How Do Bundled Payment Initiatives Account for Differences in Patient Risk Profile? A Systematic Review.

Objectives: Bundled payments (BPs) are increasingly being adopted to enable the delivery of high-value care. For BPs to reach their goals, accounting for differences in patient risk profile (PRP) predictive of spending is crucial. However, insight is lacking into how this is done in practice.

Wire-in-needle versus conventional syringe-on-needle technique for ultrasound-guided central venous catheter insertion in the internal jugular vein: the WIN randomized trial.

Purpose: There are different techniques for ultrasound-guided central venous catheter (CVC) insertion. When using the conventional syringe-on-needle technique, the syringe needs to be removed from the needle after venous puncture to pass the guidewire through the needle into the vein. When, alternatively, using the wire-in-needle technique, the needle is preloaded with the guidewire, and the guidewire-after venous puncture-is advanced into the vein under real-time ultrasound guidance.

Prevalence of PD-L1 in Cervical Cancer Patients and the Potential for Combining an Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor With Lenvatinib.

Background/aim: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. The potential for targeted therapy against the immune checkpoint programmed death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and receptor tyrosine kinases was examined in cervical cancer patients and cell lines.

Materials And Methods: On tissue microarrays, PD-L1 was analyzed in 123 samples of patients with cervical cancer using immunohistochemistry.

How loneliness increased among different age groups during COVID-19: a longitudinal analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic entailed restrictions that hampered face-to-face interactions and social gatherings. In this paper, we examine whether loneliness increased to different extents among age groups due to these restrictions, and if these differences were mediated by specific life course conditions. Based on longitudinal data from the Swiss Household Panel, our results show that loneliness increased disproportionately among younger individuals during the pandemic.

Handling End-of-Life Situations in Small Animal Practice: What Strategies do Veterinarians Contemplate During their Decision-Making Process?

This study researched end-of-life (EoL) decision-making processes in small animal practices in the Netherlands, focusing on strategies veterinarians contemplate during this process. Fourteen veterinarians were interviewed about animal end-of-life decision-making. The results of these interviews show that the decision-making process consists of three steps.

Capturing Patient Value in an Economic Evaluation.

Objective: Economic evaluations predominantly use generic outcomes, such as the Euro Quality of Life-5 Dimension (EQ-5D), to assess health status. However, because of the generic nature, they are less suitable to capture the quality of life of patients with specific conditions. Given the transition to patient-centered (remote) care delivery, this study aims to evaluate the possibility of using disease-specific measures in a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Data-informed reservoir computing for efficient time-series prediction.

We propose a new approach to dynamical system forecasting called data-informed-reservoir computing (DI-RC) that, while solely being based on data, yields increased accuracy, reduced computational cost, and mitigates tedious hyper-parameter optimization of the reservoir computer (RC). Our DI-RC approach is based on the recently proposed hybrid setup where a knowledge-based model is combined with a machine learning prediction system, but it replaces the knowledge-based component by a data-driven model discovery technique. As a result, our approach can be chosen when a suitable knowledge-based model is not available.

Dealing with Time Estimates in Hospital Cost Accounting: Integrating Fuzzy Logic into Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing.

Background: Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) can support value-based healthcare (VBHC) programs by providing insights into the actual relationships between time spent by the medical staff and the costs associated with specific care cycles. However, the robustness of time estimates (time variation) as well as the effort required to obtain these estimates are major challenges of the TDABC methodology, given the heterogeneity in patients' needs and the presence of (multi)morbidity. To allow for the variation in time estimates in an efficient manner, this study uses fuzzy logic (FL) to estimate the TDABC model parameters (FL-TDABC).

Functional diversity and team innovation: A study on the mediating role of social cohesion in primary care teams.

Background: Bringing together professionals with different knowledge and skills comes with the opportunity to spur the innovativeness of primary care teams. Nevertheless, empirical evidence shows that it is not self-evident that these innovations are also realized. The social categorization theory suggests that a better understanding of whether these potential team innovations are realized can be obtained by looking at the social cohesion of such teams.

Overexpression of the orphan nuclear receptor NR2F6 is associated with improved survival across molecular subgroups in endometrial cancer patients.

Introduction: NR2F6 (nuclear receptor subfamily 2 group F member 6, also called Ear-2) is known to be an orphan nuclear receptor that has been characterized as an intracellular immune checkpoint in effector T cells and, therefore, may control tumor development and growth. The prognostic impact of NR2F6 in endometrial cancers is evaluated in this study.

Materials And Methods: Expression analysis of NR2F6 in 142 endometrial cancer patients was performed by immunohistochemistry of primary paraffin‑embedded tumor samples.

Multimorbidity status and annual healthcare expenditures of rheumatoid arthritis patients: a Dutch hospital-centered versus population-based comparison.

The prevalence of multimorbidity among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is increasing and associated with worse outcomes. Therefore, management of multimorbid patients requires a multidisciplinary approach. However, healthcare systems consist of mono-disciplinary subsystems, which limits collaboration across subsystems.

Master Memory Function for Delay-Based Reservoir Computers With Single-Variable Dynamics.

