Regular Screen Research Articles

P198 Comparison of recreational drug use (RDU) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in HIV positive men who have sex with men (MSM) and HIV negative MSM receiving post exposure prophylaxis (PEP): Abstract P198 Table 1

Introduction Recreational drug use (RDU) in a sexualised context (“chemsex”) is increasing amongst MSM regardless of HIV status and is associated with poor sexual health outcomes. National guidelines for both PEP and HIV management suggest regular sexual health screens (SHS) and screening for RDU and alcohol use. Aim(s)/objectives To audit the documentation of SHS and RDU history from HIV positive MSM attending routine outpatient clinics compared to HIV negative MSM accessing PEP. Methods Retrospective review of 45 randomly selected MSM attending routine HIV care (HIV+ group) OR receiving PEP (PEP group) at each of 2 London clinics during 2014/15. Results Discussion High levels of STIs and RDU were seen in both groups but most significantly in the PEP group. This highlights the importance of identifying RDU/chemsex in PEP patients, which may be an opportunity for intervention to reduce risk of acquisition of HIV through risky sex.

What Is the Awareness, Perception, and Rate of HPV Vaccination and Pap Screening Amongst Korean American Women? [19F

INTRODUCTION: To measure the awareness, perception, and rate of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening amongst Korean American women. METHODS: A cross sectional survey of convenience of Korean American (KA) women over 18 years old was developed to assess awareness, perception, and rates of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening. Surveys were distributed in English and Korean on social media and via paper surveys and distributed to the Greater Los Angeles area. RESULTS: 273 surveys were collected (94% completed). 82% had health insurance and 15.4% did not. The most common reason for lacking insurance was cost (61%). Of those eligible for the HPV vaccine (under 26), 78 (48.7%) initiated the HPV vaccine series, but only 33.3% completed all three doses. Overall, 53.5% of the women had an OBGYN/women's health care provider, but 41% did not. 54.9% had a pap smear in the last 3 years, and 23.1% had never had a pap. When asked if their friends were aware of the importance of a regular pap screen, 47.7% agreed or strongly agreed, but 49.5% were neutral or disagreed. When asked about frequency of gynecological care, 31.9% said “only when there is a problem” and 26.4% said yearly. Common barriers to visits were financial issues, embarrassment, and the perception that a visit were only necessary when they had problems. CONCLUSION: HPV vaccination rates and cervical cancer screening rates in KA women are low and opportunities exist to improve these rates through education and awareness.

P25 Investigating factors for increased gonorrhoea re-infection in msm attending a gu clinic: a qualitative study

Background/introduction In 2013, 63% of gonorrhoea infections in England were in men who have sex with men (MSM), in whom the annual incidence increased by 26% (PHE). In our clinic, annual incidence increased by 28.8% (2013) and re-infection (a second infection within 1-year of initial infection) rose from 6.7% as a proportion of total infections (2009) to 19.4% (2013). This is concerning given increasing reports of antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea. Aim(s)/objectives The aim of this study was to explore reasons for repeat gonorrhoea infections among MSM. Methods We interviewed 16 MSM about knowledge of gonorrhoea, attitudes to safe sex and antibiotic resistance. Results Mobile applications were used to meet casual sex partners and arrange impromptu group-sex parties with partner anonymity making contact tracing difficult. The use of recreational drugs was widespread and could result in unsafe sexual practices. Participants felt their behaviour was unlikely to change despite knowing there was increased gonorrhoea prevalence and frequently felt resigned to repeat infections. Participants thought global antibiotic resistance was concerning, but felt behaviour would change only if there was local evidence of this. It was highlighted that new technologies could increase awareness around local STI trends and services for those at risk. Discussion/conclusion MSM’s use of geosocial networking applications to arrange sex could also be harnessed to increase awareness and advertise testing opportunities. Enhanced interventions at initial diagnosis may also be beneficial. In some cases risk-taking behaviours are unlikely to change and for these men regular sexual health screens should be encouraged.

Transforming a Regular Screen Into a Touch Screen Using a Single Webcam

Nowadays, touch screens are widely used in many commercial devices. In this paper, we present an inexpensive webcam-based touch screen system based on a simple and generic finger detection technique. Only a single webcam and a regular screen are used to achieve this goal. By using the scene geometry and the camera model, we can determine the position of the finger on the screen. The technique we propose is simple and works well under various surrounding environments while the detecting method suits many finger colors and shapes. Our approach can also be used for realtime applications. Experimental results and practical applications are provided to ascertain the proposed method.

Hearing loss and auditory processing ability in people with aphasia

Background: Hearing loss can add to the linguistic deficits present in aphasia to make comprehension of speech difficult. Although some studies document a relatively high prevalence of hearing loss in adults with aphasia, many people with aphasia do not have their hearing tested. Self-reported disability measures offer a possible alternative to pure-tone audiometry when this service is not readily available.Aims: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of hearing loss in a group of people with aphasia and to determine the usefulness of self-reported measures to screen for hearing impairment.Methods & Procedures: Hearing ability was measured using pure-tone audiometry and five measures of auditory processing, which looked at speech perception in quiet and noise, for 21 individuals with aphasia recruited from a community clinic and 21 age-matched individuals without aphasia. The Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) and a brief questionnaire exploring whether they had experienced hearing difficulties were used to measure self-perception of hearing acuity. Differences in scores between the groups were analysed. Correlations and regressions were used to establish the relationship between self-perception of hearing and measures of hearing ability.Outcomes & Results: Despite minimal impairment and a non-significant difference between performance on pure-tone audiometry for participants with and without aphasia, participants with aphasia performed significantly worse on measures of speech perception in noise than participants without aphasia. They also had a significantly greater degree of perceived hearing disability. Although SSQ scores were correlated with some behavioural measures for the participants with aphasia, the SSQ only predicted the hearing status and speech in noise performance of control participants.Conclusions: The results suggest that the prevalence of hearing loss for people with aphasia (at least for this group) is no greater than the general population. However, they are significantly more affected in their recognition of speech in noise and experience greater disability in listening situations than people without aphasia. The latter problems were not predicted by pure-tone audiograms or sound-in-noise performance. The brief questionnaire was not effective in identifying hearing impairment, indicating the need for a regular hearing screen to ensure provision of the most effective rehabilitation. Ideally, the screen should include disability and behavioural measures, as our results suggest they cannot replace each other. These findings should assist clinicians in setting realistic goals and delivering interventions in the most effective way for people with aphasia.

A New Method For Electronic Crossmatch: ABO /Rh Blood Group Confirmation and Antibody Screening Concomitantly With Serologic Crossmatch

Introduction Altough electronic crossmatch (E-XM) is cost effective and reduce laboratory workload, practical difficulties of determining 2 consecutive ABO/Rh in patients, requirement for the verification of the donor ABO group, concerns for errors in patient identification/specimen labeling and lack of reimbursement for performing ABO confirmation testing on a second separately collected specimen could avoid its widespread implementation in some countries. Method Using gel santrifuge method, ABO/Rh grouping and immuno-hematologic tests are done by a fully automatic system and recorded in blood bank information system. For patients and donors who do not have a previous blood group and antibody screen in the system, study steps are: 1. ABO/Rh group is performed with the 1st specimen and recorded 2. Donor blood group and antibody screen are done in the same gel card. 3. A second specimen is required at the time of transfusion request for regular antiglobulin crossmatch and antibody screen. ABO confirmation of patient and donor is done concomitantly in the same card with XM. 4. When 2 or more units are requested, first unit is selected by serologic XM, subsequent units are selected by E-XM from the available donor pool. Donor pool for electronic selection is fed by serologically compatible but undelivered units. Computer system is capable of questioning availability for E-XM eventhough serologic XM is not performed and could show the missing parameters needed for E-XM. Results After 6 months of validation process, between 1.01.2012- 31.07.2013, 36.7% of erythrocytes were reserved by E-XM using this method (table 1). Evaluation of the efficacy of the XM process revealed that 37.5% of the serologically confirmed units were undelivered and those supported the pool for E-XM (table 2). Conclusions 1. This method implements a double specimen system for ABO/Rh verification to ensure the transfusion security and guarantees the selection of at least 1 unit serologically. 2. Reduces work load and cost effective even in centers who are currently using serologic XM. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Health Screening Examinations in Cardiovascular Risk Estimation

The most important elements in prevention of cardiovascular (and cerebrovascular) dis- eases are screening and managing the risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high total cholesterol or high blood glucose etc.. The best way to find out the personal specific risk profile is through screening tests during annual doctor visits. Regular cardiovascu- lar and cerebrovascular screenings are very important because they help detect the risk factors in their earliest and asymptomatic stages. This way, the patients can treat their risk factors with lifestyle changes and pharmacotherapies, if appropriate, before it ulti- mately leads to the development of cardiovascular disease. For many patients, screening results can serve as a wake-up call. When the regular test comes back and the patient sees and understands the abnormal parameters, it becomes extremely personal. The idea of making lifestyle changes is not just a recommendation in a pamphlet; it is something that can impact the patient’s whole life, habits and health. The best way for optimal health benefits is through regular cardiovascular screening tests beginning at age 20. Because of very high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, early and regular screen- ings could be a basic element of preventive health care.

“K2/Spice”

“K2/Spice”

Assessment and treatment of abuse risk in opioid prescribing for chronic pain.

Opioid analgesics provide effective treatment for noncancer pain, but many physicians have concerns about adverse effects, tolerance, and addiction. Misuse of opioids is prominent in patients with chronic back pain and early recognition of misuse risk could help physicians offer adequate patient care while implementing appropriate levels of monitoring to reduce aberrant drug-related behaviors. In this review, we discuss opioid abuse and misuse issues that often arise in the treatment of patients with chronic back pain and present an overview of assessment and treatment strategies that can be effective in improving compliance with the use of prescription opioids for pain. Many persons with chronic back pain have significant medical, psychiatric and substance use comorbidities that affect treatment decisions and a comprehensive evaluation that includes a detailed history, physical, and mental health evaluation is essential. Although there is no “gold standard” for opioid misuse risk assessment, several validated measures have been shown to be useful. Controlled substance agreements, regular urine drug screens, and interventions such as motivational counseling have been shown to help improve patient compliance with opioids and to minimize aberrant drug-related behavior. Finally, we discuss the future of abuse-deterrent opioids and other potential strategies for back pain management.

Physicians’ Perceptions of Patients’ Knowledge and Opinions Regarding Breast Cancer: Associations with Patient Education and Physician Numeracy

Background: The aim of this study was to assess physicians’ perception of their patients’ knowledge and opinions regarding regular screening, and the association of their perceptions with physician numeracy and patient education level. Methods: We carried out a survey study of 240 obstetrician-gynecologists. Results: Overall, 99.6% physicians perceive that their patients know that breast cancer is hereditary, 86.5% predicted that there is a gene mutation related to breast cancer, and 79.4% predicted that most breast cancer cases occur in women aged 50 years or greater. Physicians with less educated patients thought that their patients would not know about genetic screening, and physicians with more educated patients thought that their patients would know that mammography does not reduce the risk of getting breast cancer. A total of 66.0% of obstetrician-gynecologists answered all 3 numeracy questions correctly. Less numerate physicians were more likely to indicate that their typical patient would agree with the statement about regular mammography screens than the more numerate physicians. Conclusions: Obstetrician-gynecologists expect that their patients know some things about breast cancer and not others. Some of the physicians’ perceptions about patients differ based on numeracy.

Behavior Problems in Children and Adolescents With Chronic Physical Illness: A Meta-Analysis

To examine the risk of emotional and behavioral problems among children with a chronic physical illness. Random-effects meta-analysis was computed to integrate the results of 569 studies that used the Child Behavior Checklist, Youth Self Report, and the Teacher Report Form. Young people with a chronic physical illness have higher levels of internalizing (g = .47 standard mean difference), externalizing (g = .22) and total behavior problems (g = .42) than healthy peers. The largest differences were found in parental ratings and the weakest differences in adolescent self-ratings. Strongest elevations of internalizing problems were found for chronic fatigue syndrome and strongest elevations of externalizing problems were observed for epilepsy and migraine/tension-type headache. Effects also varied by country and, in part, by age, gender, year of publication, and study design. The results call for regular screens for psychological distress and referrals for mental health services, when needed.

Mapping the Neglected Space

Background. Spatial neglect affects perception along different dimensions. However, there is limited availability of 3-dimensional (3D) methods that fully map out a patient’s volume of deficit, although this could guide clinical management. Objective. To test whether patients with neglect exhibit simple contralesional versus complex perceptual deficits and whether deficits are best described using Cartesian (rectangular) or polar coordinates. Methods. Seventeen right-hemisphere persons with stroke (8 with a history of neglect) and 9 healthy controls were exposed to a 3D virtual environment. Targets placed in a dense array appeared one at a time in various locations. Results. When tested using rectangular array of targets, subjects in the neglect group exhibited complex asymmetries across several dimensions in both reaction time and target detection rates. Paper-and-pencil tests only detected neglect in 4 of 8 of these patients. When tested using polar array of targets, 2 patients who initially appeared to perform poorly in both left and near space only showed a simple left-side asymmetry that depended almost entirely on the angle from the sagittal plane. A third patient exhibited left neglect irrespective of the arrangements of targets used. An idealized model with pure dependence on the polar angle demonstrated how such deficits could be misconstrued as near neglect if one uses a rectangular array. Conclusions. Such deficits may be poorly detected by paper-and-pencil tests and even by computerized tests that use regular screens. Assessments that incorporate 3D arrangements of targets enable precise mapping of deficient areas and detect subtle forms of neglect whose identification may be relevant to treatment strategies.

Effectiveness and causes for failure of surveillance of CDKN2A-mutated melanoma families

For more than 25 years families with an increased susceptibility to melanoma have been under surveillance at our institution. We sought to investigate the effectiveness of surveillance for CDKN2A-mutated families and causes for failure of the program in patients with more advanced tumors. In a retrospective case-control study, Breslow thickness of melanomas diagnosed in relatives enrolled in the surveillance program were compared with melanomas of unscreened index patients. We investigated the influence of mode of detection and length of surveillance interval on outcome. Surveillance melanomas (n = 226, median thickness: 0.50 mm) had a significantly lower Breslow thickness (multiplication factor: 0.61 [95% confidence interval 0.47-0.80], P < .001) than index melanomas (n = 40, median thickness: 0.98 mm). Index melanomas were more likely diagnosed with a Breslow thickness greater than 1.0 mm (odds ratio: 3.1 [95% confidence interval 1.2-8.1], P = .022). In all, 53% of surveillance melanomas were diagnosed during regular screens, 7% during patients' first screen, 20% between regular screens, and 20% in patients who were noncompliant with the surveillance schedule. The majority of surveillance melanomas (58%) were detected within 6 months after the last screen. There was no correlation between tumor thickness and the length of the screening interval for tumors diagnosed within 24 months since the last screen. The study is retrospective. Surveillance was associated with earlier detection of melanomas. Noncompliance was an important cause for failing surveillance. Shortening surveillance intervals may advance detection of tumors, but may paradoxically have little impact on prognosis.

P23.09 Description of an MRSA outbreak in a neonatal care unit in southern Sweden; emphasizing the importance of regular screen cultures

P23.09 Description of an MRSA outbreak in a neonatal care unit in southern Sweden; emphasizing the importance of regular screen cultures

Opioid-Addiction Treatment: Maintenance or Abstinence Better?

Opioid-Addiction Treatment: Maintenance or Abstinence Better?

A signature dissimilarity measure for trabecular bone texture in knee radiographs

The purpose of this study is to develop a dissimilarity measure for the classification of trabecular bone (TB) texture in knee radiographs. Problems associated with the traditional extraction and selection of texture features and with the invariance to imaging conditions such as image size, anisotropy, noise, blur, exposure, magnification, and projection angle were addressed. In the method developed, called a signature dissimilarity measure (SDM), a sum of earth mover's distances calculated for roughness and orientation signatures is used to quantify dissimilarities between textures. Scale-space theory was used to ensure scale and rotation invariance. The effects of image size, anisotropy, noise, and blur on the SDM developed were studied using computer generated fractal texture images. The invariance of the measure to image exposure, magnification, and projection angle was studied using x-ray images of human tibia head. For the studies, Mann-Whitney tests with significance level of 0.01 were used. A comparison study between the performances of a SDM based classification system and other two systems in the classification of Brodatz textures and the detection of knee osteoarthritis (OA) were conducted. The other systems are based on weighted neighbor distance using compound hierarchy of algorithms representing morphology (WND-CHARM) and local binary patterns (LBP). Results obtained indicate that the SDM developed is invariant to image exposure (2.5-30 mA s), magnification (x1.00 - x1.35), noise associated with film graininess and quantum mottle (< 25%), blur generated by a sharp film screen, and image size (> 64 x 64 pixels). However, the measure is sensitive to changes in projection angle (> 5 degrees), image anisotropy (> 30 degrees), and blur generated by a regular film screen. For the classification of Brodatz textures, the SDM based system produced comparable results to the LBP system. For the detection of knee OA, the SDM based system achieved 78.8% classification accuracy and outperformed the WND-CHARM system (64.2%). The SDM is well suited for the classification of TB texture images in knee OA detection and may be useful for the texture classification of medical images in general.

