures have been proposed and continue to be developed by governmental agencies and accrediting bodies. However, given the inherent differences in the delivery of care among medical specialties, the same indicators will not be valid across all of them. Specifically, oncology is a field in which it can be difficult to develop quality indicators, because the effectiveness of an oncologic intervention is often not immediately apparent, and the multidisciplinary nature of the field necessarily involves many different specialties. Existing and emerging comparative effectiveness data are helping to guide evidence-based practice, and the increasing availability of these data provides the opportunity to identify key structure and process measures that predict for quality outcomes. The increasing emphasis on quality and efficiency will continue to compel the medical profession to identify appropriate quality measures to facilitate quality improvement efforts and to guide accreditation, credentialing, and reimbursement. Given the wide-reaching implications of quality metrics, it is essential that they be developed and implemented with scientific rigor. The aims of the present report were to review the current state of quality assessment in oncology, identify existing indicators with the best evidence to support their implementation, and propose a framework for identifying and refining measures most indicative of true quality in oncologic care.

Lower Colorado River Geographic Response Plan Restricted Web Mapping Service, Region 9, 2012, US EPA Region 9

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service is comprised of data related to Geographic Response Plans (GRPs) for the Lower Colorado River. Data layers were contributed by various stakeholders...

Indian Society of Neuro-Oncology consensus guidelines for the contemporary management of medulloblastoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Tejpal; Sarkar, Chitra; Rajshekhar, Vedantam; Chatterjee, Sandip; Shirsat, Neelam; Muzumdar, Dattatreya; Pungavkar, Sona; Chinnaswamy, Girish; Jalali, Rakesh

2017-01-01

The high success rate in the management medulloblastoma achieved in the western world is not exactly mirrored in developing countries including India. Socio-demographic differences, health-care disparity, and lack in uniformity of care with resultant widespread variations in the clinical practice are some of the reasons that may partly explain this difference in outcomes. Patients with medulloblastoma require a multi-disciplinary team approach involving but not limited to neuro-radiology, neurosurgery; neuropathology, molecular biology, radiation oncology, pediatric medical oncology and rehabilitative services for optimizing outcomes. The Indian Society of Neuro-Oncology (ISNO) constituted an expert multi-disciplinary panel with adequate representation from all stakeholders to prepare national consensus guidelines for the contemporary management of medulloblastoma. Minimum desirable, as well as preferable though optional recommendations (as appropriate), were developed and adopted for the pre-surgical work-up including neuroimaging; neurosurgical management including surgical principles, techniques, and complications; neuropathology reporting and molecular testing; contemporary risk-stratification in the molecular era; appropriate adjuvant therapy (radiotherapy and chemotherapy); and follow-up schedule in medulloblastoma. The current document represents a broad consensus reached amongst various stakeholders within the neuro-oncology community involved in the contemporary curative-intent management of children with medulloblastoma. It provides both general as well as specific guidelines and recommendations to be adopted by physicians and health care providers across India to achieve uniformity of care, improve disease-related outcomes, and compare results between institutions within the country.

The ASCO Oncology Composite Provider Utilization File: New Data, New Insights.

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, Thomas R; Towle, Elaine L; Barr, Thomas R; Towle, Elaine L

2016-01-01

As we seek to understand the changing practice environment in oncology, the need for accurate information about demand for services, distribution of the delivery system in this sector of the health economy, and other practice trends is apparent. In this article, we present analysis of the sector using one of the public use files from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in combination with other publicly available data. Medicare data are particularly useful for this analysis because cancer is associated with aging and Medicare is the primary payer in the United States for patients older than age 65. As a result, nearly all oncologists who serve adult populations are represented in these data. By combining publicly available datasets into what we call the ASCO Provider Utilization File,we can investigate a wide range of supply, demand, and practice issues. We calculate the average work performed per physician, observe regional differences in work production,and quantify the downside risk and upside potential associated with the provision of chemotherapy drugs. Comparing the supply of oncologists by state with physician work relative value units and with estimates of cancer incidence by state reveals intriguing differences in the distribution of physicians and the demand for oncology services. In addition, our analysis demonstrates significant downside practice risk associated with the provision of drug therapy to Medicare beneficiaries. The economic risk associated with the purchase and delivery of chemotherapy is of particular concern as pressure for value increases. This article provides a description of a new dataset and interesting observations from these data.

Recent developments of dual-energy CT in oncology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simons, David; Schlemmer, Heinz-Peter [Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg (Germany); Kachelriess, Marc [Department of Medical Physics in Radiology, Division of X-ray Imaging and CT, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg (Germany)

2014-04-15

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) can amply contribute to support oncological imaging: the DECT technique offers promising clinical applications in oncological imaging for tumour detection and characterisation while concurrently reducing the radiation dose. Fast image acquisition at two different X-ray energies enables the determination of tissue- or material-specific features, the calculation of virtual unenhanced images and the quantification of contrast medium uptake; thus, tissue can be characterised and subsequently monitored for any changes during treatment. DECT is already widely used, but its potential in the context of oncological imaging has not been fully exploited yet. The technology is the subject of ongoing innovation and increasingly with respect to its clinical potential, particularly in oncology. This review highlights recent state-of-the-art DECT techniques with a strong emphasis on ongoing DECT developments relevant to oncologic imaging, and then focuses on clinical DECT applications, especially its prospective uses in areas of oncological imaging. circle Dual-energy CT (DECT) offers fast, robust, quantitative and functional whole-body imaging. (orig.)

US EPA Office of Research and Development Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST) Air Pollutants 2011 web mapping service

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map service displays all air-related layers used in the USEPA Community/Tribal-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C/T-FERST) mapping application...

Experience of wireless local area network in a radiation oncology department.

Science.gov (United States)

Mandal, Abhijit; Asthana, Anupam Kumar; Aggarwal, Lalit Mohan

2010-01-01

The aim of this work is to develop a wireless local area network (LAN) between different types of users (Radiation Oncologists, Radiological Physicists, Radiation Technologists, etc) for efficient patient data management and to made easy the availability of information (chair side) to improve the quality of patient care in Radiation Oncology department. We have used mobile workstations (Laptops) and stationary workstations, all equipped with wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) access. Wireless standard 802.11g (as recommended by Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE, Piscataway, NJ) has been used. The wireless networking was configured with the Service Set Identifier (SSID), Media Access Control (MAC) address filtering, and Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) network securities. We are successfully using this wireless network in sharing the indigenously developed patient information management software. The proper selection of the hardware and the software combined with a secure wireless LAN setup will lead to a more efficient and productive radiation oncology department.

Mapping environmental land use conflict potentials and ecosystem services in agricultural watersheds.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ilkwon; Arnhold, Sebastian

2018-07-15

In mountainous watersheds, agricultural land use cause changes in ecosystem services, with trade-offs between crop production and erosion regulation. Management of these watersheds can generate environmental land use conflicts among regional stakeholders with different interests. Although several researches have made a start in mapping land use conflicts between human activities and conservation, spatial assessment of land use conflicts on environmental issues and ecosystem service trade-offs within agricultural areas has not been fully considered. In this study, we went further to map land use conflicts between agricultural preferences for crop production and environmental emphasis on erosion regulation. We applied an agricultural land suitability index, based on multi-criteria analysis, to estimate the spatial preference of agricultural activities, while applying the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to reflect the environmental importance of soil erosion. Then, we classified the agricultural catchment into four levels of land use conflicts (lowest, low, high and highest) according to preference and importance of farmland areas, and we compared the classes by crop type. Soil loss in agricultural areas was estimated as 45.1thayr, and agricultural suitability as 0.873; this indicated that land use conflicts in the catchment could arise between severe soil erosion (environmental importance) and agricultural suitability (land preferences). Dry-field farms are mainly located in areas of low land use conflict level, where land preference outweighs environmental importance. When we applied farmland management scenarios with consideration of services, conversion to highest-conflict areas (Scenario 1) as 7.5% of the total area could reduce soil loss by 24.6%, while fallow land management (Scenario 2) could decrease soil loss 19.4% more than the current scenario (Business as usual). The result could maximize land management plans by extracting issues of spatial

The National Map product and services directory

Science.gov (United States)

Newell, Mark R.

2008-01-01

As one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP), The National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, state, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information for the Nation. It has many uses ranging from recreation to scientific analysis to emergency response. The National Map is easily accessible for display on the Web, as products, and as downloadable data. The geographic information available from The National Map includes orthoimagery (aerial photographs), elevation, geographic names, hydrography, boundaries, transportation, structures, and land cover. Other types of geographic information can be added to create specific types of maps. Of major importance, The National Map currently is being transformed to better serve the geospatial community. The USGS National Geospatial Program Office (NGPO) was established to provide leadership for placing geographic knowledge at the fingertips of the Nation. The office supports The National Map, Geospatial One-Stop (GOS), National Atlas of the United States®, and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). This integrated portfolio of geospatial information and data supports the essential components of delivering the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and capitalizing on the power of place.

Camp Raising Spirits: An Oncology Nursing Society Chapter Leadership Success Story
.

Science.gov (United States)

Fennimore, Laura; Burgunder, Mary; Lee Schafer, Sandra; Jameson, Gayle S

2017-08-01

Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) members share a unique passion for the people they serve and frequently commit to projects that make a difference. Camp Raising Spirits, a weekend retreat for adults with cancer, has made a difference in southwestern Pennsylvania for hundreds of people with cancer and their caregivers for 24 consecutive years. This article will describe how an ONS chapter capitalized on the leadership attributes of partnership, creativity, and commitment to sustain an important community service program. 
.

[Burnout effect on academic progress of Oncology medical residents].

Science.gov (United States)

González-Ávila, Gabriel; Bello-Villalobos, Herlinda

2014-01-01

In the formative period of the courses taken in medical specializations, new and greater responsibilities are accepted by physicians in personal and academic spheres. The interaction of several factors that encompass the practice of these physicians could surpass their capacity to cope, causing on these professionals a high level of stress and professional exhaustion, which will affect their academic development. The objective of this research was to establish if the occupational stress of these medical residents affects their academic progress. We administered the Spanish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to 52 residents of three specializations in Oncology (Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology, and Radio-Oncology). These residents accepted voluntarily at the same time of their third cognitive exam. The prevalence of burnout syndrome was 13.5 %, with a high frequency among medical residents of first degree. Medical Oncology residents showed a higher emotional exhaustion and lower personal fulfillment. Considering the three specializations, the academic progress was higher in the third year, with a significant difference to Surgical Oncology and Medical Oncology (p = 0.026 and 0.015, respectively). No significant difference was found between burnout syndrome, academic progress and sociodemographic characteristics. The presence of burnout syndrome does not affect the academic progress of Oncology medical residents.

Integration of oncology and palliative care: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, David; Kim, Yu Jung; Park, Ji Chan; Zhang, Yi; Strasser, Florian; Cherny, Nathan; Kaasa, Stein; Davis, Mellar P; Bruera, Eduardo

2015-01-01

Both the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Society for Medical Oncology strongly endorse integrating oncology and palliative care (PC); however, a global consensus on what constitutes integration is currently lacking. To better understand what integration entails, we conducted a systematic review to identify articles addressing the clinical, educational, research, and administrative indicators of integration. We searched Ovid MEDLINE and Ovid EMBase between 1948 and 2013. Two researchers independently reviewed each citation for inclusion and extracted the indicators related to integration. The inter-rater agreement was high (κ = 0.96, p oncology journals (59%) and in or after 2010 (64%, p oncology and PC. ©AlphaMed Press.

Ontology-aided annotation, visualization and generalization of geological time-scale information from online geological map services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ma, X.; Carranza, E.J.M.; Wu, C.; Meer, F.D. van der

2012-01-01

Geological maps are increasingly published and shared online, whereas tools and services supporting information retrieval and knowledge discovery are underdeveloped. In this study, we developed an ontology of geological time scale by using a RDF (Resource Description Framework) model to represent

Ontology-aided annotation, visualization and generalization of geological time scale information from online geological map services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ma, Marshal; Ma, X.; Carranza, E.J.M; Wu, C.; van der Meer, F.D.

2012-01-01

Geological maps are increasingly published and shared online, whereas tools and services supporting information retrieval and knowledge discovery are underdeveloped. In this study, we developed an ontology of geological time scale by using a Resource Description Framework model to represent the

Prevalence of Cryptosporidium species and subtypes in paediatric oncology and non-oncology patients with diarrhoea in Jordan.

Science.gov (United States)

