Graphical Association Analysis for Identifying Variation in Provider Claims for Joint Replacement Surgery.

Identifying potentially fraudulent or wasteful medical insurance claims can be difficult due to the large amounts of data and human effort involved. We applied unsupervised machine learning to construct interpretable models which rank variations in medical provider claiming behaviour in the domain of unilateral joint replacement surgery, using data from the Australian Medicare Benefits Schedule. For each of three surgical procedures reference models of claims for each procedure were constructed and compared analytically to models of individual provider claims.

Effectiveness of a purified type I collagen matrix plus the antimicrobial polyhexamethylene biguanide for use in cutaneous wounds: analysis of a population of three combined registries.

Introduction: Chronic wounds represent a significant burden to the health care system and patients.

Objective: This study determined the effectiveness of a wound scaffold comprised of PCMP for use in nonhealing, cutaneous wounds; this study analyzes pooled data from the population of 3 combined registries.

Materials And Methods: A total of 3 combined registry populations were pooled from a single-center study of 41 patients, a single-center study of 86 patients, and the RESPOND Registry of 307 patients treated at 28 centers.

A Prospective Noninterventional Study of Type I Collagen Matrix Plus Polyhexamethylene Biguanide Antimicrobial for the Treatment of Venous Leg Ulcers: A Secondary Analysis.

Background: The RESPOND registry study was the first prospective noninterventional study evaluating the real-world effectiveness of a native type 1 collagen matrix plus polyhexamethylene biguanide antimicrobial (PCMP) barrier in nonhealing wounds.

Purpose: The objective of this secondary analysis was to describe the effects of PCMP in the subgroup of patients with venous leg ulcers (VLUs) in the RESPOND registry.

Methods: RESPOND was a 28-site, prospective, noninterventional study for up to 32 weeks.

Credit Risk Modeling Using Transfer Learning and Domain Adaptation.

In the domain of credit risk assessment lenders may have limited or no data on the historical lending outcomes of credit applicants. Typically this disproportionately affects Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), for which credit may be restricted or too costly, due to the difficulty of predicting the Probability of Default (PD). However, if data from other related credit risk domains is available may be applied to successfully train models, e.

The Pathophysiology of Skin Failure vs. Pressure Injury: Conditions That Cause Integument Destruction and Their Associated Implications.

Introduction: Although integument failure commonly is attributed to pressure alone, especially when a wound develops over a bony prominence (pressure injury), all skin failure should not be attributed to pressure injuries.

Objective: A systematic review of the literature was conducted to: (1) differentiate the types of integument injury and etiology; (2) describe the anatomic and pathophysiologic factors affecting integument failure; (3) differentiate avoidable vs. unavoidable integumentary injury of nonpressure-related sources; (4) describe factors leading to integument injury, including comorbid and risk factors; and (5) briefly discuss clinical and economic importance of delineating pressure injuries from integument failure and associated risk factors in order to determine the pathophysiology underlying wound development and multiple factors capable of interacting with pressure to synergistically influence integumentary failure.

Type I collagen matrix plus polyhexamethylene biguanide antimicrobial for the treatment of cutaneous wounds.

Determine the effectiveness of purified native type I collagen matrix plus polyhexamethylene biguanide antimicrobial (PCMP) on cutaneous wounds. A prospective cohort study of 307 patients (67 venous leg ulcers, 62 diabetic foot ulcers, 45 pressure ulcers, 54 post-surgical wounds and 79 other wounds) was conducted. Cox wound closure for PCMP was 73% at week 32.

Effect of Native Type I Collagen with Polyhexamethylene Biguanide Antimicrobial on Wounds: Interim Registry Results.

Background: Biofilm can impair wound healing by maintaining an elevated, but ineffective, inflammatory state. This article describes interim results from the prospective RESPOND postmarketing registry evaluating the use of a native type 1, porcine collagen matrix with the embedded antimicrobial polyhexamethylene biguanide (PCMP) in the management of chronic wounds.

Methods: Adults ≥18 years of age with ≥1 appropriate wound were eligible for inclusion.

TIME CDST: an updated tool to address the current challenges in wound care.

Despite the understanding that wounds are a common problem affecting the individual, the health service and society as a whole, there continues to be a lack of a systematic, structured, evidence-based approach to wound management. The TIME principle was first published in 2003, and has since been integrated by many into clinical practice and research. However, this tool has been criticised for its tendency to focus mainly on the wound rather than on the wider issues that the patient is presenting with.