Visualization and Computer Graphics on Isotropically Emissive Volumetric Displays

The availability of commodity volumetric displays provides ordinary users with a new means of visualizing 3D data. Many of these displays are in the class of isotropically emissive light devices, which are designed to directly illuminate voxels in a 3D frame buffer, producing X-ray-like visualizations. While this technology can offer intuitive insight into a 3D object, the visualizations are perceptually different from what a computer graphics or visualization system would render on a 2D screen. This paper formalizes rendering on isotropically emissive displays and introduces a novel technique that emulates traditional rendering effects on isotropically emissive volumetric displays, delivering results that are much closer to what is traditionally rendered on regular 2D screens. Such a technique can significantly broaden the capability and usage of isotropically emissive volumetric displays. Our method takes a 3D dataset or object as the input, creates an intermediate light field, and outputs a special 3D volume dataset called a lumi-volume. This lumi-volume encodes approximated rendering effects in a form suitable for display with accumulative integrals along unobtrusive rays. When a lumi-volume is fed directly into an isotropically emissive volumetric display, it creates a 3D visualization with surface shading effects that are familiar to the users. The key to this technique is an algorithm for creating a 3D lumi-volume from a 4D light field. In this paper, we discuss a number of technical issues, including transparency effects due to the dimension reduction and sampling rates for light fields and lumi-volumes. We show the effectiveness and usability of this technique with a selection of experimental results captured from an isotropically emissive volumetric display, and we demonstrate its potential capability and scalability with computer-simulated high-resolution results.

La educación en medios, más allá de la escuela

Education in and for the media is doubtlessly necessary and is very slowly slipping into regular education, but not very satisfactorily. This work must be fleshed out by the media’s effort to take some responsibility for the educational work as well, not by educating directly, but by trying to match their broadcasts with the values that education is trying to convey. Audiovisual Councils can play a role in driving media education, helping the educational system to meet its responsibility to educate children to use properly the television, the Internet and other regular screens habitually surrounding them. At the same time, these Councils can help media professionals enforce and interpret legislation about audiovisual contents freely and responsibly, thereby facilitating self-regulation. The article contributes the experience garnered by the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia in promoting media literacy. La educación en y para los medios de comunicación es una necesidad indudable que, muy lentamente y de forma poco satisfactoria, se está introduciendo en la educación reglada. Dicha labor, por otra parte, debería verse complementada por un esfuerzo de los medios audiovisuales de hacerse responsables también de la tarea educativa, no educando directamente, pero sí procurando que sus emisiones fueran coherentes con los valores que la educación procura transmitir. Los Consejos Audiovisuales pueden ejercer una función en el impulso de la educación en medios, propiciando que el sistema educativo asuma la responsabilidad de formar a los menores para el buen uso de la televisión, de Internet y del resto de «pantallas» que constituyen su entorno habitual. Al mismo tiempo dichos Consejos están en condiciones de ayudar a los profesionales de los medios a aplicar e interpretar la legislación relativa a los contenidos audiovisuales de una forma libre y responsable, facilitando de este modo la autorregulación. El artículo aporta las experiencias realizadas por el Consejo Audiovisual de Cataluña para promover la alfabetización mediática.

Pressure Drop for Low Reynolds-Number Flows Through Regular and Random Screens

Creeping flow through both regular and irregular screens was simulated by the lattice-Boltzmann method, and the dependence on screen porosity and Reynolds number of the pressure drop across the screen was analyzed. Regular structures were planar arrays of straight fibers or woven one-layer structures. The irregular planar structures were composed of randomly located and oriented fibers of finite length. A simple function of screen porosity based on partly numerical scaling arguments was found to describe accurately the simulated pressure drop across all regular screens. Due to their bigger surface area, the flow resistance of woven screens was found to be about 15% larger than that of regular planar screens with the same porosity. The pressure drop across irregular planar screens was found to be described by the same screen-porosity function with a slightly different ‘scaling’ exponent which thus appears to be dependent on the structure of the screen. The flow resistance of irregular structures was found to be clearly smaller than that of regular structures because of channelling of the flow through very few largest pores.

Imaging fingerprinting of excitation emission matrices

The spectral fingerprinting of the excitation emission matrix (EEM) of fluorescent substances is demonstrated using polychromatic light sources and tri-chromatic image detectors. A model of the measured fingerprints explaining their features and classification performance, based on the polychromatic excitation of the indicators is proposed. Substantial amount of spectral information is retained in the fingerprints as corroborated by multivariate analysis and experimental conditions that favor such situation are identified. In average, for five different substances, the model shows a fitting goodness measured by the Pearson's r coefficient and the root mean square deviation of 0.8541 and 0.0247 respectively, while principal component classification patterns satisfactorily compare with the EEM spectroscopy classification and respectively explain 96% and 93% of the information in the fist two principal components. The measurements can be performed using regular computer screens as illumination and web cameras as detectors, which constitute ubiquitous and affordable platforms compatible with distributed evaluations, in contrast to regular instrumentation for EEM measurements.