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PubMed1979

Development of apparatus to measure calcium changes in the forearm and spine by neutron activation analysis using californium-252.

Techniques were developed to measure small changes of calcium in the forearm and spine in vivo by neutron activation analysis using two sources of 252Cf in a hospital environment. Using purpose-built part-body counters and bilateral irradiation with 7.5 cm premoderation between the sources and the bone, peripheral bone was measured with a total source strength eventually as low as 50 mCi. Two methods of spectral analysis were used and compared. Patient studies of the forearm were successfully undertaken, with a precision of 2.6% which included patient movement, and an annual bone dose of less than 10 rem and skin dose of 35 rem from six measurements. Two 100 mCi sources were used for measurements of the lumbar spine. Care was taken to minimise the problems of non-uniformity of activation which are present using unilateral irradiation. Emphasis was placed on measuring the bodies of the vertebrae with adequate sensitivity and uniformity, and the spinous processes and arches with low sensitivity. A whole body counter was used for the bilateral detection of the induced activity. The precision of the method was 3.0% with an annual peak bone dose of 2.1 rem and skin dose of 18 rem from three measurements.

Activation Analysis↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The fragmentation of community: Part 1, The loss of belonging and commitment at work.

Squeezed between mounting budget pressures and staffing demands, healthcare managers have little room to maneuver as they are buffeted by incessant new strategies. So what is the constant that they can use to keep a steady course through all the chaos? We suggest the overarching constant is "community in the workplace." Although it may have both short- and long-term benefits, community building is not a strategy but a career-long philosophy, structure, and approach to help managers tie together all the facets of their daily work into a more meaningful and satisfying purpose. This article, part 1 in a 4-part series, describes the negative dynamics found in many healthcare organizations that often result in the inability to get past short-term strategies and tactics to achieve long-term, sustainable change. It highlights why managers might decide to make the philosophical shift away from the mechanistic views of the past to build community and free up resources and talents of the organization in an entirely new way. Part 2 (September 2000) will explore the principles and characteristics of "community" and provide material for further study and discussion. Part 3 (October 2000) describes how to build community as well as options for implementing change in complex adaptive systems. The final article (November 2000) presents case studies and how "community" can be built in a unionized environment.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2000

Building community in the healthcare workplace. Part 2, Envisioning the reality.

Squeezed between mounting budget pressures and staffing demands, healthcare managers have little room to maneuver as they are buffeted by incessant new strategies. So what is the constant that they can use to keep a steady course through all the chaos? We suggest that the overarching constant is "community in the workplace." Although community building may have both short- and long-term benefits, it is not a strategy but a career-long philosophy, structure, and approach to help managers tie together all the facets of their daily work into a more meaningful and satisfying purpose. This article, part 2 in a 4-part series, explores the principles and characteristics of community and provides material for further study and discussion. Four conceptual cornerstones--philosophy, influence, culture, and inner transformation--are considered in relation to the community approach. Part 1 (April) described the negative dynamics that obstruct sustainable change and reasons for moving to community at work. Part 3 (October) will describe how to build community and will give options for implementing change in complex adaptive systems. The final article (November) presents case studies and discusses how community can be built in a unionized environment.

Communication↗

PubMed2000

Building community in the healthcare workplace, Part 3: Belonging and satisfaction at work.

Squeezed between mounting budget pressures and staffing demands, healthcare managers have little room to maneuver as they are buffeted by incessant new strategies. So what is the constant that they can use to keep a steady course through all the chaos? We suggest the overarching constant is "community in the workplace." Although community building may have both short- and long-term benefits, it is not a strategy but a career-long philosophy to help managers tie together all the facets of their daily work into a more meaningful and satisfying purpose. This article, part 3 in a 4-part series, describes methods for building community in the entire organization or in a single unit. Options for implementing change in complex adaptive systems such as hospitals are discussed, along with remedies for the most common obstacles managers will encounter. Part 1 (July/August) described the negative dynamics that obstruct sustainable change and reasons for moving to community at work. Part 2 (September) discussed the basic characteristics and principles of community building. The final article (November) will present a case study and will discuss how community can be built in a unionized environment.

