Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Margins As Measures: Gauging Hospitals' Financial Health, Karen Matherlee

National Health Policy Forum

Recognizing the considerable controversy over ways to measure hospitals' financial viability, this issue brief reviews various ways to assess their fiscal strength. The paper looks first at operating margins, traditional measures that some experts say are inadequate when considered alone. It then explores several recommendations: (a) net income, liquidity and cash flow, and debt burden, suggested by the National Advisory Panel; (b) factors that determine year-to-year changes in hospitals costs, such as hospital input price inflation, changes in care patterns, and the complexity of patients treated, put forth by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; and (c) 35 financial indicators and …

Role Of Protein Kinase C In The Translational Regulation Of Lipoprotein Lipase In Adipocytes, Gouri Ranganathan, Rami Kaakaji, Philip A. Kern

Clinical and Translational Science Faculty Publications

The hypertriglyceridemia of diabetes is accompanied by decreased lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity in adipocytes. Although the mechanism for decreased LPL is not known, elevated glucose is known to increase diacylglycerol, which activates protein kinase C (PKC). To determine whether PKC is involved in the regulation of LPL, we studied the effect of 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol 13-acetate (TPA) on adipocytes. LPL activity was inhibited when TPA was added to cultures of 3T3-F442A and rat primary adipocytes. The inhibitory effect of TPA on LPL activity was observed after 6 h of treatment, and was observed at a concentration of 6 nM. …

Examining The Links Between Retirement And Health Insurance: Implications For Medicare Eligibility, Nora Super

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief examines trends in labor force participation and health care coverage for early retirees, as well as the relationship between retirement and health insurance and health status.

Ada News - 03/22/1999, American Dental Association, Publishing Division

ADA News

Established in 1970 as the official newspaper of the American Dental Association, the ADA News serves practicing dentists and others allied to the dental profession in the U.S. and internationally. It is the No. 1 source of news and information about the many benefits and services the ADA delivers to members daily as well as timely information on scientific, social, political and economic developments affecting dentistry and health care.

Rationality In Medical Treatment Decisions: Is There A Sunk-Cost Effect?, Brian H. Bornstein, Christine Emler, Gretchen B. Chapman

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: To assess residents’ propensity to display the sunk-cost effect, an irrational decision-making bias, in medical treatment decisions; and to compare residents’ and undergraduates’ susceptibility to the bias in non-medical, everyday behaviors.
Design: Cross-sectional, in-person survey.
Setting: Louisiana State University, two locations: Medical Center-Baton Rouge and Main Campus–Psychology Department.
Participants: Internal medicine and family practice residents (N = 36, Mdn age = 27) and college undergraduates (N = 40, Mdn age = 20).
Measurements and main results: Residents evaluated medical and non-medical situations that varied the amount of previous investment and whether the present decision maker was the …

Formulations And Methods To Treat And Prevent Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, David E. Granstrom, Thomas Tobin

Veterinary Science Faculty Patents

The present invention provides formulations useful to treat EPM. It also provides methods to treat EPM in a horse in need of such treatment, comprising administering a pharmaceutically effective amount of a triazine-based anti-coccidial. Preferred are methods to treat EPM using clazuril, diclazuril, toltrazuril or letrazuril. The present invention also provides methods to prevent S. neurona infection in horses comprising administering a prophylactic amount of a triazine-based anticoccidial. Preferred is a method to prevent S. neurona infection by using clazuril, diclazuril, toltrazuril or letrazuril, alone or in combination with other known therapeutics.

Isolation Of Trypanosoma Brucei From The Monitor Lizard (Varanus Niloticus) In An Endemic Focus Of Rhodesian Sleeping Sickness In Kenya, Zipporah Njagu, Steve Mihok, Elizabeth Kokwaro, Didier Verloo

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Monitor lizards were sampled along the shores of Lake Victoria to detect natural infections of potentially human-infective trypanosomes. In an area with endemic rhodesian sleeping sickness, one of 19 lizards was infected (Busia, Kenya). Six of ten lizards also showed indirect evidence of infection with Trypanosoma brucei (antibody ELISA). In an area with no recent history of human disease (Rusinga Island), no parasites were found and no antibodies to T. brucei were detected. The isolate was identified as T. brucei through xenodiagnosis (completion of the life cycle in the salivary glands of tsetse), and through molecular techniques (positive reactions with …

Knotted Log Rolls Off Truck And Kills Logger At Sawmill, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 42-year-old logger (the victim) was killed when he was struck by a log rolling off a loaded truck at a sawmill. At about 6:10 a.m., the victim and the truck driver arrived at the sawmill with a load of logs on the 20-foot flatbed truck. The stack of logs was rounded above the height of the 53-inch standards and secured by only one chain on the middle of the load. When they arrived, the victim got out of the truck and assisted the driver in backing the vehicle into place for unloading. The victim was in view of the …

Portocaval-Right Atrial Shunt, Bradley B. Hill

Surgery Faculty Patents

A shunt includes a tubular body having first and second legs at a proximal end and a third leg at a distal end. A fluid distensible balloon and cooperating insufflation conduit are carried on the tubular body. The first leg of the tubular body includes a longitudinal slit for receiving the second leg whereby the first and second legs may be positioned substantially coaxial so as to allow easier introduction of the shunt into the blood vessel of a patient. Similarly, the second leg having a longitudinally slit for receiving a portion of the cooperating insufflation conduit and also holding …

Fear And Exhilaration In Response To Risk: An Extension Of A Model Of Injury Risk In A Real-World Context, Scott Cook, Lizette Peterson, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This paper explored a model that predicted children’s actual injury risk behavior from their current typical reported reactions of excitement versus fear in risky play situations. Fourth-grade children were asked to report on their current typical levels of fear and excitement in response to common play situations, including those involving play in the water. A week or more later, the same children were observed during their turn at free play on the diving board of a local swimming pool. Reporting that current responses to risky play situations resulted in fear was related to lower rates of actual risky behavior and …

Ada News - 03/08/1999, American Dental Association, Publishing Division

ADA News

Established in 1970 as the official newspaper of the American Dental Association, the ADA News serves practicing dentists and others allied to the dental profession in the U.S. and internationally. It is the No. 1 source of news and information about the many benefits and services the ADA delivers to members daily as well as timely information on scientific, social, political and economic developments affecting dentistry and health care.

Information Interface - Volume 27, Issue 2 - March/April 1999, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Information Interface (1976 - 2009)

News and information about Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library of interest to users.

Wellness Center Healthletter - March 1999, Nova Southeastern University

Wellness Center Healthletter

No abstract provided.

Screening Seniors For Risk Of Functional Decline: Results Of A Survey In Family Practice, Dawn M. Dalby, John W. Sellors, Fred D. Fraser, Catherine Fraser, Cornelia Van Ineveld, Laura Pickard, Michelle Howard

Kinesiology and Physical Education Faculty Publications

To measure functional status, determine risk of functional decline and assess consistency between responses and standardized instruments. Design: A mailed survey which measured functional impairment, recent hospitalization and bereavement. A positive response on at least one of these factors indicated that the individual was “at risk” for functional decline. A random sample (n=73) of “at risk” subjects (specifically, family practice patients aged 70 and older) were assessed by a nurse. Results: The response rate was 89% (369/415), 59% of seniors were female and the mean age was 77.1 (SD=5.5) years. Self-reported risk, based on activities of daily living (ADLs), was …

Providing Outpatient Prescription Drugs Through Medicare: Can We Afford To? Can We Afford Not To?, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

The continuing debate over the issue of Medicare coverage for outpatient prescription drugs gave rise to this background paper, which discussed several key questions: Whose responsibility is it to provide coverage? Who should be covered? What should be covered? Who should pay for prescription drug coverage? How should costs be controlled? In addition, the paper explored options for structuring a Medicare outpatient prescription drug benefit. It also contained a glossary.

Nebulized Nitroglycerin In Children With Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary To Congenital Heart Disease, Hatim Omar, Fangqi Gong, Mei Y. Sun, Stanley Einzig

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Pulmonary hypertension continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality, despite new treatments. Since inhaled nitric oxide has been reported to be effective in some cases, we investigated using nebulized nitroglycerine to treat pulmonary hypertension in children with congenital heart disease. Four children (ages 6-72 months) with severe pulmonary hypertension secondary to congenital heart disease (all with membranous ventricular septal defect, undergoing cardiac catheterization) were given 3 cc of nebulized normal saline over 10 min as placebo control, followed by nebulized nitroglycerine (20 micrograms/Kg in 3 cc normal saline). Normal saline administration did not elicit any change, but …

Developing Online Learning Materials For Higher Education: An Overview Of Current Issues, C. Jayne Brahler, Nils S. Peterson, Emily C. Johnson

Health and Sport Science Faculty Publications

The changing roles and challenges for higher education and the increased productivity required of faculty are driving forces for the development of more diverse and efficient teaching methods. Educational trends are toward more learner-centered materials. In response to these trends, colleges and universities are now offering courses at a distance and in forms other than traditional delivery.

