2,806 research outputs found
U.S. households' access to and use of electronic banking. 1989-2007
Nationwide surveys show that consumers are increasingly embracing technology to make payments and manage their personal finances. However, only about one in two consumers could be considered a heavy user of electronic banking. This article examines changes over time in consumersâ access to, adoption of, and attitudes toward various e-banking products and services and looks at several emerging technologies.Consumers' preferences ; Electronic funds transfers
Partnering with Patients and Families to Improve Diagnostic Safety through the OurDX Tool: Effects of Race, Ethnicity, and Language Preference
BACKGROUND: Patients and families at risk for health disparities may also be at higher risk for diagnostic errors but less likely to report them.
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore differences in race, ethnicity, and language preference associated with patient and family contributions and concerns using an electronic previsit tool designed to engage patients and families in the diagnostic process (DxP).
METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 5,731 patients and families presenting to three subspecialty clinics at an urban pediatric hospital May to December 2021 who completed a previsit tool, codeveloped and tested with patients and families. Prior to each visit, patients/families were invited to share visit priorities, recent histories, and potential diagnostic concerns. We used logistic regression to determine factors associated with patient-reported diagnostic concerns. We conducted chart review on a random subset of visits to review concerns and determine whether patient/family contributions were included in the visit note.
RESULTS: Participants provided a similar mean number of contributions regardless of patient race, ethnicity, or language preference. Compared with patients self-identifying as White, those self-identifying as Black (odds ratio [OR]: 1.70; 95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.18, 2.43]) or other race (OR: 1.48; 95% CI: [1.08, 2.03]) were more likely to report a diagnostic concern. Participants who preferred a language other than English were more likely to report a diagnostic concern than English-preferring patients (OR: 2.53; 95% CI: [1.78, 3.59]. There were no significant differences in physician-verified diagnostic concerns or in integration of patient contributions into the note based on race, ethnicity, or language preference.
CONCLUSION: Participants self-identifying as Black or other race, or those who prefer a language other than English were 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely than their counterparts to report potential diagnostic concerns when proactively asked to provide this information prior to a visit. Actively engaging patients and families in the DxP may uncover opportunities to reduce the risk of diagnostic errors and potential safety disparities
Partnering With Patients and Families Living With Chronic Conditions to Coproduce Diagnostic Safety Through OurDX: A Previsit Online Engagement Tool
OBJECTIVE: Patients and families are key partners in diagnosis, but methods to routinely engage them in diagnostic safety are lacking. Policy mandating patient access to electronic health information presents new opportunities. We tested a new online tool ( OurDX ) that was codesigned with patients and families, to determine the types and frequencies of potential safety issues identified by patients/families with chronic health conditions and whether their contributions were integrated into the visit note.
METHODS: Patients/families at 2 US healthcare sites were invited to contribute, through an online previsit survey: (1) visit priorities, (2) recent medical history/symptoms, and (3) potential diagnostic concerns. Two physicians reviewed patient-reported diagnostic concerns to verify and categorize diagnostic safety opportunities (DSOs). We conducted a chart review to determine whether patient contributions were integrated into the note. We used descriptive statistics to report implementation outcomes, verification of DSOs, and chart review findings.
RESULTS: Participants completed OurDX reports in 7075 of 18 129 (39%) eligible pediatric subspecialty visits (site 1), and 460 of 706 (65%) eligible adult primary care visits (site 2). Among patients reporting diagnostic concerns, 63% were verified as probable DSOs. In total, probable DSOs were identified by 7.5% of pediatric and adult patients/families with underlying health conditions, respectively. The most common types of DSOs were patients/families not feeling heard; problems/delays with tests or referrals; and problems/delays with explanation or next steps. In chart review, most clinician notes included all or some patient/family priorities and patient-reported histories.
