Measuring the productivity of residential long-term care in England: methods for quality adjustment and regional comparison

Productivity trend information is valuable in developing policy and for understanding changes in the ‘value for money’ of the care system. In this paper, we consider approaches to measuring productivity of adult social care (ASC), and particularly care home services. Productivity growth in the public sector is traditionally measured by comparing change in total output to change in total inputs, but has not accounted for changes in service quality and need. In this study, we propose a method to estimate ‘quality adjusted’ output based on indicators of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT), using data collected in the annual adult social care survey (ASCS). When combined with expenditure and activity data for 2010 to 2012, we found that this approach was feasible to implement with current data and that it altered the productivity results compared with non-adjusted productivity metrics. Overall, quality-adjusted productivity grew in most regions between 2010 and 2011 and remained unchanged for most regions from 2011 to 2012.     

Occult Contralateral Lateral Lymph Node Metastases in Unilateral N1b Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

World Journal of Surgery - Therapeutic lateral neck dissection (ND) is recommended for N1b papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), while prophylactic contralateral lateral ND is not. Given the paucity...     

Activation of kinin B1 receptor evokes hyperthermia through a vagal sensory mechanism in the rat

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Kinins are mediators of pain and inflammation. Their role in thermoregulation is, however, unknown despite the fact the B1 receptor (B1R) was found implicated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced fever. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which peripheral B1R affects body core temperature in a rat model known to show up-regulated levels of B1R. METHODS: Male Sprague--Dawley rats received streptozotocin (STZ, 65 mg/kg; i.p.) to enhance B1R expression. Control rats received the vehicle only. One week later, rectal temperature was measured in awake rats after i.p. injection of increasing doses (0.01 to 5 mg/kg) of des-Arg9-Bradykinin (BK) and Sar-[D-Phe8]des-Arg9-BK (B1R agonists) or BK (B2R agonist). The mechanism of B1R-induced hyperthermia was addressed using specific inhibitors and in rats subjected to subdiaphragmatic vagal nerve ligation. B1R mRNA level was measured by quantitative Real Time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and B1R was localized by confocal microscopy. RESULTS: B1R agonists (0.1 to 5 mg/kg) showed transient (5- to 30-minute) and dose-dependent increases of rectal temperature (+1.5[degree sign]C) in STZ-treated rats, but not in control rats. BK caused no effect in STZ and control rats. In STZ-treated rats, B1R agonist-induced hyperthermia was blocked by antagonists/inhibitors of B1R (SSR240612), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) (niflumic acid) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) (L-NAME), and after vagal ligation. In contrast, COX-1 inhibition (indomethacin) had no effect on B1R agonist-induced hyperthermia. In STZ-treated rats, B1R mRNA was significantly increased in the hypothalamus and the vagus nerve where it was co-localized with calcitonin-gene-related peptide in sensory C-fibers. CONCLUSION: B1R, which is induced in inflammatory diseases, could contribute to hyperthermia through a vagal sensory mechanism involving prostaglandins (via COX-2) and nitric oxide.     

Ischemic Gastric Conditioning by Preoperative Arterial Embolization Before Oncologic Esophagectomy: A Single-Center Experience

Purpose

Surgical esophagectomy is the gold standard treatment of early-stage esophageal cancer. The procedure is complicated with significant morbidity; the most severe complication being the anastomotic leakage. Anastomotic fistulas are reported in 5–25% of cases and are mainly due to gastric transplant ischemia. Here, we report our experience of ischemic pre-conditioning using preoperative arterial embolization (PreopAE) before esophagectomy.

Materials and Methods

The medical records of all patients who underwent oncologic esophagectomy from 2008 to 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: patients who received PreopAE, and a control group of patients who did not benefit from ischemic pre-conditioning. The target arteries selected for PreopAE were the splenic artery, left gastric artery, and right gastric artery. Evaluation of the results was based on anastomotic leakage, postoperative mortality, technical success of PreopAE, and complications related to the embolization procedure.

Results

Forty-six patients underwent oncologic esophagectomy with PreopAE and 13 patients did not receive ischemic conditioning before surgery. Thirty-eight PreopAE were successfully performed (83%), but right gastric artery embolization failed for 8 patients. Anastomotic leakage occurred in 6 PreopAE patients (13%) and in 6 patients (46%) in the control group (p = 0.02). The mortality rate was 2% in the PreopAE group and 23% in the control group (p = 0.03). Eighteen patients suffered from partial splenic infarction after PreopAE, all treated conservatively.

Conclusion

Preoperative ischemic conditioning by arterial embolization before oncologic esophagectomy seems to be effective in preventing anastomotic leakage.

     

An integrated bioinformatics approach to the characterization of influenza A/H5N1 viral sequences by microarray data: Implication for monitoring H5N1 emerging strains and designing appropriate influenza vaccines

In order to characterize A/H5N1 viral sequences, a bioinformatics approach accurately identified viral sequences from discovery of a sequence signature, which provided enough distinctive information for sequence identification. Eight highly pathogenic H5N1 viral isolations were collected from different areas of Thailand between 2003 and 2006, and were used for analysis of H5N1 genotypic testing with a semiconductor-based oligonucleotide microarray. All H5N1 samples and H1N1, H4N8 negative controls were correctly subtyped. Sensitivity of the eight oligonucleotide probes, with optimized cut-offs, ranged from 70% (95% CI 65–75) to 87% (95% CI 84–91), and the corresponding Kappa values ranged from 0.76 (95% CI 0.72–0.80) to 0.86 (95% CI 0.83–0.89). Semi-conductor-based oligonucleotide array and oligonucleotide probes corresponded well when detecting H5N1. After fully correcting the subtype from the result of microarray signal intensity, the microarray output method combined with bioinformatics tools, identified and monitored genetic variations of H5N1. Capability of distinguishing different strains of H5N1 from Thailand was the outstanding feature of this assay. Ninety percent of HA and NA (4/5) genes were sequenced correctly, in accordance with previous examinations performed by classical diagnostic methods. The low-medium-high bioinformatics resolutions were able to predict an epidemic strain of H5N1. This study also showed the advantage of using a large genotypic database to predict the epidemic strain of H5N1. However, the monitoring protocol of this new strain has been recommended for further study with a large-scale sample.