Predictive Factors of Patient Satisfaction with Pharmacy Services in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Study of National Level Data

Objectives Patient satisfaction has emerged as a prerequisite to improving patients’ health behaviors leading to better health care outcomes. This study was to identify predictive determinants for patient satisfaction with pharmacy services using national-level data. Methods A cross-sectional evaluation was conducted using 2008 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) data. To assess the predictive factors for patient satisfaction with pharmacy services, an ordinal logistic regression model was conducted adjusting for patient characteristics, clinical comorbidities, and perception of health. Results A total of 9,744 people, a representative sample of 48.2 million Koreans, participated in the 2008 KNHANES, of whom 2,188 (23.6%) reported visits to pharmacy within the last 2 weeks prior to the survey. Of the patients who visited the pharmacy, 74.6% reported to be either “very satisfied” or “satisfied,” and 25.4%responded as being “neutral,” “dissatisfied,” or “very dissatisfied.” A multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis with weighted observations revealed that patients with fair perception of health (adjusted OR 1.32; 95% CI 1.01–1.74; p\u3c0.05) and those with middle to low family incomes (adjusted OR 1.34; 95% CI 1.02–1.76; p\u3c0.05) were more likely to be satisfied with pharmacy services, and employment- based insurers were less likely to be satisfied with pharmacy services (adjusted OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.65–0.97; p\u3c0.05). Conclusion Our findings indicated that three out of four patients expressed satisfaction toward pharmacy services. Middle to low family incomes, fair perception of health, and employee insured individuals were significant predictors of patient satisfaction with pharmacy services

Single oxygen vacancies of (TiO2)35 as a prototype of reduced nanoparticle: implication for photocatalytic activity

Titanium dioxide (TiO2), as a semiconductor metal oxide, has been one of the most popular materials studied in the field of photocatalysis. In the present study, the properties of single oxygen vacancies of (TiO2)35, a prototype of an anatase nanoparticle, were investigated by DFT calculations. (TiO2)35 is the minimum sized model (∼2 nm) for a bipyramidal nanoparticle with anatase phase and eight {101} facets. All the available oxygen vacancies at various sites according to position, coordination number, and distance from the center atom were examined. The geometric, energetic and electronic properties of the reduced TiO2 clusters were analyzed by hybrid DFT functionals with different Hartree-Fock exchange ratios (0, 12.5 and 25%). It was found that the structure of pristine (TiO2)35 is somewhat different from the bulk lattice, with a relatively high surface to volume ratio. Moreover, the particular highly (three)-coordinated oxygen atom is energetically the most favorable for oxygen vacancy formation from the nanoparticle mainly due to its substantially high relaxation energy. TiO2 nanoparticles have low oxygen vacancy formation energy and narrow band gap because of their defect states, and can be utilized as an efficient photocatalyst material

The nano gold rush: Graphynes as atomic sieves for coinage and Pt-group transition metals

Graphyne two-dimensional materials have been envisaged as potential useful membranes for applications such as gases separation and water desalination with very high salt rejection rates. The graphyne acetylenic linkages length defines its acetylenic holes size, thus offering a way of tuning their membrane permeability. The present study evaluates, based on density functional theory simulations, the possible use of γ-graphyne, the graphyne with the smallest acetylenic hole, to sieve Transition Metal (TM) atoms. The systematic study comprises obtaining adsorption minima for the 30 3d, 4d, and 5d TMs along with transition states for the diffusion across the γ-graphyne layer. The study reveals very small penetration barriers, below 0.5 eV, for late 3d, Pt-group, and coinage metals, whereas water molecules are found to display high penetration energy barriers above 5 eV, even when accounting for possible γ-graphyne out-of-plane deformations facilitating the water trespassing. The adsorption energy distribution of the adsorbed TMs shows that Pd and Au sieving by γ-graphyne would be specially enhanced versus their anchoring on the γ-graphyne carbon framework, thus pointing γ-graphyne as a possible effective membrane to sieve, particularly, late transition metals

Fabrication of n-type nanotube transistors with large-work-function electrodes

The authors found experimentally that carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNFETs) could exhibit n -type characteristics even though their electrodes consist of a large-work-function metal such as Co. To explain their result, which is contrary to the general belief that CNFETs with large-work-function electrodes always lead to p -type characteristics, ab initio electronic structure calculation for the metal-carbon nanotube junction was performed, which showed that the Fermi level alignment at the junction could sensitively depend on microscopic structures of the metal-carbon nanotube junction. This suggests that deposition method of electrodes as well as the metal type could be utilized to obtain n -type CNFETs.open121

Functionalization of γ-graphyne by transition metal adatoms

Transition Metal (TM) atom adsorption on γ-graphyne is here studied to unravel the electronic and magnetic properties tuning of this 2D carbon allotrope, with possible repercussions on molecular storage, sensing, and catalytic properties. A thorough density functional theory study, including dispersion, of the structural, energetic, diffusivity, magnetic, and doping properties for all 3d, 4d, and 5d TM adatoms adsorbed on γ-graphyne is provided. Overall, TMs strongly chemisorb on γ-graphyne acetylenic rings, except d10 group XII TMs which physisorb. Diffusion energy barriers span 0.5-3.5 eV and adatom height with respect the γ-graphyne sheet seems to be governed by TM atomic radius. All TMs are found to give n-doped γ-graphyne, where charge transfer decays along d series due to the increasing electronegativity of TMs. Middle TMs infer noticeable magnetism to γ-graphyne, yet magnetism is heavily quenched for early and late TMs. The large adsorption energies close to parent TM bulk cohesive energies, the high diffusion energy barriers, and the coulombic repulsion between positively charged TM adatoms provide a good environment for TMs to disperse over the graphyne

High Resolution Optical and NIR Spectra of HBC 722

We present the results of high resolution (R$\ge$30,000) optical and near-IR spectroscopic monitoring observations of HBC 722, a recent FU Orionis object that underwent an accretion burst in 2010. We observed HBC 722 in optical/near-IR with the BOES, HET-HRS, and IGRINS spectrographs, at various points in the outburst. We found atomic lines with strongly blueshifted absorption features or P Cygni profiles, both evidence of a wind driven by the accretion. Some lines show a broad double-peaked absorption feature, evidence of disk rotation. However, the wind-driven and disk-driven spectroscopic features are anti-correlated in time; the disk features became strong as the wind features disappeared. This anti-correlation might indicate that the rebuilding of the inner disk was interrupted by the wind pressure during the first two years. The Half-Width at Half-Depth (HWHD) of the double-peaked profiles decreases with wavelength, indicative of the Keplerian rotation; the optical spectra with the disk feature are fitted by a G5 template stellar spectrum convolved with a rotation velocity of 70 km s$^{-1}$ while the near-IR disk features are fitted by a K5 template stellar spectrum convolved with a rotation velocity of 50 km s$^{-1}$. Therefore, the optical and near-IR spectra seem to trace the disk at 39 and 76 $\textit{R}_{\odot}$, respectively. We fit a power-law temperature distribution in the disk, finding an index of 0.8, comparable to optically thick accretion disk models.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap