Development of a Change Readiness Scale for Electronic Medical Record Systems Implementation at Hospitals

Medical errors are not only caused by individuals but are also associated with faulty systems and processes. Broad implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems may reduce the errors. However, the failure rate of EMR implementations is still high. Therefore, understanding how to achieve a successful implementation is important. This paper looks at the human factor in EMR implementation at hospitals. It is argued that ensuring the clinical users’ readiness for change is crucial for a successful EMR implementation. For this reason, a scale of three dimensions – Information Technology Savviness, Organizational Support, and Perceived Benefit – is proposed to measure clinical users’ change readiness capacity. The processes of developing, testing and administering the scale are explained, as well as the related validity and reliability studies. The simulated score can be used to show the dimension(s) of change readiness capacity in which a user needs improvement in order to reach a successful EMR implementation

Factors Associated with EHR User Satisfaction in Small Clinic Settings

The research on electronic health record (EHR) user satisfaction has been mainly studied in a complex work environment such as hospitals. Little is known about the EHR user satisfaction in small clinic settings. In this study, we investigate factors associated with EHR user satisfaction is small clinic settings. We use the absorptive capacity lens at an end-user level to understand how small clinics can effectively implement EHR systems and improve user satisfaction. We identify three important factors that are critical for EHR user satisfaction in small clinics – (i) Managerial IT knowledge as manifested in clinical management support, (ii) technological training (informal and formal) as indicated by EHR training, and (iii) IT infrastructure capability operationalized as EHR quality. We propose a research model and associated hypotheses for our research and present current status of our research project

Examining public sentiments and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination: infoveillance study using Twitter posts

Background: A global rollout of vaccinations is currently underway to mitigate and protect people from the COVID-19 pandemic. Several individuals have been using social media platforms such as Twitter as an outlet to express their feelings, concerns, and opinions about COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination programs. This study examined COVID-19 vaccine–related tweets from January 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, to uncover the topics, themes, and variations in sentiments of public Twitter users. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine key themes and topics from COVID-19 vaccine–related English tweets posted by individuals, and to explore the trends and variations in public opinions and sentiments. Methods: We gathered and assessed a corpus of 2.94 million COVID-19 vaccine–related tweets made by 1.2 million individuals. We used CoreX topic modeling to explore the themes and topics underlying the tweets, and used VADER sentiment analysis to compute sentiment scores and examine weekly trends. We also performed qualitative content analysis of the top three topics pertaining to COVID-19 vaccination. Results: Topic modeling yielded 16 topics that were grouped into 6 broader themes underlying the COVID-19 vaccination tweets. The most tweeted topic about COVID-19 vaccination was related to vaccination policy, specifically whether vaccines needed to be mandated or optional (13.94%), followed by vaccine hesitancy (12.63%) and postvaccination symptoms and effects (10.44%) Average compound sentiment scores were negative throughout the 16 weeks for the topics postvaccination symptoms and side effects and hoax/conspiracy. However, consistent positive sentiment scores were observed for the topics vaccination disclosure, vaccine efficacy, clinical trials and approvals, affordability, regulation, distribution and shortage, travel, appointment and scheduling, vaccination sites, advocacy, opinion leaders and endorsement, and gratitude toward health care workers. Reversal in sentiment scores in a few weeks was observed for the topics vaccination eligibility and hesitancy. Conclusions: Identification of dominant themes, topics, sentiments, and changing trends about COVID-19 vaccination can aid governments and health care agencies to frame appropriate vaccination programs, policies, and rollouts. [Abstract copyright: ©Ranganathan Chandrasekaran, Rashi Desai, Harsh Shah, Vivek Kumar, Evangelos Moustakas. Originally published in JMIR Infodemiology (https://infodemiology.jmir.org), 15.04.2022.