Humans↗

PubMed2002

Quality of nursing care provided in a neonatal intensive care unit. Structure assessment.

Structure is considered one of the three major approaches to the evaluation of quality the other two being process and outcome. Appraisal of structure involves the attributes of the settings in which care is delivered that includes the material resources, the human resources, and the organizational structure. The aim of the study was to assess the quality of nursing care provided at tne neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Princess Badia Teaching Hospital, Jordan, as regards the various components of structure domain within the context of quality. A checklist for structure assessment was developed which included criteria classified under three main areas namely, material resources, human resources, and organizational structure. Results revealed certain deviations from the recommended compliance scores for each area. Recommendations were proposed to stress the importance of the NICU being specifically built to reflect practice, environment, and cultural needs, as well as continuous education activities of NICU staff. Documented policy and procedure manuals were also recommended for assuring maintained quality care at the NICU.

Humans↗

PubMed1985

[Microflora in swine slurry as a parameter in determining the efficiency of deodorizing treatment. II. Treatment with ammonium peroxydisulfate].

Fresh and stored liquid manure from the pig could be deodorized by addition of 2% (w/v) Ammonperoxodisulfate (= APS). This effect was accompanied by a rapid increase of the redox potential up to +400 mV, fluctuating oxygen contents of maximal 0.8 mg/l, a significant decrease of pH below 7.0, a complete decomposition of organic nitrogen compounds and a considerable increase of total nitrogen caused by APS-addition. After 20 days, odour production could be noted again in the fresh slurry sample. It is assumed, that this effect is due to a population of yeasts, vigorously grown up towards the end of the test. The stored slurry sample was shown to be stable with respect to deodorization effect and yeasts could be found in portions lesser than 1%. In the fresh as well as in the stored slurry samples, organisms of the genus Bifidobacterium dominated towards the end of manure handling. In spite of an oxidised substrate it is assumed, that these anaerobic to aerotolerant microorganisms found a microbiotope with a reduced environment inside the flocks, built up by APS-addition. The facultatively anaerobic microorganisms, for the most part of the genus Bacillus, which mainly belong to producers of odorous compounds almost could be eliminated within 20 days at the latest by APS-treatment. It should be focused to prevent a secondary odour production by H2S-forming yeasts. This may be managed in future by an odour-reducing minimal APS-addition under a 2%-application. In addition, the costs of APS-treatment of liquid piggery waste could be reduced considerably.

Ammonium Sulfate↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Peacebuilders: a theoretically driven, school-based model for early violence prevention.

PeaceBuilders is a schoolwide violence-prevention program for elementary schools (K-5). A coalition of the Pima County Community Services Department, University of Arizona, and Heartsprings, Inc., (a Tucson-based company) are conducting a formal evaluation. Children who grow up to commit acts of violence show cognitive, social, and imitative differences from their peers. These characteristics can be ameliorated, most successfully through interventions that begin at an early age and involve multiple segments of the child's social experiences and interactions. PeaceBuilders activities are built into the school environment and the daily interactions among students, teachers, and administrative staff, all of whom are taught a common language and provided models of positive behavior, environmental cues to signal such behavior, opportunities to rehearse positive behavior, and rewards for practicing it. Four schools, one from each of four matched pairs, were randomly assigned to begin PeaceBuilders in Year 1. The remaining four schools begin in Year 2. Outcome assessments include student self-reports, standardized teacher reports, playground observations, and school and law enforcement records. Process assessments include school observations and surveys of teacher practices and satisfaction. Surveys were completed by 2,736 children. The sample is about 55% Hispanic, 26% Anglo, 14% Native American, and 4% African American. Among children in grades 3-5, during the past week 15% had been sent to the office for disciplinary problems, 13% tried to start a fight 27% hit someone, and 12% reported being threatened with a gun or knife. Violent behaviors and experiences are common among the studied children. A valid evaluation is underway of PeaceBuilders.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1998

A visual environment for the manipulation and integration of JAVA beans.

