Testing domain knowledge and risk of bias of a large-scale general artificial intelligence model in mental health.

Background: With a rapidly expanding gap between the need for and availability of mental health care, artificial intelligence (AI) presents a promising, scalable solution to mental health assessment and treatment. Given the novelty and inscrutable nature of such systems, exploratory measures aimed at understanding domain knowledge and potential biases of such systems are necessary for ongoing translational development and future deployment in high-stakes healthcare settings.

Methods: We investigated the domain knowledge and demographic bias of a generative, AI model using contrived clinical vignettes with systematically varied demographic features.

Modulation of novel cardiorenal and inflammatory biomarkers by intravenous nitroglycerin and nesiritide in acute decompensated heart failure: an exploratory study.

Background: Modulation of novel cardiorenal and inflammatory markers may provide insight into the disease process and outcomes of patients with acute decompensated heart failure.

Methods And Results: In this open-labeled, prospective, randomized study, 89 patients received either nesiritide (NES) or nitroglycerin (NTG) infusion by standard protocol. The serum or plasma concentrations of cystatin-C and inflammatory markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-α, transforming growth factor-β1, and interleukin-6) were measured in 66 patients with acute decompensated heart failure at baseline and during drug infusion.

Renal function and neurohormonal changes following intravenous infusions of nitroglycerin versus nesiritide in patients with acute decompensated heart failure.

Background: Rises in serum creatinine and efficacy have been reported as dose-related effects of nesiritide and nitroglycerin in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). However, no study has evaluated the comparative safety, efficacy, and biomarkers of optimally dosed nesiritide versus nitroglycerin in ADHF.

Methods And Results: Eighty-nine ADHF patients were prospectively randomized to receive either nesiritide (0.

Comparison of method-specific vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration values and their predictability for treatment outcome of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.

The objectives of this study were to examine the predictive value of method-specific vancomycin (VAN) minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) results on treatment outcomes of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. VAN MIC values for MRSA strains were determined using Etest, VITEK-1, MicroScan (MScan) and broth microdilution (BMD), with additional screening for heterogeneous glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus (hGISA) phenotype.

Cultural competency: Agenda for Cultural Competency Using Literature and Evidence.

Background: Cultural competency has been recognized as an important issue relevant to all health professions. A research agenda is needed to establish a systematic approach to developing an understanding of factors relevant to the delivery of culturally competent health care.

Objective: Within the context of existing literature, evidence-based, concrete recommendations are developed as an Agenda for Cultural Competency Using Literature and Evidence (ACCULTURE).

High-dose vancomycin therapy for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections: efficacy and toxicity.

Background: Vancomycin hydrochloride treatment failure for infections caused by susceptible methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains with high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) has prompted recent guidelines to recommend a higher vancomycin target trough of 15 to 20 microg/mL.

Methods: A prospective cohort study of adult patients infected with MRSA was performed to determine the distribution of vancomycin MIC and treatment outcomes with vancomycin doses targeting an unbound trough of at least 4 times the MIC. The microbiology laboratory computer records were used to identify all patients from whom MRSA was isolated from August 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005.

Update on the pharmacist shortage: national and state data through 2003.

Purpose: Aggregate Demand Index (ADI) survey results were used to describe the severity of the pharmacist shortage at the national and state levels and by practice site and impact on the U.S. population.

Analysis of pharmacist and pharmacist-extender workforce in 1998--2000: assessing predictors and differences across states.

Objective: To examine the impact of supply and demand factors on filled positions for pharmacists and pharmacist extenders (pharmacist technicians and aides) and assess differences across states through analysis of state-level pharmacist labor market data.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: United States.

Acculturation, familism, parental monitoring, and knowledge as predictors of marijuana and inhalant use in adolescents.

The authors investigated relationships between marijuana and inhalant use and several cultural and demographic factors in Anglo American and Hispanic American adolescents (N=1,094). Outcome measures assessed lifetime and 30-day marijuana and inhalant use. Predictors and covariates used in logistic regression analyses were region, grade, gender, knowledge, acculturation, familism, and parental monitoring.

Osteopathic manipulative treatment in prenatal care: a retrospective case control design study.

The use of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) during pregnancy has a long tradition in osteopathic medicine. A retrospective study was designed to compare a group of women who received prenatal OMT with a matched group that did not receive prenatal OMT. The medical records of 160 women from four cities who received prenatal OMT were reviewed for the occurrence of meconium-stained amniotic fluid, preterm delivery, use of forceps, and cesarean delivery.

Assumed policy similarity and voter preference.

The effects of attitude similarity on voters' preferences were examined. Using secondary analyses, the authors created measures of assumed similarity across 6 issues between voters and U.S.

Pneumococcal vaccination in hospitalized elderly patients: role of the pharmacist.

Objectives: To identify factors associated with receiving the pneumococcal vaccine before admission among hospitalized elderly patients and to determine patient perceptions about the role of the pharmacist in advocating its use.

Methods: One hundred sixty elderly (> or = 65 yrs) patients hospitalized during the first 4 days of each month over a 5-month period were interviewed in person to obtain data regarding their attitudes toward receiving the vaccine, knowledge about it, access to health care, health status, and interaction with a pharmacist.

Results: Half of the patients had received the pneumococcal vaccine before hospital admission.

Translucency and Complexity: Effects on Blissymbol Learning Using Computer and Teacher Presentations.

Purpose: A single-subject alternating treatment design was used to (a) evaluate the influence of translucency (i.e., the guessability of the symbol when the referent is known) and complexity (i.

Effects of fatalism and family communication on HIV/AIDS awareness variations in Native American and Anglo parents and children.

Incorporating three analytic approaches, the present research examines HIV/AIDS awareness levels in a sample of Native American and Anglo parents and children. Descriptive analysis revealed that Native Americans, especially children, possess startlingly poor levels of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge compared with Anglos. This disparity is most evident for more subtle HIV/AIDS facts.

The child and adolescent functional assessment scale (CAFAS): a dynamic predictor of juvenile recidivism.

This study tested the degree to which the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS; Hodges & Wong, 1996), a mental health assessment tool, predicted recidivism among juvenile offenders. The CAFAS, which is sensitive to rehabilitation treatment effects, was compared with factors insensitive to rehabilitation (e.g.

Activation of mast cells by bile acids.

To test whether bile acids interact with mast cells, dilute, aqueous solutions of five pure unconjugated natural bile acids and their corresponding glycine or taurine conjugates were incubated with murine PT-18 cells (a mast cell line functionally and cytochemically similar to mucosal mast cells) or with freshly isolated rat peritoneal mast cells. Bile acid solutions ranged in concentration from 0.3 to 10 mmol/L; histamine release was assessed by a fluorimetric assay, and cell lysis by cytosolic enzyme (lactate dehydrogenase) release.

How do aphasic and normal speaking subjects restate a message in response to feedback?

Seven aphasic and seven normal subjects (Ss) viewed and described 25 cartoon drawings. While Ss described individual pictures the experimenter provided one of three types of feedback: explicit feedback, for example, "Can you tell me anything else about it?"; false feedback, for example, asking a question about another picture; or implicit feedback, for example, "I can't find it." five types of responses (recodings) were tallied.