Observational Trends in Publicly Reported Quality Measures of Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program, 2013-2019.

In 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program to assess the quality of outpatient imaging efficiency (OIE). In this study, trends in hospital performance on these national hospital OIE measures a year after inception and public reporting were described. An observational trend analysis was conducted using 2013-2019 data from CMS 6 OIE measures.

Medicare and telehealth: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

Study Rationale: The swift progression of the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to facilitate the increase in telehealth utilization. However, it is clear neither how telehealth was offered by providers nor how it was used by patients during this time of unusual and rapid change within the health industry.

Aim: To investigates the telehealth utilization patterns of Medicare beneficiaries during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A novel hybrid of support vector regression and metaheuristic algorithms for groundwater spring potential mapping.

Limited groundwater resources and their overexploitation have become major challenges for sustainable development worldwide. In this study, an innovative hybrid approach was proposed to generate a groundwater spring potential map (GSPM) from the Sarab plain located in Lorestan Province, Iran, which includes the new best-worst method (BWM), stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA), support vector machine learning method (SVR), Harris hawk optimization (HHO), and bat algorithms (BA). The first step involved the inventory of a map prepared to contain 610 spring locations.

New hybrid-based approach for improving the accuracy of coastal aquifer vulnerability assessment maps.

Due to excessive exploitation, groundwater resources of coastal regions are exposed to seawater intrusion. Therefore, vulnerability assessments are essential for the quantitative and qualitative management of these resources. The GALDIT model is the most widely used approach for coastal aquifer vulnerability assessment, but suffers from subjectivity of the identification of rates and weights.

Management of thyroid carcinoma with radioactive 131I.

Purpose: To evaluate the role of radioactive 131I in the management of patients with well differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid.

Methods And Materials: Between 1965 and 1995, a total of 117 patients with well-differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid underwent either lobectomy or thyroidectomy followed by 100-150 mCi of 131I.

Results: With a median follow-up of 8 years, only four patients (3%) developed a recurrence of their disease.

Hyponatremia in pediatric patients with HIV-1 infection.

Hyponatremia has been recognized as a complication in adults with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). We did a retrospective study evaluating the medical records of 86 children (age 4 months to 21 years) with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infection to determine the frequency and clinical associations of hyponatremia. Twenty-two children (26%) developed hyponatremia (serum sodium < 135 mEq/L; range 104 to 134 mEq/L; mean 130 mEq/L).

The "revolution" in outpatient care.

Although the concept of outpatient care is not a new one, the growth in ambulatory facilities has revolutionized medical care in the United States. The growth in ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, and cancer centers in Florida is explored in detail. With the many changes forthcoming in health care, ambulatory care will play an increasing role in delivering good health care at a reasonable cost.

Treatment of asymptomatic congenital syphilis: benzathine versus procaine penicillin G therapy.

We compared the efficacy of two treatment regimens for asymptomatic congenital syphilis. Between June 1989 and July 1991, we prospectively and randomly assigned 169 patients to receive either one dose of benzathine penicillin G or procaine penicillin G for 10 days. There were no significant differences between the treatment groups in regard to birth weight, sex, race, gestational age, Apgar scores, infant or maternal rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titers, fluorescent treponemal IgM antibody, or maternal treatment.

Management of pterygium with surgery and radiation therapy. The North Florida Pterygium Study Group.

Purpose: To compare our results in the management of pterygium using a higher total dose with other reported results.

Methods And Materials: Between 1971 and 1991, 690 patients were treated with complete surgical excision followed by beta irradiation for primary or recurrent pterygium. Of these patients, 129 had two or more areas involving both eyes for a total of 825 lesions treated.

Comparative evaluation of cefadroxil and cephalexin in children and adolescents with pyodermas. Cefadroxil Once Daily Pyoderma Study Group.

This randomized, multicenter study compared the safety and efficacy of cefadroxil with that of cephalexin for the treatment of pyodermas in children and adolescents (1-18 years of age). Cefadroxil was given as a single oral daily dose of 30 mg/kg, and cephalexin 30 mg/kg/day was given in two divided doses. The maximum daily dose for both drugs was 1 gm, and treatment was administered for 10 days.

Breast Cancer Screening Project in Northeast Florida.

The American Cancer Society--Duval Unit, in June, 1987, helped organize a community demonstration screening project involving all hospitals and institutions with mammography units in the area. A Northeast Florida Cooperative Breast Cancer Screening Group was formed comprised of physicians and administrators from each institution. A total of 1,200 women agreed to participate in the project and each underwent complete screening including education, instruction in self-examination, physical examination by a physician and mammography as indicated according to ACS guidelines.

Humoral and cellular immunity to varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein gpI and to a non-glycosylated protein, p170, in the strain 2 guinea-pig.

Strain 2 guinea-pigs were inoculated with infectious varicella-zoster virus (VZV) or with immunoaffinity-purified proteins of VZV. Monoclonal antibodies to the VZV gpI (90,000/58,000 complex) and to a non-glycosylated protein, p170, were used to prepare the polypeptide antigens. Humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to the infectious virus were compared with those elicited by the gpI and p170 proteins.

Prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss in premature and sick term infants with perinatally acquired cytomegalovirus infection.

Audiologic follow-up was obtained on 40 premature or sick term infants with perinatally acquired cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and on 40 prospectively matched control subjects. Final evaluation was postponed until 3 years of age to assess any long-term hearing sequelae of perinatal CMV infection in this population, and to obtain reasonably complete audiometric results. One experimental subject had a bilateral sensorineural hearing loss above 4000 Hz.

Failure of antepartum maternal cultures to predict the infant's risk of exposure to herpes simplex virus at delivery.

In 414 pregnant women with a history of recurrent genital herpes simplex infection, we studied the correlation between asymptomatic viral shedding in late pregnancy and at the time of delivery. Antepartum cultures for asymptomatic reactivation of herpes simplex virus were positive in 17 of the 414 women (4.1 percent).