Large-scale evaluation of outcomes after a genetic diagnosis in children with severe developmental disorders.

Purpose: We sought to evaluate outcomes for clinical management after a genetic diagnosis from the Deciphering Developmental Disorders study.

Methods: Individuals in the Deciphering Developmental Disorders study who had a pathogenic/likely pathogenic genotype in the DECIPHER database were selected for inclusion ( = 5010). Clinical notes from regional clinical genetics services notes were reviewed to assess predefined clinical outcomes relating to interventions, prenatal choices, and information provision.

Clinical Tools to Assess Functional Capacity During Risk Assessment Before Elective Noncardiac Surgery : A Scoping Review.

Background: Functional capacity is critical to preoperative risk assessment, yet guidance on its measurement in clinical practice remains lacking.

Purpose: To identify functional capacity assessment tools studied before surgery and characterize the extent of evidence regarding performance, including in populations where assessment is confounded by noncardiopulmonary reasons.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and EBM Reviews (until July 2024).

Clinical tools to assess functional capacity before elective non-cardiac surgery: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to map the evidence on clinical tools to assess functional capacity prior to elective non-cardiac surgery.

Introduction: Functional capacity is a strong prognostic indicator before surgery, which can be used to identify patients at elevated risk of postoperative complications, yet, there is no consensus on which clinical tools should be used to assess functional capacity in patients prior to non-cardiac surgery.

Inclusion Criteria: This review will consider any randomized or non-randomized studies that evaluate the performance of a functional capacity assessment tool in adults (≥18 years) prior to non-cardiac surgery.

Autoimmune pancytopenia occurring late after simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation.

A 35-year-old woman presented with a widespread petechial rash and pancytopenia. She underwent simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation for type 1 diabetes 8 years previously followed by a renal transplant 1 year prior to presentation, and was taking tacrolimus as long-term immunosuppression. The full blood count showed haemoglobin 97 g/L, platelet count 2×10/L and neutrophil count 0.

Socio-demographic characteristics associated with hospitalization for sepsis among adults in Canada: a Census-linked cohort study.

Purpose: Sepsis is a considerable health system burden. Population-based epidemiological surveillance of sepsis is limited to basic data available in administrative databases. We sought to determine if routinely collected Census data, linked to hospitalization data, can provide a broad socio-demographic profile of patients admitted to Canadian hospitals with sepsis.

Measuring patient-centred system performance: a scoping review of patient-centred care quality indicators.

Objectives: The shift to the patient-centred care (PCC) model as a healthcare delivery paradigm calls for systematic measurement and evaluation. In an attempt to develop patient-centred quality indicators (PC-QIs), this study aimed to identify quality indicators that can be used to measure PCC.

Methods: Design: scoping review.

Identifying Canadian patient-centred care measurement practices and quality indicators: a survey.

Background: Patient-centred quality indicators allow health care systems to monitor and evaluate patient-centred care practices and identify gaps in health care quality. Our objective was to determine whether Canadian provinces and territories measure patient-centred care, identify patient-centred quality indicators currently being used and compare patient-centred care practices and measurement in Canada to those of health care systems in other countries.

Methods: An online survey was developed to collect data on demographic characteristics, patient-centred care practices, and indicators used at quality improvement organizations and health care authorities.

Coding reliability and agreement of International Classification of Disease, 10 revision (ICD-10) codes in emergency department data.

Introduction: Administrative health data from emergency departments play important roles in understanding health needs of the public and reasons for health care resource use. International Classification of Disease (ICD) diagnostic codes have been widely used to code reasons of clinical encounters for administrative purposes in emergency departments.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to examine the coding agreement and reliability of ICD diagnosis codes in emergency department records through auditing the routinely collected data.

Identifying Cases of Sleep Disorders through International Classification of Diseases (ICD) Codes in Administrative Data.

Objectives: Prevalence, and associated morbidity and mortality of chronic sleep disorders have been limited to small cohort studies, however, administrative data may be used to provide representation of larger population estimates of disease. With no guidelines to inform the identification of cases of sleep disorders in administrative data, the objective of this study was to develop and validate a set of ICD-codes used to define sleep disorders including narcolepsy, insomnia, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in administrative data.

Methods: A cohort of adult patients, with medical records reviewed by two independent board-certified sleep physicians from a sleep clinic in Calgary, Alberta between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2011, was used as the reference standard.

Correction: The effects of patient cost sharing on inpatient utilization, cost, and outcome.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

How to practice person-centred care: A conceptual framework.

Background: Globally, health-care systems and organizations are looking to improve health system performance through the implementation of a person-centred care (PCC) model. While numerous conceptual frameworks for PCC exist, a gap remains in practical guidance on PCC implementation.

Methods: Based on a narrative review of the PCC literature, a generic conceptual framework was developed in collaboration with a patient partner, which synthesizes evidence, recommendations and best practice from existing frameworks and implementation case studies.

The effects of patient cost sharing on inpatient utilization, cost, and outcome.

Background: Health insurance and provider payment reforms all over the world beg a key empirical question: what are the potential impacts of patient cost-sharing on health care utilization, cost and outcomes? The unique health insurance system and rich electronic medical record (EMR) data in China provides us a unique opportunity to study this topic.

Methods: Four years (2010 to 2014) of EMR data from one medical center in China were utilized, including 10,858 adult patients with liver diseases. We measured patient cost-sharing using actual reimbursement ratio (RR) which is allowed us to better capture financial incentive than using type of health insurance.

Fine Motor Control Underlies the Association Between Response Inhibition and Drawing Skill in Early Development.

Previous research shows that the development of response inhibition and drawing skill are linked. The current research investigated whether this association reflects a more fundamental link between response inhibition and motor control. In Experiment 1, 3- and 4-year-olds (n = 100) were tested on measures of inhibition, fine motor control, and drawing skill.

Effect of silver-loaded PMMA on Streptococcus mutans in a drip flow reactor.

Orthodontic retention has been proposed as a life-long commitment for patients who desire to maintain straight teeth. However, the presence of foreign material increases risk of bacterial colonization and caries formation, of which Streptococcus mutans is a key contributor. Multiple studies have assessed the ability of silver to be added to base plate material and resist attachment of S.

Comparison of risk adjustment methods in patients with liver disease using electronic medical record data.

Background: Risk adjustment is essential for valid comparison of patients' health outcomes or performances of health care providers. Several risk adjustment methods for liver diseases are commonly used but the optimal approach is unknown. This study aimed to compare the common risk adjustment methods for predicting in-hospital mortality in cirrhosis patients using electronic medical record (EMR) data.

Protocol for a scoping review study to identify and classify patient-centred quality indicators.

Introduction: The concept of patient-centred care (PCC) is changing the way healthcare is understood, accepted and delivered. The Institute of Medicine has defined PCC as 1 of its 6 aims to improve healthcare quality. However, in Canada, there are currently no nationwide standards in place for measuring and evaluating healthcare from a patient-centred approach.

Validation and optimisation of an ICD-10-coded case definition for sepsis using administrative health data.

Objective: Administrative health data are important for health services and outcomes research. We optimised and validated in intensive care unit (ICU) patients an International Classification of Disease (ICD)-coded case definition for sepsis, and compared this with an existing definition. We also assessed the definition's performance in non-ICU (ward) patients.

Assessing the association between occupancy and outcome in critically Ill hospitalized patients with sepsis.

Background: Sepsis has a high prevalence, mortality-rate and cost. Sepsis patients usually enter the hospital through the Emergency Department (ED). Process or structural issues related to care may affect outcome.

Peak Power Output in the Bench Pull Is Maximized After Four Weeks of Specific Power Training.

Maximal power production has been shown to be a differentiating factor between playing levels in many sports and is thus a focus of many strength and conditioning programmes. We sought to evaluate the duration for which a strategy of training with the optimal load (that maximizes power output) will be effective in producing improvements in power output in the bench pull (BP). The optimal load that produced the maximum power output in the BP was determined for 21 male university athletes who were randomly assigned to a group that trained with their optimal load or a load 10% of their 1 repetition maximum below the optimal load.

Validity of administrative data in recording sepsis: a systematic review.

Introduction: Administrative health data have been used to study sepsis in large population-based studies. The validity of these study findings depends largely on the quality of the administrative data source and the validity of the case definition used. We systematically reviewed the literature to assess the validity of case definitions of sepsis used with administrative data.

Expressive drawing ability in children with autism.

The autistic impairments in emotional and social competence, imagination and generating ideas predict qualitative differences in expressive drawings by children with autism beyond that accounted by any general learning difficulties. In a sample of 60 5-19-year-olds, happy and sad drawings were requested from 15 participants with non-savant autism and compared with those drawn by three control groups matched on either degree of learning difficulty (MLD), mental age (MA) or chronological age (CA). All drawings were rated by two artists on a 7-point quality of expression scale.

The role of inhibitory control in the development of human figure drawing in young children.

We investigated the role of inhibitory control in young children's human figure drawing. We used the Bear-Dragon task as a measure of inhibitory control and used the classification system devised by Cox and Parkin to measure the development of human figure drawing. We tested 50 children aged between 40 and 64 months.

Productivity of ephemeral headwater riparian forests impacted by sedimentation in the southeastern United States coastal plain.

Riparian forests serve an essential function in improving water quality through the filtering of sediments and nutrients from surface runoff. However, little is known about the impact of sediment deposition on productivity of riparian forests. Sediment inputs may act as a subsidy to forest productivity by providing additional nutrients for plant uptake or may act as a stress by creating anoxic soil conditions.

The use of drawing for psychological assessment in Britain: survey findings.

The current study reports previously unpublished data on drawing as an assessment tool obtained from a survey of broader assessment practices of British clinical psychologists (Bekhit, Thomas, Lalonde, & Jolley, 2002). A questionnaire was completed by 158 clinical psychologists practising in Britain concerning their use of, and views about psychological assessment and the use of drawings in such assessment. The results were compared with those of a similar survey conducted in the United States by Lubin, Larsen, Matarazzo, and Seever (1985) and Watkins, Campbell, Nieberding, and Hallmark (1995).

Rigidity in children's drawings and its relation with representational change.

Four studies tested the application of to the drawing domain. In particular, we tested her claim that young children are inhibited in their attempts at changing their graphic representations (representational change) due to being constrained by the order in which the elements of the representation are drawn (procedural rigidity). The first study required 60 children (4- to 6-year-olds and an older comparison group of 8-year-olds) to make three drawings of a familiar and novel topic.