Mechanical and finite element evaluation of a bioprinted scaffold following recellularization in a rat subcutaneous model.

Tissue engineered heart valves (TEHV) provide several advantages over currently available aortic heart valve replacements. Bioprinting provides a patient-specific means of developing a TEHV scaffold from imaging data, and the capability to embed the patient's own cells within the scaffold. In this work we investigated the remodeling capacity of a collagen-based bio-ink by implanting bioprinted disks in a rat subcutaneous model for 2, 4 and 12 weeks and evaluating the mechanical response using biaxial testing and subsequent finite element (FE) modeling.

Medicare Annual Wellness Visit association with healthcare quality and costs.

Objectives: Although use of the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) is increasing nationally, it remains unclear whether it can help contain healthcare costs and improve quality. In the context of 2 primary care physician-led accountable care organizations (ACOs), we tested the hypothesis that AWVs can improve healthcare costs and clinical quality.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study using propensity score matching and quasi-experimental difference-in-differences regression models comparing the differential changes in cost, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations for those who received an AWV versus those who did not from before until after the AWV.

A novel surgical technique for a rat subcutaneous implantation of a tissue engineered scaffold.

Objectives: Subcutaneous implantations in small animal models are currently required for preclinical studies of acellular tissue to evaluate biocompatibility, including host recellularization and immunogenic reactivity.

Methods: Three rat subcutaneous implantation methods were evaluated in six Sprague Dawley rats. An acellular xenograft made from porcine pericardium was used as the tissue-scaffold.

Sugarcane Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae): A New Pest on Sorghum in North America.

In 2013, the sugarcane aphid, (Zehntner) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), a new invasive pest of sorghum species in North America, was confirmed on sorghum in 4 states and 38 counties in the United States. In 2015, the aphid was reported on sorghum in 17 states and over 400 counties as well as all sorghum-producing regions in Mexico. Ability to overwinter on living annual and perennial hosts in southern sorghum-producing areas and wind-aided movement of alate aphids appear to be the main factors in its impressive geographic spread in North America.

Using electronic prescribing transaction data to estimate electronic health record adoption.

Objective: To determine whether electronic prescribing transaction data can be used to accurately and efficiently track national and regional electronic health record (EHR) adoption in order to evaluate progress toward national goals and identify and address regional disparities.

Study Design: This study compared national EHR use estimates derived from Surescripts electronic prescribing data for 2007 and 2008 with contemporary National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) estimates.

Methods: The ratio of relative risks was adapted to test the statistical significance of the difference in the differences between Surescripts and NAMCS estimates in 2007 and 2008.

The regional extension center program: helping physicians meaningfully use health information technology.

Many physicians face financial and organizational barriers that inhibit their adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems. The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act included provisions to facilitate the transition from paper to electronic records, including Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments to support the adoption and meaningful use of EHR systems. It also created the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (REC) program to ease the barriers faced by primary care physicians and rural and critical-access hospitals seeking to implement EHRs.

Beacon communities aim to use health information technology to transform the delivery of care.

The Beacon Community Program, authorized under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), aims to demonstrate the potential for health information technology to enable local improvements in health care quality, cost efficiency, and population health. If successful, these communitywide efforts will yield important lessons that will assist other communities seeking to harness technology to achieve and sustain health care improvements. This paper highlights key programmatic details that reflect the meaningful use of technology in the fifteen Beacon communities.

Research considerations. Geropsychiatry unit evaluation.

The specialized psychiatric units for geriatric patients are believed to be effective, yet no studies could be found documenting this. A method of evaluating the effectiveness of a geropsychiatric program is to measure changes in the cognitive and functional status of its patients. This study supports the hypothesis that there would be an improvement in the geropsychiatric patients' cognitive and functional assessment scores by discharge and after hospitalization.

Extending library services by using a new technology.

The University of Kentucky Medical Library Extension Service is an experimental program attempting to stimulate medical library use among medical professionals by offering medical information to all health practitioners. The purpose of the program, sponsored by the Ohio Valley Regional Medical Program, is to encourage the establishment of medical libraries in community hospitals and to develop cooperative relationships among those institutions capable of providing medical library services.The University of Kentucky program, through cooperation with other sections of the OVRMP, is endeavoring to make the medical library the center for a variety of clinically oriented information services.

Prostatectomy in a county hospital; a review of 677 cases in a six-year period.

Transurethral procedures were used in 620 of 677 cases in which prostatectomy was done (principally by residents supervised by a urologist) at a county hospital in a six-year period. Open operations were used in the other 57 cases. Results were classified as "excellent" in 46.