Evaluation of the Immobilization of Coexisting Heavy Metal Ions of Pb, Cd , and Zn from Water by Dairy Manure-Derived Biochar: Performance and Reusability.

Heavy metals including Cd, Pb, and Zn are prevalent stormwater and groundwater contaminants derived from natural and human activities, and there is a lack of cost-effective treatment for their removal. Recently, biochar has been increasingly recognized as a promising low-cost sorbent that can be used to remediate heavy metal contaminated water. This study evaluates the immobilization/release performance of dairy manure-derived biochar (DM-BC) as a sustainable material for competitive removal of coexisting heavy metal ions from water and explains the underlying mechanism for regeneration/reusability of biochar.

Comparative Safety of the TFN-ADVANCED Proximal Femoral Nailing System: Findings from a U.S. Health-Care Database.

Background: Proximal femoral fractures are often treated with cephalomedullary nails. Although nail breakages following fracture repair are infrequent, a recent implant retrieval study suggested that the TFN-ADVANCED (TFNA) Proximal Femoral Nailing System (DePuy Synthes) was susceptible to post-implant breakage. It is unclear whether the risk of breakage among patients who receive the TFNA implant is higher than patients who receive other comparable cephalomedullary nails.

Removal of Fluoride from Water Using a Calcium-Modified Dairy Manure-Derived Biochar.

This study investigated the removal of fluoride from water using a calcium-modified dairy manure-derived biochar (Ca-DM500). The Ca-DM500 showed a 3.82 - 8.

Health Care Resource Utilization and Cost Before Initial Schizophrenia Diagnosis.

Background: The management of schizophrenia, a chronic, multifaceted mental health condition, is associated with considerable health care resource utilization (HCRU) and costs. Current evidence indicates that a high-risk and costly prodromal period, during which patients are likely symptomatic, precedes diagnosis. Better characterization and disease management during this stage could help to improve patient outcomes.

Detecting schizophrenia early: Prediagnosis healthcare utilization characteristics of patients with schizophrenia may aid early detection.

Introduction: Many patients exhibit subsyndromal clinical findings of schizophrenia prior to diagnosis. Early treatment may mitigate schizophrenia development, yet little is known about comorbidities and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) in these patients before diagnosis.

Methods: This retrospective, longitudinal cohort study, conducted between January 1, 2007 and April 30, 2016, used claims data from the US HealthCore Integrated Research Database.

Adsorptive Removal of Fluoride from Water Using Nanomaterials of Ferrihydrite, Apatite, and Brucite: Batch and Column Studies.

This study investigated the adsorptive removal of fluoride from simulated water pollution using various (hydro)oxide nanomaterials, which have the potential to be used as sorbents for surface water and groundwater remediation. Tested nanomaterials include hematite, magnetite, ferrihydrite, goethite, hematite-alpha, hydroxyapatite (HAP), brucite, and four titanium dioxides (TiO-A [anatase], TiO-B [rutile], TiO-C [rutile], and TiO-D [anatase]). Among 11 (hydro)oxide nanomaterials tested in this study, ferrihydrite, HAP, and brucite showed two to five times higher removal of fluoride than other nanomaterials from synthetic fluoride solutions.

Health Care Resource Utilization and Exacerbation Rates in Patients with COPD Stratified by Disease Severity in a Commercially Insured Population.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and is associated with substantial economic burden. There is a lack of data regarding COPD outcomes and costs in a real-world setting, particularly by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) severity.

Objectives: To (a) characterize a commercially insured U.

The importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice: A systematic review.

Objectives: This systematic review was designed to assess the importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice. It aimed to explore the link between academic literacy and writing in an undergraduate nursing degree and the development of critical thinking skills for their future professional clinical practice.

Design: A systematic review of qualitative studies and expert opinion publications.

Comparison of Wound Complications After Immediate, Delayed, and Secondary Breast Reconstruction Procedures.

Importance: Few data are available concerning surgical site infection (SSI) and noninfectious wound complications (NIWCs) after delayed (DR) and secondary reconstruction (SR) compared with immediate reconstruction (IR) procedures in the breast.

