289 research outputs found
General practitioners' views and preferences about quality improvement feedback in preventive care: a cross-sectional study in Switzerland and France.
Feedback is widely used as a strategy to improve the quality of care in primary care settings. As part of a study conducted to explore the quality of preventive care, we investigated general practitioners' (GPs) views on the usefulness of feedback and their preferences regarding how feedback is provided.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 among randomly selected community-based GPs in two regions of Switzerland and France. GPs were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire about how often they provided 12 measures of preventive care: blood pressure, weight and height measurements, screening for dyslipidemia, at-risk drinking (and advice to reduce for at-risk drinkers), smoking (and advice to stop for smokers), colon and prostate cancer, and influenza immunization for patients >65 years and at-risk patients. They were also asked to estimate the usefulness of a feedback regarding their preventive care practice, reason(s) for which a feedback could be useful, and finally, to state which type of feedback they would like to receive. Chi-square tests were used to compare frequencies. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with GPs considering feedback as useful.
Five hundred eighteen of 1100 GPs (47.1%) returned the questionnaire. They were predominantly men (62.5%) and most (40.1%) were aged between 55 and 64 years old. Overall, 44.3% stated that a feedback would be useful. Younger GPs and those carrying out more measures of preventive care were more likely to consider feedback useful. The two main reasons for being interested in feedback were to receive knowledge about the study results and to modify or improve practice. The two preferred feedback interventions were a brief report and a report with specific information regarding prevention best practice, whereas less than 1% would like to discuss the results face-to-face with the study investigators.
These findings suggest that GPs have preferences regarding the types of feedback they would like to receive. Because the implementation of guidelines is highly related to the acceptance of feedback, we strongly encourage decision makers to take GPs' preferences into account when developing strategies to implement guidelines, in order to improve the quality of primary care
Rates, Delays, and Completeness of General Practitioners' Responses to a Postal Versus Web-Based Survey: A Randomized Trial.
Web-based surveys have become a new and popular method for collecting data, but only a few studies have directly compared postal and Web-based surveys among physicians, and none to our knowledge among general practitioners (GPs).
Our aim is to compare two modes of survey delivery (postal and Web-based) in terms of participation rates, response times, and completeness of questionnaires in a study assessing GPs' preventive practices.
This randomized study was conducted in Western Switzerland (Geneva and Vaud) and in France (Alsace and Pays de la Loire) in 2015. A random selection of community-based GPs (1000 GPs in Switzerland and 2400 GPs in France) were randomly allocated to receive a questionnaire about preventive care activities either by post (n=700 in Switzerland, n=400 in France) or by email (n=300 in Switzerland, n=2000 in France). Reminder messages were sent once in the postal group and twice in the Web-based group. Any GPs practicing only complementary and alternative medicine were excluded from the study.
Among the 3400 contacted GPs, 764 (22.47%, 95% CI 21.07%-23.87%) returned the questionnaire. Compared to the postal group, the participation rate in the Web-based group was more than four times lower (246/2300, 10.70% vs 518/1100, 47.09%, P<.001), but median response time was much shorter (1 day vs 1-3 weeks, P<.001) and the number of GPs having fully completed the questionnaire was almost twice as high (157/246, 63.8% vs 179/518, 34.6%, P<.001).
Web-based surveys offer many advantages such as reduced response time, higher completeness of data, and large cost savings, but our findings suggest that postal surveys can be still considered for GP research. The use of mixed-mode approaches is probably a good strategy to increase GPs' participation in surveys while reducing costs
Nonlinear models of the bump cepheid HV 905 and the distance modulus to the large magellanic cloud
Nonlinear pulsation models have been used to simulate the light curve of the LMC bump Cepheid HV 905. In order to reproduce the light curve accurately, tight constraints on the input parameters M, L, and T-eff are required. The results, combined with accurate existing V and I photometry, yield an LMC distance modulus of 18.51 +/- 0.05, and they show that the luminosity of HV 905 is much higher than expected from the mass-luminosity relation of stellar evolution theory. If we assume that the pulsation models are accurate, this suggests that there is a larger amount of convective core overshoot during the main-sequence evolution of stars with M similar to 5 M. than is usually assumed
How do general practitioners put preventive care recommendations into practice? A cross-sectional study in Switzerland and France.