Hijjawi, Nawal; Zahedi, Alireza; Kazaleh, Mahmoud; Ryan, Una

2017-11-01

Cryptosporidiosis is a protozoan parasitic disease which affects human and animals worldwide. In adult immunocompetent individuals, cryptosporidiosis usually results in acute and self-limited diarrhoea; however, it can cause life threatening diarrhoea in children and immunocompromised individuals. In the present study, we compared the prevalence of Cryptosporidium species and gp60 subtypes amongst paediatric oncology patients with diarrhoea (n=160) from King Hussein Medical Centre for Cancer in Jordan, and non-oncology paediatric patients with diarrhoea (n=137) from Al-Mafraq paediatric hospital. Microscopy results using modified acid fast staining identified a significantly (p≤0.05) higher prevalence of Cryptosporidium in paediatric oncology patients with diarrhoea (14.4% - 23/160), compared to non-oncology paediatric patients with diarrhoea only (5.1% - 7/137). With the exception of one sample, all microscopy-positive samples (n=29) and an additional 3/30 microscopy-negative controls were typed to species and subtype level at the 18S and gp60 loci, respectively. All Cryptosporidium positives were typed as C. parvum. Of the 22 typed Cryptosporidium positives from the paediatric oncology patients, 21 were subtyped as IIaA17G2R1 and one as IIaA16G2R1 C. parvum subtypes. The 7 typed positives from the paediatric patients from Al-Mafraq hospital were subtyped as IIaA17G2R1 (n=5) and IIaA16G2R1 (n=2). The 3 additional positives from the 30 microscopy negative control samples were subtyped as IIaA17G2R1. The high prevalence of the IIaA17G2R1 subtype, particularly amongst oncology patients, suggests that an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis may have been occurring in oncology patients during the collection period (April to December, 2016). New therapies for cryptosporidiosis in immunocompromised patients are urgently required. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

From printed geological maps to web-based service oriented data products - strategies, foundations and problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebner, M.; Schiegl, M.; Stöckl, W.; Heger, H.

2012-04-01

The Geological Survey of Austria is legally obligated by the INSPIRE directive to provide data that fall under this directive (geology, mineral resources and natural risk zones) to the European commission in a semantically harmonized and technically interoperable way. Until recently the focus was entirely on the publication of high quality printed cartographic products. These have a complex (carto-)graphic data-model, which allows visualizing several thematic aspects, such as lithology, stratigraphy, tectonics, geologic age, mineral resources, mass movements, geomorphology etc. in a single planar map/product. Nonetheless these graphic data-models do not allow retrieving individual thematic aspects since these were coded in a complex portrayal scheme. Automatic information retrieval is thus impossible; and domain knowledge is necessary to interpret these "encrypted datasets". With INSPIRE becoming effective and a variety of conceptual models (e.g. GeoSciML), built around a semantic framework (i.e. controlled vocabularies), being available it is necessary to develop a strategy and workflow for semantic harmonization of such datasets. In this contribution we demonstrate the development of a multistage workflow which will allow us to transform our printed maps to semantically enabled datasets and services and discuss some prerequisites, foundations and problems. In a first step in our workflow we analyzed our maps and developed controlled vocabularies that describe the thematic content of our data. We then developed a physical data-model which we use to attribute our spatial data with thematic information from our controlled vocabularies to form core thematic data sets. This physical data model is geared towards use on an organizational level but builds upon existing standards (INSPIRE, GeoSciML) to allow transformation to international standards. In a final step we will develop a standardized mapping scheme to publish INSPIRE conformant services from our core datasets

Pharmacy Instruction in Medical Oncology: Results of a National Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Cersosimo, Robert J.

1989-01-01

A survey concerning oncology instruction in pharmacy schools found it taught primarily as part of a course in medicinal chemistry/pharmacology or therapeutics. Twenty-one schools offer an oncology course, with others planning them. Oncology clerkships are currently available in 42 schools. Increased emphasis on oncology instruction is encouraged.…

Mapping the literature of radiation therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Delwiche, Frances A

2013-04-01

This study characterizes the literature of the radiation therapy profession, identifies the journals most frequently cited by authors writing in this discipline, and determines the level of coverage of these journals by major bibliographic indexes. Cited references from three discipline-specific source journals were analyzed according to the Mapping the Literature of Allied Health Project Protocol of the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association. Bradford's Law of Scattering was applied to all journal references to identify the most frequently cited journal titles. Journal references constituted 77.8% of the total, with books, government documents, Internet sites, and miscellaneous sources making up the remainder. Although a total of 908 journal titles were cited overall, approximately one-third of the journal citations came from just 11 journals. MEDLINE and Scopus provided the most comprehensive indexing of the journal titles in Zones 1 and 2. The source journals were indexed only by CINAHL and Scopus. The knowledgebase of radiation therapy draws heavily from the fields of oncology, radiology, medical physics, and nursing. Discipline-specific publications are not currently well covered by major indexing services, and those wishing to conduct comprehensive literature searches should search multiple resources.

[Quality assurance in head and neck medical oncology].

