Differences in work environment for staff as an explanation for variation in central line bundle compliance in intensive care units.

BACKGROUND: Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are a common and costly quality problem, and their prevention is a national priority. A decade ago, researchers identified an evidence-based bundle of practices that reduce CLABSIs. Compliance with this bundle remains low in many hospitals. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess whether differences in core aspects of work environments-workload, quality of relationships, and prioritization of quality-are associated with variation in maximal CLABSI bundle compliance, that is, compliance 95%-100% of the time in intensive care units (ICUs). METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A cross-sectional study of hospital medical-surgical ICUs in the United States was done. Data on work environment and bundle compliance were obtained from the Prevention of Nosocomial Infections and Cost-Effectiveness Refined Survey completed in 2011 by infection prevention directors, and data on ICU and hospital characteristics were obtained from the National Healthcare Safety Network. Factor and multilevel regression analyses were conducted. FINDINGS: Reasonable workload and prioritization of quality were positively associated with maximal CLABSI bundle compliance. High-quality relationships, although a significant predictor when evaluated apart from workload and prioritization of quality, had no significant effect after accounting for these two factors. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Aspects of the staff work environment are associated with maximal CLABSI bundle compliance in ICUs. Our results suggest that hospitals can foster improvement in ensuring maximal CLABSI bundle compliance-a crucial precursor to reducing CLABSI infection rates-by establishing reasonable workloads and prioritizing quality

Identifying customer priority for new products in target marketing: Using RFM model and TextRank

Target marketing is a key strategy used to increase the revenue. Among many methods that identify prospective customers, the recency, frequency, monetary value (RFM) model is considered the most accurate. However, no RFM study has focused on prospects for new product launches. This study addresses this gap by using website access data to identify prospects for new products, thereby extending RFM models to include website-specific weights. An RF model, built using frequency and recency information from website access data of customers, and an RwF model, built by adding website weights to frequency of access, were developed. A TextRank algorithm was used to analyze weights for each website based on the access frequency, thus defining the weights in the RwF model. South Korean mobile users’ website access data between May 1 and July 31, 2020 were used to validate the models. Through a significant lift curve, the results indicate that the models are highly effective in prioritizing customers for target marketing of new products. In particular, the RwF model, reflecting website-specific weights, showed a customer response rate of more than 30% among the top 10% customers. The findings extend the RFM literature beyond purchase history and enable practitioners to find target customers without a purchase history

The Effect of Shopping Emotions and Perceived Risk on Impulsive Buying: The Moderating Role of Buying Impulsiveness Trait

Using a sample of 163 consumers, the study provided evidence that arousal and perceived risk had effects on impulsive buying behavior. Perceived risk was negatively associated with impulsive buying behavior but not significantly related to impulsive buying intention, whereas pleasure, which was not related to actual behavior, was a predictor of impulsive buying intention. On the other hand, the buying impulsiveness trait was found to moderate the relationship between pleasure and impulsive buying intention. This study is expected to contribute to the body of knowledge by building a model that incorporates affective, cognitive, and individual factors related to impulsive buying

Royalties? Not Joseon Dynasty Kings : A Comparative Analysis of Copyright and Music Licensing Groups in the United States and Korea

Media has been one of the United States premier exports for several years. Recently, the Korean Wave has garnered coverage in many international arenas, with Big Bang winning best international group at the 2011 MTV European Music Awards and Gangnam Style reaching number one on the Billboard Social 50 Chart. This Article compares and contrasts the copyright and music licensing regimes in the Republic of Korea and the United States, focusing on substantive copyright protection but also including discussion of the function of rights management societies. We address cultural, historical, and economic factors contributing to the distinctive treatment of musical regulation and offer our opinion as to which nations approach is more legally and logically sound in key areas of legal difference in order to encourage reconsideration of certain points within the legal regimes in both nations.This work was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund of 2013