We previously identified that general practitioners (GPs) in French-speaking regions of Europe had a variable uptake of common preventive recommendations. In this study, we describe GPs' reports of how they put different preventive recommendations into practice.
Cross-sectional study conducted in 2015 in Switzerland and France. 3400 randomly selected GPs were asked to complete a postal (n=1100) or online (n=2300) questionnaire. GPs who exclusively practiced complementary and alternative medicine were not eligible for the study. 764 GPs (response rate: postal 47%, online 11%) returned the questionnaire (428 in Switzerland and 336 in France).
We investigated how the GPs performed five preventive practices (screening for dyslipidaemia, colorectal and prostate cancer, identification of hazardous alcohol consumption and brief intervention), examining which age group they selected, the screening frequency, the test they used, whether they favoured shared decision for prostate cancer screening and their definition of hazardous alcohol use.
A large variability was observed in the way in which GPs provide these practices. 41% reported screening yearly for cholesterol, starting and stopping at variable ages. 82% did not use any test to identify hazardous drinking. The most common responses for defining hazardous drinking were, for men, ≥21 drinks/week (24%) and ≥4 drinks/occasion for binge drinking (20%), and for women, ≥14 drinks/week (28%) and ≥3 drinks/occasion (21%). Screening for colorectal cancer, mainly with colonoscopy in Switzerland (86%) and stool-based tests in France (93%), was provided every 10 years in Switzerland (65%) and 2 years in France (91%) to patients between 50 years (87%) and 75 years (67%). Prostate cancer screening, usually with shared decision (82%), was provided yearly (62%) to patients between 50 years (74%) and 75-80 years (32%-34%).
The large diversity in the way these practices are provided needs to be addressed, as it could be related to some misunderstandingof the current guidelines, to barriers for guideline uptake or, more likely, to the absence of agreement between the various recommendations
Delivery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis epitopes by Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase toxoid expands HLA-E-restricted cytotoxic CD8+ T cells
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) remains the first cause of death from infection caused by a bacterial pathogen. Chemotherapy does not eradicate Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) from human lungs, and the pathogen causes a latent tuberculosis infection that cannot be prevented by the currently available Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine, which is ineffective in the prevention of pulmonary TB in adults. HLA-E-restricted CD8+ T lymphocytes are essential players in protective immune responses against Mtb. Hence, expanding this population in vivo or ex vivo may be crucial for vaccination or immunotherapy against TB.Methods: The enzymatically inactive Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase (CyaA) toxoid is an effective tool for delivering peptide epitopes into the cytosol of antigen-presenting cells (APC) for presentation and stimulation of specific CD8+ T-cell responses. In this study, we have investigated the capacity of the CyaA toxoid to deliver Mtb epitopes known to bind HLA-E for the expansion of human CD8+ T cells in vitro.Results: Our results show that the CyaA-toxoid containing five HLA-E-restricted Mtb epitopes causes significant expansion of HLA-E-restricted antigen-specific CD8+ T cells, which produce IFN-gamma and exert significant cytotoxic activity towards peptide-pulsed macrophages.Discussion: HLA-E represents a promising platform for the development of new vaccines; our study indicates that the CyaA construct represents a suitable delivery system of the HLA-E-binding Mtb epitopes for ex vivo and in vitro expansion of HLA-E-restricted CD8+ T cells inducing a predominant Tc1 cytokine profile with a significant increase of IFN-gamma production, for prophylactic and immunotherapeutic applications against Mtb
The HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale XXV. A Recalibration of Cepheid Distances to Type Ia Supernovae and the Value of the Hubble Constant
Cepheid-based distances to seven Type Ia supernovae (SNe)-host galaxies have
been derived using the standard HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance
Scale pipeline. For the first time, this allows for a transparent comparison of
data accumulated as part of three different HST projects, the Key Project, the
Sandage et al. Type Ia SNe program, and the Tanvir et al. Leo I Group study.
