A hybrid system of mixture models for the prediction of particle size and shape, density, and flowability of pharmaceutical powder blends.

This paper presents a system of hybrid models that combine both mechanistic and data-driven approaches to predict physical powder blend properties from their raw component properties. Mechanistic, probabilistic models were developed to predict the particle size and shape, represented by aspect ratio, distributions of pharmaceutical blends using those of the raw components. Additionally, the accuracy of existing mixture rules for predicting the blend's true density and bulk density was assessed.

A Communications Campaign to Build Confidence in Covid-19 Vaccines: The Boston Medical Center Experience.

Health systems could play an important role in efforts to build vaccine confidence in communities that have been hardest hit by Covid-19. Boston Medical Center (BMC) health system, New England's largest safety-net hospital, along with its community partners, implemented a Covid Response Program aimed at building vaccine confidence. The program was supported by a multifaceted and multilingual communications campaign including: 1) traditional and social media channels with trusted messengers, 2) consistent and accessible core messaging, 3) transparent dialogue, and 4) partnership with state and local health government officials.

The ketogenic diet: its impact on human gut microbiota and potential consequent health outcomes: a systematic literature review.

Aim: This systematic review examined the diet's impact on the human gut microbiota to identify potential consequent health outcomes.

Background: The extreme macronutrient profile of the ketogenic diet (KD) instigates compositional shifts in the gut's microbial community.

Methods: In this systematic literature review, an evidence-based and methodical approach was undertaken, which involved systematic searches of the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases, generating a total of 263 relevant research papers.

Implementation of FAIR principles in the IPCC: the WGI AR6 Atlas repository.

The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has adopted the FAIR Guiding Principles. We present the Atlas chapter of Working Group I (WGI) as a test case. We describe the application of the FAIR principles in the Atlas, the challenges faced during its implementation, and those that remain for the future.

Addressing Inequities in SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Uptake: The Boston Medical Center Health System Experience.

Academic medical centers could play an important role in increasing access to and uptake of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, especially in Black and Latino communities that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. This article describes the vaccination program developed by the Boston Medical Center (BMC) health system (New England's largest safety-net health system), its affiliated community health centers (CHCs), and community partners. The program was based on a conceptual framework for community interventions and aimed to increase equitable access to vaccination in the hardest-hit communities through community-based sites in churches and community centers, mobile vaccination events, and vaccination on the BMC campus.

Health Care Spending And Use Among People Experiencing Unstable Housing In The Era Of Accountable Care Organizations.

Provider organizations are increasingly held accountable for health care spending in vulnerable populations. Longitudinal data on health care spending and use among people experiencing episodes of homelessness could inform the design of alternative payment models. We used Medicaid claims data to analyze spending and use among 402 people who were continuously enrolled in the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) from 2013 through 2015, compared to spending and use among 18,638 people who were continuously enrolled in Massachusetts Medicaid with no evidence of experiencing homelessness.

Correction to: Changes in relative fit of human heat stress indices to cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal hospitalizations across five Australian urban populations.

The authors of the article would like to bring the following correction/corrigendum to attention: When recently investigating future changes in heat stress indices, we discovered an error in the use of the heatwave indices we compared in Goldie et al. (2017).

Can General Practitioners' personal knowledge base be justified?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. This paper explores whether, in our post-truth world the knowledge base of General Practice can be justified.

Changes in relative fit of human heat stress indices to cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal hospitalizations across five Australian urban populations.

Various human heat stress indices have been developed to relate atmospheric measures of extreme heat to human health impacts, but the usefulness of different indices across various health impacts and in different populations is poorly understood. This paper determines which heat stress indices best fit hospital admissions for sets of cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal diseases across five Australian cities. We hypothesized that the best indices would be largely dependent on location.

Comparative evaluation of human heat stress indices on selected hospital admissions in Sydney, Australia.

Objective: To find appropriate regression model specifications for counts of the daily hospital admissions of a Sydney cohort and determine which human heat stress indices best improve the models' fit.