Objective: To compare the incidence of SSI and NIWCs after implant and autologous IR, DR, and SR breast procedures after mastectomy.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study included women aged 18 to 64 years undergoing mastectomy from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2011.

Prevalence and Predictors of Postdischarge Antibiotic Use Following Mastectomy.

OBJECTIVE Survey results suggest that prolonged administration of prophylactic antibiotics is common after mastectomy with reconstruction. We determined utilization, predictors, and outcomes of postdischarge prophylactic antibiotics after mastectomy with or without immediate breast reconstruction. DESIGN Retrospective cohort.

Comparison of a rapid albuterol pathway with a standard pathway for the treatment of children with a moderate to severe asthma exacerbation in the emergency department.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine if a rapid albuterol delivery pathway with a breath-enhanced nebulizer can reduce emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS), while maintaining admission rates and side effects, when compared to a traditional asthma pathway with a standard jet nebulizer.

Methods: Children aged 3-18 presenting to a large urban pediatric ED for asthma were enrolled if they were determined by pediatric asthma score to have a moderate to severe exacerbation. Subjects were randomized to either a standard treatment arm where they received up to 2 continuous albuterol nebulizations, or a rapid albuterol arm where they received up to 4 rapid albuterol treatments with a breath-enhanced nebulizer, depending on severity scoring.

Risk Factors for Surgical Site Infection After Cholecystectomy.

Background: There are limited data on risk factors for surgical site infection (SSI) after open or laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Methods: A retrospective cohort of commercially insured persons aged 18-64 years was assembled using (ICD-9-CM) procedure or Current Procedural Terminology, 4th edition codes for cholecystectomy from December 31, 2004 to December 31, 2010. Complex procedures and patients (eg, cancer, end-stage renal disease) and procedures with pre-existing infection were excluded.

Use of Quantile Regression to Determine the Impact on Total Health Care Costs of Surgical Site Infections Following Common Ambulatory Procedures.

Objective: To determine the impact of surgical site infections (SSIs) on health care costs following common ambulatory surgical procedures throughout the cost distribution.

Background: Data on costs of SSIs following ambulatory surgery are sparse, particularly variation beyond just mean costs.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of persons undergoing cholecystectomy, breast-conserving surgery, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, and hernia repair from December 31, 2004 to December 31, 2010 using commercial insurer claims data.

Validation of ICD-9-CM Diagnosis Codes for Surgical Site Infection and Noninfectious Wound Complications After Mastectomy.

BACKGROUND Few studies have validated ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes for surgical site infection (SSI), and none have validated coding for noninfectious wound complications after mastectomy. OBJECTIVES To determine the accuracy of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis codes in health insurer claims data to identify SSI and noninfectious wound complications, including hematoma, seroma, fat and tissue necrosis, and dehiscence, after mastectomy. METHODS We reviewed medical records for 275 randomly selected women who were coded in the claims data for mastectomy with or without immediate breast reconstruction and had an ICD-9-CM diagnosis code for a wound complication within 180 days after surgery.

Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Have Highest Rates of Wait-listing for Liver Transplantation Among Patients With End-Stage Liver Disease.

Background & Aims: Despite recent attention to differences in access to livers for transplantation, research has focused on patients already on the wait list. We analyzed data from a large administrative database that represents the entire US population, and state Medicaid data, to identify factors associated with differences in access to wait lists for liver transplantation.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of transplant-eligible patients with end-stage liver disease using the HealthCore Integrated Research Database (2006-2014; n = 16,824) and Medicaid data from 5 states (2002-2009; California, Florida, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; n = 67,706).

Modification of claims-based measures improves identification of comorbidities in non-elderly women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Accurate identification of underlying health conditions is important to fully adjust for confounders in studies using insurer claims data. Our objective was to evaluate the ability of four modifications to a standard claims-based measure to estimate the prevalence of select comorbid conditions compared with national prevalence estimates.

Methods: In a cohort of 11,973 privately insured women aged 18-64 years with mastectomy from 1/04-12/11 in the HealthCore Integrated Research Database, we identified diabetes, hypertension, deficiency anemia, smoking, and obesity from inpatient and outpatient claims for the year prior to surgery using four different algorithms.

