High Frequency Of Contact Research Articles

Narrative Case Notes Have the Potential to Predict Seclusion 3 Days in Advance: A Mixed-Method Analysis.

Objectives: Current risk assessment tools can predict problematic behavior and the need for coercive measures, but only with a moderate level of accuracy. The aim of this study was to assess antecedents and triggers of seclusion.Methods: Narrative notes of health care professionals on psychiatric inpatients were analyzed daily starting 3 days prior to seclusion in the case group (n = 26) and compared to a matched control group without seclusion (n = 26) by use of quantitative and qualitative research methods, based on qualitative content analysis.Results: Quantitative measures showed more aggression in the case group with highly significant differences between the groups (p < 0.001) at all measurement times. Seclusion was significantly associated with the total word count of the narrative notes. Subjective emotional expressions by staff were more apparent before seclusion (p = 0.003). Most frequently, subjective expressions regarding “arduous/provocative” (p < 0.001) and “anxious” (p = 0.010) sentiments could be identified in the case group. Description of patients' behavior in the case group included more negatively assessed terms (p = 0.001). Moreover, sleep loss, refusing medication, high contact frequency, demanding behavior and denied requests were present in a significantly higher frequency before seclusion. Expressions like “threatening” (p = 0.001) were found only before seclusion and appeared to have the function of personal risk assessment. The expression “manageable” (p = 0.035) appeared often in difficult situations that could still be handled.Conclusion: Several factors preceding seclusion could be identified. Narrative notes of staff already showed differences 3 days before the escalation. Particularly the word count, the analysis of terms describing patients' behavior, subjective expressions of staff, and terms used as a function of personal risk assessment could help to provide better predictions of aggressive incidents and to prevent coercive measures.

Measuring social integration and tie strength with smartphone and survey data.

Recordings of smartphone use for contacts are increasingly being used as alternative or supplementary measurement methods for social interactions and social relations in the health sciences. Less work has been done to understand how these measures compare with widely used survey-based information. Using data from the Copenhagen Network Study, we investigated whether derived survey and smartphone measures on two widely studied concepts; Social integration and Tie strength were associated. The study population included 737 college students (mean age 21.6 years, Standard deviation: 2.6), who were followed with surveys and continuous recordings of smartphone usage over a one-month period. We derived self-reported and smartphone measures of social integration (social role diversity, social network size), and tie strength (contact frequency, duration and tie reciprocity). Logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between smartphone derived and self-reported measures adjusting for gender, age and co-habitation. Larger call and text message networks were associated with having a high self-reported social role diversity, and a high self-reported social contact frequency was likewise associated with having both frequent call and text message interactions, longer call duration and a higher level of reciprocity in call and text message communication. Self-reported aspects of social relations and smartphone measures of social interactions have considerable overlap supporting a measurement of similar underlying concepts.

Chromosome-level reference genome of the Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens, a model species for the study of aggression.

BackgroundSiamese fighting fish Betta splendens are notorious for their aggressiveness and accordingly have been widely used to study aggression. However, the lack of a reference genome has, to date, limited the understanding of the genetic basis of aggression in this species. Here, we present the first reference genome assembly of the Siamese fighting fish.FindingsFrist, we sequenced and de novo assembled a 465.24-Mb genome for the B. splendens variety Giant, with a weighted average (N50) scaffold size of 949.03 Kb and an N50 contig size of 19.01 Kb, covering 99.93% of the estimated genome size. To obtain a chromosome-level genome assembly, we constructed one Hi-C library and sequenced 75.24 Gb reads using the BGISEQ-500 platform. We anchored approximately 93% of the scaffold sequences into 21 chromosomes and evaluated the quality of our assembly using the high-contact frequency heat map and Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs. We also performed comparative chromosome analyses between Oryzias latipes and B. splendens, revealing a chromosome conservation evolution in B. splendens. We predicted 23,981 genes assisted by RNA-sequencing data generated from brain, liver, muscle, and heart tissues of Giant and annotated 15% repetitive sequences in the genome. Additionally, we resequenced five other B. splendens varieties and detected ∼3.4 M single-nucleotide variations and 27,305 insertions and deletions.ConclusionsWe provide the first chromosome-level genome for the Siamese fighting fish. The genome will lay a valuable foundation for future research on aggression in B. splendens.

Off-resonance intermittent contact mode multi-harmonic scanning force microscopy

A robust off-resonance intermittent contact mode scanning force microscopy technique suitable for operation under different environmental conditions is presented. The technique relies on a multi-channel lock-in amplifier to measure multiple high harmonic magnitudes and phases. For distance control, the fundamental harmonic magnitude is used. With this, high intermittent contact frequencies become feasible even with older atomic force microscope data acquisition systems with limited measurement bandwidths, provided high frequency tip-sample distance actuation techniques are used. Suitable higher harmonic magnitude images provide a qualitative materials' contrast. If a sufficiently high number of high harmonic magnitudes and phases are recorded, force-distance curves at all imaged points can be reconstructed. From fitting models of the contact mechanics to force versus tip-sample penetration data, the elastic modulus of the sample can be obtained.

A prospective analysis of unplanned patient-initiated contacts in an adult cystic fibrosis centre

BackgroundTimely response should be provided when patients contact the cystic fibrosis (CF) centre in between scheduled visits. Little data exist on unplanned patient-initiated contacts in CF adults. MethodsA two-stage prospective study was undertaken from 1 January to 31 December 2015 at Cochin Hospital, Paris (France). The first stage included all adults (≥18 years) who initiated unplanned contacts to the CF centre over four months. Four physicians and three nurses systematically recorded unplanned patient-initiated contacts. The data was analysed to determine why and how patients contacted the CF centre and time spent responding to their request(s). The second stage (one physician, three nurses) lasted twelve months and explored whether high contact frequency was associated with disease severity, using multivariate logistic regression. ResultsIn the first stage, 259 of 410 patients (63%) initiated at least one unplanned contact, corresponding to 1067 contacts over 4 months. Patients favoured email with physicians (61% of contacts) and telephone with nurses (87% of contacts). Total time spent by the 7 caregivers on providing responses was 8 h/work week. Reasons for contacting the CF centre varied greatly, but <20% of contacts were directly related to symptom management. In the second stage, 180 of 212 patients (85%) initiated 1876 contacts over 12 months. Factors associated with ≥5 contacts/year were female sex, FEV1 ≤ 30% predicted, ≥5 physician visits/year, and ≥ 1 hospital admission/year. ConclusionsAnswering unplanned patient-initiated contacts represented a significant workload for CF caregivers. Increased disease severity was associated with high contact frequency.

Central Coast growers' trust in water quality regulatory process needs rebuilding

Growing evidence of agricultural water pollution in California's Central Coast even after the implementation of tough water quality regulations has increased the pressure on regional stakeholders. Previous research has shown that collaborative relationships between growers and regulators can motivate growers to make management decisions that benefit the environment. However, informal evidence suggested trust might have been eroding between growers and the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (CCRWQCB, the regulator) since 2004, the year the first legislation went into effect. Using a survey conducted in 2015, interviews and in-depth document review, this study assesses growers' trust of and communication with other agricultural groups and water quality regulatory agencies, specifically CCRWQCB. Survey results were compared to results of the same survey sent out in 2006. Results corroborate other research — growers' trust of most regional agricultural groups was closely correlated with frequency of communication. However, growers' trust of CCRWQCB did not correspond to the relatively high contact frequency and had declined since 2006. The literature on rebuilding trust suggests ways forward for CCRWQCB.

The effect of the social networks of the elderly on housing choice in Korea

This study analyzes the effects of the social networks of the elderly on their independent living arrangements, residential mobility and housing tenure choice in Korea. Traditions of filial duty are still an important part of the familial social network of the elderly, but the relatively lower face-to-face meeting frequency and higher contact frequency with children by telephone and emails reflects changing family relationships in urbanized and Westernized societies. This study shows that the frequent and active social networks of the elderly could contribute to independent living of the elderly. The frequency of meeting with children results in more frequent moving among the elderly while frequent non-familial social networks make the elderly stay in their neighborhoods. The findings imply that supporting the non-familial social networks of the elderly could contribute to successful aging-in-place by helping the elderly maintain their residences independently in their neighborhoods.

Social relationships and GP use of middle-aged and older adults in Europe: a moderator analysis

ObjectivesThis paper investigates (1) how social relationships (SRs) relate to the frequency of general practitioner (GP) visits among middle-aged and older adults in Europe, (2) if SRs moderate the association...

ОЦЕНКА СОСТОЯНИЯ ЕСТЕСТВЕННОГО ПОПУЛЯЦИОННОГО ИММУНИТЕТА К ВИРУСУ КЛЕЩЕВОГО ЭНЦЕФАЛИТА У НАСЕЛЕНИЯ АМУРСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

The research presents data on evaluation of immunity levels to tick borne encephalitis virus in unimmunized population of the Amur region during 2011-2017.The highest levels of antibodies were detected in population inhabiting middle and south taiga landscape zones. It should be noted that high antibody levels to tick borne encephalitis virus found in local residents show high frequency of contact with infected carriers as well as possible cases of inapparent form of the infection. The form of affiliation to a certain landscape zone well as the quality of territorial development as has considerable importance on the formation of herd immunity to tick-borne encephalitis virus.

Measuring dynamic social contacts in a rehabilitation hospital: effect of wards, patient and staff characteristics

Understanding transmission routes of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) is key to improve their control. In this context, describing and analyzing dynamic inter-individual contact patterns in hospitals is essential. In this study, we used wearable sensors to detect Close Proximity Interactions (CPIs) among patients and hospital staff in a 200-bed long-term care facility over 4 months. First, the dynamic CPI data was described in terms of contact frequency and duration per individual status or activity and per ward. Second, we investigated the individual factors associated with high contact frequency or duration using generalized linear mixed-effect models to account for inter-ward heterogeneity. Hospital porters and physicians had the highest daily number of distinct contacts, making them more likely to disseminate HAI among individuals. Conversely, contact duration was highest between patients, with potential implications in terms of HAI acquisition risk. Contact patterns differed among hospital wards, reflecting varying care patterns depending on reason for hospitalization, with more frequent contacts in neurologic wards and fewer, longer contacts in geriatric wards. This study is the first to report proximity-sensing data informing on inter-individual contacts in long-term care settings. Our results should help better understand HAI spread, parameterize future mathematical models, and propose efficient control strategies.

A taboo topic? How General Practitioners talk about overweight and obesity in New Zealand.

INTRODUCTION Obesity is overtaking tobacco smoking in New Zealand as the leading potentially modifiable risk to health. International obesity guidelines recommend that health professionals opportunistically encourage weight management with their patients. However, research shows consistently low rates of weight management discussion, suggesting that health professionals may not be realising their full potential to address obesity. AIM To identify communication strategies used by General Practitioners (GPs) to open the topic of weight and weight management in routine consultations. METHODS A secondary analysis was conducted of 36 video-recorded consultations in general practices, selected for relevance from a database of 205 consultations. Content and interactional analysis was conducted in the context of the entire consultation. RESULTS The topic of weight was initiated more often by GPs than patients and was raised mostly once or twice in a consultation and occasionally as many as six times. GPs employed opportunistic strategies twice as often as they used structured strategies. DISCUSSION This study of naturally occurring consultations confirmed GPs do engage in opportunistic discussions about weight. However, such discussions are challenging and interactionally delicate. Highlighting the clinical relevance of weight appears to be effective. The high frequency of patient contact with GPs provides opportunity to reach and work with people at risk of chronic conditions associated with excess weight. Further research is required to identify suitable training and brief intervention tools for use in routine consultations that may be beneficial for both GPs and patients.

A cross-sectional analysis of pharmaceutical industry-funded events for health professionals in Australia

ObjectivesTo analyse patterns and characteristics of pharmaceutical industry sponsorship of events for Australian health professionals and to understand the implications of recent changes in transparency provisions that no longer require...

Physical activity: Health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions

Objective: To provide a broad overview of the state of physical activity (PA) research in the form of (1) definitions of PA, (2) health benefits, (3) prevalence, (4) correlates and (5) interventions.Design: A high-level overview of published reviews of the literature.Results: Regular PA is an effective primary and secondary preventative strategy against at least 25 chronic medical conditions with risk reduction typically in the 20–30% range. While approximately 75% of adults meet recommended PA guidelines, the prevalence is slightly lower for women compared to men, and considerably lower for youth, older adults and those in higher income countries. Motivation, self-efficacy and self-regulation remain consistent correlates of PA. Interventions show PA changes in the small effect size range for adults and youth but the heterogeneity is considerable across studies. Only a few (aggregate of behavioural regulation strategies, supervision, high frequency of contact) reliable moderators of intervention success were identified across study quality, sample characteristics, theory/behaviour change techniques and delivery modes/settings.Conclusion: PA research should continue to examine the mechanisms causing health outcomes, the dose that can lead to clinically relevant changes in health status, the scope and validity of PA surveillance and innovative behaviour change techniques, while improving the reach and duration of PA interventions.

Effect of Chromatin Architecture on Dynamic Correlations and Rheological Responses of Interphase Chromosomes

The spatial organization of interphase chromatin is tightly linked to its biological functions. The intra-chromosomal contact frequencies revealed by Hi-C indicated that there is a fundamental variation in the chromatin organization from species to species and along the developmental stage. In this study, we used two different Hi-C contact maps for Human embryonic stem cell (ESC) and fibroblast (FB) to model distinct spatial organization of chromatin into a Gaussian network model and calculated dynamic functions and rheological response. Our calculation suggests that dynamics of loci in FB is associated with longer range cross-correlation than that of ESC. Furthermore, despite the higher contact frequency, FB chromosome retains smaller loss modulus due to the compartmentalized architecture. We discuss these finding in context of current knowledge of the gene expression and regulation during different stages of cell differentiation.

Prevalence and related factors of post-traumatic stress disorder among medical staff members exposed to H7N9 patients

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and related factors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among doctors and nurses who were exposed to H7N9 patients during the H7N9 influenza epidemic. To provide scientific basis for promoting the physical and psychological health of these staff members. MethodThe 102 medical staff workers who were exposed to H7N9 patients were recruited through convenient sampling between January 2015 and May 2016. We used a self-reported questionnaire, the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), to evaluate the PTSD symptoms among doctors and nurses from an intensive care unit (n = 61), a respiratory department (n = 20), and an emergency department (n = 21). We then analyzed the related factors. ResultsAround 20.59% of the tested doctors and nurses showed PTSD symptoms. The sample had a mean PCL-C score of 30.00 ± 9.95. The differences in the scores of doctors and nurses with different genders, ages, professional titles, contact frequencies, trainings, and experiences were statistically significant (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Moreover, t-tests and one-way analysis of variance showed that nurses received higher scores than doctors, female participants received higher scores than male participants, and the participants with low professional title and high contact frequency, aged between 20 years and 30 years, with less than five years of work experience, having not received related training and with no related experience obtained higher PCL-C scores than the others (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). ConclusionThe PTSD level of doctors and nurses after their exposure to H7N9 patients was high, which warrant further research. Health and medical institutions should pay attention to the physical and psychological health of these staff members.

Gear Train Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) System for Enhancing Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE)

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have great potential to produce electrical energy by harvesting environmental energy from air flow, wind, waves, vibrations and even human motion. Many studies for developing high performance TENGs have been performed and are still on-going. The surface morphology plays a significant role in enhancing output power. Therefore, many studies have focused on the design and synthesis of novel materials to improve the performance of TENGs. Previously, high output power from TENGs has been achieved using high-speed rotating systems, multi-stack systems, and sliding systems. In those TENG systems, high output power was achieved if a high input energy was captured via high contact frequencies or high contact loads. However, it is difficult to constantly supply high energy because the environmental energy depends on region, weather, population and other factors. Furthermore, obtaining high output power based on high input energy can result in low power conversion efficiency (PCE), which is defined as the ratio of output energy to input energy. Therefore, our goal is to improve the output energy using the same materials and the same input energy to provide a high PCE for future TENG systems. In this study, we report such a gear-based kinematic design for a TENG system to enhance output energy at a given input energy. We connect a small gear (i.e., a working gear, r w) with a moving TENG element, and the working gear meshes with a larger gear (i.e., an input gear, r in), which is connected to an input source. The frequency of the working gear increases beyond the frequency of the input gear by controlling the gear ratio (r in/r w), thus providing enhanced output energy from our TENG system. Finally, we demonstrate the enhanced performance of our gear-based TENG system through the behaviors of capacitor charging. Our results may offer an effective design for TENG systems to generate enhanced PCE for traditional TENGs. Figure 1

Ethnic groups differences in regard to social networks, daily activity patterns, and driving behavior

Research on the impact of the social environment on travel behavior and driving behavior has proliferated. Yet, the individual-level mechanisms involved remain under-theorized and understudied. Studies usually focus on how drivers are influenced directly through the presence of passengers or indirectly through the norms of relevant social groups. The current study introduces a novel dimension by examining the impact of interpersonal ties on daily activity patterns and driving behavior. We analyze the results of a large telephone survey carried out in Northern Israel (n=517). Respondents include Arabs (58%) and Jews (42%), roughly corresponding to the demographic composition of Northern Israel. The results show that individuals with interpersonal ties characterized with a higher frequency of contacts were less likely to engage in leisure trips outside their community, thus reducing their exposure to high-risk driving environments. We found an inverse association between social interactions and speeding violations, although it was only significant for the Arab group, and inverse association between speeding violations and internal leisure trips for the whole sample. Married persons reported significantly higher social interactions than unmarried persons. Arab women have significantly more social interactions than Arab men, and older Arabs reported higher social interactions than younger Arabs, but no gender or age differences were found within the Jewish group. Finally, men drove for longer periods while women tended to have more complex trips. These results stress the need to make explicit the links between driving behavior models and travel behavior models using social variables.

Spectral identification of topological domains.

Topological domains have been proposed as the backbone of interphase chromosome structure. They are regions of high local contact frequency separated by sharp boundaries. Genes within a domain often have correlated transcription. In this paper, we present a computational efficient spectral algorithm to identify topological domains from chromosome conformation data (Hi-C data). We consider the genome as a weighted graph with vertices defined by loci on a chromosome and the edge weights given by interaction frequency between two loci. Laplacian-based graph segmentation is then applied iteratively to obtain the domains at the given compactness level. Comparison with algorithms in the literature shows the advantage of the proposed strategy. An efficient algorithm is presented to identify topological domains from the Hi-C matrix. The Matlab source code and illustrative examples are available at http://bionetworks.ccmb.med.umich.edu/ : indikar@med.umich.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

History of chromosome rearrangements reflects the spatial organization of yeast chromosomes.

Three-dimensional (3D) organization of genomes affects critical cellular processes such as transcription, replication, and deoxyribo nucleic acid (DNA) repair. While previous studies have investigated the natural role, the 3D organization plays in limiting a possible set of genomic rearrangements following DNA repair, the influence of specific organizational principles on this process, particularly over longer evolutionary time scales, remains relatively unexplored. In budding yeast S.cerevisiae, chromosomes are organized into a Rabl-like configuration, with clustered centromeres and telomeres tethered to the nuclear periphery. Hi-C data for S.cerevisiae show that a consequence of this Rabl-like organization is that regions equally distant from centromeres are more frequently in contact with each other, between arms of both the same and different chromosomes. Here, we detect rearrangement events in Saccharomyces species using an automatic approach, and observe increased rearrangement frequency between regions with higher contact frequencies. Together, our results underscore how specific principles of 3D chromosomal organization can influence evolutionary events.

Level of awareness and frequency of contacts with common-known exposure factors of Leptospirosis among pig farmers and slaughterhouse workers in Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna State Nigeria

To investigate the level of awareness and frequency of exposure to the commonly-known exposure factors of leptospirosis among pig farmers and slaughterhouse workers in Kaduna, a cross-sectional study was conducted in Kaduna metropolis. Of the 100 selected respondents, 13 (13.0%) of them had awareness of leptospirosis and 42 (42.0%) of the respondents had frequent contacts with common - known exposure factors that predispose them to the infection, with the highest frequency of contacts among respondents with no formal education, 66.67%. In conclusion, there is a high frequency of contact among the respondents to common known factors that predisposes them to the infection and low awareness level among them. This could constitute a health risk to the pig farmers and slaughterhouse workers in the metropolis; hence there is need for an increased enlightenment campaign about the infection and its zoonotic implications to the target population.