MOTIVATION: Visual programming has the potential to allow non-programmers to redesign and rebuild applications to suit their individual needs. We have built such a visual programming environment, which allows non-programmers to interrogate and combine software components graphically to form new applications. As the needs of the biological community grow, so too will the need for more powerful and easy to use software tools. Intelligent visual programming environments will allow users to design and develop applications easily, so that they can concentrate on the application they wish to build rather than how it is to be done. RESULTS: The environment can read in JAVA Beans, and present relevant information about the beans to the user. The user can then graphically specify how they would like information to flow between the beans by performing simple docking operations. Unnecessary complexities associated with such visual design have been removed by providing intelligent docking of components and visual feedback. With such mechanisms, the complexities of building new applications are reduced. When the biologist has finished the visual construction, the design system is able to generate the new application automatically. The system has been designed specifically to meet the needs of the biological community, and a range of 'BioBeans' are being developed. These include beans for visualization (sequence displays and data visualizers), analysis (feature recognition, error detection) and communication (database access, URL retrieval, DDE communication). AVAILABILITY: Freely available. CONTACT: boyle@synomics.com

Computational Biology↗

PubMed2004

GeneRecords: a relational database for GenBank flat file parsing and data manipulation in personal computers.

UNLABELLED: Extracting the desired data from a database entry for later analysis is a constant need in the biological sequence analysis community; GeneRecords 1.0 is a solution for GenBank biological flat file parsing, as it implements a structured representation of each feature and feature qualifier in GenBank following import in a common database managing system usable in a personal computer (Macintosh and Windows environments). This collection of related databases enables the local management of GenBank records, allowing indexing, retrieval and analysis of both information and sequences on a personal computer. AVAILABILITY: The current release, including the FileMaker Pro runtime application (built for Windows and Macintosh environments), is freely available at http://apollo11.isto.unibo.it/software/

Database Management Systems↗

PubMed2005

Working conditions, compensation and absenteeism.

This paper examines absence behaviour in relation to the working environment. A theoretical model is built in order to separate the effects of voluntary absences and absences related to ill health, where health effects are assumed to be tied to working conditions. This model is based on the Shapiro and Stiglitz efficiency wage model. In addition, work environment is introduced as a part of the compensation package. The model gives a testable hypothesis of compensating wage differentials. A panel of quarterly firm level data from 1990 to 1998 are used and the theoretical model is supported by the empirical findings. The result indicates that the workers may not be fully compensated when experiencing high levels of noise in the work area, or when the job involves a high degree of monotonous work, heavy or frequent lifting or poor work postures. Ill health, and thus increased long-term absence, is not highly related to economic variables. However, long-term absence is relatively higher if the firm is troubled with many accidents or near misses. In addition, disamenities for which workers are not fully compensated cause ill health and increased long-term absence.

Absenteeism↗

PubMed2005

Harnessing the power of an intelligent health environment in cancer control.

In 1971, when Congress declared "war on cancer," the public's perception was driven by an image of a single cure for a single disease. What researchers have learned since that time is that cancer is a formidable enemy made up of more than 100 different disease etiologies. The war on cancer became a war of the 21st century; a war to be fought on multiple fronts against a diffuse enemy and for which prevention was the most judicious path to victory. To fight this new war on cancer, the National Cancer Institute must seek to harness the power of health informatics to create a supportive environment for transforming science, delivering safe and patient-centric health care, and creating an environment of personal empowerment in public health. Three different types of health informatics applications are implicated: (a) applications in bioinformatics, which are intended to revitalize the engine of scientific discovery; (b) applications in medical informatics, which will create a safer and more effective environment for delivery; and (c) applications in consumer informatics, which will enable individuals to advance the charge of their own ongoing health care over the course of their lives. To keep these applications on track, health care administrators must take a sociotechnical approach to implementation. The new systems must be built into the health care environment in such a way that they support human capacities, provide failsafe backups in the face of cognitive and physical limitations, and support continuous quality improvement.

Computational Biology↗

PubMed1992

Long-term institutional residents: does the environment affect outcomes?