Tau positron emission tomography in tauopathies: A narrative review

Aggregation of misfolded tau in the brain is a major pathological feature common in various neurodegenerative disorders known as tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, and dementia with Lewy bodies. Tauopathies are collection of diseases with varied overlapping symptoms and complicated manifestations. Consequently, it is crucial to be able to assess tau deposits in vivo. Over the past decade, tau-specific radioligands for positron emission tomography (PET) have been developed and tested, including first-generation compounds (e.g., 18F-THK5317, 18F-THK5351, 18F-AV1451, and 11C-PBB3) and second-generation compounds (18F-MK-6240, 18F-RO-948, and 18F-PI-2620). With the recent advances of tau PET tracers, assessing the pattern of tau deposition in vivo is possible. These methods will allow accurate diagnosis of tauopathies and monitoring of disease progression. In this mini review, we summarize current findings from studies using tau PET tracers regarding neuropathological characteristics, clinical implications, and potential applications of tau PET. We also discuss methodological considerations for appropriate use of these technologies and discuss what has been learned from these findings

Multifunctional-high resolution imaging plate based on hydrophilic graphene for digital pathology

In the present study, we showed that hydrophilic graphene can serve as an ideal imaging plate for biological specimens. Graphene being a single-atom-thick semi-metal with low secondary electron emission, array tomography analysis of serial sections of biological specimens on a graphene substrate showed excellent image quality with improved z-axis resolution, without including any conductive surface coatings. However, the hydrophobic nature of graphene makes the placement of biological specimens difficult; graphene functionalized with polydimethylsiloxane oligomer was fabricated using a simple soft lithography technique and then processed with oxygen plasma to provide hydrophilic graphene with minimal damage to graphene. High-quality scanning electron microscopy images of biological specimens free from charging effects or distortion were obtained, and the optical transparency of graphene enabled fluorescence imaging of the specimen; high-resolution correlated electron and light microscopy analysis of the specimen became possible with the hydrophilic graphene plate

Monitoring Observations of the Jupiter-Family Comet 17P/Holmes during 2014 Perihelion Passage

We performed a monitoring observation of a Jupiter-Family comet, 17P/Holmes, during its 2014 perihelion passage to investigate its secular change in activity. The comet has drawn the attention of astronomers since its historic outburst in 2007, and this occasion was its first perihelion passage since then. We analyzed the obtained data using aperture photometry package and derived the Afrho parameter, a proxy for the dust production rate. We found that Afrho showed asymmetric properties with respect to the perihelion passage: it increased moderately from 100 cm at the heliocentric distance r_h=2.6-3.1 AU to a maximal value of 185 cm at r_h = 2.2 AU (near the perihelion) during the inbound orbit, while dropping rapidly to 35 cm at r_h = 3.2 AU during the outbound orbit. We applied a model for characterizing dust production rates as a function of r_h and found that the fractional active area of the cometary nucleus had dropped from 20%-40% in 2008-2011 (around the aphelion) to 0.1%-0.3% in 2014-2015 (around the perihelion). This result suggests that a dust mantle would have developed rapidly in only one orbital revolution around the sun. Although a minor eruption was observed on UT 2015 January 26 at r_h = 3.0 AU, the areas excavated by the 2007 outburst would be covered with a layer of dust (<~ 10 cm depth) which would be enough to insulate the subsurface ice and to keep the nucleus in a state of low activity.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, ApJ accepted on December 29, 201

Caregivers' oral health literacy and their young children's oral health-related quality-of-life

To investigate the association of caregivers’ oral health literacy (OHL) with their children's oral health related-quality of life (C-OHRQoL) and explore literacy as a modifier in the association between children's oral health status (COHS) and C-OHRQoL

NIH3T3 Directs Memory-Fated CTL Programming and Represses High Expression of PD-1 on Antitumor CTLs

Memory CD8+ T cells have long been considered a promising population for adoptive cell therapy (ACT) due to their long-term persistence and robust re-stimulatory response. NIH3T3 is an immortalized mouse embryonic fibroblast cell line. We report that NIH3T3-conditioned medium (CM) can augment effector functions of CTLs following antigen priming and confer phenotypic and transcriptional properties of central memory cells. After NIH3T3-CM-educated CTLs were infused into naïve mice, they predominantly developed to central memory cells. A large number of NIH3T3-CM-educated CTLs with high functionality persisted and infiltrated to tumor mass. In addition, NIH3T3-CM inhibited CTLs expression of PD-1 in vitro and repressed their high expression of PD-1 in tumor microenvironment after adoptive transfer. Consequently, established tumor models showed that infusion of NIH3T3-CM-educated CTLs dramatically improved CTL mediated-antitumor immunity. Furthermore, NIH3T3-CM also promoted human CD8+ T cells differentiation into memory cells. These results suggest that NIH3T3-CM-programmed CTLs are good candidates for adoptive transfer in tumor therapy