Exploring practical approaches to maximising data quality in electronic healthcare records in the primary care setting and associated benefits

Exploiting the information contained within electronic healthcare records (EHR) data will be key to addressing major challenges to public health both nationally and globally, ultimately offering a means of maximising efficiency and equality in care. There are, however, significant challenges in using EHRs effectively and particularly in ensuring the quality of data recorded. Incorrect or missing data could render records as useless or indeed misleading such that conclusions drawn from the data could have a negative impact. Amongst other difficulties, recording data can be time consuming to the extent of conflicting with the GP’s primary focus of patient consultation in an already time-constrained environment. Understanding the requirements of and the demands upon GPs must be central to addressing the issue of data quality (DQ) within EHRs. As part of on-going work into DQ at the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and in collaboration with the University of Sussex (UoS), a workshop session was held at the SAPC (Society for Academic Primary Care) conference in 2014 with the aim of exploring issues of DQ in primary care EHRs from the perspective of different users of GP data and with particular focus on how and why data is recorded in the first instance. The intended outcome was a furthered understanding of both the challenges and the direct benefits to GPs of ensuring high quality data with a view to establishing a workable approach to recording data and maximising benefits to all users of EHRs

The Separate Spheres of Women and Science

Through the 19th century ideology of separate spheres, Frankenstein shows how the exclusion of women from science is detrimental to science and destructive to society.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/frankenstein200_posters/1001/thumbnail.jp

The Separate Spheres of Women and Science

Through the 19th century ideology of separate spheres, Frankenstein shows how the exclusion of women from science is detrimental to science and destructive to society.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/frankenstein200_posters/1001/thumbnail.jp

Determining the effects of cattle grazing treatments on Yosemite toads (Anaxyrus [=Bufo] canorus) in montane meadows.

Amphibians are experiencing a precipitous global decline, and population stability on public lands with multiple uses is a key concern for managers. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains (California, USA), managers have specifically identified livestock grazing as an activity that may negatively affect Yosemite toads due to the potential overlap of grazing with toad habitat. Grazing exclusion from Yosemite toad breeding and rearing areas and/or entire meadows have been proposed as possible management actions to alleviate the possible impact of cattle on this species. The primary objective of this study was to determine if different fencing treatments affect Yosemite toad populations. We specifically examined the effect of three fencing treatments on Yosemite toad breeding pool occupancy, tadpoles, and young of the year (YOY). Our hypothesis was that over the course of treatment implementation (2006 through 2010), Yosemite toad breeding pool occupancy and early life stage densities would increase within two fencing treatments relative to actively grazed meadows due to beneficial changes to habitat quality in the absence of grazing. Our results did not support our hypothesis, and showed no benefit to Yosemite toad presence or early life stages in fenced or partially fenced meadows compared to standard USDA Forest Service grazing levels. We found substantial Yosemite toad variation by both meadow and year. This variation was influenced by meadow wetness, with water table depth significant in both the tadpole and YOY models

Intercellular Interactions in PC12 Cells Overexpressing Beta/A4 Amyloid

The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is an integral membrane component of eukaryotic cells. A variety of research approaches have addressed the contribution of the β amyloid peptide region of the APP to neuritic plaque structure and formation in the Alzheimer disease brain as well as the relationship between β amyloid accumulation and the occurrence of dementia. However, there is limited information available concerning the cellular consequences of amyloid deposition. The present studies were undertaken to investigate the relationship between β amyloid and intercellular junctions. Transfected PC12 cell lines, that overexpress the β amyloid peptide, exhibit structural and functional alterations at the cell surface and tend to form aggregates more readily than normal control cells. Intermediate junctions were the most common intercellular interactions of both normal and transfected cells. However, the control and transfected cells differed since areas of continuous and extensive junctions were readily seen in transfected cells and infrequently seen in control cells. The data suggest that excess accumulation of β amyloid is associated with the junctional apparatus and may be related to increased intercellular adhesion

Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A Viruses Are Resistant to the Antiviral Activities of Innate Immune Proteins of the Collectin and Pentraxin Superfamilies

