Wound Care in the Homeless Population- CHCB and Safe Harbor Clinic

Most of the clinician interactions in the homeless community has prioritized acute needs over chronic complaints like wounds. An inherent distrust of the healthcare system is also common in the homeless community due to lack of access to care, transportation, insurance, et. This project is aimed at encouraging preventative care in the homeless community with respect to wound care to reduce their concerns about unaddressed complaints and also decrease the burden on the providers during their healthcare visits.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1790/thumbnail.jp

Non-contact strain determination of cell traction effects

Irreversible tissue damage leading to organ failure is a common health problem in today's world. Regenerating these damaged tissues with the help of scaffolds is the solution offered by tissue engineering. In cases where the extra-cellular matrix (ECM) is to be replaced by an artificial substrate (scaffold) or matrix, cellular traction forces (CTF) are exerted by the cells on the scaffold surface. An ideal scaffold should exhibit mechanical characteristics similar to those of the ECM it is intended to replace. In other words, the capacity of a scaffold to withstand deformation should be comparable to that of a natural ECM. And with knowledge of those forces and deformations the properties of the scaffolds may be inferred. Digital Image Correlation (DIC), a non-contact image analysis technique enables us to measure point to point deformation of the scaffold by comparing a sequence of images captured during the process of scaffold deformation. This review discusses the methodology involved and implementation of DIC to measure displacements and strain.Irreversible tissue damage leading to organ failure is a common health problem in today's world. Regenerating these damaged tissues with the help of scaffolds is the solution offered by tissue engineering. In cases where the extra-cellular matrix (ECM) is to be replaced by an artificial substrate (scaffold) or matrix, cellular traction forces (CTF) are exerted by the cells on the scaffold surface. An ideal scaffold should exhibit mechanical characteristics similar to those of the ECM it is intended to replace. In other words, the capacity of a scaffold to withstand deformation should be comparable to that of a natural ECM. And with knowledge of those forces and deformations the properties of the scaffolds may be inferred. Digital Image Correlation (DIC), a non-contact image analysis technique enables us to measure point to point deformation of the scaffold by comparing a sequence of images captured during the process of scaffold deformation. This review discusses the methodology involved and implementation of DIC to measure displacements and strain

Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Rethinking the Federal Reserve's Independence and Monetary Policy in the U.S.

It is widely believed that the Federal Reserve played a central role in bringing about the biggest catastrophe in American history—the Great Depression. The literature is extensive in seeking to provide an explanation for the Federal Reserve's policy errors. This paper offers a new interpretation on why such an event occurred by studying a heretofore-unexamined landmark court case. In 1928, a private citizen filed suit against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for increasing discount rates; he sough a court injunction that would force the Federal Reserve to decrease rates. The courts found in the System's favor. In 1929, he appealed the case, which was dismissed due to a failure in enjoining the Federal Reserve Board as an indispensible party. The judge during the time further wrote an opinion, in which he clarified that the Board rather than the Banks had true authority within the Federal Reserve System. This paper looks at how these two decisions affected Federal Reserve policy between 1929-1933. It argues that the de-politicization of the Federal Reserve coupled with implicit judicial sanction allowed it to act on its flawed ideology without fear of political recrimination. The paper also examines the impact of the Great Depression on the Federal Reserve's independence today

Re-engineering the outpatient process flow of a multi-speciality hospital

Manufacturing concepts such as Just-in-Time, Lean and Six-Sigma, Japanese 5S, Materials Requirement Planning, Scheduling and Capacity Management have been applied in the Healthcare industries in the West for the last decade and has yielded positive results. In this study, these concepts and philosophies have been applied to an Indian Multi-speciality Hospital to improve its OPD process flow and increase patient satisfaction. The Outpatients Department (OPD) is usually the most crowded sector in a hospital. The frequent problems encountered include the waiting period for consultation, an unpredictable number of Walk-in patients, insufficient and operationally deficient OPD reception staff and unattended appointment patients. This study aims at, identifying methods to standardise OPD operations management. It has made the process more efficient through optimum resource utilisation. This will increase patient satisfaction by meeting and exceeding their expectations while maintaining quality of care. This research was conducted by mapping the process flow and using the data that was collected through an observational, cross-sectional, non-interventional study. Though there were a comprehensive set of recommendations at the end of the study, only a few could be implemented due to the introduction of a new Hospital Information System (HIS) software putting the implementation plan on hold

