Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype 15A in Psychiatric Unit,Rhode Island,USA, 2010–2011

During a pneumococcal disease outbreak in a pediatric psychiatric unit in a hospital in Rhode Island, USA, 6 (30%) of 20 patients and staff were colonized with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 15A, which is not included in pneumococcal vaccines. The outbreak subsided after implementation of antimicrobial drug prophylaxis and enhanced infection control measures.     

医院所有制与效率：以德国为关注重点的研究回顾

德国医院市场在过去20年里进行了一揽子医疗改革,特别是在2004年引进了疾病诊断相关分组——以期提高医院效率。本文旨在回顾近期就比较德国公立医院、私立非营利医院和私立营利医院效率所开展的研究。尽管研究结果错综复杂,但结合其他国家,特别是美国的研究证据,德国方面的研究结果表明:与公立医院相比,私立医院(私立非营利和私立营利医院)的运营效率并不一定就高。由于私立营利医院通常都会被认为是最有效率的所有制形式,因此本研究结果对很多决策者来说也许有些意外。     

Social capital and self-rated health--a study of temporal (causal) relationships

Despite the vast amount of research over the past fifteen years, there is still lively debate surrounding the role of social capital on individual health outcomes. This seems to stem from a lack of consistency regarding the definition, measurement and plausible theories linking this contextual phenomenon to health. We have further identified a knowledge gap within this field - a distinct lack of research investigating temporal relationships between social capital and health outcomes. To remedy this shortfall, we use four waves of the British Household Panel Survey to follow the same individuals (N = 8114) between years 2000 and 2007. We investigate temporal relationships and association between our outcome variable self-rated health (SRH) and time-lagged explanatory variables, including three individual-level social capital proxies and other well-known health determinants. Our results suggest that levels of the social capital proxy 'generalised trust' at time point (t - 1) are positively associated with SRH at subsequent time point (t), even after taking into consideration levels of other well-known health determinants (such as smoking status) at time point (t - 1). That we investigate temporal relationships at four separate occasions over the seven-year period lends considerable weight to our results and the argument that generalised trust is an independent predictor of individual health. However, lack of consensus across a variety of disciplines as to what generalised trust is believed to measure creates ambiguity when attempting to identify possible pathways from higher trust to better health.