Re-analyzing the Tanvir et al. galaxy and six Sandage et al. galaxies we find a
mean (weighted) offset in true distance moduli of 0.12+/-0.07 mag -- i.e., 6%
in linear distance -- in the sense of reducing the distance scale, or
increasing H0. Adopting the reddening-corrected Hubble relations of Suntzeff et
al. (1999), tied to a zero point based upon SNe~1990N, 1981B, 1998bu, 1989B,
1972E and 1960F and the photometric calibration of Hill et al. (1998), leads to
a Hubble constant of H0=68+/-2(random)+/-5(systematic) km/s/Mpc. Adopting the
Kennicutt et al. (1998) Cepheid period-luminosity-metallicity dependency
decreases the inferred H0 by 4%. The H0 result from Type Ia SNe is now in good
agreement, to within their respective uncertainties, with that from the
Tully-Fisher and surface brightness fluctuation relations.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 62 pages,
LaTeX, 9 Postscript figures. Also available at
http://casa.colorado.edu/~bgibson/publications.htm
The HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale. XXVIII. Combining the Constraints on the Hubble Constant
Since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope nine years ago, Cepheid
distances to 25 galaxies have been determined for the purpose of calibrating
secondary distance indicators. A variety of these can now be calibrated, and
the accompanying papers by Sakai, Kelson, Ferrarese, and Gibson employ the full
set of 25 galaxies to consider the Tully-Fisher relation, the fundamental plane
of elliptical galaxies, Type Ia supernovae, and surface brightness
fluctuations.
When calibrated with Cepheid distances, each of these methods yields a
measurement of the Hubble constant and a corresponding measurement uncertainty.
We combine these measurements in this paper, together with a model of the
velocity field, to yield the best available estimate of the value of H_0 within
the range of these secondary distance indicators and its uncertainty.
The result is H_0 = 71 +/- 6 km/sec/Mpc. The largest contributor to the
uncertainty of this 67% confidence level result is the distance of the Large
Magellanic Cloud, which has been assumed to be 50 +/- 3 kpc
The Hubble Space Telescope Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project XXIII. The Discovery of Cepheids In NGC 3319
The distance to NGC 3319 has been determined from Cepheid variable stars as
part of the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance
Scale. Thirteen and four epochs of observations, using filters F555W (V) and
F814W (I) respectively, were made with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.
Thirty-three Cepheid variables between periods of 8 and 47 days were
discovered. Adopting a Large Magellanic Cloud distance modulus of 18.50 +- 0.10
mag and extinction of E(V-I)=0.13 mag, a true reddening-corrected distance
modulus (based on an analysis employing the ALLFRAME software package) of 30.78
+- 0.14 (random) +- 0.10 (systematic) mag and the extinction of E(V-I) = 0.06
mag were determined for NGC 3319. This galaxy is the last galaxy observed for
the HST H0 Key Project.Comment: 22 pages. A gzipped tar file containing 16 figures can be obtained
from http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/H0kp/n3319/n3319.htm
The HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale XVII. The Cepheid Distance to NGC 4725
The distance to NGC 4725 has been derived from Cepheid variables, as part of
the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale.
Thirteen F555W (V) and four F814W (I) epochs of cosmic-ray-split Wide Field and
Planetary Camera 2 observations were obtained. Twenty Cepheids were discovered,
with periods ranging from 12 to 49 days. Adopting a Large Magellanic Cloud
distance modulus and extinction of 18.50+/-0.10 mag and E(V-I)=0.13 mag,
respectively, a true reddening-corrected distance modulus (based on an analysis
employing the ALLFRAME software package) of 30.50 +/- 0.16 (random) +/- 0.17
(systematic) mag was determined for NGC 4725. The corresponding of distance of
12.6 +/- 1.0 (random) +/- 1.0 (systematic) Mpc is in excellent agreement with
that found with an independent analysis based upon the DoPHOT photometry
package. With a foreground reddening of only E(V-I)=0.02, the inferred
intrinsic reddening of this field in NGC 4725, E(V-I)=0.19, makes it one of the
most highly-reddened, encountered by the HST Key Project, to date.Comment: To be published in The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 512 (1999). 34
pages, LaTeX, 9 jpg figure
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