Bilobalide modulates serotonin-controlled behaviors in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dysfunctions in the serotonergic system have been implicated in several neurological disorders such as depression. Elderly individuals who have been diagnosed with clinical depression show elevated cases of neurodegenerative diseases. This has led to suggestions that modulating the serotonin (5-HT) system could provide an alternative method to current therapies for alleviating these pathologies. The neuroprotective effects of bilobalide <it>in vitro </it>have been documented. We aim to determine whether bilobalide affects the 5-HT system in the nematode <it>C. elegans</it>. The wild type worms, as well as well-characterized 5-HT mutants, were fed with bilobalide in a range of concentrations, and several 5-HT controlled behaviors were tested.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed that bilobalide significantly inhibited 5-HT-controlled egg-laying behavior in a dose-dependent manner, which was blocked in the 5-HT receptor mutants (<it>ser-4, mod-1</it>), but not in the 5-HT transporter (<it>mod-5</it>) or synthesis (<it>tph-1</it>) mutants. Bilobalide also potentiated a 5-HT-controlled, experience-dependent locomotory behavior, termed the enhanced slowing response in the wild type animals. However, this effect was fully blocked in 5-HT receptor <it>mod-1 </it>and dopamine defective <it>cat-2 </it>mutants, but only partially blocked in <it>ser-4 </it>mutants. We also demonstrated that acetylcholine transmission was inhibited in a transgenic <it>C. elegans </it>strain that constitutively expresses Aβ, and bilobalide did not significantly affect this inhibition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that bilobalide may modulate specific 5-HT receptor subtypes, which involves interplay with dopamine transmission. Additional studies for the function of bilobalide in neurotransmitter systems could aid in our understanding of its neuroprotective properties.</p

Cancer risk in persons with HIV/AIDS in India: a review and future directions for research

Background India has a large and evolving HIV epidemic. Little is known about cancer risk in Indian persons with HIV/AIDS (PHA) but risk is thought to be low. Methods To describe the state of knowledge about cancer patterns in Indian PHA, we reviewed reports from the international and Indian literature. Results As elsewhere, non-Hodgkin lymphomas dominate the profile of recognized cancers, with immunoblastic/large cell diffuse lymphoma being the most common type. Hodgkin lymphoma is proportionally increased, perhaps because survival with AIDS is truncated by fatal infections. In contrast, Kaposi sarcoma is rare, in association with an apparently low prevalence of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. If confirmed, the reasons for the low prevalence need to be understood. Cervical, anal, vulva/vaginal and penile cancers all appear to be increased in PHA, based on limited data. The association may be confounded by sexual behaviors that transmit both HIV and human papillomavirus. Head and neck tumor incidence may also be increased, an important concern since these tumors are among the most common in India. Based on limited evidence, the increase is at buccal/palatal sites, which are associated with tobacco and betel nut chewing rather than human papillomavirus. Conclusion With improving care of HIV and better management of infections, especially tuberculosis, the longer survival of PHA in India will likely increase the importance of cancer as a clinical problem in India. With the population's geographic and social diversity, India presents unique research opportunities that can be embedded in programs targeting HIV/AIDS and other public health priorities

Genome-scale modeling of yeast: chronology, applications and critical perspectives

Over the last 15 years, several genome-scale metabolic models (GSMMs) were developed for different yeast species, aiding both the elucidation of new biological processes and the shift toward a bio-based economy, through the design of in silico inspired cell factories. Here, an historical perspective of the GSMMs built over time for several yeast species is presented and the main inheritance patterns among the metabolic reconstructions are highlighted. We additionally provide a critical perspective on the overall genome-scale modeling procedure, underlining incomplete model validation and evaluation approaches and the quest for the integration of regulatory and kinetic information into yeast GSMMs. A summary of experimentally validated model-based metabolic engineering applications of yeast species is further emphasized, while the main challenges and future perspectives for the field are finally addressedThis work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of a Ph.D. grant (PD/BD/52336/2013), of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01–0145FEDER-006684) and also in the context of the EU-funded initiative ERA-NET for Industrial Biotechnology (ERA-IB-2/0003/2013), in addition to the BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01–0145FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio