Microsoft Corporation Research Articles

Potentially inappropriate medication in long-term care wards of a veteran hospital in Taiwan: Investigation using a spreadsheet-based rapid assessment tool.

Multimorbidity and polypharmacy increase in the aging population and are accompanied by the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and adverse drug events (ADEs). This study developed a rapid assessment tool to investigate PIM use among patients in long-term care wards. We retrospectively collected the data of patients in long-term care wards of a veteran hospital in Taiwan between July 2019 and June 2020. The patients with chronic diseases and medications were selected. The data, including gender, age, diagnosis, and medications, were deidentified. Nonchronic disease diagnosis and short-term and topical use medications were excluded. We used Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, USA) and the 2019 version of the Beers Criteria to establish a rapid assessment tool. The correlations between the prevalence of PIM use and age, the number of diagnoses, and the number of medications were analyzed using SPSS version 23. A total of 176 patients were included in this study, of which 76.7% (n = 135) were male and 23.3% (n = 41) were female. The average age of men was 82.1 years and that of women was 83.4 years. The average number of diagnoses for men was 5.5, and that for women was 7.3. The average number of medications for men was 5.8, and that for women was 6.5. The prevalence of PIM use was 59.1% (n = 104). Logistic regression revealed that the prevalence of PIM use may be associated with the number of medications ( p < 0.001; odds ratio = 1.378). Decision tree analysis revealed that patients who simultaneously used more than four medications exhibited a higher risk of PIM. PIM use is a key factor causing ADEs among older adults. Therefore, comprehensive assessment of PIM use is necessary. This study designed a rapid assessment tool to simultaneously integrate and evaluate medications. Future studies may investigate the effectiveness of the proposed assessment tool.

Finding Effective Adjustment Levels for Upper Limb Exergames: Focus Group Study With Children With Physical Disabilities

We developed the Blexer system consisting of a database and a web interface for therapists that can host different types of adaptive and personally configurable virtual reality exergames based on Kinect (Microsoft Corp) motion capture to provide entertaining exercises for children with motor disabilities. It allows for parameter adjustment and the monitoring of results remotely, thereby providing a useful tool to complement traditional physical therapy sessions with home exercises. The aim of this study was to observe the motor benefits achieved through the use of a video exergame and the importance and implications of correctly setting the game's difficulty parameters. This was an observational case study of 6 children with different physical disabilities receiving physical therapy at school combined with the use of a fully configurable exergame under research that forms a part of the Blexer environment. The game integrates 4 repeatedly appearing upper limb exercises with individually adjustable difficulties (intermittent arm rising, arm forward and backward movement, rising and holding of one arm, and trunk control in all directions). The outcomes were 3 assessments of 2 efficacy measures: Box and Block Test and Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test. A total of 5 children with cerebral palsy (mean 8.4, SD 2.7 years; Gross Motor Function Classification II-2/5, 40%; III-2/5, 40%; and IV-1/5, 20%) and 1 child with obstetric brachial plexus palsy (aged 8 years; Mallet Classification III) received between 8 and 11 sessions of training (10-20 minutes per session), depending on age, motivation, and fatigue. Significant associations were observed between game parameter settings and improvements in motor function, on the one hand, and between the type of improvement and disability severity, on the other: with adjusted game parameters goal and time in the range of 70% to 100%, only less affected children improved in the Box and Block Test (+11 blocks vs -1 block), and more affected children improved more in the Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test (+90 seconds vs +27 seconds). When defining the difficulty parameters for an exergame, we suggest a classification in levels ranging from very easy to very hard. For practical use, we suggest setting the difficulty for the player to an easy or medium level rather than high-commitment goals, as this leads to a longer playtime with more fun and, therefore, seems to improve the results of the game and, consequently, mobility.

Роль бактерий рода Desulfovibrio sp. в патологии человека

Bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp. They are widespread in the environment – they are found in soil, wastewater, bottom sediments. The effect of these microorganisms on the development of pathological conditions in humans has not been fully established. Bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp., gram-negative, curved microorganisms,non-spore – forming, slow-growing, anaerobic. Objective. Identification of pathogenetic features of the effect of sulfate-reducing bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp. on the human. Patients and methods.167 patients who signed a voluntary informed consent was conducted among patients who applied to the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Central Research Institute of Epidemiology" for an examination of intestinal microbiocenosis. Microbiological examination of the biomaterial was carried out using traditional microbiological methods. The following blood parameters were used to assess iron metabolism in the body: hemoglobin, serum iron, ferritin, transferrin, unsaturated iron binding capacity of serum and the percentage of transferrin saturation with iron. Statistical data analysis was performed using standard descriptive statistics methods using Excel (Microsoft Corporation, 2019, USA). The statistical significance of the differences in the compared indicators was assessed using the Student's t-test the significance level of p &lt; 0.05 (t &gt; 2). Results. Bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp. were found in 66 patients (39.5%). In the group of patients whose examination revealed bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp., the number of people with anemia was 16, without anemia was 50. Among patients with the absence of bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp. in the microbiocenosis. laboratory-confirmed iron metabolism disorder with the development of anemia was detected in 11 people, the absence of anemia in 90. The calculation of the odds ratio showed that the risk of anemia increases 2.6 times [95% CI 1.13–6.08] in the presence of bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp in the intestine. Conclusion. It can be assumed that bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio sp. is one of the etiological factor of the development of iron deficiency anemia in humans. Key words: microbiocenosis, iron deficiency anemia, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans

Knowledge, attitude, and perception of dental undergraduates towards mobile and digital learning methods in India: A cross-sectional study.

Internet-based education is having few advantages since it increases an emphasis on the education system based on problems by incorporation of both visual as well as interactive tools. Also, some contributions to practical skills can be made using pictorial as well as video-based knowledge. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception of dental undergraduates towards mobile and digital learning methods in India. This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted after obtaining Institutional Ethical Review Board permission. Before commencing the study, the purpose of the study was explained to the study participants and written informed consent was obtained. About 200 undergraduate students of dentistry in a single institution were selected as a convenient sample. Information obtained from responses was entered into an Excel sheet (Microsoft Corporation) and was further analyzed. Data collection was done for a period of one month. Statistical analysis: Obtained data were recorded and subjected to statistical analysis by use of statistical SPSS software (version 20.0, IBM). Descriptive statistical data were recorded as frequencies or percentages. Chi-square statistical test was used for the assessment of responses obtained from dental undergraduate students. The level of significance was fixed at a probability of <0.05. On statistically analyzing, 99% of students were found to possess knowledge regarding the use of mobile phones for digital education. A good statistical correlation was obtained between attitude and perception regarding accessing digital learning using mobile phones. In the present study, good knowledge, attitude, and perception regarding the use of digital learning using phones were found among Indian dental undergraduates.

Closing the digital divide: Developing a platform to conduct training, outreach, and education for employment skills.

El Paso, Texas, like many communities along the United States/Mexico border, suffers from a lack of access to many social determinants of health, especially in low-income neighborhoods. These long-standing problems have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Health Education and Awareness Team (EP-HEAT) is an organization that was established with a focus on disseminating health information to the community. EP-HEAT received funding from Microsoft Corporation to facilitate technology education workshops for underserved populations. These workshops were held in English and Spanish and attempted to improve social determinants of health in the community which can be negatively exacerbated by a lack of digital inclusion. Community members who attended workshops completed a LinkedIn Learning Path, or both were offered an anonymous post-course survey with a mixed method questionnaire on how their knowledge of basic technology or job skills was improved by engaging with the provided workshops and learning paths. Overall, 80% of community members who participated in the workshops reported learning a new skill, and 91% of participants who started a LinkedIn Learning Path were able to finish. The workshops were well received by the community and highlighted the potential for these programs to enhance digital skills and upward workforce mobility.

Prevalence and characteristics of relapse in patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome

Background: Relapse is an important but difficult phase of the management of alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS). Objective: To study the prevalence and characteristics of relapse in patients with ADS. Methods:This is a descriptive cross-sectional study on the patients with ADS presenting at the Department of Psychiatry, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, for the period of one year (June 2016 - May 2017). Data on the demographic and relapse characteristics were collected. Data were entered and analyzed in Microsoft Excel (MS Office 365, Microsoft Corporation, Washington, United States). Numerical variables were summarized with the median (Inter-Quartile Range [IQR]) and the categorical variables with proportions. Results: Altogether, 105 patients with ADS were studied, among which 59 patients had a relapse (56.1%). All of them were male with a median age of 42 years (Interquartile range (IQR) 35 to 52). The majority were married (55, 93.22%), manual labor as an occupation (32, 54.24%), were Janjati by ethnicity (37, 62.71%), and had received secondary education (19, 32.20%). The median age of starting alcohol consumption was 18 years (IQR 15 to 20) and the median duration of consumption was 22 years (IQR 15 to 30). The most common reason for relapse was peer pressure (25, 42.37%). The majority had relapsed once before (26, 44.07%). Mostly relapsed after abstinence of 1 to 3 months (22, 37.29%) and abstinence maintained by self-motivation (30, 50.85%). Comorbidity and family history of substance use was present in higher proportions. Conclusion: A high rate of relapse was found in our patients with peer pressure as the most common reason for the relapse.

Molecular Detection of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus in Dental Plaque Samples in Children Aged Six to Nine Years.

Context Dental caries is a widespread threat, usually in children, although it has been observed at other stages of life. Various pieces of literature have confirmed the prevalence of S treptococcus mutans and S treptococcus sobrinus in the progression of the disease. However, establishing procedures to detect these species remains a challenge, posing a barrier to treatment plans. Aim The aim of this study is to detect the species in dental plaque samples from children aged six to nine years by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and correlate their prevalence in various dentitions. Material andMethods This is an observational analytical cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care dental hospital. After sample isolation, microbiological processing was performed, genomic DNA was isolated, and PCR run was performed using specific primers to detect the species. SPSS for Windows Version 17 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA) were used to perform statistical analysis. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The technique could identify S. Mutans and S. Sobrinus in a short turnaround time. The frequency of S. mutans and S. sobrinus infections was higher in individuals with dental caries. Conclusions Molecular detection via PCR is a reliable, economical, and less time-consuming method for detecting S. mutans and S. sobrinus in dental plaque samples.

Case-Finding Strategies for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

Transmission of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is ongoing. Finding individuals with DR-TB and initiating treatment as early as possible is important to improve patient clinical outcomes and to break the chain of transmission to control the pandemic. To our knowledge systematic reviews assessing effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of different case-finding strategies for DR-TB to inform research, policy, and practice have not been conducted, and it is unknown whether enough research exists to conduct such reviews. It is unknown whether case-finding strategies are similar for DR-TB and drug-susceptible TB and whether we can draw on findings from drug-susceptible reviews to inform decisions on case-finding strategies for DR-TB. This protocol aims to describe the available literature on case-finding for DR-TB and to describe case-finding strategies. We will screen systematic reviews, trials, qualitative studies, diagnostic test accuracy studies, and other primary research that specifically sought to improve DR-TB case detection. We will exclude studies that invited individuals seeking care for TB symptoms, those including individuals already diagnosed with TB, or laboratory-based studies. We will search the academic databases including MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Africa-Wide Information, CINAHL, Epistemonikos, and PROSPERO with no language or date restrictions. We will screen titles, abstracts, and full-text articles in duplicate. Data extraction and analyses will be performed using Excel (Microsoft Corp). We will provide a narrative report with supporting figures or tables to summarize the data. A systems-based logic model, developed from a synthesis of case-finding strategies for drug-susceptible TB, will be used as a framework to describe different strategies, resulting pathways, and enhancements of pathways. The search will be conducted at the end of 2021. Title and abstract screening, full text screening, and data extraction will be undertaken from January to June 2022. Thereafter, analysis will be conducted, and results compiled. This scoping review will chart existing literature on case-finding for DR-TB-this will help determine whether primary studies on effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of different case-finding strategies for DR-TB exist and will help formulate potential questions for a systematic review. We will also describe case-finding strategies for DR-TB and how they fit into a model of case-finding pathways for drug-susceptible TB. This review has some limitations. One limitation is the diverse, inconsistent use of intervention terminology within the literature, which may result in missing relevant studies. Poor reporting of intervention strategies may also cause misunderstanding and misclassification of interventions. Lastly, case-finding strategies for DR-TB may not fit into a model developed from strategies for drug-susceptible TB. Nevertheless, such a situation will provide an opportunity to refine the model for future research. The review will guide further research to inform decisions on case-finding policies and practices for DR-TB. DERR1-10.2196/40009.

A Study on the Profile of Poisoning in the Paediatric Population in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Chitradurga Region.

Background Most poisoning events among children are preventable and the major reason is lack of supervision by adults, including poor knowledge and attitude toward storage of such items. So, the prevention policy on children's poisoning shall take into account the age group, gender, socioeconomic status, residence, and other aspects such as the knowledge and attitude of adults. The present study was conducted to describe the profile of poisoning in the paediatric population in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Methods Our observational study was retrospective and was conducted at Basaveshwara Medical College and Hospital (BMCH), Chitradurga, Karnataka, under the Department of Forensic Medicine for a duration of three months (February 2021 to April 2021). Institutional ethical approval was obtained prior to the start of the study. As our study participants were paediatric patients (0-17 years) with acute poisoning (excluding homeopathic drug ingestion), a total of 81 paediatric patients' case sheets were finally reviewed and analysed.The data of paediatric poisoning cases were collected in a predesigned study proforma andincluded details about children's age (in years), gender (male, female), residence (rural, urban), outcome (death, discharge), nature of poisoning (accidental, suicidal), and toxic agents in poisoning. The collected data were entered and analysed in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA). Results The incidence of acute poisoning among the paediatric population in our teaching hospital was 1.4%. The most common age group with acute poisoning was 13-17 years (30.9%). The prevalence of acute poisoning was higher in male children (56.8%) when compared to female children (43.2%). Around three-fourths of paediatric cases (71.6%) with acute poisoning were having a rural residence. The overall mortality rate among children due to acute poisoning was 9.9%. The most common toxic agents involved in acute poisoning among children were organophosphatecompounds (35.8%), followed by organochlorine compounds (30.9%) and pyrethrum compounds (11.1%). Conclusion From this study, we concluded that acute poisoning among children is mainly accidental, and the most common toxic agentresponsible for the poisoning is pesticideor insecticide. Most poisoning events among children are preventable, and the major reason is a lack of supervision by adults, including poor knowledge and attitude toward storage of such items.

The Effect of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy on Symptoms of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.

Background Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is a common bariatric procedure for weight loss. LSG is becoming prevalent worldwide because it is a relatively simple procedure with high efficacy. Reduced intraabdominal pressure may improve gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms and reduce the GERD medication needed following LSG. However, the main long-term drawback of LSG is the development of de novo GERD. Therefore, we conducted this study to determine the relationship between GERD symptoms and LSG. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review involving 390 patients who underwent LSG. Study participants were evaluated for GERD symptoms six months before and three, six, and nine months after the procedure, and proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) were used to control the symptoms. Participants were distributed into two groups: one group for patients with GERD symptoms (36.1%) and one group for asymptomatic patients (62.8%). We collected demographic data and assessed PPI use in both groups after three, six, and nine months postoperatively. Data were collected using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0(Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). We compared data using the student's t-test for independent groups. The quantitative data were summarized using mean and standard deviation (SD), and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Of the 390 participants who underwent LSG, 83.8% were women (n=327)and 16.2% were men (n=63), with a median age of 42 ± 11.9 years. PPI use was statistically significantly greater after LSG (34.1%) than before LSG (24.6%, p=0.019). The difference in PPI use between symptomatic and asymptomatic groups was not statistically significant three months after LSG. Conclusions Our study focuses on using PPI after LSG due to GERD symptoms. We found GERD symptoms improved three months following LSG, but de novo GERD symptoms occurred nine months after the surgery. Health providers need to discuss with their patients the potential outcomes of the surgery and manage patient expectations. Physicians should work with their patients to assess whether the benefits of bariatric surgery in controlling overweight-associated conditions, such as blood pressure, diabetes,sleep apnea, and weight loss, outweigh the risk of GERD symptoms and PPI use.

Knowledge of Dental Ethics and Jurisprudence Among Dental Practitioners in Pune: A Questionnaire Survey.

Objective Dental ethics is a moral obligation that solicits professional behaviour imposed by the members of the dental profession. In addition, a set of legal regulations by each state's legislature describing the legal limitations and regulations related to dentistry, dental hygiene, and dental assisting is a part of dental jurisprudence. The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge regarding ethics and medical law for the practice among private practitioners in Pune, India. Materials and methods Thiswas a cross-sectional study. The snowball sampling method (a randomization method) was used to contactall the registered practitioners for the study. A total of 250 dentists agreed to provide written informed consent and participate in the study. The collected data were entered into Microsoft Excel2013 sheet (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) and cleaned, and statistical analysis was carried out using Epi Info software (CDC, Atlanta, GA). All p-values below 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results A total of 250 dentists participated in the present study. Female postgraduate dentists had lesser knowledge of abbreviations used on dental boards. Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) dentists had more knowledge regarding dental jurisprudence than Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) practitioners. Conclusions The present study highlighted the lack of awareness regarding dental ethics and jurisprudence among dental practitioners. It underlines the need for more education programs and curriculum changes with a focus on ethics, jurisprudence, and legal matters pertaining to clinical practice.

High Satisfaction With a Virtual Assistant for Plastic Surgery Frequently Asked Questions.

Most of a surgeon's office time is dedicated to patient education, preventing an appropriate patient-physician relationship. Telephone-accessed artificial intelligent virtual assistants (AIVAs) that simulate a human conversation and answer preoperative frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be effective solutions to this matter. An AIVA capable of answering preoperative plastic surgery-related FAQs has previously been described by the authors. The aim of this paper was to determine patients' perception and satisfaction with an AIVA. Twenty-six adult patients from a plastic surgery service answered a 3-part survey consisting of: (1) an evaluation of the answers' correctness, (2) their agreement with the feasibility, usefulness, and future uses of the AIVA, and (3) a section on comments. The first part made it possible to measure the system's accuracy, and the second to evaluate perception and satisfaction. The data were analyzed with Microsoft Excel 2010 (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA). The AIVA correctly answered the patients' questions 98.5% of the time, and the topic with the lowest accuracy was "nausea." Additionally, 88% of patients agreed with the statements of the second part of the survey. Thus, the patients' perception was positive and overall satisfaction with the AIVA was high. Patients agreed the least with using the AIVA to select their surgical procedure. The comments provided improvement areas for subsequent stages of the project. The results show that patients were satisfied and expressed a positive experience with using the AIVA to answer plastic surgery FAQs before surgery. The system is also highly accurate.

A Bibliometric Analysis of COVID-19 Scientific Literature From the English-Speaking Caribbean.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global crisis and has affected the Caribbean islands,leading tosignificant health and socioeconomic consequences in this region. Efforts to mitigate the burden of this disease have led to an accelerated amount of research in the English-speaking Caribbean (ESC).This bibliometric analysisaimedto evaluate the COVID-19-related scientific literature from the ESC nations. A total of 175 articles were included and analyzed froman initialPubMed search (n = 638) for COVID-19-related scientific literature from the ESC nations published between January1, 2020, and June 30, 2022.Microsoft Excel 2016 (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington) and the VOSviewer (version 1.6.18)were used to characterize countries, authorship, journals, affiliations, and keywords of the COVID-19-related articles. Trinidad and Tobago (38%), Jamaica (22%), Barbados (20%), and Grenada (15%) contributed to the greatest number of publications. The University of the West Indies (UWI) campuses in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados, and St. George's University in Grenada were the most prolific institutions. Srikanth Umakanthan from the UWI was the most prolific author. Cureus, SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine, and Frontiers in Public Health were the first three most productive journals; 59% of the 175 articles had either the first or last author affiliated with an institution in the ESC, and 19% of the articles were country-focused: Trinidad and Tobago (16/175), Jamaica (9/175), Barbados (5/175), and Antigua and Barbuda (2/175). Among the top themes of research, 27% were outbreak response and rearrangements, epidemiological studies (23%), clinical management (23%), and medical education (13%). Over the last two years, an interest stimulated by the pandemic has expanded the research in ESC countries. However, gaps in the knowledge exist, especially in the epidemiology of COVID-19 complications in the sub-populations of chronic non-communicable diseases, post-COVID syndrome, and the long-COVID syndrome in the region. Hence, there is enormous scope for more research across the region.

Salivary Calcium Level and Its Correlation with Salivary pH, Salivary Volume, and Calcium Intake in Hypertensive Female Patients with Different Blood Sugar Levels.

This study aimed to evaluate the salivary calcium level and its correlation with salivary pH, salivary volume, and calcium intake in hypertensive female patients with different blood sugar levels. This cross-sectional study included 49 female subjects with hypertension. Subjects were divided into three groups based on the HbA1c test: normal, prediabetes, and diabetes. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected using the spitting method. Salivary calcium levels were evaluated using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Salivary pH was obtained using a universal indicator pH paper test. Calcium intake was assessed by a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare salivary parameters and total calcium intake within study groups. Spearman rank correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to evaluate the correlation between salivary calcium levels and all variables in the study. No significant difference in salivary calcium, volume, pH, and total calcium intake was observed within the study groups. However, a significant correlation was found between salivary calcium levels and salivary pH in hypertensive females with normal blood glucose levels. Moreover, salivary calcium levels have a significant correlation with systolic blood pressure in prediabetes and diabetes groups. This study found a decrease in all salivary parameters (calcium, pH, and volume) as well as a low calcium intake in hypertensive females, despite no significant difference found in groups with different blood glucose levels. Blood glucose levels appeared to be a confounder in the relationship between salivary calcium with salivary pH and systolic blood pressure.

Price variability of pembrolizumab across U.S. National Cancer Institute–designated Cancer Centers (NCICCs) from 2016-2021.

48 Background: NCICCs are poorly compliant to price transparency rules set forth by the CMS. Competitive price shopping is prevented due to a lack of uniform rate setting, and service charges are often higher than what a hospital reasonably expects to be reimbursed. We investigated variability in the charged and reimbursed payments for pembrolizumab utilizing Medicare claims across all NCICCs. Methods: Medicare claims data from 2016-2021 for pembrolizumab (HCPCS J9271) infusions in a hospital outpatient department were selected from the Definitive Healthcare claims database for all hematology-oncology and medical oncology providers at NCICCs. Average charges, reimbursements, and total claims were obtained. Annual percentage changes (APC) were calculated to evaluate trends during study period. Prices are presented as inflation adjusted numbers (charged and reimbursed; 2021 dollars). Analyses were performed in Excel (Microsoft Corp). Results: Our analysis included 53 NCICCs of which 47 were part of the 340B Drug Pricing Program (NCI-340B), 11 were Prospective Payment System-exempt (NCI-PPS), and 6 NCICCs were both (PPS/340B). From 2016 to 2021, total Medicare claims increased from 9461 to 46291 across NCICCs, with NCI-PPS centers comprising 30% of claims. Total payments to NCICCs increased from $55.9M to $388.1M annually. Average charge for pembrolizumab in 2021 were: $45,227 (NCI-PPS), $46,000 (all NCICCs), $49,057 (NCI-340B), $59,392 (dual-eligible PPS/340B). During study period, APC were: 9.2% (NCICCs), 9.6% (NCI-340B), 12.8% (NCI-PPS), and 17.5% (dual-eligible PPS/340B). Despite high charged prices, reimbursement was much lower, about 18.4% (or $7364) of charged price at NCICCs over study period. Highest reimbursement was noted at NCI-PPS (22%, or $8551), and lowest at NCI-340B (16.4% or $7086) over study period. When considering a smaller cohort of PPS-only or 340B-only, PPS-only status was associated with lowest charged price but highest reimbursement (33.5%, or $8568). Conclusions: NCICCs charged &gt; 4 times the average reimbursed price for pembrolizumab, with charges increasing faster than inflation. While lower charges were noted at NCI-PPS, they received higher reimbursement. Dual PPS/340B status commanded the highest charged prices and quickest price increases. Our study informs greater price transparency regulation at NCICCs and raises questions regarding utility of special status benefits from the federal government.[Table: see text]

Internal quality control of Na+ and K+ at clinical biochemistry laboratory

Background: the blood electrolyte analysis is a routine laboratory test, the proper execution of which would help in the diagnosis of hydro-electrolyte disorders. We undertook to assess the quality of the sodium and potassium from the pre-pre-analytical phase to the post-analytical phase. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which took in the laboratory of biochemistry at the Institute of Cardiology, Abidjan, Ivory Coast from March 1st to March 31, 2009. We used the flame photometer to measure the sodium and potassium electrolytes level in the internal control Exatrol-Normal from Biolabo® and those of the clinical samples. The pre-pre-analytical quality indicators depending on the physician’s order, the pre-analytical quality indicators and the post-analytical indicators under the control of the laboratory and based on the NF standard ISO 15189 version 2012 have been determined. Data were captured into Microsoft Access [Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA] and then imported and analyzed using QI Macros SPC Software for Excel®. The monthly dispersion parameters of the Exatrol Normal were used to establish the Levey-Jennings diagram and the Wesgard’s rules were used for the interpretation. Results: a total of 112 electrolytes analysis order were received. For the pre-pre-analytical phase, the analysis of these requests revealed that 81 (72.3%) requests carried no clinical information. The non-compliance of the samples were mainly represented by the sampling under tight tourniquet 4 (3.6%), followed by the non-respect of the succession tubes during multiple sampling 3 (2.7%). For the analytical phase, the monthly Levey-Jennings diagram showed a dispersion of the Exatrol-Normal® values ​​between the mean plus or minus 2 standard deviations [m ± 2SD]: 139.34 ± 2.84 mmol/L for sodium (Na+). For the potassium (K+), the values ​​of Exatrol-Normal® were between [m± SD]: 4.2±0.78 mmol/L. The interpretation of the two Levey-Jennings diagrams by Wesgard’s rules did not found any statistically significant mistake with regard to the distribution of Na+ and K+ levels. For clinical samples, isolated hyponatremia was the most common disturbance (30.4%) followed by isolated hypokalemia (12.5%). At the post-analytical phase we observed a mean turnaround time of 34 minutes with extremes ranging from 23 to 95 minutes. One case (0.9%) of transcription error was noted. Conclusion: the internal quality control process is applied in the clinical biochemistry laboratory at the Institute of Cardiology, Abidjan. A systematic verification system of the different phases of the analytical process makes it possible to identify errors at all levels of the analytical process and to take corrective action if necessary. Better collaboration between clinicians requesting electrolyte analysis and biologists performing the analysis is necessary to improve the pre-pre-analytical phase and, beyond that, better patient care.

A Two-Delay Combination Model for Stock Price Prediction

This paper proposes a new linear combination model to predict the closing prices on multivariate financial data sets. The new approach integrates two delays of deep learning methods called the two-delay combination model. The forecasts are derived from three different deep learning models: the multilayer perceptron (MLP), the convolutional neural network (CNN) and the long short-term memory (LSTM) network. Moreover, the weight combination of our proposed model is estimated using the differential evolution (DE) algorithm. The proposed model is built and tested for three high-frequency stock data in financial markets—Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Johnson &amp; Johnson (JNJ) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE). The individual and combination forecast methods are compared using the root mean square error (RMSE) and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The state-of-the-art combination models used in this paper are the equal weight (EW), the inverse of RMSE (INV-RMSE) and the variance-no-covariance (VAR-NO-CORR) methods. These comparisons demonstrate that our proposed approach using DE weight’s optimization has significantly lower forecast errors than the individual model and the state-of-the-art weight combination procedures for all experiments. Consequently, combining two delay deep learning models using differential evolution weights can effectively improve the stock price prediction.

Nanomaterials and Advances in Tumor Immune-Related Therapy: A Bibliometric Analysis

With the rapid growth of the research content of nanomaterials and tumor immunity, the hot spots and urgent problems in the field become blurred. In this review, noticing the great development potential of this research field, we collected and sorted out the research articles from The Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection database in the field over the past 20 years. Next, we use Excel 2019 from Microsoft (Microsoft Corp, Redmond,WA, USA), VOSviewer (version 1.6.18, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands), CiteSpace (Chaomei Chen, Drexel University, USA) and other softwares to conduct bibliometric analysis on the screened literatures. This paper not only analyzes the countries, institutions and authors with outstanding contributions in the current research field, but also comes up with the hot spots of current research. We hope that by analyzing and sorting out the past data, we can provide help for the current clinical work and future scientific research.