Management of a Complex Excoriation Disorder-induced Wound with a Viable Cryopreserved Placental Membrane.

Excoriation disorder (ED), also known as dermatotillomania, is a condition characterized by repeated "skin picking" that leads to the formation of skin lesions. Because of the similarity of its symptoms to obsessive compulsive disorder, ED is classified as a subcategory of obsessive compulsive disorder by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition. Although the majority of the self-inflicted wounds are not clinically significant, many wounds lead to social and occupational dysfunction by becoming infected, chronic, and life threatening.

Visual analytics of signalling pathways using time profiles.

Data visualisation is usually a crucial first step in analysing and exploring large-scale complex data. The visualisation of proteomics time-course data on post-translational modifications presents a particular challenge that is largely unmet by existing tools and methods. To this end, we present Minardo, a novel visualisation strategy tailored for such proteomics data, in which data layout is driven by both cellular topology and temporal order.

Defining reference sequences for Nocardia species by similarity and clustering analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequence data.

Background: The intra- and inter-species genetic diversity of bacteria and the absence of 'reference', or the most representative, sequences of individual species present a significant challenge for sequence-based identification. The aims of this study were to determine the utility, and compare the performance of several clustering and classification algorithms to identify the species of 364 sequences of 16S rRNA gene with a defined species in GenBank, and 110 sequences of 16S rRNA gene with no defined species, all within the genus Nocardia.

Methods: A total of 364 16S rRNA gene sequences of Nocardia species were studied.

MINER: exploratory analysis of gene interaction networks by machine learning from expression data.

Background: The reconstruction of gene regulatory networks from high-throughput "omics" data has become a major goal in the modelling of living systems. Numerous approaches have been proposed, most of which attempt only "one-shot" reconstruction of the whole network with no intervention from the user, or offer only simple correlation analysis to infer gene dependencies.

Results: We have developed MINER (Microarray Interactive Network Exploration and Representation), an application that combines multivariate non-linear tree learning of individual gene regulatory dependencies, visualisation of these dependencies as both trees and networks, and representation of known biological relationships based on common Gene Ontology annotations.

iHMMune-align: hidden Markov model-based alignment and identification of germline genes in rearranged immunoglobulin gene sequences.

Motivation: Immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) genes in mature B lymphocytes are the result of recombination of IGHV, IGHD and IGHJ germline genes, followed by somatic mutation. The correct identification of the germline genes that make up a variable VH domain is essential to our understanding of the process of antibody diversity generation as well as to clinical investigations of some leukaemias and lymphomas.

Results: We have developed iHMMune-align, an alignment program that uses a hidden Markov model (HMM) to model the processes involved in human IGH gene rearrangement and maturation.

A triangular pattern for botox forehead rejuvenation.

The authors contend that their triangular pattern of Botox administration provides reproducible correction of both static and dynamic forehead wrinkles with minimal risk of brow and upper lid ptosis. Further, by varying dosage and injection technique, mimetic function may be preserved or obliterated.

The reliability of digital imaging in the remote assessment of wounds: defining a standard.

Context: Telemedicine has been used for remote management of many medical problems. Given the ever-expanding demands to provide increasing service with increasingly limited resources, quality care and practice efficiency can be enhanced by telemedicine.

Objective: This study was undertaken to explore the reliability of wound assessment using computer-transmitted digital imagery compared with a traditional bedside evaluation and also to assess its potential role in healthcare delivery.

Activation of macrophage promatrix metalloproteinase-9 by lipopolysaccharide-associated proteinases.

LPS induces an up-regulation of promatrix metalloproteinase-9 (proMMP9) gene expression in cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage. We demonstrate here that LPS preparations are also able to activate proMMP9 made by human macrophages or THP-1 cells via LPS-associated proteinases, which cleave the N-terminal propeptide at a site or sites close to the one cleaved upon activation with organomercurial compounds. LPS-associated proteinases are serine proteinases that are able to cleave denatured collagens (gelatin) and the mammalian serine proteinase inhibitor, alpha(1)-proteinase inhibitor, thereby pushing the balance of extracellular matrix turnover even further toward degradation.