Factors influencing communication issues during hospital discharge for older adults in 11 high-income countries: a secondary analysis of the 2021 International Health Policy Survey.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hospital discharge communication problems with older adults, compare them across countries and determine factors associated with those problems.

Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data.

Setting: 2021 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy (IHP) Survey of Older Adults conducted across 11 high-income countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Freshness in Salmon by Hand-Held Devices: Methods in Feature Selection and Data Fusion for Spectroscopy.

Salmon fillet was analyzed via hand-held optical devices: fluorescence (@340 nm) and absorption spectroscopy across the visible and near-infrared (NIR) range (400-1900 nm). Spectroscopic measurements were benchmarked with nucleotide assays and potentiometry in an exploratory set of experiments over 11 days, with changes to spectral profiles noted. A second enlarged spectroscopic data set, over a 17 day period, was then acquired, and fillet freshness was classified ±1 day via four machine learning (ML) algorithms: linear discriminant analysis, Gaussian naïve, weighted -nearest neighbors, and an ensemble bagged tree method.

Predictors of advance care planning in 11 high-income nations.

Background: Elderly population is increasing in high-income countries. For instance, by 2050, 21.4% of the United States population is expected to be 65+, thus making advance care planning (ACP) increasingly important.

Biomineralization of Electrospun Bacteria-Encapsulated Fibers: A Relevant Step toward Living Ceramic Fibers.

Living ceramic materials are proposed as high-performance engineered living materials due to their expected properties, including improved mechanical stability and performance, which could impact a wide range of applications across various fields. Particularly, living ceramic fibers are anticipated to exhibit even superior mechanical and structural properties, considering their fibril nature. This work presents the foundation for developing the family of living ceramic fibers.

Motivators and mechanisms for an international rural health collaboration.

Collaborations are critical to address rural health challenges. We evaluated a new international collaboration between institutions in Georgia, the United States (US), and Scotland, United Kingdom (UK), to address rural health issues and to understand the barriers and facilitators to effective international collaboration efforts. A qualitative approach was used through in-depth interviews and focus groups with educators, researchers, and healthcare providers in the US and Scotland who were involved in the CONVERGE international rural health collaboration.

Spatial Control of 2D Nanomaterial Electronic Properties Using Chiral Light Beams.

Single-layer two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials exhibit physical and chemical properties which can be dynamically modulated through out-of-plane deformations. Existing methods rely on intricate micromechanical manipulations (., poking, bending, rumpling), hindering their widespread technological implementation.

Accelerated Screening of Protein-Ligand Interactions via Parallel -Weighted F-MRI.

In drug discovery, ligands are sought that modulate the (mal-)function of medicinally relevant target proteins. In order to develop new drugs, typically a multitude of potential ligands are initially screened for binding and subsequently characterized for their affinity. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a well-established and highly sensitive technology for characterizing such interactions.

Enhanced Predictability of Urea Crystallization by an Optimized Laser Repetition Rate.

Laser-induced crystallization is a novel alternative to classical methods for crystallizing organic molecules but requires a judicious choice of experimental parameters for the onset of crystallization to be predictable. This study investigated the impact of the laser repetition rate on the time delay from the start of the pulsed laser illumination to the initiation of crystallization, the so-called induction time. A supersaturated urea solution was irradiated with near-infrared (λ = 1030 nm) laser pulses of pulse duration τ = 5 ps at a pulse energy of approximately = 340 μJ while varying the repetition rate from 10 to 20,000 Hz.

Factors associated with frequent buprenorphine / naloxone initiation in a national survey of Canadian emergency physicians.

Objective: To identify individual and site-related factors associated with frequent emergency department (ED) buprenorphine/naloxone (BUP) initiation. BUP initiation, an effective opioid use disorder (OUD) intervention, varies widely across Canadian EDs.

Methods: We surveyed emergency physicians in 6 Canadian provinces from 2018 to 2019 using bilingual paper and web-based questionnaires.

A Novel Machine-Learning Framework Based on a Hierarchy of Dispute Models for the Identification of Fish Species Using Multi-Mode Spectroscopy.

Seafood mislabeling rates of approximately 20% have been reported globally. Traditional methods for fish species identification, such as DNA analysis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), are expensive and time-consuming, and require skilled technicians and specialized equipment. The combination of spectroscopy and machine learning presents a promising approach to overcome these challenges.

Community pharmacists' naloxone counseling: A theory-informed qualitative study.

Background: Opioid-related overdose (ORO) deaths have reached a record high in the United States. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose. Pharmacists are in an ideal position to provide naloxone and related counseling, given their accessibility and expertise.

Mapping Health Disparities in 11 High-Income Nations.

Importance: Health care delivery faces a myriad of challenges globally with well-documented health inequities based on geographic location. Yet, researchers and policy makers have a limited understanding of the frequency of geographic health disparities.

Objective: To describe geographic health disparities in 11 high-income countries.

Rapid Assessment of Fish Freshness for Multiple Supply-Chain Nodes Using Multi-Mode Spectroscopy and Fusion-Based Artificial Intelligence.

This study is directed towards developing a fast, non-destructive, and easy-to-use handheld multimode spectroscopic system for fish quality assessment. We apply data fusion of visible near infra-red (VIS-NIR) and short wave infra-red (SWIR) reflectance and fluorescence (FL) spectroscopy data features to classify fish from fresh to spoiled condition. Farmed Atlantic and wild coho and chinook salmon and sablefish fillets were measured.

Narrative minireview of the spatial epidemiology of substance use disorder in the United States: Who is at risk and where?

Drug overdose is the leading cause of death by injury in the United States. The incidence of substance use disorder (SUD) in the United States has increased steadily over the past two decades, becoming a major public health problem for the country. The drivers of the SUD epidemic in the United States have changed over time, characterized by an initial heroin outbreak between 1970 and 1999, followed by a painkiller outbreak, and finally by an ongoing synthetic opioid outbreak.

Lenz Lenses in a Cryoprobe: Boosting NMR Sensitivity Toward Environmental Monitoring of Mass-Limited Samples.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is commonly employed in a wide range of metabolomic research. Unfortunately, due to its relatively low sensitivity, smaller samples become challenging to study by NMR. Cryoprobes can be used to increase sensitivity by cooling the coil and preamplifier, offering sensitivity improvements of ∼3 to 4.

Impact of healthcare capacity disparities on the COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the United States: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The impact of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the US has been hampered by a substantial geographical heterogeneity of the vaccination coverage. Several studies have proposed vaccination hesitancy as a key driver of the vaccination uptake disparities. However, the impact of other important structural determinants such as local disparities in healthcare capacity is virtually unknown.

Highly Fluorinated Peptide Probes with Enhanced In Vivo Stability for F-MRI.

A labeling strategy for in vivo F-MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) based on highly fluorinated, short hydrophilic peptide probes, is developed. As dual-purpose probes, they are functionalized further by a fluorophore and an alkyne moiety for bioconjugation. High fluorination is achieved by three perfluoro-tert-butyl groups, introduced into asparagine analogues by chemically stable amide bond linkages.

Association Between Vaccination Coverage Disparity and the Dynamics of the COVID-19 Delta and Omicron Waves in the US.

Objective: The US recently suffered the fourth and most severe wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This wave was driven by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, a highly transmissible variant that infected even vaccinated people. Vaccination coverage disparities have played an important role in shaping the epidemic dynamics.

Combining deep learning and fluorescence imaging to automatically identify fecal contamination on meat carcasses.

Food safety and foodborne diseases are significant global public health concerns. Meat and poultry carcasses can be contaminated by pathogens like E. coli and salmonella, by contact with animal fecal matter and ingesta during slaughter and processing.

Analysis of Vaccination Rates and New COVID-19 Infections by US County, July-August 2021.

This cross-sectional study analyzes the association between vaccination rates and COVID-19 incidence by county from July to August 2021.

FootAssure: A multimodal, in-home wound detection device for diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Currently, there is no single technology capable of assessing all the multitude of factors associated with peripheral complications of diabetic neuropathy. In this work, a multimodal wound detection system is proposed to help facilitate in-home examinations, utilizing a combination of thermal, multi-spectral 3D imaging modalities. The proposed system is capable of the 3D surface rendering of the foot and would overlay thermal, blood oxygenation, besides other skin health information to aid with foot health monitoring.

Implementation of a Vaccination Program Based on Epidemic Geospatial Attributes: COVID-19 Pandemic in Ohio as a Case Study and Proof of Concept.

Geospatial vaccine uptake is a critical factor in designing strategies that maximize the population-level impact of a vaccination program. This study uses an innovative spatiotemporal model to assess the impact of vaccination distribution strategies based on disease geospatial attributes and population-level risk assessment. For proof of concept, we adapted a spatially explicit COVID-19 model to investigate a hypothetical geospatial targeting of COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Ohio, United States, at the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic.

Selective excitation enables encoding and measurement of multiple diffusion parameters in a single experiment.

Band selectivity to address specific resonances in a spectrum enables one to encode individual settings for diffusion experiments. In a single experiment, this could include different gradient strengths (enabling coverage of a larger range of diffusion constants), different diffusion delays, or different gradient directions (enabling anisotropic diffusion measurement). In this report, a selective variant of the bipolar pulsed gradient eddy current delay (BPP-LED) experiment, enabling selective encoding of three resonances, was implemented.