Inconsistent Case Research Articles

The blind HR: Why do people leave managers not companies? A case of inconsistency in performance appraisal and performance outcome

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: to benchmark and compare the theoretical models of the performance management and appraisal processes. (Questions 1 and 2) Remembering-in Bloom’s Taxonomy; to understand the importance of practicing fair performance appraisal process. (Question 4) Understanding-in Bloom’s Taxonomy; to analyze the implementation and effectiveness of 180-degree performance appraisal method and rating system prevalent in the IT Sector. (Question 1) Applying and Analyzing-in Bloom’s Taxonomy; to assess the impact of perceptual biases on human behavior and performance (Questions 2 and 3) Evaluating-in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Case overview/synopsis The case study entitled “Is HR Blind? Why do People Leave Managers Not Companies? A Case of Unfair Performance Appraisal and Biases” is a classic example of a flawed and biased performance appraisal process and perceptual biasness, which resulted in the loss of a valuable and talented resource in a leading Indian IT MNC. The present case had been based upon the real-life experience of an employee (i.e. Rahul Verma), who worked with the company from year 2010 to 2021. It was among the top ten IT MNCs employing about 0.1 million people. The objective of the case was to highlight real time issues existing with HR practices, mainly in IT sector organizations. For example, in the present case, do the HR seek proper justification from the manager before taking a harsh decision like forcibly asking an employee to sign a termination contract without looking at the contributions of his qualitative performance or even performance rating (refer to the transcript) for that matter? Was the job of the HR to only ensure how to fit in employees in the faulty bell curve system? Whether the performance appraisal system being followed at the company is adequately capable of identifying and recognizing the talent. Do the different functions really work cohesively and organically toward achieving the intended goals and objectives of the organization? Was this a failure of the manager in recognizing talent or something went wrong at the employee’s part? Was this a failure of the entire HR system or performance management process at the organization that was unable to filter out the capable and skilled resources out of the crowd? Was this a problem of organizational culture that put on stake its most critical resource – the human capital – by allowing the appraisers to evaluate them just because of the hierarchical structure, and not because they are not being competent enough to perform this most critical job objectively? Who ensures the appraiser is free from any kind of prejudice or bias and is capable of fairly assessing the talent resource? So, the present case was a deliberate attempt to throw out these burning questions to the practitioners and students to ponder upon. Does HR really follow the blind process merely acting on the feedback received from the different units of the organization? With the help of strong theoretical foundation and practical applications, the following objectives and questions have been framed to deliberate and propose the workable solutions for the benefits of the relevant stakeholders. Complexity academic level HR practitioners, HR managers, supervisors, senior management and HR students, IT heads, project managers. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Incidence of public health surveillance-reported Clostridioides difficile infections in thirteen countries worldwide: A narrative review

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Data from public health surveillance systems are important for estimating country-level CDI burden. CDI surveillance can be population-based or hospital-based. Population-based surveillance results in overall estimates of CDI incidence (cases per 100,000 population-per-year), and hospital-based surveillance results in estimates of hospital-based CDI incidence (cases per 10,000 patient-days) or CDI admission rates (cases per 1,000 admissions). We sought to better understand temporal trends in CDI incidence reported in publicly available surveillance data worldwide and describe varying surveillance methods. We identified 13 countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania with publicly available population-based and/or hospital-based CDI surveillance data in online reports and/or dashboards. Additional countries in Europe, in particular, also conduct hospital-based CDI surveillance. Inconsistent CDI case definitions and surveillance approaches between countries limit the interpretability of multi-country comparisons. Nonetheless, publicly available CDI surveillance data enabled us to compare CDI incidence among countries with population-based and/or hospital-based surveillance systems and to describe trends in CDI incidence within countries over time. The highest CDI incidence is in the United States. While there have been recent declines in CDI incidence in all countries, the CDI burden remains high, and the need persists for CDI prevention strategies in communities and healthcare settings.

Abstract PO4-26-09: The Advantage of Artificial-Intelligence in HER2 IHC 0 and 1+ Scoring in Breast Cancer

Abstract Background: Trastuzumab deruxtecan has substantially changed the treatment of HER2-low breast cancer, emphasizing the need for accurate differentiation between HER2 immunohistochemistry (IHC) scores of 0 and 1+. However, the current accuracy of HER2 IHC 0 and 1+ scoring in real-world is inadequate. Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a potential solution to improve interpretation accuracy. We developed an AI algorithm based on whole slide images (WSI) to quantitatively assess HER2 expression and its role in interpreting HER2 IHC scores of 0 and 1+. Methods: Our three-phase AI analysis framework involved segmenting tumor areas (excluding ductal carcinoma in situ), detecting and classifying tumor cells based on membrane staining patterns, and grading HER2 IHC scores according to the 2018 ASCO/CAP HER2 guideline. The AI tool was trained using 6012 patches annotated by experienced pathologists. Performance evaluation was conducted using a test dataset comprising 265 slides. A total of 141 HER2 IHC slides (27 IHC 0 and 114 IHC 1+) from patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center in 2021 were included. Two pretrained expert pathologists independently rescored the HER2 slides, followed by analysis using the AI tool. All inconsistent cases were also reviewed by a third senior pathologist. Interobserver agreement between the pathologists and concordance between the pathologists and the AI interpretation results were assessed. We also explored potential ranges where HER2 interpretation by pathologists exhibited inconsistency or inaccuracy. Results: The HER2 AI algorithm showed high performance in interpreting all levels of HER2 expression, with an overall kappa value of 0.85. For HER2 IHC 0 and 1+ cases, the AI model demonstrated high sensitivities (0.839 and 0.914) and specificities (0.983 and 0.890) (Table 1). After the rescoring process, 51 cases were reclassified as IHC 0 and 90 cases as IHC 1+. The overall agreement rate between the historical and re-scoring results was 73.05% (103/141). The agreement rate between the AI and re-scoring results was 91.49% (129/141) (Table 2), indicating comparable interpretation capabilities between the AI model and well-trained pathologists. The interobserver agreement between the two pathologists was 83.69% (118/141), with agreement rates of 88.23% (45/51) for IHC 0 and 81.11% (73/90) for IHC 1+. Analyzing the inconsistent cases (n=12) between IHC 0 and IHC 1+, we examined the percentage of weak and incomplete expression provided by the AI. In 9 out of 12 cases, the AI provided the same results as the third senior pathologist, suggesting that AI could assist in interpretation within this range. We identified a range of 2.83% to 24.98% as a "grey-zone," where even well-trained pathologists provided inconsistent results. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates the excellent performance of an AI-based tool for scoring HER2 IHC 0 and 1+. The AI model exhibits comparable capabilities to well-trained pathologists in interpreting HER2 expression. Additionally, we identified a "grey-zone" among pathologists, highlighting the limitations of manual subjective interpretation. AI assistance within this zone may help mitigate subjective variations. Table 1. Correlation between pathologist read and AI read of HER2 immunohistochemistry. Table 2. Correlation between pathologist rescoring and AI read of HER2 immunohistochemistry. Citation Format: Ming Li, Hong Lv, Yizhi Zhao, Chenglu Zhu, Hansheng Li, Mingzhen Lin, Wen-Tao Yang. The Advantage of Artificial-Intelligence in HER2 IHC 0 and 1+ Scoring in Breast Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO4-26-09.

Pharmacological treatment of ectopic pregnancy: Accuracy, safety and cost-effectiveness of day 1-7 β-hCG measurements.

The aim of the present study was to compare accuracy, safety and cost-effectiveness of three β-hCG measurements protocols, applied in managing ectopic pregnancies (EP) with methotrexate (MTX): (1) day 1 to 7 β-hCG levels, (2) day 1 to 4 β-hCG levels and (3) day 4 to 7 β-hCG levels. Cost-minimization analysis (CMA) based on a retrospective study of patients treated with single-dose MTX for EP, was evaluated at a single institution between January 2001 to May 2021. Successful MTX treatment was defined as no surgical intervention. We evaluated safety by analyzing cases of day 4 interventions and cases of inconsistency between the different protocols. Predicting accuracy was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curve. A total of 229 patients with single dose MTX treatment were included. Overall, 184 (80.3%) patients were treated successfully with a single dose of MTX. For days 1 and 7 the optimal cutoff point was 7% reduction in β-hCG levels with sensitivity, specificity and PPV of 76.6% (69.9-82.5, 95% CI), 75.5% (60.5-87.1, 95% CI) and 92.8% (88.4-95.6, 95% CI), respectively. There was no significant difference between the protocols' AUC. None of the patients had any change of management during their day 4 visit in our 20 years of records. The cost for each visit day (day 4 and 7) was calculated with a total cost of 251 USD per patient. Patients treated with MTX for EP, measurement of day 1 and day 7 β-hCG serum levels has a cost minimization advantage and is not inferior to the traditional protocol for predictive accuracy and safety.

Fair Use and the Judicial Search for Meaning

Are courts capable of deciphering the true meanings of artworks? Is it reasonable for them to try? Recent litigation between the Warhol Foundation and the photographer Lynn Goldsmith brought these questions into sharp focus. Fair use, the limited exception to the otherwise exclusive property rights granted to copyright owners, requires courts to assess the meaning of a secondary work so that they can determine whether the secondary use is sufficiently “transformative” to qualify for the fair use defense. Warhol used Goldsmith’s photo of Prince as the basis for his silkscreen, which he called the Orange Prince. Was it infringing, or was it fair use? What did Warhol’s work mean? Despite the centrality of this doctrinal question in all fair use disputes, neither courts nor scholars have ever devised a methodology for assessing new meaning. The theoretical vacuum has led to unpredictable and inconsistent case law. Warhol provided the Supreme Court with a rare opportunity to sharpen methodology, but the Court declined, leaving a pernicious theoretical gap at the heart of the fair use doctrine. This Article provides a much-needed judicial basis for assessing new meaning. By weaving together doctrinal analysis—with insights drawn from existing case law—and art theory, the Article provides a framework that courts can utilize to determine whether new meaning exists. First, the Article proposes a methodology that allows courts to determine whether there is new meaning without forcing judges to try to find—in vain—what a work of art “really” means, a doctrinal and theoretical dead end that, to date, has yielded painfully inconsistent case law. Second, the proposed methodology not only relieves judges from the impossible task of figuring out what a work of art means, but also provides a clearer standard for when new meaning is transformative. Third, the suggested standard for transformativeness provides a useful method for finding a healthy balance between free speech and economic rights, which are inevitably at odds with each other in fair use disputes. By recognizing that creative works have unique interpretive demands and that the judge’s role should be to inquire into meaning rather than to legislate it, the Article provides our courts—as well as fair use practitioners—with a clearer path forward than our current jurisprudence allows.

Online State of Health Estimation for Series-Connected LiFePO₄ Battery Pack Based on Differential Voltage and Inconsistency Analysis

Low-complexity and accurate state of health estimation of series-connected batteries has always been a difficult problem to solve in a well-designed battery management system. Lithium iron phosphate battery has been widely used as energy storage carrier due to its better safety and longer cycle life. In this paper, we proposed an online state of health estimation method for lithium iron phosphate battery pack based on differential voltage and inconsistency analysis. According to the aging mechanism of lithium iron phosphate battery, the region capacity in differential voltage curve is extracted as health feature to establish an aging model. Furthermore, all four inconsistency cases that affect pack capacity are analyzed, and the calculation formulas are concluded relying only on three representative battery modules, thereby reducing the computational burden. The pack capacity is estimated to verify the feasibility of the proposed method at different aging cycles. The estimation errors of the state of health of eight in-pack battery modules are less than 2%, and further the maximum error for the battery pack is only 2.27% in all aging cycles. In addition, the maximum error of the state of health for the other battery pack is only slightly over 1% at different inconsistencies.

Definition of the city in the legal aspect of urban development

The article provides a general overview of the definition of a city in the legal aspect of urban development. The relevance of the study is due to the lack of a generally accepted legally fixed definition of a city at the federal level, the variety of interpretations of this concept at the regional level and the identified cases of inconsistency of administrative boundaries with real urban boundaries. This leads to the fact that the established categories of settlements are often a reflection of administrative management, rather than the real spatial structure; there is no clear understanding of the degree of real urbanization of Russia and the number of cities in it. The study examines cases of inconsistency between the administrative boundaries of cities and their actual spatial characteristics. The object of the study is the definition of the city, the subject of the study is the representation of the concept of the city in the legislation regulating urban development.The article analyzes the upper-level regulations, laws on the administrative and territorial structure of various subjects of the Russian Federation, and statistical data. Various approaches to the concept of a city in the legislation on the administrative-territorial structure of the subjects of the Russian Federation are identified and the signs of classifying a settlement as a city contained in them are considered. It is established that the definition of a city in the legal field is vague, its urban planning and spatial planning aspects are lost. The city ceases to be considered as a real physical space and is replaced by administrative-territorial and municipal categories. It is necessary to develop a unified conceptual framework and criteria fixed at the federal level for classifying settlements as urban, taking into account regional peculiarities. The development of a unified methodology for determining the criteria of urban structure based on spatial characteristics will help determine the number of cities in Russia and determine the real degree of urbanization of the country.