Quality in institutional care is frequently questioned, yet there has been little research on the effects of different environments on important outcomes such as disability and quality of life. These outcomes are difficult to measure, and randomised trials difficult to perform. An alternative to formal trials is to assess the effects of 'natural experiments' arising from service reforms. We have studied the relocation of 95 residents from the continuing-care wards of a hospital which closed to two different ward environments: one new and purpose built, the other refurbished maternity wards. Deaths and changes in disability over 12 months from pre-relocation measurements were recorded, using the Barthel Index and Clifton Assessment Procedure for the Elderly (CAPE) Behavioural Rating and Cognitive Assessment Scales. No advantage could be shown for the new wards in terms of changes in disability; in fact, Barthel scores improved more on the refurbished wards (the difference being 2.5 points at 4 months, p less than 0.0005). Changes in CAPE scores did not differ between the wards. Mortality at 1 year was 44%, with no significant difference between the ward types. Logistic regression analysis and multivariate analysis of variance showed this effect to be independent of initial differences between the groups. Efforts to improve quality in long-term care for the elderly are not wholly dependent on the provision of expensive new facilities.

Aged↗

PubMed1995

Ophthalmic microsurgical robot and associated virtual environment.

An ophthalmic virtual environment has been developed as part of a teleoperated microsurgical robot built to perform surgery on the eye. The virtual environment is unique in that it incorporates a detailed continuum model of the anatomical structures of the eye, its mechanics and optical properties, together with a less detailed geometric-mechanical model of the face. In addition to providing a realistic visual display of the eye being operated on, the virtual environment simulates tissue properties during manipulation and cutting and the forces involved are determined by solving a mechanical finite element model of the tissue. These forces are then fed back to the operator via a force reflecting master and so the surgeon can experience both the visual and mechanical sensations associated with performing surgery. The virtual environment can be used to enhance the images produced by the camera on the microsurgical slave robot during surgery and as a surgical simulator in which it replaces these images with computer graphics generated from the eye model.

Computer Graphics↗

PubMed1996

Policy implications of intervention research: research on the social context for intervention.

Intervention research is of significance because the failure or success of particular interventions may have influence on policy and practice. Poorly designed interventions may impede progress in health and safety. Frequently, interventions are based on scientific/ technical definitions of occupational health and safety problems but involve intrusion into complex sociotechnical work environments. Intervention research must be built on a solid foundation of social science research. An example of research useful to health and safety intervention is the Gray Institute study of management practices in the chemical industry that was commissioned by OSHA a few years ago. It focused on safety management in chemical manufacturing firms and their contractors, including a survey of managers and contractors and nine intensive case studies of particular plants. The study describes safety management practices in the best firms in the industry. Such research can provide the groundwork for effective safety interventions in the industry, including training and training requirements, experimentation with redefined managerial responsibilities, regulation of contractors, and others. It also suggests the kinds of useful data that might be collected by NIOSH in the normal course of health and safety studies. Finally, it suggests that the interdisciplinary teams currently investigating occupational health and safety should be expanded to include social scientists.

Chemical Industry↗

PubMed2006

Assessment of a case-based training system (d3web.Train) in rheumatology.

To improve the learning experiences for third year medical students, a case-based training program based on real patient records has been introduced as a supplement to lectures. It was built with the novel training environment d3web.Train. Optimization of the learning environment d3web.Train for both teachers and learners has been considered as equally important and offers several trade-offs. The training program has been evaluated during three subsequent rheumatology courses, the first one voluntary and the latter two mandatory. For each course, we tracked how often and intensive each student used the system. In addition, the students answered questionnaires about their expectations and experiences. In the first voluntary course, 39/92 students finished at least one case and solved 187 cases in total (average: 4.8 cases from 12 cases available). In the second and third mandatory courses, all students (60 resp. 56) finished at least the required 20 cases with an average usage of 22.5 resp. 29.3 out of 31 available cases. Most of the cases were processed twice by the students in preparation for the final examinations. A positive correlation between processed cases per student and the exam score could be shown (30, 73 and 95% in the first, second and third courses, respectively). The findings clearly exceeded the expectations of the students concerning its usefulness as a supplement to lectures and as good preparation for their job as physician, as well as the learning period to use the program. For working through one case, students needed about 9 min on average. The case-based training system d3web.Train offers a new tool for medical education in rheumatology. The main advantage of the system is the relatively low effort needed to create a case-based program starting from the available dismissal records.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

