1,071 research outputs found
Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Led to Changes in the Tasks of the Primary Care Workforce? An International Survey among General Practices in 38 Countries (PRICOV-19)
peer reviewedThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a large and varying impact on primary care. This paper studies changes in the tasks of general practitioners (GPs) and associated staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the PRICOV-19 study of 5093 GPs in 38 countries were used. We constructed a scale for task changes and performed multilevel analyses. The scale was reliable at both GP and country level. Clustering of task changes at country level was considerable (25%). During the pandemic, staff members were more involved in giving information and recommendations to patients contacting the practice by phone, and they were more involved in triage. GPs took on additional responsibilities and were more involved in reaching out to patients. Problems due to staff absence, when dealt with internally, were related to more task changes. Task changes were larger in practices employing a wider range of professional groups. Whilst GPs were happy with the task changes in practices with more changes, they also felt the need for further training. A higher-than-average proportion of elderly people and people with a chronic condition in the practice were related to task changes. The number of infections in a country during the first wave of the pandemic was related to task changes. Other characteristics at country level were not associated with task changes. Future research on the sustainability of task changes after the pandemic is needed
Adherence to inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting ÎČ2-agonists in asthma:A MASK-air study
Introduction Adherence to controller medication is a major problem in asthma management, being difficult to assess and tackle. mHealth apps can be used to assess adherence. We aimed to assess the adherence to inhaled corticosteroids+long-acting ÎČ2-agonists (ICS+LABA) in users of the MASK-airÂź app, comparing the adherence to ICS+formoterol (ICS+F) with that to ICS+other LABA. Materials and methods We analysed complete weeks of MASK-airÂź data (2015-2022; 27 countries) from patients with self-reported asthma and ICS+LABA use. We compared patients reporting ICS+F versus ICS+other LABA on adherence levels, symptoms and symptom-medication scores. We built regression models to assess whether adherence to ICS+LABA was associated with asthma control or short-acting beta-agonist (SABA) use. Sensitivity analyses were performed considering the weeks with no more than one missing day. Results In 2598 ICS+LABA users, 621 (23.9%) reported 4824 complete weeks and 866 (33.3%) reported weeks with at most one missing day. Higher adherence (use of medication â„80% of weekly days) was observed for ICS+other LABA (75.1%) when compared to ICS+F (59.3%), despite both groups displaying similar asthma control and work productivity. The ICS+other LABA group was associated with more days of SABA use than the ICS+F group (median=71.4% versus 57.1% days). Each additional weekly day of ICS+F use was associated with a 4.1% less risk in weekly SABA use (95%CI=-6.5;-1.6%;p=0.001). For ICS+other LABA, the percentage was 8.2 (95%CI=-11.6;-5.0%;p<0.001). Conclusions In asthma patients adherent to the MASK-air app, adherence to ICS+LABA was high. ICS+F users reported lower adherence but also a lower SABA use and a similar level of control
Recommended from our members
Luminosity determination using Z boson production at the CMS experiment
Data Availability Statement - This manuscript has no associated data or
the data will not be deposited. [Authorsâ comment: Release and preser
vation of data used by the CMS Collaboration as the basis for publi
cations is guidedbytheCMSpolicyasstatedinhttps://cms-docdb.cern.
ch/cgibin/PublicDocDB/RetrieveFile?docid=6032&filename=CMSD
ataPolicyV1.2.pdf&version=2. CMS data preservation,re-use and open
access policy.]The measurement of ZÂ boson production is presented as a method to determine the integrated luminosity of CMS data sets. The analysis uses protonâproton collision data, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2017 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV . Events with ZÂ bosons decaying into a pair of muons are selected. The total number of ZÂ bosons produced in a fiducial volume is determined, together with the identification efficiencies and correlations from the same data set, in small intervals of 20 pb-1 of integrated luminosity, thus facilitating the efficiency and rate measurement as a function of time and instantaneous luminosity. Using the ratio of the efficiency-corrected numbers of ZÂ bosons, the precisely measured integrated luminosity of one data set is used to determine the luminosity of another. For the first time, a full quantitative uncertainty analysis of the use of Z bosons for the integrated luminosity measurement is performed. The uncertainty in the extrapolation between two data sets, recorded in 2017 at low and high instantaneous luminosity, is less than 0.5%. We show that the ZÂ boson rate measurement constitutes a precise method, complementary to traditional methods, with the potential to improve the measurement of the integrated luminosity.SCOAP
Recommended from our members
Search for top squarks in the four-body decay mode with single lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at âs = 13 TeV
A preprint version of the article is available at arXiv:2301.08096v2 [hep-ex], https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.08096 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/SUS-21-003 (CMS Public Pages).A search for the pair production of the lightest supersymmetric partner of the top quark, the top squark (t ~1), is presented. The search targets the four-body decay of the t ~1 , which is preferred when the mass difference between the top squark and the lightest supersymmetric particle is smaller than the mass of the W boson. This decay mode consists of a bottom quark, two other fermions, and the lightest neutralino (Ï~10), which is assumed to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fbâ1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Events are selected using the presence of a high-momentum jet, an electron or muon with low transverse momentum, and a significant missing transverse momentum. The signal is selected based on a multivariate approach that is optimized for the difference between m(t ~1) and m(Ï~10). The contribution from leading background processes is estimated from data. No significant excess is observed above the expectation from standard model processes. The results of this search exclude top squarks at 95% confidence level for masses up to 480 and 700 GeV for m(t ~1) â m(Ï~10) = 10 and 80 GeV, respectively. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].SCOAP3
DigitallyâEnabled, PatientâCentred Care in Rhinitis and Asthma Multimorbidity: The ARIAâMASKâair Âź Approach
MASK-airŸ , a validated mHealth app (Medical Device regulation Class IIa) has enabled large observational implementation studies in over 58,000 people with allergic rhinitis and/or asthma. It can help to address unmet patient needs in rhinitis and asthma care. MASK-airŸ is a Good Practice of DG Santé on digitally-enabled, patient-centred care. It is also a candidate Good Practice of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). MASK-airŸ data has enabled novel phenotype discovery and characterisation, as well as novel insights into the management of allergic rhinitis. MASK-airŸ data show that most rhinitis patients (i) are not adherent and do not follow guidelines, (ii) use as-needed treatment, (iii) do not take medication when they are well, (iv) increase their treatment based on symptoms and (v) do not use the recommended treatment. The data also show that control (symptoms, work productivity, educational performance) is not always improved by medications. A combined symptom-medication score (ARIA-EAACI-CSMS) has been validated for clinical practice and trials. The implications of the novel MASK-airŸ results should lead to change management in rhinitis and asthma.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Search for a vector-like quark TâČ â tH via the diphoton decay mode of the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at = 13 TeV
A search for the electroweak production of a vector-like quark TâČ, decaying to a top quark and a Higgs boson is presented. The search is based on a sample of proton-proton collision events recorded at the LHC at = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fbâ1. This is the first TâČ search that exploits the Higgs boson decay to a pair of photons. For narrow isospin singlet TâČ states with masses up to 1.1 TeV, the excellent diphoton invariant mass resolution of 1â2% results in an increased sensitivity compared to previous searches based on the same production mechanism. The electroweak production of a TâČ quark with mass up to 960 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, assuming a coupling strength ÎșT = 0.25 and a relative decay width Î/MTâČ < 5%
- âŠ