Beyond the Business Case for Responsible Artificial Intelligence: Strategic CSR in Light of Digital Washing and the Moral Human Argument

This paper, normative in nature and scope, addresses the perks and limits of the strategic CSR approach when confronted with current debates on the ethics of artificial intelligence, responsible artificial intelligence, and sustainable technology in business organizations. The paper summarizes the classic arguments underpinning the “business case” for the social responsibility of businesses and the main moral arguments for responsible and sustainable behavior in light of recent technological ethical challenges. Both streams are confronted with organizational ethical dilemmas arising in designing and deploying artificial intelligence, yielding tensions between social and economic goals. While recognizing the effectiveness of the business argument for responsible behavior in artificial intelligence, the paper addresses some of its main limits, particularly in light of the “digital washing” phenomenon. Exemplary cases of digital washing and corporate inconsistencies here discussed are taken from the literature on the topic and re-assessed in light of the proposed normative approach. Hence, the paper proposes to overcome some limits of the business case for CSR applied to AI, which mainly focuses on compliance and reputational risks and seeks returns in digital washing, by highlighting the normative arguments supporting a moral case for strategic CSR in AI. This work contributes to the literature on business ethics and strategic CSR at its intertwining with the ethics of AI by proposing a normative point of view on how to deploy the moral case in organizations when dealing with AI-related ethical dilemmas. It does so by critically reviewing the state-of-the-art studies on the debate, which, so far, contain different streams of research, and adding to such a body of literature what is here identified and labeled as the “human argument”.

Current Procedural Terminology Code Selection, Attitudes, and Practices of the Orthopaedic Surgery Resident Case Log: A Survey of Residents and Program Directors.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Resident Case Log is one of the primary tools used to track surgical experience. Owing to the self-reported nature of case logging, there is uncertainty in the consistency and accuracy of case logging. The aims of this study are two-fold: to assess current resident case log Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code selection and practices across orthopaedic surgery residencies and to understand current attitudes of both program directors (PD) and residents surrounding case logging. Residents and PDs from 18 residency programs received standardized, consensus-built surveys distributed through the Collaborative Orthopaedic Educational Research Group. Resident surveys additionally contained clinical orthopaedic subspecialties vignettes on sports, trauma, and spine. Each subspecialty section contained 4 clinical vignettes with stepwise increases in complexity/CPT coding procedures. One hundred sixteen residents (response rate: 28.4%) and 16 PDs (response rate: 88.9%) participated. Formal case log training was reported by 53.0% of residents and 56.3% of PDs. A total of 7.8% of residents rated themselves "excellent" at applying CPT codes for the case log, while 0.0% PDs rated their residents' ability as "excellent." In total, 40.9% of residents and 81.3% of PDs responded that it was "extremely important" or "very important" to code accurately (p = 0.006). Agreement between resident CPT code selection and number of cases and procedures logged for each clinical vignette was conducted using Fleiss' kappa. As the clinical vignettes increased in complexity, there was a decreasing trend in kappa values from the first (least complex) to the last (most complex) clinical vignette. The inconsistent case logging practices, dubious outlook on case log accuracy and resident case logging ability and attitude, and lack of formal training signals a need for formal, standardized case log training. Enhanced case logging instruction and formalized educational training for PDs and residents would be a meaningful step toward capturing true operative experience, which would have a substantial impact on orthopaedic surgery resident education and assessment.

