Seeking evidence of inner consistency in persons' accounts: Explorations in the area of AIDS

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX174811 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Automated office blood pressure measurements in primary care are misleading in more than one third of treated hypertensives: The VALENTINE-Greece Home Blood Pressure Monitoring study

Abstract Background This study assessed the diagnostic reliability of automated office blood pressure (OBP) measurements in treated hypertensive patients in primary care by evaluating the prevalence of white coat hypertension (WCH) and masked uncontrolled hypertension (MUCH) phenomena. Methods Primary care physicians, nationwide in Greece, assessed consecutive hypertensive patients on stable treatment using OBP (1 visit, triplicate measurements) and home blood pressure (HBP) measurements (7 days, duplicate morning and evening measurements). All measurements were performed using validated automated devices with bluetooth capacity (Omron M7 Intelli-IT). Uncontrolled OBP was defined as ≥140/90 mmHg, and uncontrolled HBP was defined as ≥135/85 mmHg. Results A total of 790 patients recruited by 135 doctors were analyzed (age: 64.5 ± 14.4 years, diabetics: 21.4%, smokers: 20.6%, and average number of antihypertensive drugs: 1.6 ± 0.8). OBP (137.5 ± 9.4/84.3 ± 7.7 mmHg, systolic/diastolic) was higher than HBP (130.6 ± 11.2/79.9 ± 8 mmHg; difference 6.9 ± 11.6/4.4 ± 7.6 mmHg, p Conclusions In primary care, automated OBP measurements are misleading in approximately 40% of treated hypertensive patients. HBP monitoring is mandatory to avoid overtreatment of subjects with WCH phenomenon and prevent undertreatment and subsequent excess cardiovascular disease in MUCH

New Wine in Old Bottles: Chatbots in Government

Part 2: Digital TransformationsInternational audienceAdvances in Artificial Intelligence technologies have revived the interest in Chatbots in both the private and the public sector. Chatbots could improve public service delivery by being able to answer frequently asked questions and conduct transactions, relieving staff from mundane tasks. However, previous e-Government research shows that the adoption of newer technologies does not always mean public services get improved. It is therefore of interest to research to which degree newer, advanced technologies such as Chatbots are able to improve, change and restructure public service delivery. This paper gives an exploratory insight using desktop research into three Chatbots currently used in the public administrations of Latvia, Vienna and Bonn. The findings suggest that minor organisational changes are accompanied with the introduction of Chatbot-technology in public administrations, but question whether Chatbots are able to transform traditional services to digital, integrated public service transactions