8,812 research outputs found
The potential negative impact of antibiotic pack on antibiotic stewardship in primary care in Switzerland: a modelling study.
BACKGROUND: In Switzerland, oral antibiotics are dispensed in packs rather than by exact pill-count. We investigated whether available packs support compliance with recommended primary care treatment regimens for common infections in children and adults. METHODS: Hospital-based guidelines for oral community -based treatment of acute otitis media, sinusitis, tonsillopharyngitis, community-acquired pneumonia and afebrile urinary tract infection were identified in 2017 in an iterative process by contacting hospital pharmacists and infectious diseases specialists. Furthermore, newly available national guidelines published in 2019 were reviewed. Available pack sizes for recommended solid, dispersible and liquid antibiotic formulations were retrieved from the Swiss pharmaceutical register and compared with recommended regimens to determine optimal (no leftovers) and adequate (optimal +/- one dose) matches. RESULTS: A large variety of recommended regimens were identified. For adults, optimal and adequate packs were available for 25/70 (36%) and 8/70 (11%) regimens, respectively. Pack-regimen matching was better for WHO Watch (optimal: 15/24, 63%) than Access antibiotics (optimal: 7/39, 18%). For the four paediatric weight-examples and 42 regimens involving child-appropriate formulations, optimal and adequate packs were available for only 14/168 (8%) and 27/168 (16%), respectively. Matching was better for older children with higher body and for longer treatment courses > 7 days. CONCLUSIONS: Fixed antibiotic packs often do not match recommended treatment regimens, especially for children, potentially resulting in longer than necessary treatments and leftover doses in the community. As part of national stewardship, a move to an exact pill-count system, including for child-appropriate solid formulations, should be considered
The Association between Vitamin D Receptor Expression and Prolonged Overall Survival in Breast Cancer.
Summary
In this study, we analyzed vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression and survival in a breast cancer patient cohort of 82 breast
cancer patients. Immunohistochemical analysis was possible in 91.5% of the patients (75/82). Staining was evaluated using the
semi-quantitative assay according to Remmele and Stegner (immunoreactivity score [IRS]). IRS 0–1 was negative/very low, IRS
2–4 was moderate to high, and IRS 6–12 was high. Statistical analysis was performed by Spearman’s correlation test (p<0.05
significant). Overall survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimations. Only 6 patients had a negative IRS. Moderate IRS
values were present in 20 patients. Most of the patients had a high IRS (49). For survival analysis, data were dichotomized
(IRS 0–4: negative to moderate and IRS 6–12: high VDR expression). In univariate analysis, VDR expression showed significant
differences in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Patients with high IRS scores showed significantly better
PFS and OS than patients with moderate/negative IRS scores for VDR expression. Tumor size was significantly correlated to
PFS. When analyzed separately, the three different IRS groups showed significant differences in VDR expression. The present
data suggest that VDR expression in breast cancer tissue may be of clinical significance, and the results provide evidence that
VDR may be a factor with prognostic relevance. (J Histochem Cytochem 60:121–129, 2012).
Keywords: breast cancer, vitamin D receptor, immunohistochemistry, prognosi
Discourse revisited : dimensions and employment of first-order strategy discourse during institutional adoption
Despite decades of research on strategy, we still know little about what the concept of strategy means to actual strategists and how they use it in practice. Working at the intersections of institutional and practice theories, we use exploratory interviews with strategy directors and a longitudinal case study to uncover four dimensions of first-order strategy discourse: functional, contextual, identity, and metaphorical. We also reveal three phases in the interrelation between first-order strategy discourse and institutional work: shaping, settling, and selling and a differential emphasis (selective focusing) on dimensions of the first-order strategy discourse during the institutional adoption process. We contribute to a deeper understanding of the concept of strategy in practice, the process of institutional adoption, and of the role of discourse in this process
Surface modification of hydrophobic polymers for improvement of endothelial cell-surface interactions
The aim of this study is to improve the interaction of endothelial cells with polymers used in vascular prostheses. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE; Teflon) films were treated by means of nitrogen and oxygen plasmas. Depending on the plasma exposure time, modified PTFE surfaces showed water-contact angles of 15¿58° versus 96° for unmodified PTFE. Electron spectroscopy in chemical analysis (ESCA) measurements revealed incorporation of both nitrogenand oxygen-containing groups into the PTFE surfaces, dependent on the plasma composition and exposure time. In-vitro biological evaluation of unmodified and modified PTFE surfaces showed that human endothelial cells, seeded from 20% human serum-containing culture medium, adhered well on to modified PTFE surfaces, but not on to unmodified films. Adhesion of endothelial cells on to expanded PTFE graft material (Gore-Tex) was also stimulated by plasma treatment of this substrate. On plasma-treated expanded PTFE, the adhering endothelial cells formed a monolayer, which covered the textured surface. The latter observation is important in view of the hemocompatibility of vascular grafts seeded with endothelial cells before implantation
Estimation of a probability in inverse binomial sampling under normalized linear-linear and inverse-linear loss
Sequential estimation of the success probability in inverse binomial
sampling is considered in this paper. For any estimator , its quality
is measured by the risk associated with normalized loss functions of
linear-linear or inverse-linear form. These functions are possibly asymmetric,
with arbitrary slope parameters and for
respectively. Interest in these functions is motivated by their significance
and potential uses, which are briefly discussed. Estimators are given for which
the risk has an asymptotic value as tends to , and which guarantee that,
for any in , the risk is lower than its asymptotic value. This
allows selecting the required number of successes, , to meet a prescribed
quality irrespective of the unknown . In addition, the proposed estimators
are shown to be approximately minimax when does not deviate too much from
, and asymptotically minimax as tends to infinity when .Comment: 4 figure
A new CP violating observable for the LHC
We study a new type of CP violating observable that arises in three body
decays that are dominated by an intermediate resonance. If two interfering
diagrams exist with different orderings of final state particles, the required
CP-even phase arises due to the different virtualities of the resonance in each
of the two diagrams. This method can be an important tool for accessing new CP
phases at the LHC and future colliders.Comment: 22 pages, v2: discussion of charged particle decays and a few
references added v3: typos corrected, matches published versio
Severe cutaneous toxicity following treatment with radiotherapy and cetuximab: a case report
While the addition of cetuximab to radiotherapy improves clinical outcomes in locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancers, there are a small number of reports of severe radiation dermatitis occurring with this therapeutic combination. We present the case of a 69 year old male who developed severe radiation dermatitis following treatment with cetuximab and radiotherapy for a locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer
Large microwave generation from d.c. driven magnetic vortex oscillators in magnetic tunnel junctions
Spin polarized current can excite the magnetization of a ferromagnet through
the transfer of spin angular momentum to the local spin system. This pure
spin-related transport phenomena leads to alluring possibilities for the
achievement of a nanometer scale, CMOS compatible and tunable microwave
generator operating at low bias for future wireless communications. Microwave
emission generated by the persitent motion of magnetic vortices induced by spin
transfer effect seems to be a unique manner to reach appropriate spectral
linewidth. However, in metallic systems, where such vortex oscillations have
been observed, the resulting microwave power is much too small. Here we present
experimental evidences of spin-transfer induced core vortex precessions in
MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions with similar good spectral quality but an
emitted power at least one order of magnitude stronger. More importantly,
unlike to others spin transfer excitations, the thorough comparison between
experimental results and models provide a clear textbook illustration of the
mechanisms of vortex precessions induced by spin transfer
- …