Utilization Review in Workers' Compensation: Review of Current Status and Recommendations for Future Improvement.

: Utilization review (UR) is a process that assesses aspects of a treating provider's care plans and then provides recommendations to payors/insurance carriers, third party administrators, etc, concerning the appropriateness of the proposed care. UR has become an integral part of medical practice and has influenced medical care within the workers' compensation (WC) system and is mandated in several states and jurisdictions. This guidance statement from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) reviews structural elements of UR programs and proposes a possible template for operational standards.

Assessing disease and wellness in the occupational setting: Electrodiagnostic Functional Assessment from wired to wireless.

Technology Assessment is the study and evaluation of new technologies. It is based on the premise that developments and discoveries within the scientific and medical communities are relevant to the population at large. Proper technology assessment is an approach that is vital to address the current limitations of the worker's compensation system.

Health promotion site selection blues: barriers to participation and implementation.

Objective: To shed light on research-to-practice challenges in workplace health promotion research.

Methods: More than 1200 companies serviced by a national insurer were assessed by measures, including management surveys, and insurance premium costs and risk profile. A 21-item Workplace Readiness Checklist was the core assessment tool.

Effect of PKCbeta on retinal oxygenation response in experimental diabetes.

Purpose: To test the hypotheses that, in mice, breathing carbogen (95% O(2)-5% CO(2)) oxygenates the retina better than breathing 100% oxygen, the superior hemiretinal oxygenation response to carbogen inhalation is subnormal early in diabetes, and diabetes-induced elevation of retinal protein kinase C (PKC)-beta contributes to this pathophysiology.

Methods: Retinal oxygenation response (DeltaPO(2)) was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and either carbogen or 100% oxygen inhalation challenge in C57BL/6J control (C) mice. Retinal DeltaPO(2) during carbogen breathing was also measured in PKCbeta knockout (C57BL6-Prkcb1; [KO]), 4 month C57BL/6J diabetic (D), and 4-month diabetic PKCbeta KO (D+KO) mice.

Regulation of the early subnormal retinal oxygenation response in experimental diabetes by inducible nitric oxide synthase.

We aimed to test the hypothesis that the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) contributes to the development of an early subnormal retinal oxygenation response in preclinical models of diabetic retinopathy. In urethane anesthetized Sprague Dawley rats or C57BL/6 mice, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to noninvasively measure the change in retinal oxygen tension (Delta PO(2)) during a carbogen-inhalation challenge. In the rat experiments, the retinal Delta PO(2) of the following groups were compared: control rats (n = 9), 3-month diabetic rats (n = 5), and 3-month diabetic rats treated orally with L-N(6)-(1-iminoethyl)lysine 5-tetrazole amide, a prodrug of an inhibitor of iNOS (n = 6).