Compliance with the surgical safety checklist in Switzerland: an observational multicenter study based on self-reported data.

BACKGROUND Since publication of the surgical safety checklist by the WHO in 2009, it has been introduced in many hospitals. However, frequency and quality of surgical safety checklist use is often low probably limiting the effectiveness of the checklist in preventing patient harm. The focus of this study was to examine the current state of compliance with the surgical safety checklist in Switzerland and to evaluate how the data relates to international comparative data. METHODS Between November 2020 and March 2021 twelve hospitals with 15 sites collected for at least 200 surgical interventions each whether the three sections of the surgical safety checklist (Sign In, Team Time Out, Sign Out) have been applied. This data collection was part of a large quality improvement project focusing on measuring and improving compliance with the surgical safety checklist via peer observation and feedback. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data; chi-square tests were used to compare sub-samples. RESULTS The hospitals collected valid compliance data for 8622 surgical interventions. Mean compliance rate was 91% when distinguishing between the two categories applied (including partially applied) and not applied. In line with previous research, Sign In (93%) and Team Time Out (94%) sections have been applied more frequently than Sign Out (86%). All three surgical safety checklist sections have been applied in 79% of the surgical interventions, no sections in 1%. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate that the overall application of the surgical safety checklist in Switzerland can be considered high, although the completeness, especially of the Sign Out section, could be improved. At present, it seems difficult to compare compliance rates from different studies as measurement methods and definitions of compliance vary widely. A systematization and homogenization of the methodology within, but also beyond, national borders is desirable for the future

Location and mechanism of the Little Skull Mountain earthquake as constrained by satellite radar interferometry and seismic waveform modeling

We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and broadband seismic waveform data to estimate source parameters of the 29 June 1992, M_s 5.4 Little Skull Mountain (LSM) earthquake. This event occurred within a geodetic network designed to measure the strain rate across the region around Yucca Mountain. The LSM earthquake complicates interpretation of the existing GPS and trilateration data, as the earthquake magnitude is sufficiently small that seismic data do not tightly constrain the epicenter but large enough to potentially affect the geodetic observations. We model the InSAR data using a finite dislocation in a layered elastic space. We also invert regional seismic waveforms both alone and jointly with the InSAR data. Because of limitations in the existing data set, InSAR data alone cannot determine the area of the fault plane independent of magnitude of slip nor the location of the fault plane independent of the earthquake mechanism. Our seismic waveform data tightly constrain the mechanism of the earthquake but not the location. Together, the two complementary data types can be used to determine the mechanism and location but cannot distinguish between the two potential conjugate fault planes. Our preferred model has a moment of ∼3.2 × 10^(17) N m (M_w 5.6) and predicts a line length change between the Wahomie and Mile geodetic benchmarks of ∼5 mm

Correlation of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide and Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate Plasma Concentrations in Patients with Heart Disorders During Rest and Exercise

Peer Reviewe

Detecting Manipulations in Video

This chapter presents the techniques researched and developed within InVID for the forensic analysis of videos, and the detection and localization of forgeries within User-Generated Videos (UGVs). Following an overview of state-of-the-art video tampering detection techniques, we observed that the bulk of current research is mainly dedicated to frame-based tampering analysis or encoding-based inconsistency characterization. We built upon this existing research, by designing forensics filters aimed to highlight any traces left behind by video tampering, with a focus on identifying disruptions in the temporal aspects of a video. As for many other data analysis domains, deep neural networks show very promising results in tampering detection as well. Thus, following the development of a number of analysis filters aimed to help human users in highlighting inconsistencies in video content, we proceeded to develop a deep learning approach aimed to analyze the outputs of these forensics filters and automatically detect tampered videos. In this chapter, we present our survey of the state of the art with respect to its relevance to the goals of InVID, the forensics filters we developed and their potential role in localizing video forgeries, as well as our deep learning approach for automatic tampering detection. We present experimental results on benchmark and real-world data, and analyze the results. We observe that the proposed method yields promising results compared to the state of the art, especially with respect to the algorithm’s ability to generalize to unknown data taken from the real world. We conclude with the research directions that our work in InVID has opened for the future

Fertilidade e prolificidade de ovinos criados em diferentes sistemas de produção na região Norte do Ceará.