Online courseware materials may be a viable means of fulfilling these numerous requirements but are very resource-intensive to develop. Multiple approaches to developing online learning have been tried, with limited success. The primary approach has been for faculty to enter their own course …

Home Observation For Asymptomatic Coin Ingestion: Acceptance And Outcomes. The New York State Poison Control Center Coin Ingestion Study Group., Gregory P. Conners, D J. Cobaugh, R Feinberg, R Lucanie, T Caraccio, C M. Stork

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVES: To obtain preliminary estimates of the acceptance rate and the frequency of adverse outcomes, and to identify issues related to acceptance, associated with management of asymptomatic pediatric coin ingestion by home observation, in preparation for a large-scale prospective study.

METHODS: Scripted telephone follow-up of callers who had reported asymptomatic pediatric coin ingestions to one of five poison control centers six to 36 months previously, which had been managed by home observation.

RESULTS: Of the 67 callers enrolled, 41 (67%) reported contacting a physician regarding the coin ingestion, despite home observation instruction by poison control center personnel. Those who did …

Jefferson Alumni Bulletin – Volume Xlviii, Number 1, March 1999

The Bulletin (formerly the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Bulletin)

Jefferson Alumni Bulletin – Volume XLVIII, Number 1, March 1999 Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Page 4 Gene Therapy in a Liquid: an Easier Treatment, Page 10 Gene Repair Technique is Developed, Page 10 Moving Closer to Gene Therapy for Lung Cancer, Page 11 Frankford Hospital Joins Jefferson Health System, Page 14 Dean Gonnella Receives AAMC’s Flexner Award, Page 17

Tribal Environmental & Natural Resource Assistance Handbook, White House Domestic Policy Council, Native American Fish & Wildlife Society

Native Health Database Full Text

This handbook was developed by the Domestic Policy Council Working Group on American Indians and Alaska Natives (Working Group). This handbook is intended to provide a central location for federal sources of both technical and financial assistance available to Tribes for environmental management.

Ct And Mr Imaging In Young Stroke Patients, A A. Razzaq, B A. Khan, S Baig

Section of Neurology

Background: This study investigates the role of CT and MR imaging in the diagnosis and management of young stroke patients.

Methods: CT scan findings of 108 patients and MR findings of 30 patients between 15-45 years of age were reviewed retrospectively. The variables included the territory of infarct on CT and MR imaging, the cortical distribution and size of infarct.

Results: About 80% of the patients had infarcts of the carotid territory and 20% the vertebro-basilar distribution. More than half of the infarcts were cortical (56%). The yield of MR imaging was much higher for deeper structures such …

Interpreting Patterns Of Gene Expression With Self-Organizing Maps: Methods And Application To Hematopoietic Differentiation, Pablo Tamayo, Donna Slonim, Jill Mesirov, Qing Zhu, Sutisak Kitareewan, Ethan Dmitrovsky

Dartmouth Scholarship

Array technologies have made it straightforward to monitor simultaneously the expression pattern of thousands of genes. The challenge now is to interpret such massive data sets. The first step is to extract the fundamental patterns of gene expression inherent in the data. This paper describes the application of self-organizing maps, a type of mathematical cluster analysis that is particularly well suited for recognizing and classifying features in complex, multidimensional data. The method has been implemented in a publicly available computer package, GENECLUSTER, that performs the analytical calculations and provides easy data visualization. To illustrate the value of such analysis, the …