Comparison of different criteria for estimating major pathological response in resectable non-small cell lung cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy

BackgroundMajor pathological response (MPR) is proposed as a surrogate endpoint for survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. However, the criteria for estimating MPR differ between the recommendations of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and the immune-related pathologic response criterion (irPRC). IASLC's criteria focus solely on evaluating the primary tumor, while irPRC's criteria encompass both the primary tumor and lymph node metastasis. Our objective is to compare the prognostic value of different criteria for estimating MPR. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study on a cohort of 235 patients with NSCLC after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. The survival endpoint was event-free survival (EFS). The MPR status of each patient was evaluated using both IASLC's criteria and irPRC's criteria. The prognostic value was compared using the Area Under Curve (AUC). ResultsThe MPR rates were 63.4 % (149/235) and 57.4 % (135/235) according to IASLC's and irPRC's criteria, respectively. Inconsistent cases, characterized by MPR status according to IASLC's criteria but non-MPR status according to irPRC's criteria, constituted 6.0 % (14/235) of the overall cohort and 15.2 % (14/92) of patients with pretreatment N positive disease. Interestingly, all inconsistent patients showed no recurrence during the study period. Although both MPR statuses according to IASLC (p = 0.00039) and irPRC (p = 0.0094) were associated with improved EFS, IASLC's criteria (AUC = 0.65) were superior to irPRC's criteria (AUC = 0.62) with a higher AUC value. ConclusionIASLC's criteria for estimating MPR were superior to irPRC's criteria in predicting EFS for NSCLC after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy.

Cultivation of Schwann cells from fresh and non-fresh adult equine peripheral nerves

BackgroundOver the past 25 years, acquired equine polyneuropathy (AEP) has emerged as a neurological disease in Scandinavian horses. This condition is characterized by histopathological features including the presence of Schwann cell (SC) inclusions. Cultivated equine SCs would serve as a valuable resource for investigations of factors triggering this Schwannopathy. Ideally, cells should be sampled for cultivation from fresh nerves immediately after death of the animal, however the availability of fresh material is limited, due to the inconsistent case load and the inherent technical and practical challenges to collection of samples in the field. This study aimed to cultivate SCs from adult equine peripheral nerves and assess their ability to survive in sampled nerve material over time to simulate harvesting of SCs in field situations. New methodsPeripheral nerves from five non-neurological horses were used. After euthanasia, both fresh and non-fresh nerve samples were harvested from each horse. Flow cytometry was employed to confirm the cellular identity and to determine the SC purity. ResultsThe results revealed successful establishment of SC cultures from adult equine peripheral nerves, with the potential to achieve high SC purity from both fresh and non-fresh nerve samples. Comparison with existing methodWhile most SC isolation methods focus on harvest of cells from fresh nerve materials from laboratory animals, our approach highlights the possibility of utilizing SC cultures from field-harvested and transported nerve samples from horses. ConclusionsWe describe a method for isolating SCs with high purity from both fresh and non-fresh peripheral nerves of adult horses.

The perplexities of E-Discovery in the Indian healthcare system - A narrative review  

With the rapid advances in medical technology and the digitization of healthcare systems, the importance of collecting and analyzing digital evidence in the medical field has grown significantly. This evidence plays a crucial role in investigating medical malpractice cases and preparing for legal proceedings in India. As medical devices and electronic health records become more prevalent, vast amounts of data are generated, stored, and accessed. While having substantial evidence to support medical claims is beneficial, it is essential to find a balance between retrieving and admitting digital evidence while respecting patient privacy. This article examines the use of electronic evidence in Indian medical litigation, the challenges it presents, and the initiatives taken to manage these challenges. However, the absence of clear legal guidelines on electronic discovery in medical cases exacerbates the problem. Medical procedure rules often fail to address electronic discovery, resulting in inconsistent case law across different courts in India and the world. Consequently, healthcare practitioners are left to develop ad hoc solutions through informal discussions and negotiations. Thus, this paper highlights the necessity for a comprehensive legal framework and active judicial management to handle electronic discovery in the medical domain.

ISDS 2.0: time for a doctrine of precedent?

Abstract The reform process for ISDS at UNCITRAL is reaching its climax. Within the next few years, a treaty for ‘ISDS 2.0’ should emerge from this process. A key feature of ISDS 2.0 will be a new international court for resolving investor–state disputes. This court should include an appellate tribunal. A core function of this appellate tribunal will be to produce consistent case law, noting a common complaint about ‘ISDS 1.0’ is that it has produced inconsistent case law. There is good reason to believe that the appellate tribunal of ISDS 2.0 can deliver consistent case law, but the promoters behind ISDS 2.0 need to be careful what they wish for. The WTO dispute settlement system produced consistent case law, yet that achievement turned out to be a reason for its subsequent breakdown. Consistent case law apparently sounds good in theory, but it is not welcome in practice. Is there a way out of this conundrum? This article proposes that a formal doctrine of precedent is the solution. This proposal might initially provoke some surprise—a softer system of precedent is apparently the best compromise. But a doctrine of precedent can be crafted to limit adjudicative law-making power, while emphasizing states’ control over their investment–treaty obligations. This article puts forward the broad outline of this conception of a doctrine of precedent, explains why it gives effect to states’ interests, and examines the methods by which a doctrine of precedent could be adopted.

