Identifying barriers to healthcare as reported by rural and medically underserved patients in Oklahoma

OBJECTIVE: The Rural Patient Experience survey seeks to identify barriers to healthcare faced by patients in rural Oklahoma. Through the administration of a survey directly to patients, this study will analyze the current status of healthcare access, availability, and usage among rural Oklahoma populations. Results can be used to implement effective improvements in healthcare access tailored to specific patient-identified barriers.METHODS: Surveys will be distributed to individuals residing in rural communities and Health Professional Shortage Areas in the state of Oklahoma. The study involves patients of healthcare facilities in partnerships with Oklahoma State University's Center for Health System Innovation, and the facilities that agree to participate in the study will allow access to their patient panel. Patients residing in rural zip codes will be pooled into a randomly sampled population for survey distribution. Two-thirds (67%) of qualifying patients from each patient panel will be randomly selected to receive a survey in order to achieve a sample of adequate size.Responses will be analyzed using summary statistics, descriptive statistics, and significance testing.RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: The development of the survey is being conducted and results are pending the distribution of the survey

Improvements in long-core measurement techniques: applications in palaeomagnetism and palaeoceanography

International audienc

PKE–Nefedov*: plasma crystal experiments on the International Space Station

Abstract. The plasma crystal experiment PKE–Nefedov, the first basic science experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), was installed in February 2001 by the first permanent crew. It is designed for long-term investigations of complex plasmas under microgravity conditions. ‘Complex plasmas ’ contain ions, electrons, neutrals and small solid particles—normally in the micrometre range. These microparticles obtain thousands of elementary charges and interact with each other via a ‘screened ’ Coulomb potential. Complex plasmas are of special interest, because they can form liquid and crystalline states (Thoma

The American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN) best practices and guidelines for the interventional management of cancer-associated pain

Moderate to severe pain occurs in many cancer patients during their clinical course and may stem from the primary pathology, metastasis, or as treatment side effects. Uncontrolled pain using conservative medical therapy can often lead to patient distress, loss of productivity, shorter life expectancy, longer hospital stays, and increase in healthcare utilization. Various publications shed light on strategies for conservative medical management for cancer pain and a few international publications have reviewed limited interventional data. Our multi-institutional working group was assembled to review and highlight the body of evidence that exists for opioid utilization for cancer pain, adjunct medication such as ketamine and methadone and interventional therapies. We discuss neurolysis via injections, neuromodulation including targeted drug delivery and spinal cord stimulation, vertebral tumor ablation and augmentation, radiotherapy and surgical techniques. In the United States, there is a significant variance in the interventional treatment of cancer pain based on fellowship training. As a first of its kind, this best practices and interventional guideline will offer evidenced-based recommendations for reducing pain and suffering associated with malignancy

Argonne National Laboratory Reports

The abstracts are given of thirteen papers presented at a ''SQUID Symposium'' organized by the Division of Materials Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy and held March 23-25, 1978, at the University of Virginia. Since SQUID systems have already been utilized in feasibility demonstration in geothermal reservoir exploration, it was recognized that these devices also hold great potential for many other important scientific measurements. Many of these are energy-related, and others include forefront investigations in a diverse group of scientific areas, from biomedical to earthquake monitoring. Research in SQUIDs has advanced so rapidly in recent years that it was felt that a symposium to review the current status and future prospects of the devices would be timely. The abstracts given present an overview of work in this area and hopefully provide an opportunity to increase awareness among basic and applied scientists of the inherent implications of the extreme measurement sensitivity in advanced SQUID systems