CONCLUSIONS: OurDX can help engage patients and families living with chronic health conditions in diagnosis. Participating patients/families identified DSOs and most of their OurDX contributions were included in the visit note
Chemical Processes in Protoplanetary Disks
We have developed a high resolution combined physical and chemical model of a
protoplanetary disk surrounding a typical T Tauri star. Our aims were to use
our model to calculate the chemical structure of disks on small scales
(sub-milli-arcsecond in the inner disk for objects at the distance of Taurus, ~
140 pc) to investigate the various chemical processes thought to be important
in disks and to determine potential molecular tracers of each process. Our
gas-phase network was extracted from the UMIST Database for Astrochemistry to
which we added gas-grain interactions including freeze out and thermal and
non-thermal desorption (cosmic-ray induced desorption, photodesorption and
X-ray desorption) and a grain-surface network. We find that cosmic-ray induced
desorption has the least effect on our disk chemical structure while
photodesorption has a significant effect, enhancing the abundances of most
gas-phase molecules throughout the disk and affecting the abundances and
distribution of HCN, CN and CS, in particular. In the outer disk, we also see
enhancements in the abundances of H2O and CO2. X-ray desorption is a
potentially powerful mechanism in disks, acting to homogenise the fractional
abundances of gas-phase species across the depth and increasing the column
densities of most molecules although there remain significant uncertainties in
the rates adopted for this process. The addition of grain-surface chemistry
enhances the fractional abundances of several small complex organic molecules
including CH3OH, HCOOCH3 and CH3OCH3 to potentially observable values (i.e. a
fractional abundance of >~ 1.0E-11).Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
GEMS: The Size Evolution of Disk Galaxies
We combine HST imaging from the GEMS survey with photometric redshifts from
COMBO-17 to explore the evolution of disk-dominated galaxies since z<1.1. The
sample is comprised of all GEMS galaxies with Sersic indices n<2.5, derived
from fits to the galaxy images. We account fully for selection effects through
careful analysis of image simulations; we are limited by the depth of the
redshift and HST data to the study of galaxies with absolute magnitudes
M(V)10. We find strong evolution in
the magnitude-size scaling relation for galaxies with M(V)<-20, corresponding
to a brightening of 1 mag per sqarcsec in rest-frame V-band by z=1. Yet, disks
at a given absolute magnitude are bluer and have lower stellar mass-to-light
ratios at z=1 than at the present day. As a result, our findings indicate weak
or no evolution in the relation between stellar mass and effective disk size
for galaxies with log(M)>10 over the same time interval. This is strongly
inconsistent with the most naive theoretical expectation, in which disk size
scales in proportion to the halo virial radius, which would predict that disks
are a factor of two denser at fixed mass at z=1. The lack of evolution in the
stellar mass-size relation is consistent with an ``inside-out'' growth of
galaxy disks on average (galaxies increasing in size as they grow more
massive), although we cannot rule out more complex evolutionary scenarios.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Ap
STI testing, diagnoses and online chlamydia self-sampling among young people during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in England
PURPOSE: COVID-19 control measures reduced face-to-face appointments at sexual health services (SHSs). Remote access to SHSs through online self-sampling was increased. This analysis assesses how these changes affected service use and STI testing among 15-24Â year olds ('young people') in England. METHODS: Data on all chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis tests from 2019-2020, among English-resident young people were obtained from national STI surveillance datasets. We calculated proportional differences in tests and diagnoses for each STI, by demographic characteristics, including socioeconomic deprivation, between 2019-2020. Binary logistic regression was used to determine crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) between demographic characteristics and being tested for chlamydia by an online service. RESULTS: Compared to 2019, there were declines in testing (chlamydia-30%; gonorrhoea-26%; syphilis-36%) and diagnoses (chlamydia-31%; gonorrhoea-25%; syphilis-23%) among young people in 2020. Reductions were greater amongst 15-19Â year-olds vs. 20-24 year-olds. Amongst people tested for chlamydia, those living in the least deprived areas were more likely to be tested using an online self-sampling kit (males; OR = 1.24 [1.22-1.26], females; OR = 1.28 [1.27-1.30]). CONCLUSION: The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in England saw declines in STI testing and diagnoses in young people and disparities in the use of online chlamydia self-sampling which risk widening existing health inequalities
History of Galaxy Interactions and their Impact on Star Formation over the Last 7 Gyr from GEMS
We perform a comprehensive estimate of the frequency of galaxy mergers and
their impact on star formation over z~0.24--0.80 (lookback time T_b~3--7 Gyr)
using 3698 (M*>=1e9 Msun) galaxies with GEMS HST, COMBO-17, and Spitzer data.
Our results are: (1) Among 790 high mass (M*>=2.5e10 Msun) galaxies, the
visually-based merger fraction over z~0.24--0.80, ranges from 9%+-5% to 8%+-2%.