Clinico-Morphological Pattern Of Intracranial Tumors In Children, Sajid H. Shah, Irshad N. Soomro, Akbar S. Hussainy, S H. Hassan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Objective:
The objective of present study was to observe the histopathological pattern of intracranial tumors in children (< 15 yrs) and to correlate the site of lesion along with the histological diagnosis.
Setting:
The study included consecutive cases of intracranial tumors diagnosed in children (< 15 yrs.) in the section of histopathology at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi during the period of three years.
Methods:
The initial histological evaluation of these lesions was performed on H and E stained section of paraffin embedded tissue. Special stains and immunohistochemical analysis was done whenever indicated.
Results:
During the study period, fifty-four cases of intracranial tumors were diagnosed in children. The age ranged from 1-1/2 years to 4 years with male to female ratio of 1.1:1. Astrocytoma comprised 39% of all intracranial tumors of childhood. Medulloblastoma …

Synapse, Alabama Health Libraries Association

Synapse - Newsletter of ALHeLa

This is the Winter, 1999 edition of the ALHeLa newsletter - Synapse.

Contents include:

• President's Column
• Southern Chapter/MLA: Hospital Librarian of the Year Award
• Southern Chapter/MLA scholarship
• News from Alabama
• National Library of the Medicine News
• Alabama Health Libraries Association - 1999 Executive Committee
• Alabama Health Libraries Association - Executive Committee Meeting - Minutes

Welfare Reform And Its Impact On Medicaid: An Update, Judith D. Moore

National Health Policy Forum

Welfare reform, enacted in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), had a profound impact on the Medicaid program, delinking Medicaid from the new TANF program and for the first time allowing Medicaid eligibility to be divorced from welfare status. This paper reviews the national impact of this decoupling, describing research, implementation activities, and the impact of new state welfare programs on health programs in general.

Trypanosome Infection Rate In Cattle At Nguruman, Kenya, R. A. Tarimo-Nesbitt, T. K. Golder, R. D. Dransfield, M. F. Chaudhury, R. Brightwell

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Trypanosome infection rate in cattle at Nguruman was investigated in a study conducted in 1984-1986. Shifting pastoralism significantly reduced trypanosome infections in cattle. The cattle were more heavily infected with Trypanosoma congolense (16.5%) than Trypanosoma vivax (4.95%) and Trypanosoma brucei (0.19%). Trypanosoma theileri was observed only once among the cattle examined. Mixed trypanosome infections in cattle were observed to be 2.75% and 0.014% for T. congolense/T. vivax and T. congolense/T. brucei, respectively. The duration of infection in the cattle was 55 days for T. congolense and 79 days for T. vivax. High infections in cattle were observed 2 months after …

Ada News - 02/22/1999, American Dental Association, Publishing Division

ADA News

Established in 1970 as the official newspaper of the American Dental Association, the ADA News serves practicing dentists and others allied to the dental profession in the U.S. and internationally. It is the No. 1 source of news and information about the many benefits and services the ADA delivers to members daily as well as timely information on scientific, social, political and economic developments affecting dentistry and health care.

Log Rolls Off Truck At Sawmill Killing Employee, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

In December 1998, a 31-year-old male (the victim) sawmill employee was killed when struck by a log that rolled off the top of the truck. He was preparing the truck to be unloaded when the log rolled off. While most of the logs received by the sawmill were delivered by independent loggers, the company did own one boom truck that their employees used to pick up timber. This was the truck the victim was driving the day of the incident. At the time of the incident, he was working alone.

When the victim returned to the sawmill, the logs were …

Jurors’ Perception Of Violence: A Framework For Inquiry, Brian H. Bornstein, Robert J. Nemeth

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The impact that the perceived violence of a crime has on jury decision making has received much controversy lately. Violence may affect juries by how it is presented, as in the case of graphic evidence; its evidentiary purpose, as in establishing a history of violence in domestic abuse cases; and in sentencing, when the question of the heinousness of the crime is raised. Many judicial experts argue that evidence of violence may prejudice juries’ verdicts. There is also concern within the legal community that what constitutes a heinous crime cannot be objectively determined. Psychological research has only just begun to …

Lumber Company Employee Falls 48" From Storage Rack To His Death, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Falls

In October 1998, a 58-year-old male truck driver/yard worker died of traumatic head injuries when he fell 48" from a storage rack. The employee had climbed onto the storage rack to retrieve 3/4" round molding, 8 feet in length for a customer to load into his truck. The employee placed his feet on pine boards that were being stored on the middle row and was trying to retrieve molding being stored above (approximately 9 feet off the floor). After he cut the bundle string to release the individual molding pieces, he began to pull the pieces out which were being …