Monitoring outdoor tobacco policies of Virginia colleges: A descriptive analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to monitor current outdoor tobacco policies of colleges within the state of Virginia. Methods: The tobacco policies of 2-year public colleges, 4-year public colleges, and 4-year private non-profit colleges in Virginia were located online. The policies were then categorized according to the types of tobacco products that were prohibited (Smoking Policies, Tobacco Policies, and E-cigarette Policies) and where those products were prohibited outdoors (No Policy, Entrance Policy, Perimeter Policy, Designated Smoking Areas Policy, All Grounds Policy). Findings: From a final sample of 62 college policies, 2 (3%) had No Policy, 29 (47%) had an Entrance Policy, 12 (19%) had a Perimeter Policy, 10 (16%) had a Designated Smoking Areas Policy, and 9 (15%) had an All Grounds Policy. Conclusions: The far majority of colleges do not meet national recommendations for outdoor tobacco policies. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed in the article

A Clinical Decision Support Tool to Predict the Risk of Failure in Patients with Femoroacetabular Impingement Undergoing Hip Preservation Surgery

In modern orthopaedics, risk prediction scores can help discriminate between ideal and poor candidates for a specifi­c therapeutic intervention. We consider these tools useful during the process of shared medical decision-making1. To our knowledge, such a strategy has never been explored in the ­field of hip preservation surgery. The aim of our study is to generate a clinical decision support tool to predict risk of failure after hip preservation surgery among patients with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI)

Virtual Community Health Workers: Outreach Calls During COVID-19

The “Clinical Experience” program at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, established in 2017, provides pre-clerkship students with an opportunity to identify and address patients’ needs for social determinants of health (SDoH). The COVID-19 pandemic led to a suspension of the student program in the clinical environment, but the CHWs continued to address patients’ social needs from a remote setting. In the absence of established best practices regarding patient outreach calls from a remote setting, we sought to develop an effective workflow that would mask the CHWs’ personal cell phones while leading to fewer “unable to reach” scenarios and improved case resolution rates

Purchasing online journal access for a hospital medical library: how to identify value in commercially available products

BACKGROUND: Medical practice today requires evaluating large amounts of information which should be available at all times. This information is found most easily in a digital form. Some information has already been evaluated for validity (evidence based medicine sources) and some is in unevaluated form (paper and online journals). In order to improve access to digital information, the School of Clinical Medicine and Research at the University of the West Indies and Queen Elizabeth Hospital decided to enhance the library by offering online full text medical articles and evidence based medicine sources. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the relative value of online journal commercial products available for a small hospital and medical school library. METHODS: Three reference standards were chosen to represent the ideal list of core periodicals for a broad range of medical care: 2 Brandon/Hill selected lists of journals for the small medical library (BH and BH core) and the academic medical library core journal collection chosen for the Florida State University College of Medicine Medical Library. Six commercially available collections were compared to the reference standards and to the current paper journal subscription list as regards to number of journals matched and cost per journal matched. Ease of use and presence of secondary sources were also considered. RESULTS: The cost per journal matched ranged from US $3194 to$ 81. Because of their low subscription prices, the Biomedical Reference Collection and Proquest products were the most cost beneficial. However, they provided low coverage of the ideal lists (12 – 17% and 21–32% respectively) and contained significant embargoes on current editions, were not user friendly and contained no secondary sources. The Ovid Brandon/Hill Plus Collection overcame these difficulties but had a much higher cost-benefit range while providing higher coverage of the ideal lists (14–47%). CONCLUSION: After considering costs, benefits, ease of use, embargoes, presence of secondary sources (ACP Journal Club, DARE), the Ovid Brandon/Hill Plus Collection was the best choice for our hospital considering our budget. However, the option to individually select our own journal list from Ovid and pay per journal has a certain appeal as well

Competition-based model of pheromone component ratio detection in the moth

For some moth species, especially those closely interrelated and sympatric, recognizing a specific pheromone component concentration ratio is essential for males to successfully locate conspecific females. We propose and determine the properties of a minimalist competition-based feed-forward neuronal model capable of detecting a certain ratio of pheromone components independently of overall concentration. This model represents an elementary recognition unit for the ratio of binary mixtures which we propose is entirely contained in the macroglomerular complex (MGC) of the male moth. A set of such units, along with projection neurons (PNs), can provide the input to higher brain centres. We found that (1) accuracy is mainly achieved by maintaining a certain ratio of connection strengths between olfactory receptor neurons (ORN) and local neurons (LN), much less by properties of the interconnections between the competing LNs proper. An exception to this rule is that it is beneficial if connections between generalist LNs (i.e. excited by either pheromone component) and specialist LNs (i.e. excited by one component only) have the same strength as the reciprocal specialist to generalist connections. (2) successful ratio recognition is achieved using latency-to-first-spike in the LN populations which, in contrast to expectations with a population rate code, leads to a broadening of responses for higher overall concentrations consistent with experimental observations. (3) when longer durations of the competition between LNs were observed it did not lead to higher recognition accuracy

Patient-Specific Prosthetic Fingers by Remote Collaboration - A Case Study

The concealment of amputation through prosthesis usage can shield an amputee from social stigma and help improve the emotional healing process especially at the early stages of hand or finger loss. However, the traditional techniques in prosthesis fabrication defy this as the patients need numerous visits to the clinics for measurements, fitting and follow-ups. This paper presents a method for constructing a prosthetic finger through online collaboration with the designer. The main input from the amputee comes from the Computer Tomography (CT) data in the region of the affected and the non-affected fingers. These data are sent over the internet and the prosthesis is constructed using visualization, computer-aided design and manufacturing tools. The finished product is then shipped to the patient. A case study with a single patient having an amputated ring finger at the proximal interphalangeal joint shows that the proposed method has a potential to address the patient's psychosocial concerns and minimize the exposure of the finger loss to the public.Comment: Open Access articl

Intraoperative fracture of phacoemulsification sleeve

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We describe a case of intraoperative fracture of phacoemulsification sleeve during phacoemulsification surgery.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Phacoemulsification surgery was performed in the left eye of a 58-year-old lady with grade II nuclear sclerosis & grade I cortical cataract. Towards the end of quadrant removal, there was anterior chamber instability with impaired followability of nuclear fragments. The distal part of the fractured sleeve remained inside the anterior chamber upon removal of the phacoemulsification probe. The retained sleeve was retrieved with a pair of forceps through the corneal incision site, which did not require widening. There was no missing fragments retained intraocularly and the patient had an uneventful recovery with vision of 20/25 at three months post-operatively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Phacoemulsification sleeve fracture is an uncommon complication. With early identification of this condition and proper management, major complications can be avoided.</p