Networking Hospital ePrescribing: A Systemic View of Digitalization of Medicines' Use in England.

Medicine management is at the core of hospital care and digitalization of prescribing and administration of medicines is often the focus of attention of health IT programs. This may be conveyed to the public in terms of the elimination of paper-based drug charts and increased readability of doctors' prescriptions. Based on analysis of documents about hospital medicines supply and use (including systems' implementation) in the UK, in this conceptual paper electronic prescribing and administration are repositioned as only one aspect of an important wider transformation in medicine management in hospital settings, involving, for example, procurement, dispensing, auditing, waste management, research and safety vigilance. Approaching digitalization from a systemic perspective has the potential to uncover the wider implications of this transformation for patients, the organization and the wider health care system

Tensile Properties and Microstructure of Inconel 718 Fabricated with Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication (EBF(sup 3))

Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) direct metal deposition processing was used to fabricate two Inconel 718 single-bead-width wall builds and one multiple-bead-width block build. Specimens were machined to evaluate microstructure and room temperature tensile properties. The tensile strength and yield strength of the as-deposited material from the wall and block builds were greater than those for conventional Inconel 718 castings but were less than those for conventional cold-rolled sheet. Ductility levels for the EBF3 material were similar to those for conventionally-processed sheet and castings. An unexpected result was that the modulus of the EBF3-deposited Inconel 718 was significantly lower than that of the conventional material. This low modulus may be associated with a preferred crystallographic orientation resultant from the deposition and rapid solidification process. A heat treatment with a high solution treatment temperature resulted in a recrystallized microstructure and an increased modulus. However, the modulus was not increased to the level that is expected for Inconel 718

Genome wide expression profiling reveals suppression of host defence responses during colonisation by Neisseria meningitides but not N. lactamica.

Both Neisseria meningitidis and the closely related bacterium Neisseria lactamica colonise human nasopharyngeal mucosal surface, but only N. meningitidis invades the bloodstream to cause potentially life-threatening meningitis and septicaemia. We have hypothesised that the two neisserial species differentially modulate host respiratory epithelial cell gene expression reflecting their disease potential. Confluent monolayers of 16HBE14 human bronchial epithelial cells were exposed to live and/or dead N. meningitidis (including capsule and pili mutants) and N. lactamica, and their transcriptomes were compared using whole genome microarrays. Changes in expression of selected genes were subsequently validated using Q-RT-PCR and ELISAs. Live N. meningitidis and N. lactamica induced genes involved in host energy production processes suggesting that both bacterial species utilise host resources. N. meningitidis infection was associated with down-regulation of host defence genes. N. lactamica, relative to N. meningitidis, initiates up-regulation of proinflammatory genes. Bacterial secreted proteins alone induced some of the changes observed. The results suggest N. meningitidis and N. lactamica differentially regulate host respiratory epithelial cell gene expression through colonisation and/or protein secretion, and that this may contribute to subsequent clinical outcomes associated with these bacteria

Environmental monitoring of Mycobacterium bovis in badger feces and badger sett soil by real-time PCR, as confirmed by immunofluorescence, immunocapture, and cultivation

Real-time PCR was used to detect and quantify Mycobacterium bovis cells in naturally infected soil and badger faeces. Immunomagnetic capture, immunofluorescence and selective culture confirmed species identification and cell viability. These techniques will prove useful for monitoring M. bovis in the environment and for elucidating transmission routes between wildlife and cattle

A qualitative study of primary care professionals’ views of case finding for depression in patients with diabetes or coronary heart disease in the UK

<p>Background Routinely conducting case finding (also commonly referred to as screening) in patients with chronic illness for depression in primary care appears to have little impact. We explored the views and experiences of primary care nurses, doctors and managers to understand how the implementation of case finding/screening might impact on its effectiveness.</p> <p>Methods Two complementary qualitative focus group studies of primary care professionals including nurses, doctors and managers, in five primary care practices and five Community Health Partnerships, were conducted in Scotland.</p> <p>Results We identified several features of the way case finding/screening was implemented that may lead to systematic under-detection of depression. These included obstacles to incorporating case finding/screening into a clinical review consultation; a perception of replacing individualised care with mechanistic assessment, and a disconnection for nurses between management of physical and mental health. Far from being a standardised process that encouraged detection of depression, participants described case finding/screening as being conducted in a way which biased it towards negative responses, and for nurses, it was an uncomfortable task for which they lacked the necessary skills to provide immediate support to patients at the time of diagnosis.</p> <p>Conclusion The introduction of case finding/screening for depression into routine chronic illness management is not straightforward. Routinized case finding/screening for depression can be implemented in ways that may be counterproductive to engagement (particularly by nurses), with the mental health needs of patients living with long term conditions. If case finding/screening or engagement with mental health problems is to be promoted, primary care nurses require more training to increase their confidence in raising and dealing with mental health issues and GPs and nurses need to work collectively to develop the relational work required to promote cognitive participation in case finding/screening.</p&gt

Integrable Electron Model with Correlated Hopping and Quantum Supersymmetry

We give the quantum analogue of a recently introduced electron model which generalizes the Hubbard model with additional correlated hopping terms and electron pair hopping. The model contains two independent parameters and is invariant with respect to the quantum superalgebra $U_q(gl(2|1))$. It is integrable in one dimension by means of the quantum inverse scattering method.Comment: 7 pages, AmsTex fil

Prevalence and self-regulation of drivers’ secondary task engagement at intersections: An evaluation using naturalistic driving data

On the basis of naturalistic driving data, this study examined the prevalence of secondary task engagement at intersections and investigated how drivers self-regulate and manage such activities in accordance with changing roadways and demand situations. Video recordings were viewed to identify secondary tasks in which drivers engaged and situational factors, specifically those related to the complexity of driving situations. Results showed that one-third of the total intersection time was allocated to secondary task engagement and that greater engagement occurred at upstream and downstream areas of intersections than at areas falling within intersections. Drivers tended to more frequently engage in secondary tasks when their vehicles were stationary than when the vehicles were moving. Elderly drivers were less likely to engage in secondary tasks than younger drivers. Finally, drivers were less likely to engage in secondary tasks when they did not have priority than when they had priority and at intersections managed through traffic signs than in those controlled by traffic lights. In conclusion, drivers appear to engage selectively in secondary tasks at intersections in accordance with changes in the demands imposed by driving and roadway situations. In such circumstances, drivers likely respond to increased demand and reduce secondary task engagement to preserve processing resources. The findings offer the preliminary information necessary to develop driver training/education and awareness programmes on managing distractions and safe driving strategies

Inhomogeneous scalar field solutions and inflation

We present new exact cosmological inhomogeneous solutions for gravity coupled to a scalar field in a general framework specified by the parameter $\lambda$. The equations of motion (and consequently the solutions) in this framework correspond either to low-energy string theory or Weyl integrable spacetime according to the sign of $\lambda$. We show that different inflationary behaviours are possible, as suggested by the study of the violation of the strong energy condition. Finally, by the analysis of certain curvature scalars we found that some of the solutions may be nonsingular.Comment: LaTex file, 14 page