Finding the Most Favorable Timing for Cholecystectomy after Percutaneous Cholecystostomy Tube Placement: An Analysis of Institutional and National Data

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以随机系数模型衡量内视镜胆囊切除手术成本管理绩效

使用随机系数模型估计医疗组织成员的学习率,衡量组织学习的绩效,并且实证性地采用中国台湾地区全民健康保险数据库,比较台湾医学中心医院对内视镜胆囊切除手术成本控制的学习绩效.通过研究的理论性与实证性,组织管理者可以从微观的角度了解到组织内部的学习能力与不同团体和组织之间的学习率差异.     

Clinical Trial Information Mediator

For research in biomedical sciences, cross-domain searches through several different databases are an increasingly necessary task that often becomes a time consuming and labour-intense process. This is especially the case when different domain databases have to be combined, for example combined searches in clinical trials registries, publication databases and research databases. The Clinical Trial Information Mediator (CTIM) addresses this problem and offers a novel way for the combined search in ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed and BioSamples.CTIM was developed based on a requirements analysis and implemented using open source technology. A search engine with a graphical user interface was developed in order to search linked data in the three databases ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed and BioSamples; thereby enabling CTIM to bridge the gap between different knowledge domains of clinical trials, publications of research results and biosamples/genetic information. CTIM was applied in three use cases demonstrating that information retrieval could be considerably improved in sense for complex queries. These use cases show that more relevant results were obtained and more associated publications and biosamples could be retrieved in comparison to a separate single search.Main advantages of CTIM are identifying related information between clinical trials and publications employing a clinical trial centred kind of search, simplified access to its databases and thus reduced search time. In addition it can be used by researchers without prior training because of the intuitive usage.     

Febrile convulsions increase risk of Tourette syndrome

PurposeFebrile convulsion (FC) and Tourette syndrome (TS) are both common neurological disorders in infants and children. Both disorders share clinical similarities, such as paroxysmal symptoms with normal neurodevelopment and expected remission over time. This population-based study investigated the association between FC with TS during childhood neurodevelopment.MethodWe used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to conduct a retrospective cohort analysis on 1586 FC patients. A reference cohort of 6344 non-FC patients, matched for age, sex, urbanization level, parental occupation, and index year, was used for comparison. The risk of the occurrence of TS in FC patients was assessed using a Cox proportional hazard regression model.ResultsThe overall incidence of TS was higher in the FC cohort than in the non-FC cohort (28.5 vs 13.9 per 10,000 person-years; adjusted hazard ratio = 1.91, 95% confidence interval = 1.32–2.75). The associated risk factors for FC patients to develop TS were boys, children living in rural areas, and children whose parents held blue-collar positions. Moreover, the risk of TS in FC patients rose from 0.89 to 16.0 (trend test P < 0.0001) when the frequency of FC-related medical visits increased from 1 to 2 times to more than 4 times. The adjusted hazard ratio for TS in related to FC-related medical visits was 1.02 (95% CI = 1.02–1.03) per one frequency increment.ConclusionFC may increase the risk of subsequent TS occurrence in children. Children who had frequent medical visits for FC were particularly vulnerable.     

失衡与治理:学术期刊数字出版产业链利益分配问题研究

【目的】 探讨学术期刊数字出版产业链中的市场主体利益分配失衡问题的解决方案,以满足各方的合理利益诉求。【方法】 运用文献法、个案研究法等,对我国学术期刊数字出版产业链上、中、下游市场主体之间利益分配失衡的现状及原因进行分析。【结果】 数据库平台企业的双边市场地位与商业模式、学术期刊数字出版产品特性与收费模式、主管部门监管不到位、行政力量推动下的非完全市场化运行机制、版权维护动力不足,以及尊重知识产权意愿不强是当前学术期刊数字出版产业链利益分配失衡的主要原因。【结论】 充分发挥主管单位与行业协会监管职能、对数据库平台企业进行改革、引入区块链技术、构建基于版权保护的利益分配机制等是平衡各方利益的有效对策。     

Systemic inaccuracies in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database: Implications for accuracy and validity for neurosurgery outcomes research

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) provides a rich database of North American surgical procedures and their complications. Yet no external source has validated the accuracy of the information within this database. Using records from the 2006 to 2013 NSQIP database, we used two methods to identify errors: (1) mismatches between the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code that was used to identify the surgical procedure, and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) post-operative diagnosis: i.e., a diagnosis that is incompatible with a certain procedure. (2) Primary anesthetic and CPT code mismatching: i.e., anesthesia not indicated for a particular procedure. Analyzing data for movement disorders, epilepsy, and tumor resection, we found evidence of CPT code and postoperative diagnosis mismatches in 0.4–100% of cases, depending on the CPT code examined. When analyzing anesthetic data from brain tumor, epilepsy, trauma, and spine surgery, we found evidence of miscoded anesthesia in 0.1–0.8% of cases. National databases like NSQIP are an important tool for quality improvement. Yet all databases are subject to errors, and measures of internal consistency show that errors affect up to 100% of case records for certain procedures in NSQIP. Steps should be taken to improve data collection on the frontend of NSQIP, and also to ensure that future studies with NSQIP take steps to exclude erroneous cases from analysis.     

Novel database for exposure to fragrance ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products

Exposure of fragrance ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products to the population can be determined by way of a detailed and robust survey. The frequency and combinations of products used at specific times during the day will allow the estimation of aggregate exposure for an individual consumer, and to the sample population. In the present study, habits and practices of personal care and cosmetic products have been obtained from market research data for 36,446 subjects across European countries and the United States in order to determine the exposure to fragrance ingredients. Each subject logged their product uses, time of day and body application sites in an online diary for seven consecutive days. The survey data did not contain information on the amount of product used per occasion or body measurements, such as weight and skin surface area. Nevertheless, this was found from the literature where the likely amount of product used per occasion or body measurement could be probabilistically chosen from distributions of data based on subject demographics. The daily aggregate applied consumer product exposure was estimated based on each subject’s frequency of product use, and Monte Carlo simulations of their likely product amount per use and body measurements. Statistical analyses of the habits and practices and consumer product exposure are presented, which show the robustness of the data and the ability to estimate aggregate consumer product exposure. Consequently, the data and modelling methods presented show potential as a means of performing ingredient safety assessments for personal care and cosmetics products.     

Automatic Extraction of Comprehensive Cardiac CT Angiography Parameters: A Novel Program with High Accuracy and Efficiency

We tested the accuracy and efficiency of a novel automated program capable of extracting 15 cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA) parameters from clinical CTA reports. Five hundred cardiac CTA reports were retrospectively collected and processed. All reports were pre-populated with a structured template per guideline. The program extracted 15 parameters with high accuracy (97.3 %) and efficiency (84 s). This program may be used at other institutions with similar accuracy if its report format follows the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) guideline recommendation.