Science.gov (United States)

Digue, Laurence; Pedeboscq, Stéphane

2014-05-01

In medical oncology, how can we be sure that the right drug is being administered to the right patient at the right time? The implementation of quality assurance criteria is important in medical oncology, in order to ensure that the patient receives the best treatment safely. There is very little literature about quality assurance in medical oncology, as opposed to radiotherapy or cancer surgery. Quality assurance must cover the entire patient care process, from the diagnosis, to the therapeutic decision and drug distribution, including its selection, its preparation and its delivery to the patient (administration and dosage), and finally the potential side effects and their management. The dose-intensity respect is crucial, and its reduction can negatively affect overall survival rates, as shown in breast and testis cancers for example. In head and neck medical oncology, it is essential to respect the few well-standardized recommendations and the dose-intensity, in a population with numerous comorbidities. We will first review quality assurance criteria for the general medical oncology organization and then focus on head and neck medical oncology. We will then describe administration specificities of head and neck treatments (chemoradiation, radiation plus cetuximab, postoperative chemoradiation, induction and palliative chemotherapy) as well as their follow-up. Lastly, we will offer some recommendations to improve quality assurance in head and neck medical oncology.

Do Women With Breast Cancer Who Choose Adjunctive Integrative Oncology Care Receive Different Standard Oncologic Treatment?

Science.gov (United States)

Standish, Leanna J; Dowd, Fred; Sweet, Erin; Dale, Linda; Andersen, M Robyn

2018-04-01

To determine if women with breast cancer who choose adjunctive naturopathic oncology (NO) specialty care receive different standard oncologic treatment when compared with breast cancer patients who receive only standard care. Women with breast cancer stages 0 to 4, aged 18+ who spoke English and sought care from outpatient naturopathic doctor clinics were enrolled in an observational study of clinical and quality of life outcomes. Women who sought NO care 2 or more times within the first 2 years postdiagnosis were identified as NO cases. A matched comparison group of breast cancer patients were identified using the Western Washington Cancer Surveillance System(CSS). A longitudinal cohort design. In addition to self-report data, the CSS provided data on demographics, stage at the time of diagnosis, and initial treatment. Oncology medical records were abstracted in order to provide additional information on standard oncologic treatment for all participants. Cohorts were well matched with regard to demographic, histologic, and prognostic indicators at the time of diagnosis. Approximately 70% of women in both cohorts received standard oncologic care that met the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. There were no statistically significant differences between the cohorts in treatment received. Fewer women in the NO cohort with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer appear to have received antiestrogen therapy. Women in both cohorts appear to receive guideline-concordant care. However, women who receive adjunctive NO care may be less likely to receive antiestrogen therapy.

Single-edition quadrangle maps

Science.gov (United States)

,

1998-01-01

In August 1993, the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Mapping Division and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service signed an Interagency Agreement to begin a single-edition joint mapping program. This agreement established the coordination for producing and maintaining single-edition primary series topographic maps for quadrangles containing National Forest System lands. The joint mapping program saves money by eliminating duplication of effort by the agencies and results in a more frequent revision cycle for quadrangles containing national forests. Maps are revised on the basis of jointly developed standards and contain normal features mapped by the USGS, as well as additional features required for efficient management of National Forest System lands. Single-edition maps look slightly different but meet the content, accuracy, and quality criteria of other USGS products. The Forest Service is responsible for the land management of more than 191 million acres of land throughout the continental United States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, including 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. These areas make up the National Forest System lands and comprise more than 10,600 of the 56,000 primary series 7.5-minute quadrangle maps (15-minute in Alaska) covering the United States. The Forest Service has assumed responsibility for maintaining these maps, and the USGS remains responsible for printing and distributing them. Before the agreement, both agencies published similar maps of the same areas. The maps were used for different purposes, but had comparable types of features that were revised at different times. Now, the two products have been combined into one so that the revision cycle is stabilized and only one agency revises the maps, thus increasing the number of current maps available for National Forest System lands. This agreement has improved service to the public by requiring that the agencies share the same maps and that the maps meet a

A Tool that Can be Effective in the Self-Regulated Learning of Pre-Service Teachers: The Mind Map

Science.gov (United States)

Tanriseven, Isil

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to analyse the effect of task planning with mind maps on the self-regulation strategies and motivational beliefs of pre-service teachers. A quasi-experimental design, with a pre-test and post-test control group, was applied in the research. The research group comprised of 60 pre-service teachers taking "Teaching…

Information technologies for radiation oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, George T.Y.

