Publications by authors named "Sommer J"

Technology has led to the communication of the hospitalized patient and their family with clinical knowledge. The objective of this study is to describe the rate of use of the Inpatient Personal Health Record of Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires. A cross-sectional study was conducted between May and September of 2018.

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Health organizations aim to identify patients with high fall risk in the different attention scenarios in order to provide safety and quality care. In order to address this issue, we designed an assessment tool that surveys fall risk through three questions in self-service terminals in the outpatient setting. Our objectives in this article are to describe the implementation process.

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With the adoption of Personal Health Records (PHRs) integrated with Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and the increase of accessibility to data, institutions have the possibility of exchanging medical information with their patients. Involving the patient reported data has the potential to improve the quality of care and safety and create a feedback loop between patients and health professionals. The objective of this study is to describe a user-centered design of a module for medication list with reconciliation functionalities managed by the patients themselves, and connected to their EHR for supervision and medical validation.

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Immunization information systems and registries are essential for vaccine programs to succeed. Personal Health Record should improve decision making of healthcare providers and consumer outcomes. This article aims to describe the software development of an immunization module using a user-centered design, starting from the analysis of potential users' needs.

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Telemedicine is an increasingly used strategy for providing care to patients. The prevention and treatment of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs) during outbreaks still require new management approaches. We aimed to describe patients' characteristics and the care process after the creation and implementation of a virtual care program for patients with URTI during the epidemiological outbreak.

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Medicine has evolved considerably in recent decades in part thanks to information and communication technologies in health (ICTs). However, face-to-face consultations continue to be the predominant model, since alternatives such as telemedicine are still the subject of debate. On the other hand, in some very specific specialties, centralization is relevant, mainly due to the low frequency and prevalence of diseases, as well as the need to have highly specialized professionals, causing problems in terms of accessibility and costs for the health system.

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Background: Cannabis can be prescribed for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain, and comorbid cannabis use disorder (CUD) can occur in both conditions. Research demonstrates that PTSD and chronic pain commonly co-occur.

Methods: Data were acquired from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (N = 36,309).

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Background: Calls to action have been placed for recruitment of more men to address nursing shortage and to achieve a better balance and diversity in workforce. Studies also indicated patients' demand for male nurses. Despite this, male nursing students experience challenges during their education resulting in their attrition.

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Image characteristics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, SNR) may change over the course of a study.

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Introduction: Alcohol, cannabis and other substance use affects young people's health. Primary care physicians are encouraged to screen and provide brief interventions for substance use in this population, but implementation is often limited. Pre-consultation self-administered screening may decrease at-risk substance use and could have population-level benefits.

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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly comorbid with a range of physical health conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the association between index trauma and PTSD symptom clusters with physical health conditions, among individuals with PTSD in a population-based sample. Data were analyzed from the 2012-2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III; N = 36,309).

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Objective: To examine whether previous palate or hypopharyngeal surgery was associated with efficacy of treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with hypoglossal nerve stimulation.

Study Design: Cohort (retrospective and prospective).

Setting: Eleven academic medical centers.

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Purpose: This narrative review summarizes the current literature on postoperative traumatic stress, namely post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including defining features, epidemiology, identification of patient and perioperative risk factors, assessment tools, intervention recommendations, and future directions.

Principal Findings: Postoperative traumatic stress occurs in approximately 20% of patients following surgery, with additionally elevated rates in specific surgical groups. Potential risk factors include the perceived uncontrollable nature of high-risk surgery, psychiatric history, intraoperative awareness, dissociation, surgical complications, medication administration, delirium, and pain.

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Background: Post-traumatic stress but also aggressive attitudes and behaviour can be found in adolescents living in a context of ongoing community and gang violence in the low-income urban areas of Cape Town, South Africa.

Aims: We investigated the long-term effects (15-20 months after therapy) of (a) Narrative Exposure Therapy for Forensic Offender Rehabilitation (FORNET) and (b) the cognitive behavioural intervention 'Thinking for a Change' (CBT) on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and aggression compared with a waiting list.

Method: Fifty-four young males participated in the treatment trial, of which 17 completed the FORNET intervention, 11 the CBT intervention, and 26 were on a waiting list.

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Objective: This study examined the types of goals set, the degree to which goals were achieved, and the factors influencing goal attainment for participants in a Recovery College, a recovery-based mental health education program that uses peer learning advisors to facilitate individual student learning plans.

Method: Students of the Recovery College set baseline goals that were rated in terms of importance and difficulty in line with the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) framework and reviewed at follow-up points. Goals were reviewed to determine areas of priority and an analysis of goal attainment was conducted using multinomial logit regression analysis.

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In recent years, a new potential measure against foodborne pathogenic bacteria was rediscovered-bacteriophages. However, despite all their advantages, in connection to their widespread application in the food industry, negative consequences such as an uncontrolled phage spread as well as a development of phage resistant bacteria can occur. These problems are mostly a result of long-term persistence of phages in the food production environment.

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Objective: Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been associated with a variety of physical conditions; however, their relationship with cancer is unclear.

Methods: Using the cross-sectional 2012-2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III; N = 36,309), we examined the association between trauma, PTSD and cancer (breast, gastrointestinal, 'other', and 'any'). Respondents were categorized into three groups: no-trauma, trauma-exposed, and PTSD using DSM-5 criteria.

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Delivering usable and sustainable information is a complex process in primary care, especially in the emergency context. A multimodal communication process combining verbal and written information promotes a better recall of the information and favors patient satisfaction. Patient information leaflets (PILs) are an effective and simple form of written documentation, adapted to patients with low health literacy levels.

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Family medicine is now an integral part of the curriculum of medical schools in Switzerland. The current challenge is to convey information about the attractive aspects of family medicine to medical students to address the growing shortage of primary care physicians. This article describes the implementation of a research program to promote career choice in family medicine, which leads to the development of a conceptual framework as a theoretical basis for teaching and research.

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Health services have a significant carbon footprint on the environment, of which about 20 % come from drug prescriptions. For a sustainable health system, it is important to assess the environmental footprint of drugs and promote sustainable drug manufacturing, prescription, dispensing and use that limit carbon emissions and drug wastage. All, governments, pharmaceutical industry, health professionals and patients, must share this responsibility.

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Article Synopsis
  • Uveal melanoma is the most common eye cancer in adults, and while treatments for the primary tumor have improved, they fail to prevent metastasis or enhance survival.
  • Researchers are investigating immunotherapy using MHC II uveal melanoma cell-based vaccines to stimulate CD4+ T cells that can attack the tumor.
  • The study found that these vaccines effectively activated various CD4+ T cell types, leading to a strong immune response without being suppressed by regulatory T cells, showcasing their potential as a new treatment option for patients with uveal melanoma.
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We consider tendomers, which are formed by pairs of rotaxane molecules where each one consists of a linear chain with N Kuhn segments that are threaded through m + 1 small rings. These rings can slide freely along the chains but cannot pass through each other or detach from the chain. By crosslinking the first slide rings of the two rotaxanes a slip-link between the two polymer backbones is formed.

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We reconsider the isothermal equation of state (EOS) for linear homopolymers in good solvents, p=p(c,T), which relates the osmotic pressure p of polymers with the bulk concentration c and the temperature T. The classical scaling theory predicts the EOS in dilute and semidilute regimes. We suggest a generalized EOS that extends the universal behavior of polymer solutions up to the highly concentrated state and confirm it by molecular dynamics simulations and available experimental data.

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Introduction: Empathic behavior and related neural processing are strongly modified by group membership. Shared neural circuits for the production and perception of facial emotional expressions represent mirror neuron mechanisms which play a pivotal role for empathy. In this study, we investigate the influence of group membership on mirror neuron mechanisms for emotional facial expressions.

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