1,071 research outputs found

    Mecanização do plantio simultâneo de milho e feijão consorciados.

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    bitstream/item/37509/1/circ-7-2.ed.pdf2. ed

    Why is it difficult to implement e-health initiatives? A qualitative study

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    <b>Background</b> The use of information and communication technologies in healthcare is seen as essential for high quality and cost-effective healthcare. However, implementation of e-health initiatives has often been problematic, with many failing to demonstrate predicted benefits. This study aimed to explore and understand the experiences of implementers - the senior managers and other staff charged with implementing e-health initiatives and their assessment of factors which promote or inhibit the successful implementation, embedding, and integration of e-health initiatives.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> We used a case study methodology, using semi-structured interviews with implementers for data collection. Case studies were selected to provide a range of healthcare contexts (primary, secondary, community care), e-health initiatives, and degrees of normalization. The initiatives studied were Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) in secondary care, a Community Nurse Information System (CNIS) in community care, and Choose and Book (C&B) across the primary-secondary care interface. Implementers were selected to provide a range of seniority, including chief executive officers, middle managers, and staff with 'on the ground' experience. Interview data were analyzed using a framework derived from Normalization Process Theory (NPT).<p></p> <b>Results</b> Twenty-three interviews were completed across the three case studies. There were wide differences in experiences of implementation and embedding across these case studies; these differences were well explained by collective action components of NPT. New technology was most likely to 'normalize' where implementers perceived that it had a positive impact on interactions between professionals and patients and between different professional groups, and fit well with the organisational goals and skill sets of existing staff. However, where implementers perceived problems in one or more of these areas, they also perceived a lower level of normalization.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> Implementers had rich understandings of barriers and facilitators to successful implementation of e-health initiatives, and their views should continue to be sought in future research. NPT can be used to explain observed variations in implementation processes, and may be useful in drawing planners' attention to potential problems with a view to addressing them during implementation planning

    Quinupristin/dalfopristin in Staphylococcus aureus endophthalmitis: a case report

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The intravitreal injection of antibiotics remains the mainstay of therapy for postoperative endophthalmitis. Bacterial resistance, however, is still a pitfall in achieving an adequate response to treatment. Quinupristin/dalfopristin might be a feasible therapeutic option in these cases.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 55-year-old Hispanic man had endophthalmitis secondary to <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>in his right eye and was treated with intravitreal 0.4 mg/0.1 ml quinupristin/dalfopristin injection. Inflammation and pain remission were observed at four days after injection. The final best-corrected visual acuity was 20/40.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although vancomycin remains the first-line intravitreal antibiotic therapy against infectious endophthalmitis caused by Gram-positive bacteria, quinupristin/dalfopristin exhibits similar efficacy and is theoretically more active against vancomycin-resistant strains, with no apparent retinal toxicity.</p

    Specific staining of human chromosomes in Chinese hamster x man hybrid cell lines demonstrates interphase chromosome territories

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    In spite of Carl Rabl's (1885) and Theodor Boveri's (1909) early hypothesis that chromosomes occupy discrete territories or domains within the interphase nucleus, evidence in favor pf this hypothesis has been limited and indirect so far in higher plants and animals. The alternative possibility that the chromatin fiber of single chromosomes might be extended throughout the major part of even the whole interphase nucleus has been considered for many years. In the latter case, chromosomes would only exist as discrete chromatin bodies during mitosis but not during interphase. Both possibilities are compatible with Boveri's well established paradigm of chromosome individuality. Here we show that an active human X chromosome contained as the only human chromosome in a Chinese hamster x man hybrid cell line can be visualized both in metaphse plates and in interphase nuclei after in situ hybridization with either 3H- or biotin-labeled human genomic DNA. We demonstrate that this chromosome is organized as a distinct chromatin body throughout interphase. In addition, evidence for the territorial organization of human chromosomes is also presented for another hybrid cell line containing several autosomes and the human X chromosome. These findings are discussed in the context of our present knowledge of the organization and topography of interphase chromosomes. General applications of a strategy aimed at specific staining of individual chromosomes in experimental and clinical cytogenetics are briefly considered

    Improving the normalization of complex interventions: measure development based on normalization process theory (NoMAD): study protocol

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    &lt;b&gt;Background&lt;/b&gt; Understanding implementation processes is key to ensuring that complex interventions in healthcare are taken up in practice and thus maximize intended benefits for service provision and (ultimately) care to patients. Normalization Process Theory (NPT) provides a framework for understanding how a new intervention becomes part of normal practice. This study aims to develop and validate simple generic tools derived from NPT, to be used to improve the implementation of complex healthcare interventions.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Objectives&lt;/b&gt; The objectives of this study are to: develop a set of NPT-based measures and formatively evaluate their use for identifying implementation problems and monitoring progress; conduct preliminary evaluation of these measures across a range of interventions and contexts, and identify factors that affect this process; explore the utility of these measures for predicting outcomes; and develop an online users’ manual for the measures.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Methods&lt;/b&gt; A combination of qualitative (workshops, item development, user feedback, cognitive interviews) and quantitative (survey) methods will be used to develop NPT measures, and test the utility of the measures in six healthcare intervention settings.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Discussion&lt;/b&gt; The measures developed in the study will be available for use by those involved in planning, implementing, and evaluating complex interventions in healthcare and have the potential to enhance the chances of their implementation, leading to sustained changes in working practices

    Negotiating care in the context of Finnish and Italian elder care policies

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    Negotiation is an integral part of all elder care, which by definition involves a relation between at least two people. In this article we analyse negotiations concerning elder care in the context of Finnish and Italian elder care policies. At the macro level negotiations on elder care are shaped by elder care policies and at the micro level by individual skills and resources. Our focus is on the negotiations on eligibility that take place when elders attempt to access care. The data consist of qualitative interviews with Finnish and Italian elders in need of care. The analysis of individual experiences of care negotiations reflects the implementation of elder care policies. The results indicate that the most negotiated eligibility criteria when seeking access to elder care are need, money and social relations. These criteria are negotiated when seeking eligibility to different sources of care: informal care, grey market, market-based, non-profit and public services. In Italy, negotiation is particularly crucial when accessing grey market care. Cash as the main Italian elder care policy tool tends to enhance the role of and need for negotiation. In Finland, a greater part of elder care is provided by the public sector and therefore the process of negotiation is more standardized than in Italy

    Nuclear matter to strange matter transition in holographic QCD

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    We construct a simple holographic QCD model to study nuclear matter to strange matter transition. The interaction of dense medium and hadrons is taken care of by imposing the force balancing condition for stable D4/D6/D6 configuration. By considering the intermediate and light flavor branes interacting with baryon vertex homogeneously distributed along R^3 space and requesting the energy minimization, we find that there is a well defined transition density as a function of current quark mass. We also find that as density goes up very high, intermediate (or heavy) and light quarks populate equally as expected from the Pauli principle. In this sense, the effect of the Pauli principle is realized as dynamics of D-branes.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

    Process evaluation for complex interventions in primary care: understanding trials using the normalization process model

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    Background: the Normalization Process Model is a conceptual tool intended to assist in understanding the factors that affect implementation processes in clinical trials and other evaluations of complex interventions. It focuses on the ways that the implementation of complex interventions is shaped by problems of workability and integration.Method: in this paper the model is applied to two different complex trials: (i) the delivery of problem solving therapies for psychosocial distress, and (ii) the delivery of nurse-led clinics for heart failure treatment in primary care.Results: application of the model shows how process evaluations need to focus on more than the immediate contexts in which trial outcomes are generated. Problems relating to intervention workability and integration also need to be understood. The model may be used effectively to explain the implementation process in trials of complex interventions.Conclusion: the model invites evaluators to attend equally to considering how a complex intervention interacts with existing patterns of service organization, professional practice, and professional-patient interaction. The justification for this may be found in the abundance of reports of clinical effectiveness for interventions that have little hope of being implemented in real healthcare setting
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