Nerve Conduction Study in Healthy Elderly Subjects in Central India: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BackgroundThere are many physiological changes that accompany aging. Slowing of muscle contraction, alteration of muscle metabolism and neuromuscular junction, and reduction of nerve conduction velocity (NCV) are among these physiological changes. The present study was conducted to elucidate the effect of physiological factors like gender, height, and Body Mass Index (BMI) on motor and sensory nerve conduction study (NCS) of the upper limb and find out the normal data for healthy elderly subjects in central India.MethodsA cross-sectional study among 382 healthy adult participants of central India aged 60 years and above. The study was carried out in the department of Physiology, Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, Wardha, India, from July 2017 to June 2022. An NCS was performed using the Neuron Spectrum 5 machine (Neurosoft, Ivanovo, Russia). A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, United States) was used to tabulate the information gathered. For statistical analysis, IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0 (Released 2013; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States) was used.ResultsAll NCS parameters were greater in males as compared to females. As age advances, longer distal motor latency (DML) and F-wave minimum latency, decreasing amplitude, and slowing of conduction velocity (CV) were observed. As height increases, increasing DML and F-wave minimum latency, decreasing amplitude, and slowing of CV were observed. Higher BMI was found to be associated with lower amplitudes and slowing of CVs.ConclusionAge and height have a negative influence on amplitude and CV is a positive influence on DML and F-min latency. Higher BMI has a negative influence on amplitude and CV.

Technology-Delivered Adaptations of Motivational Interviewing for the Prevention and Management of Chronic Diseases: Scoping Review.

BackgroundMotivational interviewing (MI) can increase health-promoting behaviors and decrease health-damaging behaviors. However, MI is often resource intensive, precluding its use with people with limited financial or time resources. Mobile health–based versions of MI interventions or technology-delivered adaptations of MI (TAMIs) might increase reach.ObjectiveWe aimed to understand the characteristics of existing TAMIs. We were particularly interested in the inclusion of people from marginalized sociodemographic groups, whether the TAMI addressed sociocontextual factors, and how behavioral and health outcomes were reported.MethodsWe employed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for scoping reviews to conduct our scoping review. We searched PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycInfo from January 1, 1996, to April 6, 2022, to identify studies that described interventions incorporating MI into a mobile or electronic health platform. For inclusion, the study was required to (1) describe methods/outcomes of an MI intervention, (2) feature an intervention delivered automatically via a mobile or electronic health platform, and (3) report a behavioral or health outcome. The exclusion criteria were (1) publication in a language other than English and (2) description of only in-person intervention delivery (ie, no TAMI). We charted results using Excel (Microsoft Corp).ResultsThirty-four studies reported the use of TAMIs. Sample sizes ranged from 10 to 2069 participants aged 13 to 70 years. Most studies (n=27) directed interventions toward individuals engaging in behaviors that increased chronic disease risk. Most studies (n=22) oversampled individuals from marginalized sociodemographic groups, but few (n=3) were designed specifically with marginalized groups in mind. TAMIs used text messaging (n=8), web-based intervention (n=22), app + text messaging (n=1), and web-based intervention + text messaging (n=3) as delivery platforms. Of the 34 studies, 30 (88%) were randomized controlled trials reporting behavioral and health-related outcomes, 23 of which reported statistically significant improvements in targeted behaviors with TAMI use. TAMIs improved targeted health behaviors in the remaining 4 studies. Moreover, 11 (32%) studies assessed TAMI feasibility, acceptability, or satisfaction, and all rated TAMIs highly in this regard. Among 20 studies with a disproportionately high number of people from marginalized racial or ethnic groups compared with the general US population, 16 (80%) reported increased engagement in health behaviors or better health outcomes. However, no TAMIs included elements that addressed sociocontextual influences on behavior or health outcomes.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that TAMIs may improve some health promotion and disease management behaviors. However, few TAMIs were designed specifically for people from marginalized sociodemographic groups, and none included elements to help address sociocontextual challenges. Research is needed to determine how TAMIs affect individual health outcomes and how to incorporate elements that address sociocontextual factors, and to identify the best practices for implementing TAMIs into clinical practice.