Wireless body sensor design for intra-vaginal temperature monitoring

Sensor nodes are small devices able to collect and retrieve sensorial data. The use of these sensors for medical purposes offers valuable contributions to improve patients’ healthcare, both for diagnosis and therapeutics monitoring. An important and common parameter used on healthcare diagnosis is the body temperature. It is monitored on several matters related with gynecological and obstetrics issues but, usually it is measure at the skin surface. Then, this paper proposes the design concepts of a new intra-body sensor for long-term intra-vaginal temperature collection. The embedded IEEE 802.15.4 communication module allows the integration of this sensor in wireless sensor networks for remote data access and monitoring. It is presented the sensor architecture, the construction of the corresponding testbed, and its performance evaluation. This sensor may be used on several applications, including fertile and ovulation period detection, and preterm labor prevention

A survey of self-neglect in patients living in the community

• Self-neglect is a familiar concept to all community nurses. Nevertheless there have been few empirical studies undertaken in this area over the last 30 years. • The study of self-neglect has been hampered by inadequate conceptualization and a lack of theoretical frameworks. • This article reports a study of patients who did and did not self-neglect, drawn from district nursing caseloads. • Patients with self-neglect had lower levels of operable self-care agency than patients in a comparison group. • Only self-neglecting patients had the nursing diagnoses `ineffective management of therapy' and `non-compliance'

Comparing two short versions of the 32‐item Hypomania Checklist (HCL‐32) for patients with bipolar disorder

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose To compare the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) between Hypomania Checklist‐20 (HCL‐20) and HCL‐16. Design and Methods Altogether, 350 subjects with bipolar disorders (BD) or major depressive disorders (MDD) were included. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and area under the curve between the HCL‐20 and the HCL‐16 for BD and its subtypes were compared. Findings The HCL‐16 demonstrated superior performance in terms of sensitivity + specificity than HCL‐20. For discriminating BD and BD‐I patients from MDD patients, HCL‐16 showed better sensitivity than HCL‐20, while HCL‐20 showed better specificity than HCL‐16. Practice Implications Our results showed that both HCL‐20 and HCL‐16 have a fair screening ability, but HCL‐16 showed a relatively superior performance considering its length

Comparison of the screening ability between the 32-item Hypomania T Checklist (HCL-32) and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) for bipolar disorder: A meta-analysis and systematic review

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The frequent misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with detrimental consequences and inappropriate treatments. The 32-item Hypomania Checklist (HCL-32) and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) are widely used self-report screening instruments for BD. This is a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the psychometric properties of the HCL-32 and the MDQ based on the same patient samples. Two reviewers systematically and independently searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. Studies using the HCL-32 and MDQ concurrently, and reporting their psychometric properties were included. Eleven studies that met the entry criteria were included in the systematic review, and 9 studies with relevant data were included in the meta-analysis. Using study-defined cutoffs, summary sensitivities were 82% (95% CI: 72%-89%) and 80% (95% CI: 71%-86%), while specificities were 57% (95% CI: 48%-66%) and 70% (95% CI: 59%-71%) for the HCL-32 and the MDQ respectively. Both the HCL-32 and the MDQ have acceptable psychometric properties to identify BD and appear to be useful screening tools for BD

Adjunctive antidepressant use and its clinical correlates in patients with schizophrenia: An East Asia multicenter comparative prescribing audit

10.1111/j.1758-5872.2009.00048.xAsia-Pacific Psychiatry2141-4