Abstract Acquired immune responses elicited to recent strains of seasonal H1N1 influenza viruses provide limited protection against emerging A(H1N1) pandemic viruses. Accordingly, pre-existing or rapidly induced innate immune defenses are of critical importance in limiting early infection. Respiratory secretions contain proteins of the innate immune system, including members of the collectin and pentraxin superfamilies. These mediate potent antiviral activity and act as an initial barrier to influenza infection. In this study, we have examined the sensitivity of H1N1 viruses, including pandemic virus strains, for their sensitivity to collectins (surfactant protein [SP]-D and mannose-binding lectin [MBL]) and to the pentraxin PTX3. Human SP-D and MBL inhibited virus-induced hemagglutinating activity, blocked the enzymatic activity of the viral neuraminidase, and neutralized the ability of H1N1 viruses to infect human respiratory epithelial cells in a manner that correlated with the degree of glycosylation in the globular head of the hemagglutinin. Recent seasonal H1N1 viruses expressed three to four N-glycosylation sequons on the head of hemagglutinin and were very sensitive to inhibition by SP-D or MBL, whereas A(H1N1) pandemic viruses expressed a single N-glycosylation sequon and were resistant to either collectin. Of interest, both seasonal and pandemic H1N1 viruses were resistant to PTX3. Thus, unlike recent seasonal H1N1 strains of influenza virus, A(H1N1) pandemic viruses are resistant to the antiviral activities of innate immune proteins of the collectin superfamily

The Single-Case Reporting Guideline In BEhavioural Interventions (SCRIBE) 2016 statement

We developed a reporting guideline to provide authors with guidance about what should be reported when writing a paper for publication in a scientific journal using a particular type of research design: the single-case experimental design. This report describes the methods used to develop the Single-Case Reporting guideline In BEhavioural interventions (SCRIBE) 2016. As a result of 2 online surveys and a 2-day meeting of experts, the SCRIBE 2016 checklist was developed, which is a set of 26 items that authors need to address when writing about single-case research. This article complements the more detailed SCRIBE 2016 Explanation and Elaboration article (Tate et al., 2016) that provides a rationale for each of the items and examples of adequate reporting from the literature. Both these resources will assist authors to prepare reports of single-case research with clarity, completeness, accuracy, and transparency. They will also provide journal reviewers and editors with a practical checklist against which such reports may be critically evaluated. We recommend that the SCRIBE 2016 is used by authors preparing manuscripts describing single-case research for publication, as well as journal reviewers and editors who are evaluating such manuscripts.Funding for the SCRIBE project was provided by the Lifetime Care and Support Authority of New South Wales, Australia. The funding body was not involved in the conduct, interpretation or writing of this work. We acknowledge the contribution of the responders to the Delphi surveys, as well as administrative assistance provided by Kali Godbee and Donna Wakim at the SCRIBE consensus meeting. Lyndsey Nickels was funded by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT120100102) and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders (CE110001021). For further discussion on this topic, please visit the Archives of Scientific Psychology online public forum at http://arcblog.apa.org. (Lifetime Care and Support Authority of New South Wales, Australia; FT120100102 - Australian Research Council Future Fellowship; CE110001021 - Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders)Published versio

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Intraspecific Inversions Pose a Challenge for the trnH-psbA Plant DNA Barcode

BACKGROUND: The chloroplast trnH-psbA spacer region has been proposed as a prime candidate for use in DNA barcoding of plants because of its high substitution rate. However, frequent inversions associated with palindromic sequences within this region have been found in multiple lineages of Angiosperms and may complicate its use as a barcode, especially if they occur within species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we evaluate the implications of intraspecific inversions in the trnH-psbA region for DNA barcoding efforts. We report polymorphic inversions within six species of Gentianaceae, all narrowly circumscribed morphologically: Gentiana algida, Gentiana fremontii, Gentianopsis crinita, Gentianopsis thermalis, Gentianopsis macrantha and Frasera speciosa. We analyze these sequences together with those from 15 other species of Gentianaceae and show that typical simple methods of sequence alignment can lead to misassignment of conspecifics and incorrect assessment of relationships. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Frequent inversions in the trnH-psbA region, if not recognized and aligned appropriately, may lead to large overestimates of the number of substitution events separating closely related lineages and to uniting more distantly related taxa that share the same form of the inversion. Thus, alignment of the trnH-psbA spacer region will need careful attention if it is used as a marker for DNA barcoding