Resumo: Na região semi-árida do Nordeste brasileiro, a exploração de ovinos deslanados é efetuada para produção de carne e pele, porém o desempenho reprodutivo é baixo, principalmente pelas práticas de manejo deficientes, aliadas às limitações de ordem nutricional impostas pelas condições climáticas no semi-árido nordestino. Objetivou-se produzir informações que permitam subsidiar a tomada de decisão para criação de ovinos no Estado do Ceará. Foram estimados no presente trabalho indicadores zootécnicos relacionados com reprodução de ovinos de três Fazendas criados em diferentes sistemas de produção. As características reprodutivas estudadas foram: fertilidade (o número de ovelhas paridas por matrizes expostas), prolificidade (o número de crias por matriz por parto). A fertilidade e prolificidade média das três Fazendas foram iguais a 82,10 e 1,28, respectivamente. A fertilidade para as Fazendas foram iguais a 74,71 (Fazenda 1), 89,56 (Fazenda 2) e 82,04 (Fazenda 3) e prolificidade de 1,14 (Fazenda 1), 1,27 (Fazenda 2) e 1,45 (Fazenda 3). O sistema de produção foi fator determinante para fertilidade e prolificidade. [Fertility and prolificacy of sheep created in different production systems in the North Region of Ceara]. Abstract: In semi-arid northeast region of Brazil, the sheep exploitation is for production of meat and skin, but the reproductive performance is low, mainly by poor management practices, combined with nutritional limitations of order imposed by weather conditions in the northeast semi-arid. The aimed of this study was to produce information to make decision about how breeding system should be used in the North region of Ceara State. Zootechnical index of sheep production of three herds breeded in different production systems was studied. The reproductive traits were the number of sheep calved by matrices exposed (fertility), the number of lamb per ewe per calving (litter size/prolificacy) and the interval between births. The mean fertility and prolificacy for the three herds were equal to 82.10 and 1.28. The average fertility for the herds 1, 2 and 3 respectively was equal to 74.71, 89.56 and 82.04 and the average of prolificacy was the same order of 1.14, 1.27 and 1.45. The production system was determining factor for fertility and prolificacy

Distributed Operating Systems

Distributed operating systems have many aspects in common with centralized ones, but they also differ in certain ways. This paper is intended as an introduction to distributed operating systems, and especially to current university research about them. After a discussion of what constitutes a distributed operating system and how it is distinguished from a computer network, various key design issues are discussed. Then several examples of current research projects are examined in some detail, namely, the Cambridge Distributed Computing System, Amoeba, V, and Eden. © 1985, ACM. All rights reserved

Expression of the Na(+)/l(- )symporter (NIS) is markedly decreased or absent in gastric cancer and intestinal metaplastic mucosa of Barrett esophagus

BACKGROUND: The sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) is a plasma membrane glycoprotein that mediates iodide (I(-)) transport in the thyroid, lactating breast, salivary glands, and stomach. Whereas NIS expression and regulation have been extensively investigated in healthy and neoplastic thyroid and breast tissues, little is known about NIS expression and function along the healthy and diseased gastrointestinal tract. METHODS: Thus, we investigated NIS expression by immunohistochemical analysis in 155 gastrointestinal tissue samples and by immunoblot analysis in 17 gastric tumors from 83 patients. RESULTS: Regarding the healthy Gl tract, we observed NIS expression exclusively in the basolateral region of the gastric mucin-producing epithelial cells. In gastritis, positive NIS staining was observed in these cells both in the presence and absence of Helicobacter pylori. Significantly, NIS expression was absent in gastric cancer, independently of its histological type. Only focal faint NIS expression was detected in the direct vicinity of gastric tumors, i.e., in the histologically intact mucosa, the expression becoming gradually stronger and linear farther away from the tumor. Barrett mucosa with junctional and fundic-type columnar metaplasia displayed positive NIS staining, whereas Barrett mucosa with intestinal metaplasia was negative. NIS staining was also absent in intestinalized gastric polyps. CONCLUSION: That NIS expression is markedly decreased or absent in case of intestinalization or malignant transformation of the gastric mucosa suggests that NIS may prove to be a significant tumor marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of gastric malignancies and also precancerous lesions such as Barrett mucosa, thus extending the medical significance of NIS beyond thyroid disease