PubMed2004

Cardio: a web-based knowledge resource of genes and proteins related to cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading killer for human. In order to understand the linkage between cardiovascular diseases and genes or proteins, it is essential to construct a database to organize the body of knowledge. While the existing molecular biological databases focus on the sequence and structural aspects of biological macromolecules, i.e. DNAs, RNAs and proteins, Cardio is the web-based system we built to provide a knowledge environment with visual interface to integrate information about major cardiovascular diseases in relation to genes and proteins. METHODS: We collected the information from the web by using a group of software we developed and used a relational database management system to manage the information of these data. RESULTS: Cardio consists of six sections: GENE, PROTEIN, DISEASE, DRUG, LINKS, and REFERENCE. Each section contains relevant information about the topic. Using a phenotype-driven approach, we can identify genetic mechanisms underlying the physiology and pathophysiology of specific cardiovascular disease, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart failure, and stroke. CONCLUSION: The website titled "Database of Genes and Proteins Related to Cardiovascular Disease (Cardio)" is available at along with additional information on cardiovascular disease, supplementary materials and related figures.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗

PubMed2004

Halogen retention, organohalogens, and the role of organic matter decomposition on halogen enrichment in two Chilean peat bogs.

Natural formation of organohalogen compounds can be shown to occur in all natural environments. Peat bogs, which are built up exclusively of organic matter and cover approximately 3% of the total continental world area, are potentially significant reservoirs for organohalogen formation. Up to now, fluxes and retention rates of halogens and organohalogen formation in peat bogs were mostly unquantified. In our study, we investigated the retention of atmospheric derived halogens and the natural formation of organohalogens by differential halogen analysis in two peat bogs in southernmost Chile. Atmospheric wet deposition rates of chlorine, bromine, and iodine range between 600 and 36000, 6 and 160, and 1 and 3 mg m(-2) yr(-1), respectively. Mean annual net accumulation rates of these halogens in peat are calculated to be 12-72 mg of Cl m(-2), 1.7-12 mg of Br m(-2), and 0.4-1.2 mg of l m(-2). Retention rates are similarly high for iodine (36-46%) and bromine (7.5-50%), and substantially lower for chlorine (0.2-2%). To evaluate influences of peat decomposition processes on halogen enrichment, halogen concentrations were compared to carbon/nitrogen ratios (C/N). Our results indicate that up to 95% of chlorine, 91% of bromine, and 81% of iodine in peat exist in an organically bound form. The results also indicate that the concentrations of halogens, especially of bromine and iodine, in peat are largely determined by peat decomposition processes and that halogens are not conservative in bogs.

Biodegradation, Environmental↗

PubMed1999

Historical relationship between performance assessment for radioactive waste disposal and other types of risk assessment.

This article describes the evolution of the process for assessing the hazards of a geologic disposal system for radioactive waste and, similarly, nuclear power reactors, and the relationship of this process with other assessments of risk, particularly assessments of hazards from manufactured carcinogenic chemicals during use and disposal. This perspective reviews the common history of scientific concepts for risk assessment developed until the 1950s. Computational tools and techniques developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s to analyze the reliability of nuclear weapon delivery systems were adopted in the early 1970s for probabilistic risk assessment of nuclear power reactors, a technology for which behavior was unknown. In turn, these analyses became an important foundation for performance assessment of nuclear waste disposal in the late 1970s. The evaluation of risk to human health and the environment from chemical hazards is built on methods for assessing the dose response of radionuclides in the 1950s. Despite a shared background, however, societal events, often in the form of legislation, have affected the development path for risk assessment for human health, producing dissimilarities between these risk assessments and those for nuclear facilities. An important difference is the regulator's interest in accounting for uncertainty.

Decision Theory↗