Lower limits on the major and minor merger fractions over this interval range
from 1.1% to 3.5%, and 3.6% to 7.5%, respectively. This is the first
approximate empirical estimate of the frequency of minor mergers at z<1. For a
visibility timescale of ~0.5 Gyr, it follows that over T_b~3--7 Gyr, ~68% of
high mass systems have undergone a merger of mass ratio >1/10, with ~16%, 45%,
and 7% of these corresponding respectively to major, minor, and ambiguous
`major or minor' mergers. The mean merger rate is a few x 1e-4 Gyr-1 Mpc-3. (2)
We compare the empirical merger fraction and rate for high mass galaxies to a
suite of Lambda CDM-based models: halo occupation distribution models,
semi-analytic models, and hydrodynamic SPH simulations. We find qualitative
agreement between observations and models such that the (major+minor) merger
fraction or rate from different models bracket the observations, and show a
factor of five dispersion. Near-future improvements can now start to rule out
certain merger scenarios. (3) Among ~3698 M*>=1e9 Msun galaxies, we find that
the mean SFR of visibly merging systems is only modestly enhanced compared to
non-interacting galaxies over z~0.24--0.80. Visibly merging systems only
account for less than 30% of the cosmic SFR density over T_b~3--7 Gyr. This
suggests that the behavior of the cosmic SFR density over the last 7 Gyr is
predominantly shaped by non-interacting galaxies.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 17 pages of
text, 21 figures, 3 tables. Uses emulateapj5.st
An Explanation for the Observed Weak Size Evolution of Disk Galaxies
Surveys of distant galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope and from the
ground have shown that there is only mild evolution in the relationship between
radial size and stellar mass for galactic disks from z~1 to the present day.
Using a sample of nearby disk-dominated galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS), and high redshift data from the GEMS (Galaxy Evolution from
Morphology and SEDs) survey, we investigate whether this result is consistent
with theoretical expectations within the hierarchical paradigm of structure
formation. The relationship between virial radius and mass for dark matter
halos in the LCDM model evolves by about a factor of two over this interval.
However, N-body simulations have shown that halos of a given mass have less
centrally concentrated mass profiles at high redshift. When we compute the
expected disk size-stellar mass distribution, accounting for this evolution in
the internal structure of dark matter halos and the adiabatic contraction of
the dark matter by the self-gravity of the collapsing baryons, we find that the
predicted evolution in the mean size at fixed stellar mass since z~1 is about
15-20 percent, in good agreement with the observational constraints from GEMS.
At redshift z~2, the model predicts that disks at fixed stellar mass were on
average only 60% as large as they are today. Similarly, we predict that the
rotation velocity at a given stellar mass (essentially the zero-point of the
Tully-Fisher relation) is only about 10 percent larger at z~1 (20 percent at
z~2) than at the present day.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. Revised in
response to referee's comments to improve clariry. Results are unchange
STAGES: the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey
We present an overview of the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey
(STAGES). STAGES is a multiwavelength project designed to probe physical
drivers of galaxy evolution across a wide range of environments and luminosity.
A complex multi-cluster system at z~0.165 has been the subject of an 80-orbit
F606W HST/ACS mosaic covering the full 0.5x0.5 (~5x5 Mpc^2) span of the
supercluster. Extensive multiwavelength observations with XMM-Newton, GALEX,
Spitzer, 2dF, GMRT, and the 17-band COMBO-17 photometric redshift survey
complement the HST imaging. Our survey goals include simultaneously linking
galaxy morphology with other observables such as age, star-formation rate,
nuclear activity, and stellar mass. In addition, with the multiwavelength
dataset and new high resolution mass maps from gravitational lensing, we are
able to disentangle the large-scale structure of the system. By examining all
aspects of environment we will be able to evaluate the relative importance of
the dark matter halos, the local galaxy density, and the hot X-ray gas in
driving galaxy transformation. This paper describes the HST imaging, data
reduction, and creation of a master catalogue. We perform Sersic fitting on the
HST images and conduct associated simulations to quantify completeness. In
addition, we present the COMBO-17 photometric redshift catalogue and estimates
of stellar masses and star-formation rates for this field. We define galaxy and
cluster sample selection criteria which will be the basis for forthcoming
science analyses, and present a compilation of notable objects in the field.
Finally, we describe the further multiwavelength observations and announce
public access to the data and catalogues.Comment: 29 pages, 22 figures; accepted to MNRAS. Full data release available
at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/astronomy/stage
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