Taxonomy and phylogeny of some geophilic Umbelliferae - Apioideae genera based on anatomical, morphological and molecular data

The paper provides an overview of the concordance between molecular (nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS) and morphological data in the group of geophilic Umbelliferae of Middle Asia, which includes the genera Elwendia, Elaeosticta, Hyalolaena, Galagania, Oedibasis, Mogoltavia and Gongylotaxis. In general, a good consistency of data of different types can be observed. At the same time, at some levels of the taxonomic hierarchy, the consistency between morphological and molecular data looks much higher than at others. The identification of the group of geophilic Umbelliferae agrees much better with molecular data than the boundaries between genera within it and the proposed intrageneric groupings. Some observed cases of inconsistency, such as the position of Hyalolaena melanorrhiza among the species of the genus Elaeosticta and the polyphyly of the genera Hyalolaena and Oedibasis, are rather difficult to explain from a morphological point of view, only from a biogeography.

The Block Landweber Iterative Method for Light Field Reconstruction from a Focal Stack

Light field imaging involves reconstructing a 4D light field from a 3D focal stack, which makes it challenging to reconstruct the light field from incomplete projection data. To address this problem, a linear projection system is established to model the focal stack imaging process using discrete refocusing equations. Based on this system, we propose the block Landweber iterative method to find the least-squares solution. This method computes the sparse matrix while iterating, which overcomes the problem of data storage. The 2-norm of the block matrix is utilized as the weighted matrix to normalize every block matrix on an identical scale, delivering an effective relaxation strategy under the convergence condition in the inconsistent case, which yields better reconstruction results and accelerates the convergence speed. The experimental results based on the image quality assessments of reference and non-reference images show that our method achieved better reconstruction results compared to other relevant common methods, even with fewer focal stacks and higher angle resolution.

Relaxation strategy for the block Landweber method

The block Landweber iteration is a general method for the solution of linear systems which is widely applied for image reconstructions. The convergence behavior of the block Landweber iteration is of both theoretical and practical importance. When the linear system is consistent, we derive a neat iterative representation and find an optimal relaxation coefficient by minimizing the 2-norm of the newly derived iteration matrix in the range of the conjugate transpose of the corresponding block matrix. We also establish the accelerating convergence relaxation strategies based on the maximum eigenvalue of each block matrix. When the linear system is inconsistent, we normalize each block matrix by the 2-norms of the each weighted block matrix at a uniform scale to give the relaxation strategies. The numerical simulations show that the relaxation strategies proposed for the block Landweber iteration in both consistent and inconsistent cases in this paper have the better reconstruction performances. Compared with the Landweber iteration, the block Landweber iteration has superiority in reconstruction results.

Can we forecast poor outcome in herpes simplex and varicella zoster encephalitis? A narrative review.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) and varicella zoster virus (VZV) are among the most commonly diagnosed infectious causes of sporadic encephalitis worldwide. Despite treatment, mortality and morbidity rates remain high, especially for HSV encephalitis. This review is intended to provide an overview of the existing scientific literature on this topic from the perspective of a clinician who is confronted with serious decisions about continuation or withdrawal of therapeutic interventions. We performed a literature review searching two databases and included 55 studies in the review. These studies documented or investigated specifically outcome and predictive parameters of outcome of HSV and/or VZV encephalitis. Two reviewers independently screened and reviewed full-text articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Key data were extracted and presented as a narrative summary. Both, HSV and VZV encephalitis have mortality rates between 5 and 20% and complete recovery rates range from 14 to 43% for HSV and 33 to 49% for VZV encephalitis. Prognostic factors for both VZV and HSV encephalitis are older age and comorbidity, as well as severity of disease and extent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesions on admission, and delay in treatment initiation for HSV encephalitis. Although numerous studies are available, the main limiting factors are the inconsistent patient selection and case definitions as well as the non-standardised outcome measures, which hampers the comparability of the studies. Therefore, larger and standardised observational studies applying validated case definitions and outcome measures including quality of life assessment are required to provide solid evidence to answer the research question.