1996-01-01

Electronic exchange of information is profoundly altering the ways in which we share clinical information on patients, our research mission, and the ways we teach. The three panelists each describe their experiences in information exchange. Dr. Michael Vannier is Professor of Radiology at the Mallinkrodt Institute of Radiology, and directs the image processing laboratory. He will provide insights into how radiologists have used the Internet in their specialty. Dr. Joel Goldwein, Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, will describe his experiences in using the World Wide Web in the practice of academic radiation oncology and the award winning Oncolink Web Site. Dr. Timothy Fox Assistant, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Emory University will discuss wide area networking of multi-site departments, to coordinate center wide clinical, research and teaching activities

Oncology PET imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inubushi, Masayuki

2014-01-01

At the beginning of this article, likening medical images to 'Where is Waldo?' I indicate the concept of diagnostic process of PET/CT imaging, so that medical physics specialists could understand the role of each imaging modality and infer our distress for image diagnosis. Then, I state the present situation of PET imaging and the basics (e.g. health insurance coverage, clinical significance, principle, protocol, and pitfall) of oncology FDG-PET imaging which accounts for more than 99% of all clinical PET examinations in Japan. Finally, I would like to give a wishful prospect of oncology PET that will expand to be more cancer-specific in order to assess therapeutic effects of emerging molecular targeted drugs targeting the 'hallmarks of cancer'. (author)

Pediatric oncologic endosurgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Boo, Yoon Jung; Goedecke, Jan; Muensterer, Oliver J

2017-08-01

Despite increasing popularity of minimal-invasive techniques in the pediatric population, their use in diagnosis and management of pediatric malignancy is still debated. Moreover, there is limited evidence to clarify this controversy due to low incidence of each individual type of pediatric tumor, huge diversity of the disease entity, heterogeneity of surgical technique, and lack of well-designed studies on pediatric oncologic minimal-invasive surgery. However, a rapid development of medical instruments and technologies accelerated the current trend toward less invasive surgery, including oncologic endosurgery. The aim of this article is to review current literatures about the application of the minimal-invasive approach for pediatric tumors and to give an overview of the current status, indications, individual techniques, and future perspectives.

Understanding the role of physician assistants in oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Alicia C; Polansky, Maura N; Parker, Patricia A; Palmer, J Lynn

2010-01-01

To understand the deployment of physician assistants (PAs) in oncology. A recent analysis of the oncology workforce in the United States commissioned by ASCO predicted a significant shortage of providers by 2020. A descriptive study was undertaken using a Web-based questionnaire survey. Invited participants, including all PAs listed in the national PA database (n = 855) and all PAs at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX; n = 159), were mailed letters directing them to the Web-based survey. The study produced a 30% response rate. A total of 186 PAs worked in medical oncology (the population of interest). Of the respondents, 80% were women, mean age was 36 years, average time employed as a PA was 9.5 years (6.5 years in oncology), 55% had obtained a master's degree, four had completed a postgraduate oncology program, 91% reported that direct mentorship by a supervising physician was very important in obtaining oncology-based knowledge, and 61% reported that becoming fully competent in the practice of oncology required 1 to 2 years. The majority of PAs (78.5%) worked 33 to 50 hours per week, and 56% of those reported working 41 to 50 hours per week. Three fourths (77%) wrote chemotherapy orders, most requiring physician co-signature, and 69% prescribed schedule III to V controlled substances. Additional data were gathered regarding clinical duties, research, and teaching. Oncology PAs are used in multiple medical settings, and many assume high-level responsibilities. Future research addressing function and factors that limit use of PAs may allow for improved organizational efficiency and enhancement in the delivery of health care.

PET / MRI vs. PET / CT. Indications Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliva González, Juan P.

2016-01-01

Hybrid techniques in Nuclear Medicine is currently a field in full development for diagnosis and treatment of various medical conditions. With the recent advent of PET / MRI much it speculated about whether or not it is superior to PET / CT especially in oncology. The Conference seeks to clarify this situation by dealing issues such as: State of the art technology PET / MRI; Indications Oncology; Some clinical cases. It concludes by explaining the oncological indications of both the real and current situation of the PET / MRI. (author)

Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Radiation Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Weidlich, Vincent; Weidlich, Georg A

2018-04-13

Artifical Intelligence (AI) was reviewed with a focus on its potential applicability to radiation oncology. The improvement of process efficiencies and the prevention of errors were found to be the most significant contributions of AI to radiation oncology. It was found that the prevention of errors is most effective when data transfer processes were automated and operational decisions were based on logical or learned evaluations by the system. It was concluded that AI could greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of radiation oncology operations.

Baby Brain Map

Science.gov (United States)

... a Member Home Resources & Services Professional Resource Baby Brain Map Mar 17, 2016 The Brain Map was adapted in 2006 by ZERO TO ... supports Adobe Flash Player. To view the Baby Brain Map, please visit this page on a browser ...

The opinion of Greek parents on the advantages and disadvantages of the outpatient pediatric oncology setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Matziou, Vasiliki; Servitzoglou, Marina; Vlahioti, Efrosini; Deli, Haralampia; Matziou, Theodora; Megapanou, Efstathia; Perdikaris, Pantelis

2013-12-01

The aim of this study was to assess parental opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of a pediatric oncology outpatient setting in comparison to the inpatient oncology ward. The sample of the study consisted of 104 parents whose children were diagnosed and treated for pediatric cancer. The survey took place at the Pediatric Oncology Wards, as well as their respective outpatient settings of the two General Children's Hospitals in Athens, Greece from May 2010 to August 2010. According to parents' view the outpatient setting was preferable due to the maintenance keeping of their daily routine (x(2) = 75.9, p = 0.000), maintaining the family life (x(2) = 90.1, p = 0.000) and young patients' participation in activities (x(2) = 25.6, p = 0.000). Moreover, young patients were more happy, less anxious and less scared when they were attending in the daily clinic (x(2) = 25.9, p = 0.000). According to parents' view, the outpatient setting has many advantages. The judgment of children and parents on the services offered by the Pediatric Oncology Unit overall, in both inpatient and outpatient setting can give the necessary feedback to improve the qualitative provided care. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ENRICH: A promising oncology nurse training program to implement ASCO clinical practice guidelines on fertility for AYA cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Vadaparampil, Susan T; Gwede, Clement K; Meade, Cathy; Kelvin, Joanne; Reich, Richard R; Reinecke, Joyce; Bowman, Meghan; Sehovic, Ivana; Quinn, Gwendolyn P

2016-11-01

We describe the impact of ENRICH (Educating Nurses about Reproductive Issues in Cancer Healthcare), a web-based communication-skill-building curriculum for oncology nurses regarding AYA fertility and other reproductive health issues. Participants completed an 8-week course that incorporated didactic content, case studies, and interactive learning. Each learner completed a pre- and post-test assessing knowledge and a 6-month follow-up survey assessing learner behaviors and institutional changes. Out of 77 participants, the majority (72%) scored higher on the post-test. Fifty-four participants completed the follow-up survey: 41% reviewed current institutional practices, 20% formed a committee, and 37% gathered patient materials or financial resources (22%). Participants also reported new policies (30%), in-service education (37%), new patient education materials (26%), a patient navigator role (28%), and workplace collaborations with reproductive specialists (46%). ENRICH improved nurses' knowledge and involvement in activities addressing fertility needs of oncology patients. Our study provides a readily accessible model to prepare oncology nurses to integrate American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines and improve Quality Oncology Practice Initiative measures related to fertility. Nurses will be better prepared to discuss important survivorship issues related to fertility and reproductive health, leading to improved quality of life outcomes for AYAs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The development of the cancer control service in Belarus (the 80th birthday of N.N. Alexandrov)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korotkevich, E.A.; Mashevskij, A.A.; Shitikov, B.D.

1997-01-01

History of the development of oncological service in Belarus is discussed in view of the 80-th birthday anniversary of N.N. Alexandrov being the founder of Belarus oncology and the first director of the Belarus Research Institue of Oncology and Medical Radiology died in 1981. Developed original techniques of radiotherapy, progress in radiotherapy and automation processes are considered

Updates from the 2013 Society for Neuro-Oncology annual and World Federation for Neuro-Oncology quadrennial meeting.

Science.gov (United States)

Lukas, Rimas V; Amidei, Christina

2014-01-01

We present an overview of a number of key clinical studies in infiltrating gliomas presented at the 2013 Society for Neuro-Oncology and World Federation of Neuro-Oncology joint meeting. This review focuses on efficacy results, including quality of life studies, from larger clinical trials in both high- and low-grade infiltrating gliomas.

PET/MR in oncology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Balyasnikova, Svetlana; Löfgren, Johan; de Nijs, Robin

2012-01-01

of the challenges inherent in this new technology, but focus on potential applications for simultaneous PET/MR in the field of oncology. Methods and tracers for use with the PET technology will be familiar to most readers of this journal; thus this paper aims to provide a short and basic introduction to a number...... be applied together with PET increasing the amount of information about the tissues of interest. The potential clinical benefit of applying PET/MR in staging, radiotherapy planning and treatment evaluation in oncology, as well as the research perspectives for the use of PET/MR in the development of new...

Ethical problems experienced by oncology nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

da Luz, Kely Regina; Vargas, Mara Ambrosina de Oliveira; Schmidtt, Pablo Henrique; Barlem, Edison Luiz Devos; Tomaschewski-Barlem, Jamila Geri; da Rosa, Luciana Martins

2015-01-01

To know the ethical problems experienced by oncology nurses. Descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative approach, performed in inpatient units and in chemotherapy out-patients units that provide assistance to oncological patients in two capitals in the South region of Brazil. Eighteen nurses participated in this study, selected by snowball sampling type. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were carried out, which were recorded and transcribed, and then analyzed by thematic analysis. Two categories were established: when informing or not becomes a dilemma - showing the main difficulties related to oncological treatment information regarding health staff, health system, and infrastructure; to invest or not - dilemmas related to finitude - showing situations of dilemmas related to pain and confrontation with finitude. For the effective confrontation of the ethical problems experienced by oncology nurses to occur, it is important to invest in the training of these professionals, preparing them in an ethical and human way to act as lawyers of the patient with cancer, in a context of dilemmas related mainly to the possibility of finitude.

Colorectal cancer clinical epidemiological characteristics in patients attended at Oncology service; Caracteristicas clinicas epidemiologicas del cancer colorrectal en un grupo de enfermos atendidos en consulta de Oncologia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Area Abreu, Daniel; Borrego Pino, Luis; Borrego Diaz, Luis; Abreu Rivera, Pedro; Garrote, Tillan; Aurora, [Hospital Provincial ' Vladimir Ilich Lenin' , Holguin (Cuba)

2009-07-01

A study of series of cases from January 2006 to December 2007 was carried out in 195 patients with colorectal cancer. They were attended at Oncology Service at Lenin Hospital, and were diagnosed at different health areas of the province. 63% and 37% of them had tumors in rectum and colon respectively. The age group between 40 and 69 years old was the most affected one (81.0%) and 56.9% of them were males. The main risk factors were the family history of the illness, chronic constipation, bleeding polyps and vesicular lithiasis. The most frequent clinical manifestations were rectal hemorrhage and anemia. (author)

Radiation oncology: a primer for medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Abigail T; Plastaras, John P; Vapiwala, Neha

2013-09-01

Radiation oncology requires a complex understanding of cancer biology, radiation physics, and clinical care. This paper equips the medical student to understand the fundamentals of radiation oncology, first with an introduction to cancer treatment and the use of radiation therapy. Considerations during radiation oncology consultations are discussed extensively with an emphasis on how to formulate an assessment and plan including which treatment modality to use. The treatment planning aspects of radiation oncology are then discussed with a brief introduction to how radiation works, followed by a detailed explanation of the nuances of simulation, including different imaging modalities, immobilization, and accounting for motion. The medical student is then instructed on how to participate in contouring, plan generation and evaluation, and the delivery of radiation on the machine. Lastly, potential adverse effects of radiation are discussed with a particular focus on the on-treatment patient.

Towards enhanced PET quantification in clinical oncology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zaidi, Habib; Karakatsanis, Nicolas

2018-01-01

is still a matter of debate. Quantitative PET has advanced elegantly during the last two decades and is now reaching the maturity required for clinical exploitation, particularly in oncology where it has the capability to open many avenues for clinical diagnosis, assessment of response to treatment...... and therapy planning. Therefore, the preservation and further enhancement of the quantitative features of PET imaging is crucial to ensure that the full clinical value of PET imaging modality is utilized in clinical oncology. Recent advancements in PET technology and methodology have paved the way for faster...... PET acquisitions of enhanced sensitivity to support the clinical translation of highly quantitative 4D parametric imaging methods in clinical oncology. In this report, we provide an overview of recent advances and future trends in quantitative PET imaging in the context of clinical oncology. The pros...

How to Develop a Cardio-Oncology Clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Snipelisky, David; Park, Jae Yoon; Lerman, Amir; Mulvagh, Sharon; Lin, Grace; Pereira, Naveen; Rodriguez-Porcel, Martin; Villarraga, Hector R; Herrmann, Joerg

2017-04-01

Cardiovascular demands to the care of cancer patients are common and important given the implications for morbidity and mortality. As a consequence, interactions with cardiovascular disease specialists have intensified to the point of the development of a new discipline termed cardio-oncology. As an additional consequence, so-called cardio-oncology clinics have emerged, in most cases staffed by cardiologists with an interest in the field. This article addresses this gap and summarizes key points in the development of a cardio-oncology clinic. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.