Using patient-reported outcome measures to evaluate care for patients with inflammatory chronic rheumatic disease

Objectives: Few countries integrate Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in routine performance assessment, and those that do focus on elective surgery. This study addresses the challenges of using PROMs to evaluate care in chronic conditions. We set out a modelling strategy to assess the extent to which changes over time in self-reported health status by patients with inflammatory chronic rheumatic disease are related to their biological drug therapy and Rheumatology centre primarily responsible for their care. Methods: Using data from the Portuguese Register of Rheumatic Diseases, we assess the health status using the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) for rheumatic patients receiving biological drugs between 2000 and 2017. We employ a fixed effects model using the Least Squares Dummy Variables estimator. Results: Patients receiving infliximab or rituximab report lower health status than those on etanercept (the most common therapy) and patients in 4 of the 26 Rheumatology centres report higher health status than those at other centres. Conclusions: PROMs can be used for those with chronic conditions to provide the patient’s perspective about the impact on their health status of the choice of drug therapy and care provider. Care for chronic patients might be improved if healthcare organisations monitor PROMs and engage in performance assessment initiatives on a routine basis

Reinado de D. Pedro I (1357-1367)

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Study of Two-Temperature Non-Equilibrium Ising Models: Critical Behavior and Universality

We study a class of 2D non-equilibrium Ising models based on competing dynamics induced by contact with heat-baths at two different temperatures. We make a comparative study of the non-equilibrium versions of Metropolis, heat bath/Glauber and Swendsen-Wang dynamics and focus on their critical behavior in order to understand their universality classes. We present strong evidence that some of these dynamics have the same critical exponents and belong to the same universality class as the equilibrium 2D Ising model. We show that the bond version of the Swendsen-Wang update algorithm can be mapped into an equilibrium model at an effective temperature.Comment: 12 pages of LaTeX plus 18 pages of postscript figures in a uuencoded file (608k

Adaptabilidade e estabilidade de variedades de milho no Estado da Bahia no ano agrícola de 1999.

No ano agrícola de 1999/2000 foram avaliados, em uma rede experimental, quarenta e um híbridos de milho e, ao mesmo tempo, em uma outra rede, catorze híbridos e vinte e duas variedades, visando conhecer a adaptabilidade e a estabilidade de comportamento desses materiais para fins de recomendação. Os ensaios foram distribuídos nas principais regiões produtoras de milho do Estado da Bahia, em blocos ao acaso, com três repetições. Em ambas as redes experimentais foram observadas, nas análises de variância conjuntas, diferenças entre as cultivares e comportamento inconsistente dessas cultivares nas diferentes condições ambientais, Os híbridos mostraram melhor comportamento produtivo do que as variedades, expressando melhor adaptabilidade e estabilidade de comportamento. O método utilizado (Lin e Binns modificado por Carneiro, 1998) mostrou-se eficiente na identificação das melhores cultivares, tanto nos ambientes favoráveis quanto nos ambientes desfavoráveis. Os híbridos Zeneca 850 I, Cargill 444, Pioneer 3041 e Dina 1000, dentre outros, mostraram melhor performance nos diferentes tipos de ambientes

Exact Solutions of the Klein-Gordon Equation in the Presence of a Dyon, Magnetic Flux and Scalar Potential in the Specetime of Gravitational Defects

In this paper we analyse the relativistic quantum motion of a charged spin-0 particle in the presence of a dyon, Aharonov-Bohm magnetic field and scalar potential, in the spacetimes produced by an idealized cosmic string and global monopole. In order to develop this analysis, we assume that the dyon and the Aharonov-Bohm magnetic field are superposed to both gravitational defects. Two distinct configurations for the scalar potential, $S(r)$, are considered: $i)$ the potential proportional to the inverse of the radial distance, i.e., $S\propto1/r$, and $ii)$ the potential proportional to this distance, i.e., $S\propto r$. For both cases the center of the potentials coincide with the dyon's position. In the case of the cosmic string the Aharonov-Bohm magnetic field is considered along the defect, and for the global monopole this magnetic field pierces the defect. The energy spectra are computed for both cases and explicitly shown their dependence on the electrostatic and scalar coupling constants. Also we analyse scattering states of the Klein-Gordon equations, and show how the phase shifts depend on the geometry of the spacetime and on the coupling constants parameter.Comment: To be published in CQG. Minor comments adde