Methods: We built parent models of eight daily counts of admission records using weather station observations, census population estimates and public holiday data. We added heat stress indices; models with lower Akaike Information Criterion scores were judged a better fit.

Case-based interprofessional learning for undergraduate healthcare professionals in the clinical setting.

Interprofessional learning (IPL) within the healthcare setting has well documented positive outcomes for patients, yet it is not widely offered at the undergraduate level, particularly in a clinical setting. We set up case-based teaching scenarios involving a real patient, aimed at small groups of four students representing two or more healthcare professions. The aim of the sessions was to give students a greater awareness of the roles of all the different healthcare professions involved in patient care in a hospital setting.

Connectivism: A knowledge learning theory for the digital age?

Background: The emergence of the internet, particularly Web 2.0 has provided access to the views and opinions of a wide range of individuals opening up opportunities for new forms of communication and knowledge formation. Previous ways of navigating and filtering available information are likely to prove ineffective in these new contexts.

Differential Effects of Temperature Extremes on Hospital Admission Rates for Respiratory Disease between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory.

The health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians may be exacerbated by climate change if temperature extremes have disproportionate adverse effects on Indigenous people. To explore this issue, we analysed the effect of temperature extremes on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, stratified by age, Indigenous status and sex, for people living in two different climates zones in the Northern Territory during the period 1993-2011. We examined admissions for both acute and chronic respiratory diagnoses, controlling for day of the week and seasonality variables.

Temperature and Humidity Effects on Hospital Morbidity in Darwin, Australia.

Background: Many studies have explored the relationship between temperature and health in the context of a changing climate, but few have considered the effects of humidity, particularly in tropical locations, on human health and well-being. To investigate this potential relationship, this study assessed the main and interacting effects of daily temperature and humidity on hospital admission rates for selected heat-relevant diagnoses in Darwin, Australia.

Methods: Univariate and bivariate Poisson generalized linear models were used to find statistically significant predictors and the admission rates within bins of predictors were compared to explore nonlinear effects.

What makes a good clinical student and teacher? An exploratory study.

Background: What makes a good clinical student is an area that has received little coverage in the literature and much of the available literature is based on essays and surveys. It is particularly relevant as recent curricular innovations have resulted in greater student autonomy. We also wished to look in depth at what makes a good clinical teacher.

Robot-assisted ultrasound imaging: overview and development of a parallel telerobotic system.

Ultrasound imaging is frequently used in medicine. The quality of ultrasound images is often dependent on the skill of the sonographer. Several researchers have proposed robotic systems to aid in ultrasound image acquisition.

The influence of structural and institutional change on teaching and culture in clinical settings: an exploratory study.

Objectives: Learning in clinical settings is a function of activity, context and culture. Glasgow University's Medical School has undergone significant curricular change in recent years. This has coincided with change to National Health Service consultants' contracts, the introduction of the European Working Time Directive and the Modernising Medical Careers training initiative.

Assessment of professionalism: a consolidation of current thinking.

Context: Professionalism has become a hot topic in medical education. Professionalism needs to be assessed if it is to be viewed as both positive and relevant.

Objectives: The assessment of professionalism is an evolving field.

The formation of professional identity in medical students: considerations for educators.

Context: Medical education is about more than acquiring an appropriate level of knowledge and developing relevant skills. To practice medicine students need to develop a professional identity--ways of being and relating in professional contexts.

Objectives: This article conceptualises the processes underlying the formation and maintenance of medical students' professional identity drawing on concepts from social psychology.

Testing the validity of a scenario-based questionnaire to assess the ethical sensitivity of undergraduate medical students.

Background: Although medical educators acknowledge the importance of ethics in medical training, there are few validated instruments to assess ethical decision-making. One instrument is the Ethics in Health Care Questionnaire--version 2 (EHCQ-2). The instrument consists of 12 scenarios, each posing an ethical problem in health care, and asking for a decision and rationale.