We show that many delay-based reservoir computers considered in the literature can be characterized by a universal master memory function (MMF). Once computed for two independent parameters, this function provides linear memory capacity for any delay-based single-variable reservoir with small inputs. Moreover, we propose an analytical description of the MMF that enables its efficient and fast computation.

Deriving task specific performance from the information processing capacity of a reservoir computer.

In the reservoir computing literature, the information processing capacity is frequently used to characterize the computing capabilities of a reservoir. However, it remains unclear how the information processing capacity connects to the performance on specific tasks. We demonstrate on a set of standard benchmark tasks that the total information processing capacity correlates poorly with task specific performance.

Defining the care delivery value chain and mapping the patient journey in rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease that impacts patients' quality of life. Sophisticated organization of care delivery drives quality improvement. Therefore, the study objective was establishing a validated process map of the care cycle for RA patients.

Distribution of HPV Subtypes in Diverse Anogenital and Oral Samples from Women and Correlation of Infections with Neoplasia of the Cervix.

Background: Cancers and intraepithelial lesions of different anogenital areas as well as oral cancer are associated with human papilloma virus (HPV) infections.

Methods: In this study cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and oral samples were taken from 509 patients visiting our dysplasia consultation clinic. HPV genotyping was performed using the EUROArray HPV test.

Inhibitors of PD-1/PD-L1 and ERK1/2 impede the proliferation of receptor positive and triple-negative breast cancer cell lines.

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by an unfavorable prognosis and missing systemic therapeutic approaches beside chemotherapy. Targeting the immune checkpoint PD-1/PD-L1 showed promising results in breast cancer and especially in TNBC. The extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) is an important driver of carcinogenesis.

[Early Detection of Psychological Comorbidity in Patients Admitted to Dermatological and Internal Medicine Wards: A New Care Model for Psychosomatic Consultation Service].

This article explains the development and implementation of a psychosomatic screening and consultation service for inpatient somatic care. Approximately one in six somatic inpatients has a mental disorder. It is estimated that only half of these cases are properly identified.

[Screening for mental comorbidities in dermatology : Successful implementation of a screening for mental comorbidities in the field of inpatient dermatological treatment].

Background: Anxiety and depression are common in the field of inpatient somatic treatment. Especially in dermatology in which the treatment of chronic diseases is very common and the risk of stigmatization by society is particularly high, mental disorders appear in every third patient. Dermatological diseases and mental disorders often negatively interact with each other leading to increased morbidity.

Deep time-delay reservoir computing: Dynamics and memory capacity.

The deep time-delay reservoir computing concept utilizes unidirectionally connected systems with time-delays for supervised learning. We present how the dynamical properties of a deep Ikeda-based reservoir are related to its memory capacity (MC) and how that can be used for optimization. In particular, we analyze bifurcations of the corresponding autonomous system and compute conditional Lyapunov exponents, which measure generalized synchronization between the input and the layer dynamics.

The Interpersonal Mindfulness Program for Health Care Professionals: a Feasibility Study.

Objectives: There are a number of mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) that have demonstrated effectiveness for patients and health care professionals. The Interpersonal Mindfulness Program (IMP) is a relatively new MBP, developed to teach those with prior mindfulness training to deepen their mindful presence, empathy and compassion in the interpersonal domain. The aim of the present study was to examine the feasibility of using the IMP with mental health care workers and assessing its effects on levels of mindfulness, self-compassion, empathy, stress and professional quality of life when compared with the control group participants.

Absence of classical and atypical (H- and L-) BSE infectivity in the blood of bovines in the clinical end stage of disease as confirmed by intraspecies blood transfusion.

While the presence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) infectivity in the blood of clinically affected sheep has been proven by intraspecies blood-transfusion experiments, this question has remained open in the case of BSE-affected cattle. Although the absence of infectivity can be anticipated from the restriction of the agent to neuronal tissues in this species, evidence for this was still lacking. This particularly concerns the production and use of medicinal products and other applications containing bovine blood or preparations thereof.

PSMD9 expression correlates with recurrence after radiotherapy in patients with cervical cancer.

In the current retrospective cohort study, the expression of the Proteasome 26S non-ATPase Subunit 9 (PSMD9) was investigated in 102 patients with cervical cancer. The rat homologue of PSMD9, Bridge-1, was identified as a binding protein of the transcription factors PDX-1 and E-12 via its PDZ-domain. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the prognostic or predictive value of PSMD9 expression as a biomarker for patients with cervical cancer.

Interprofessional teamwork in primary care: the effect of functional heterogeneity on performance and the role of leadership.

This study aimed to unravel the complexity of interprofessional teamwork in primary care teams by testing the relationship between functional heterogeneity and team performance through the mediating role of information elaboration, and the moderating roles of directive leadership and participative leadership. The moderated mediation model was validated using survey data from 1105 professionals and 97 supervisors in 143 Dutch primary care teams. The results confirmed the model and showed a significant negative effect of functional heterogeneity on information elaboration, which in turn had a positive effect on team performance.