Nursing Home Residents' Use of Radiography in New Brunswick: A Case for Mobile Radiography?

Introduction: Identifying ways to eliminate unnecessary transfer of nursing home (NH) residents to hospitals provides an opportunity to improve outcomes and use scarce healthcare resources more efficiently. This study's goal was to better understand where NH residents access X-ray (XR) and computed tomography (CT) scans and to determine if there was a case for mobile radiography policies in New Brunswick.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of all the visits to the emergency department (ED) and outpatient imaging departments in two hospitals in Saint John, New Brunswick, in 2020, that involved XR or CT investigations was conducted.

Comparing the First-Pass Success Rate of the King LTS-D and the i-gel Airway Devices in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

Objectives:  Significant heterogeneity exists internationally in the airway devices used in the pre-hospital setting during cardiac arrest. This study evaluated the first-pass success (FPS) rate of two supraglottic airways (SGAs) used by paramedics during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the King LTS-D and the i-gel.

Methods:  By examining 2,680 patient care records compiled by Ambulance New Brunswick between 2015 and 2020, we evaluated the FPS rate of the two SGAs using a 2x2 Pearson chi-square test for association, and a Mann-Whitney U test, to determine whether there were significant differences in FPS rates.

NanoMi: An open source electron microscope hardware and software platform.

We outline a public license (open source) electron microscopy platform, referred to as NanoMi. NanoMi offers a modular, flexible electron microscope platform that can be utilized for a variety of applications, such as microscopy education and development of proof-of-principle experiments, and can be used to complement an existing experimental apparatus. All components are ultra-high vacuum compatible and the electron optics elements are independent from the vacuum envelope.

The role of grain boundary character in solute segregation and thermal stability of nanocrystalline Pt-Au.

Nanocrystalline (NC) metals suffer from an intrinsic thermal instability; their crystalline grains undergo rapid coarsening during processing treatments or under service conditions. Grain boundary (GB) solute segregation has been proposed to mitigate grain growth and thermally stabilize the grain structures of NC metals. However, the role of GB character in solute segregation and thermal stability of NC metals remains poorly understood.

Hierarchical nanotwins in single-crystal-like nickel with high strength and corrosion resistance produced via a hybrid technique.

High-density growth nanotwins enable high-strength and good ductility in metallic materials. However, twinning propensity is greatly reduced in metals with high stacking fault energy. Here we adopted a hybrid technique coupled with template-directed heteroepitaxial growth method to fabricate single-crystal-like, nanotwinned (nt) Ni.

Microgenetic optimization algorithm for optimal wavefront shaping.

One of the main limitations of utilizing optimal wavefront shaping in imaging and authentication applications is the slow speed of the optimization algorithms currently being used. To address this problem we develop a microgenetic optimization algorithm (μGA) for optimal wavefront shaping. We test the abilities of the μGA and make comparisons to previous algorithms (iterative and simple-genetic) by using each algorithm to optimize transmission through an opaque medium.

Non-assigned Medicare payment increases practice revenue & lowers Medicare costs.

Private practice physicians can increase practice revenue and also save Medicare money. What seems like a paradox is instead a choice. The non-assigned Medicare payment option allows physicians to bill 8% more for their services.

A new method for the quantification of breathing.

Quantification of the breath flow and nostril dominance reveals internal physiological cycles. There are very few existing methods for unobtrusive monitoring of the breath flow. In this paper we present a new method for the quantification of breath flow and evaluation of the symmetry of breathing through both nostrils.

Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin: observations on the introduction of a new treatment into clinical practice.

Objective: To assess adherence to Food and Drug Administration-approved indications and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services policy through June 2001 regarding the use of photodynamic therapy in Medicare beneficiaries.

Design: Systematic review of pretreatment fluorescein angiograms of 1245 consecutive Medicare patients who received photodynamic therapy from physicians in 3 contiguous Medicare coverage areas (fee-for-service arrangement) and in 136 consecutive patients in a Medicare health maintenance organization.

Results: In the 3 Medicare fee-for-service regions, payment denial due to nonconforming fluorescein angiograms ranged from 17% to 29% by region in 1245 beneficiaries.