A prospective randomized trial of two fractionation regimens of radiation therapy in the management of AIDS- associated Kaposi Sarcoma

Student Number : 9201769X - M Med research report - School of Clinical Medicine - Faculty of Health SciencesA PROSPECTIVE RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF TWO FRACTIONATION REGIMENS OF RADIATION THERAPY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF AIDSASSOCIATED KAPOSI SARCOMA OBJECTIVE: To compare a standard fractionation scheme with a hypofractionated scheme in the treatment of AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma with the aim of showing noninferiority of the shorter schedule. PATIENTS AND METHODS: HIV positive patients with histologically proven Kaposi sarcoma presenting consecutively to Radiation Oncology at Johannesburg Hospital were randomized between January 2003 and May 2004 to receive a standard regimen of 24 Gy in 12 fractions (ARM A) or the study regimen of 20 Gy in 5 fractions (ARM B). The radiation technique used was individualized for each site in accordance with departmental practice. Follow-up assessment was done at monthly intervals. Treatment response and toxicity were recorded at each follow-up visit. RESULTS: A total of 60 patients were recruited, of which 41 were male and 19 were female. The median age was 36 years (range: 23 – 55 years). Thirteen patients died prior to receiving treatment. The remaining 47 patients were treated to 65 sites, of which 35 sites received 24 Gy in 12 fractions (ARM A) and 30 sites received 20 Gy in 5 fractions (ARM B). The main indications for treatment were pain (n=71), oedema (n=44), functional impairment (n=35), cosmesis (n=14) and bleeding (n=4). At the time of reporting 28 patients were alive and 32 patients have died. The overall survival of the whole group was 37% at 1 year. A complete response was recorded at 28 sites, a partial response at 19 sites and stable disease at 3 sites. The mean time to maximum objective response was 3 months (range: 1 – 14 months). The response rates were equal in the 2 treatment arms (p=0.73). Local control was equal in the 2 treatment arms with a median local recurrence free survival of 150 days for ARM A and 455 days for ARM B (p=0.11, log rank test). Acute skin toxicity occurred at 27 sites. Moist desquamation developed at 7 sites while necrosis developed at 2 sites. Acute skin toxicity was equal in the 2 treatment arms (p=0.77). Acute mucosal toxicity occurred at 2 sites. Late skin reactions developed at 21 sites, of which necrosis or ulceration occurred at 5 sites. Chronic skin reactions were equivalent in the 2 treatment arms (p=0.24). Post radiation oedema developed at 5 sites. CONCLUSION: In our experience, 20 Gy in 5 fractions gave similar results to 24 Gy in 12 fractions in terms of treatment response, local recurrence free survival and toxicity in this small group of patients

CPSDebug: Automatic failure explanation in CPS models

AbstractDebugging cyber-physical system (CPS) models is a cumbersome and costly activity. CPS models combine continuous and discrete dynamics—a fault in a physical component manifests itself in a very different way than a fault in a state machine. Furthermore, faults can propagate both in time and space before they can be detected at the observable interface of the model. As a consequence, explaining the reason of an observed failure is challenging and often requires domain-specific knowledge. In this paper, we propose approach, a novel CPSDebug that combines testing, specification mining, and failure analysis, to automatically explain failures in Simulink/Stateflow models. In particular, we address the hybrid nature of CPS models by using different methods to infer properties from continuous and discrete state variables of the model. We evaluate CPSDebug on two case studies, involving two main scenarios and several classes of faults, demonstrating the potential value of our approach

Pattern of use and characteristic features of web citations in Scholarly journals

The present study examines the reliability of web citations in scholarly journals of Library and Information Science and Communication and Media Studies. The journals were selected based on their high impact factor published between 2008 and 2017. A total 5,55,428 references were extracted, out of which 1,02,718 had web citations. The research findings indicated that there more number of URLs in CMS journal articles than in LIS journal articles. While examining the characteristic features of the URLs cited, it was found that .html files and organizational (.org) top-level domain were the most cited in both the disciplines. Moreover, URLs with path depth 2 and character length 41-50 were frequently cited in both the disciplines. The display and redirect URLs associated with the characteristic features are also determined in this study