Quality of Care Provided by Board-Certified Versus Non-Board-Certified Psychiatrists and Neurologists.

Purpose: To examine associations between board certification of psychiatrists and neurologists and quality-of-care measures, using multilevel models controlling for physician and patient characteristics, and to assess feasibility of linking physician information with patient records to construct quality measures from electronic claims data.

Method: The authors identified quality measures and matched claims data from 2006 to 2012 with 942 board-certified (BC) psychiatrists, 868 non-board-certified (nBC) psychiatrists, 963 BC neurologists, and 328 nBC neurologists. Using the matched data, they identified psychiatrists who treated at least one patient with a schizophrenia diagnosis, and neurologists attending patients discharged with a principal diagnosis of ischemic stroke, and analyzed claims from these patients.

Effect of Noninfectious Wound Complications after Mastectomy on Subsequent Surgical Procedures and Early Implant Loss.

Background: Noninfectious wound complications (NIWCs) after mastectomy are not routinely tracked and data are generally limited to single-center studies. Our objective was to determine the rates of NIWCs among women undergoing mastectomy and assess the impact of immediate reconstruction (IR).

Study Design: We established a retrospective cohort using commercial claims data of women aged 18 to 64 years with procedure codes for mastectomy from January 2004 through December 2011.

Development of a Risk Prediction Model to Individualize Risk Factors for Surgical Site Infection After Mastectomy.

Background: Little data are available regarding individual patients' risk of surgical site infection (SSI) following mastectomy with or without immediate reconstruction. Our objective was to develop a risk prediction model for mastectomy-related SSI.

Methods: Using commercial claims data, we established a cohort of women <65 years of age who underwent a mastectomy from 1 January 2004-31 December 2011.

Bayesian estimation of the accuracy of ICD-9-CM- and CPT-4-based algorithms to identify cholecystectomy procedures in administrative data without a reference standard.

Purpose: To estimate the accuracy of two algorithms to identify cholecystectomy procedures using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT-4) codes in administrative data.

Methods: Private insurer medical claims for 30 853 patients 18-64 years with an inpatient hospitalization between 2006 and 2010, as indicated by providers/facilities place of service in addition to room and board charges, were cross-classified according to the presence of codes for cholecystectomy. The accuracy of ICD-9-CM- and CPT-4-based algorithms was estimated using a Bayesian latent class model.

Incidence of skin and soft tissue infections in ambulatory and inpatient settings, 2005-2010.

Background: The emergence of community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus was associated with dramatically increased skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) incidence in the first few years of the 21(st) century in the U.S.

Incidence of Surgical Site Infection Following Mastectomy With and Without Immediate Reconstruction Using Private Insurer Claims Data.

Objective: The National Healthcare Safety Network classifies breast operations as clean procedures with an expected 1%-2% surgical site infection (SSI) incidence. We assessed differences in SSI incidence following mastectomy with and without immediate reconstruction in a large, geographically diverse population.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Stratification of surgical site infection by operative factors and comparison of infection rates after hernia repair.

Objective: To investigate whether operative factors are associated with risk of surgical site infection (SSI) after hernia repair.

Design: Retrospective cohort study. Patients Commercially insured enrollees aged 6 months-64 years with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification procedure or Current Procedural Terminology, fourth edition, codes for inguinal/femoral, umbilical, and incisional/ventral hernia repair procedures from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2010.

Increased Risk of Surgical Site Infection Among Breast-Conserving Surgery Re-excisions.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the risk of surgical site infection (SSI) after primary breast-conserving surgery (BCS) versus re-excision among women with carcinoma in situ or invasive breast cancer.

Methods: We established a retrospective cohort of women aged 18-64 years with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) procedure or Current Procedural Terminology, 4th edition (CPT-4) codes for BCS from 29 June 2004 to 31 December 2010. Prior insurance plan enrollment of at least 180 days was required to establish the index BCS; subsequent re-excisions within 180 days were identified.