461 research outputs found
Lay media reporting of rosiglitazone risk: extent, messaging and quality of reporting
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A meta-analysis suggested the use of rosiglitazone was associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular (CV) events. Rosiglitazone remained available for use as more definitive safety trials were ongoing. This issue was reported in the lay media.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To review lay media articles to determine the extent of media coverage, the nature of the messaging, and to assess the quality of reporting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Factiva media database was used to identify articles published between May 18 and August 31, 2007. Two reviewers (a lay person and a physician) screened full text articles for eligibility, appraised the articles for their tone (worrisome, neutral, not worrisome), and for the quality of medical data reporting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The search identified 156 articles, 95 of which were eligible for our review. Agreement between the lay and medical reviewers in the appraisal of the article tone was 67.4%. Among those with agreement, the articles were often appraised as "worrisome" (75.3%). Among those with disagreement, the lay reviewer was significantly more likely to appraise articles as worrisome compared to the medical reviewer (77.4% vs. 3.2%, X2 = 9.11, P = 0.003). Cardiovascular risk was discussed in 91.6% of the articles, but risk was often reported in qualitative or relative terms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There were many lay media articles addressing the safety of rosiglitazone, and the general messaging of these articles was considered "worrisome" by reviewers. Quality of risk reporting in the articles reviewed was poor. The impact of such media coverage on public anxiety and confidence in treatment should be explored.</p
Accuracy of city postal code coordinates as a proxy for location of residence
BACKGROUND: Health studies sometimes rely on postal code location as a proxy for the location of residence. This study compares the postal code location to that of the street address using a database from the Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH(©)). Cardiac catheterization cases in an urban Canadian City were used for calendar year 1999. We determined location in meters for both the address (using the City of Calgary Street Network File in ArcView 3.2) and postal code location (using Statistic Canada's Postal Code Conversion File). RESULTS: The distance between the two estimates of location for each case were measured and it was found that 87.9% of the postal code locations were within 200 meters of the true address location (straight line distances) and 96.5% were within 500 meters of the address location (straight line distances). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that postal code locations are a reasonably accurate proxy for address location. However, there may be research questions for which a more accurate description of location is required
Arterial stiffness and stroke in sickle cell disease
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Large vessels are also affected in sickle cell disease. The aim of this study was to assess several parameters in adult patients with sickle cell disease compared with control subjects and in patients with sickle cell disease with stroke. METHODS: Carotid arterial stiffness, intima-media thickness, and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography were measured. RESULTS: Arterial stiffness and transcranial Doppler velocity were significantly increased in 49 patients with sickle cell disease compared with 47 control subjects (P<0.05) and especially in patients with stroke (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that transcranial Doppler and arterial stiffness might be associated to stroke in adult patients with sickle cell disease
Overview of a formal scoping review on health system report cards
Background: There is an extensive body of literature on health system quality reporting that has yet to be characterized. Scoping is a novel methodology for systematically assessing the breadth of a body of literature in a particular research area. Our objectives were to showcase the scoping review methodology in the review of health system quality reporting, and to report on the extent of the literature in this area.Methods: A scoping review was performed based on the York methodology outlined by Arksey and O'Malley from the University of York, United Kingdom. We searched 14 peer reviewed and grey literature databases limiting the search to English language and non-English language articles with English abstracts published between 1980 and June 2006 with an update to November 2008. We also searched specific websites, reference lists, and key journals for relevant material and solicited input from key stakeholders. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied to select relevant material and qualitative information was charted from the selected literature.Results: A total of 10,102 articles were identified from searching the literature databases, 821 were deemed relevant to our scoping review. An additional 401 were identified from updates, website searching, references lists, key journals, and stakeholder suggestions for a total of 1,222 included articles. These were categorized and catalogued according to the inclusion criteria, and further subcategories were identified through the charting process. Topic areas represented by this review included the effectiveness of health system report cards (n = 194 articles), methodological issues in their development (n = 815 articles), stakeholder views on report cards (n = 144 articles), and ethical considerations around their development (n = 69 articles).Conclusions: The scoping review methodology has permitted us to characterize and catalogue the extensive body of literature pertaining to health system report cards. The resulting literature repository that our review has created can be of use to researchers and health system stakeholders interested in the topic of health system quality measurement and reporting. © 2010 Brien et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Living Alone, Patient Sex and Mortality After Acute Myocardial Infarction
BACKGROUND: Psychosocial factors, including social support, affect outcomes of cardiovascular disease, but can be difficult to measure. Whether these factors have different effects on mortality post-acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in men and women is not clear. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between living alone, a proxy for social support, and mortality postdischarge AMI and to explore whether this association is modified by patient sex. DESIGN: Historical cohort study. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: All patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of AMI in a major urban center during the 1998â1999 fiscal year. MEASUREMENTS: Patientsâ sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were obtained by standardized chart review and linked to vital statistics data through December 2001. RESULTS: Of 880 patients, 164 (18.6%) were living alone at admission and they were significantly more likely to be older and female than those living with others. Living alone was independently associated with mortality [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0â2.5], but interacted with patient sex. Men living alone had the highest mortality risk (adjusted HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1â3.7), followed by women living alone (adjusted HR 1.2, 95% CI 0.7â2.2), men living with others (reference, HR 1.0), and women living with others (adjusted HR 0.9, 95% CI 0.5â1.5). CONCLUSIONS: Living alone, an easily measured psychosocial factor, is associated with significantly increased longer-term mortality for men following AMI. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm the usefulness of living alone as a prognostic factor and to identify the potentially modifiable mechanisms underlying this increased risk
Volume 12
Introduction, Dr. Roger A. Byrne, Dean
From the Editor, Dr. Larissa Kat Tracy
From the Designers, Rachel English, Rachel Hanson
Immortality in the Mortal World: Otherworldly Intervention in Lanval and The Wife of Bath\u27s Tale by Haleigh James
Analysis of Phenolic Compounds in Moroccan Olive Oils by HPLC by Hannah Meyls
Art by Hope Irvin
The Effects of Cell Phone Use on Gameplay Enjoyment and Frustration by Megan E. Hlavaty, Samara L. Gall, and Austin J. Funk
Care, No Matter What: Planned Parenthood\u27s Use of Organizational Rhetoric to Expand its Reputation by Karyn Keane
Analysis of Petroleum Products for Forensic and Environmental Applications by Sarah Ghali, Antonio Harvey, and Katelynn McCrillis
Art by Andrew Jones
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire by Rachel Hazelwood
Art by Madison Schmitz
Ercilla y la imitacion: Araucanos al estilo europeo by Marija Venta
Design by Haley Tebo
Design by Jeremiah Gilmer
White Supremacist\u27s Appropriation of the Persuasion of Passivity in Marvel\u27s Captain America by Bridget Dunn
Design by Benjamin Sullivan
Art by McKenzie Johnso
Area Median Income and Metropolitan Versus Nonmetropolitan Location of Care for Acute Coronary Syndromes: A Complex Interaction of Social Determinants
Background: Metropolitan versus nonmetropolitan status and area median income may independently affect care for and outcomes of acute coronary syndromes. We sought to determine whether location of care modifies the association among area income, receipt of cardiac catheterization, and mortality following an acute coronary syndrome in a universal health care system. Methods and Results: We studied a cohort of 14 012 acute coronary syndrome patients admitted to cardiology services between April 18, 2004, and December 31, 2011, in southern Alberta, Canada. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine the odds of cardiac catheterization within 1 day and 7 days of admission and the odds of 30âday and 1âyear mortality according to area median household income quintile for patients presenting at metropolitan and nonmetropolitan hospitals. In models adjusting for area income, patients who presented at nonmetropolitan facilities had lower adjusted odds of receiving cardiac catheterization within 1 day of admission (odds ratio 0.22, 95% CI 0.11â0.46, P<0.001). Among nonmetropolitan patients, when examined by socioeconomic status, each incremental decrease in income quintile was associated with 10% lower adjusted odds of receiving cardiac catheterization within 7 days (P<0.001) and 24% higher adjusted odds of 30âday mortality (P=0.008) but no significant difference for 1âyear mortality (P=0.12). There were no differences in adjusted mortality among metropolitan patients. Conclusion: Within a universal health care system, the association among area income and receipt of cardiac catheterization and 30âday mortality differed depending on the location of initial medical care for acute coronary syndromes. Care protocols are required to improve access to care and outcomes in patients from lowâincome nonmetropolitan communities
Engineering of quantum dot photon sources via electro-elastic fields
The possibility to generate and manipulate non-classical light using the
tools of mature semiconductor technology carries great promise for the
implementation of quantum communication science. This is indeed one of the main
driving forces behind ongoing research on the study of semiconductor quantum
dots. Often referred to as artificial atoms, quantum dots can generate single
and entangled photons on demand and, unlike their natural counterpart, can be
easily integrated into well-established optoelectronic devices. However, the
inherent random nature of the quantum dot growth processes results in a lack of
control of their emission properties. This represents a major roadblock towards
the exploitation of these quantum emitters in the foreseen applications. This
chapter describes a novel class of quantum dot devices that uses the combined
action of strain and electric fields to reshape the emission properties of
single quantum dots. The resulting electro-elastic fields allow for control of
emission and binding energies, charge states, and energy level splittings and
are suitable to correct for the quantum dot structural asymmetries that usually
prevent these semiconductor nanostructures from emitting polarization-entangled
photons. Key experiments in this field are presented and future directions are
discussed.Comment: to appear as a book chapter in a compilation "Engineering the
Atom-Photon Interaction" published by Springer in 2015, edited by A.
Predojevic and M. W. Mitchel
Osteogenesis evaluation of duckâs feet derived collagen/hydroxyapatite sponges immersed in dexamethasone
Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the osteogenesis effects of DC and DC/HAp sponge immersed in without and with dexamethasone.
Methods: The experimental groups in this study were DC and DC/HAp sponge immersed in without dexamethasone (Dex(Ăą )DC and Dex(Ăą )-DC/HAp group) and with dexamethasone (Dex(+)-DC and Dex(+)-DC/HAp group). We characterized DC and DC/HAp sponge using compressive strength, scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also, osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs on sponge (Dex(Ăą )DC, Dex(Ăą )-DC/HAp, Dex(+)-DC and Dex(+)-DC/HAp group) was assessed by SEM, 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) assay, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assay and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR).
Results: In this study, we assessed osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs on DuckĂą s feet-derived collagen (DC)/ HAp sponge immersed with dexamethasone Dex(+)-DC/HAp. These results showed that Dex(+)-DC/HAp group increased cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs during 28 days.
Conclusion: From these results, Dex(+)-DC/HAp can be envisioned as a potential biomaterial for bone regeneration applications.This work was supported by Technology Commercialization Support Program [grant number 814005-03-3-HD020], Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Temporal Artery versus Bladder Thermometry during Adult Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Monitoring: An Observational Study
Abstract
Background
We sought to evaluate agreement between a new and widely implemented method of temperature measurement in critical care, temporal artery thermometry and an established method of core temperature measurement, bladder thermometry as performed in clinical practice.
Methods
Temperatures were simultaneously recorded hourly (n = 736 observations) using both devices as part of routine clinical monitoring in 14 critically ill adult patients with temperatures ranging â„1°C prior to consent.
Results
The mean difference between temporal artery and bladder temperatures measured was -0.44°C (95% confidence interval, -0.47°C to -0.41°C), with temporal artery readings lower than bladder temperatures. Agreement between the two devices was greatest for normothermia (36.0°C to < 38.3°C) (mean difference -0.35°C [95% confidence interval, -0.37°C to -0.33°C]). The temporal artery thermometer recorded higher temperatures during hypothermia (< 36°C) (mean difference 0.66°C [95% confidence interval, 0.53°C to 0.79°C]) and lower temperatures during hyperthermia (â„38.3°C) (mean difference -0.90°C [95% confidence interval, -0.99°C to -0.81°C]). The sensitivity for detecting fever (core temperature â„38.3°C) using the temporal artery thermometer was 0.26 (95% confidence interval, 0.20 to 0.33), and the specificity was 0.99 (95% confidence interval, 0.98 to 0.99). The positive likelihood ratio for fever was 24.6 (95% confidence interval, 10.7 to 56.8); the negative likelihood ratio was 0.75 (95% confidence interval, 0.68 to 0.82).
Conclusions
Temporal artery thermometry produces somewhat surprising disagreement with an established method of core temperature measurement and should not to be used in situations where body temperature needs to be measured with accuracy
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