Assessment of the Physico-Chemical Conformity of an Antiseptic Solution: Case of Polyvidone - Iodine 10%

Introduction: Antiseptics have been used for many years in human and veterinary medicine. Over the years, the lengthening of surgical procedures in human surgery and the increasingly frequent use of inert material has increased the risk of infections. This was why skin antisepsis has become very important in the prevention of infections of the surgical wound and resulting complications. In Mali, at the Gabriel Touré University Hospital, the most prescribed family of antiseptics was the halogenated ones, in particular 10% povidone iodine for wound and surgical site antisepsis. This study was aimed to control the quality of 10% povidone iodine used in the hospital. Methodology: We conducted at the Medicines Quality Control Service of the National Health Laboratory of Mali (LNS) a retrospective analytical study on the quality control of 10% povidone iodine. We obtained 10% povidone iodine samples from the Pharmacie Populaire du Mali (PPM). We analyzed 48 batches of samples in regards of visual inspection, average volume, titrimetry, colorimetric test and pH control. Results: All 48 analyzed batches were compliant, i.e. contained the active ingredient and could be used in health facilities or at home as an antiseptic. Conclusion: All analyzed batches of 10% povidone iodine samples did not show any cases of inconsistency and therefore could be used in the management of wound dressings. Future Direction: Use other analytical methods like HPLC to test the quality control of povidone and other types of antiseptics.
 Keywords: antiseptic, povidone-iodine 10%, compliance, quality control

A first look at consistency of documentation across care settings during emergency transitions of long-term care residents

BackgroundDocumentation during resident transitions from long-term care (LTC) to the emergency department (ED) can be inconsistent, leading to inappropriate care. Inconsistent documentation can lead to undertreatment, inefficiencies and adverse patient outcomes. Many individuals residing in LTC have some form of cognitive impairment and may not be able to advocate for themselves, making accurate and consistent documentation vital to ensuring they receive safe care. We examined documentation consistency related to reason for transfer across care settings during these transitions.MethodsWe included residents of LTC aged 65 or over who experienced an emergency transition from LTC to the ED via emergency medical services. We used a standardized and pilot-tested tracking tool to collect resident chart/patient record data. We collected data from 38 participating LTC facilities to two participating EDs in Western Canadian provinces. Using qualitative directed content analysis, we categorized documentation from LTC to the ED by sufficiency and clinical consistency.ResultsWe included 591 eligible transitions in this analysis. Documentation was coded as consistent, inconsistent, or ambiguous. We identified the most common reasons for transition for consistent cases (falls), ambiguous cases (sudden change in condition) and inconsistent cases (falls). Among inconsistent cases, three subcategories were identified: insufficient reporting, potential progression of a condition during transition and unclear reasons for inconsistency.ConclusionsShared continuing education on documentation across care settings should result in documentation supports geriatric emergency care; on-the-job training needs to support reporting of specific signs and symptoms that warrant an emergent response, and discourage the use of vague descriptors.

An improved multiplicative acceptability consistency-driven group decision making with triangular fuzzy reciprocal preference relations

Triangular fuzzy reciprocal preference relation (TFRPR) is one of the most effective tools to express the vague and uncertain preferences of decision makers in group decision making (GDM). Consistency of TFRPRs is a crucial premise for reasonable and reliable decision-making. To do so, this study develops an improved multiplicative acceptability consistency-driven GDM with TFRPRs. By analyzing the composition of TFRPRs, a multiplicative consistency index and the corresponding threshold are defined to measure whether a TFRPR is acceptably consistent. The consistency measurement reflects the essential traits of triangular fuzzy numbers, which fully considers the multiplicative consistency of modal values and the multiplicative consistency of geometric mean based on central tendency. Subsequently, three inconsistent TFRPR cases are analyzed, and the algorithm based on mathematical derivation and a linear programming model is presented to repair the inconsistency of TFRPRs. As per the multiplicative acceptability consistency degree (MACD) of TFRPRs, an MACD-induced ordered weighted averaging (MACD-IOWA) operator is proposed to aggregate individual TFRPRs into group TFRPR. The essence principle is that the larger the MACD value, the higher the decision maker’s weight. Finally, a case study, comparative analysis and discussions are given to verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed methods.