scholarly journals Discovering and comparing types of general practitioner practices using geolocational features and prescribing behaviours by means of K-means clustering

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick G. Booth ◽  
Raymond R Bond ◽  
Maurice D Mulvenna ◽  
Brian Cleland ◽  
Kieran McGlade ◽  
...  

AbstractTraditionally General Practitioner (GP) practices have been labelled as being in Rural, Urban or Semi-Rural areas with no statistical method of identifying which practices fall into each category. The main aim of this study is to investigate whether location and other characteristics can provide a tautology to identify different types of GP practice and compare the prescribing behaviours associated with the different practice types. To achieve this monthly open source prescription data were analysed by practice considering location, practice size, population density and deprivation rankings. One year’s data was subjected to k-means clustering with the results showing that only two different types of GP practice can be classified that are dependent on location characteristics in Northern Ireland. Traditional labels did not describe the two classifications fully and new classifications of Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan were used. Whilst prescribing patterns were generally similar, it was found that Metropolitan practices generally had higher prescribing rates than Non-Metropolitan practices. Examining prescribing behaviours in accordance with British National Formulary (BNF) categories (known as chapters) showed that Chapter 4 (Central Nervous System) was responsible for most of the difference in prescribing levels. Within Chapter 4 higher prescribing levels were attributable to Analgesic and Antidepressant prescribing. The clusters were finally examined regarding the level of deprivation experienced in the area in which the practice was located. This showed that the Metropolitan cluster, having higher prescription rates, also had a higher proportion of practices located in highly deprived areas making deprivation a contributing factor.

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldur W. Eriksson ◽  
Johan Fellman

AbstractTemporal variations in the stillbirth rate among singletons, twins and triplets in Sweden between 1869 and 1967 were studied. Both among single and multiple births there were marked secular decreasing trends in the stillbirth rates. Based on our long time series since 1869, this study confirms that among twins and triplets the stillbirth rate was higher among same-sexed than among opposite-sexed sets. Comparisons between the stillbirth rates among twin births in urban and rural regions indicate higher stillbirth rates in rural areas. In addition, the stillbirth rates among twins of unmarried mothers were higher than those of twins of married mothers. These findings also hold for both same-sexed and opposite-sexed twin pairs. Analyses of the stillbirth rates for singletons and for different types of twins indicate that up to 1950 the risk of stillbirth among males was almost constantly between 15% to 20% higher than among females. After that the difference in the risk decreased. Comparisons with other populations were performed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Bernard

Abstract This article contributes to the rural-urban quality of life comparison issue by investigating territorial differences in quality of life using indices of poverty, satisfaction and opportunity deprivation. The article introduces three innovative elements. First, rural-urban differences are analysed alongside with the within-rural differentiation; second, two distinct spatial patterns of different forms of rural territorial disadvantage are introduced; third, the net-effect of the residential environment is assessed. Empirical results, based on survey data, show increased opportunity deprivation in rural areas, which however is not accompanied by decreased community satisfaction. For the most indices, within-rural differences proved larger than the difference between urban and rural areas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Ali Muhammad ◽  
Zahoor Ul Haq ◽  
Imad Khan

This study uses Pakistan Social and Living Measurement Survey 2016 to study gender discrimination in school enrollment across the four provinces of Pakistan using bi-variate analysis. Results show that there is highly significant difference between male and female education in rural areas (x^2=4940.50 and p<0.05). Analysis indicate that gender disparity in enrollment is significantly higher in low income households (x^2=115.468 and P<0.05). The study also showed that as compared to male, fewer female are enrolled in both public and private sectors. Hence, socio-economic factors play important role in making decision about children enrollment in different types of school. The study recommends that government to take appropriate steps to reduce gender discrimination in school enrollment by offering subsidy on female education in the country.


Author(s):  
Pankaj Sharma ◽  
Ravi Parkash

The paper analyze the role of rural tourism for the development of rural areas, The study analyzed how the different types of tourist product diversifications influence the development possibilities of studied rural areas in India. The government should sponsor private Sector to promote tourism in rural areas. For upgrading the rural tourism government requires to understand the rural location, demography, socio-culture, financial and political background of that area. How we can involve the rural citizens to improve their socio-economic condition. The objective of this paper is to present an update on rural tourism expansion and development in India. Rural tourism is rising in terms of number of visitors and the government of India should focus on it as an engine of growth


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1207
Author(s):  
Misato Uehara ◽  
Makoto Fujii ◽  
Kazuki Kobayashi

Research on stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic has been dominated by the cases of healthcare workers, students, patients, and their stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the relationship between the amount of stress change under the COVID-19 pandemic and demographic factors (age, sex, occupation, etc.) in residents of a large city and a rural area of Japan. A total of 1331 valid responses were received in June 2020 from residents of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagano registered with a private research firm. We were able to identify 15 statistically significant variables out of 36 explanatory variables, which explained the significant increase in stress compared to the pre-pandemic period. Multiple-factor analysis showed that the relationship with people is a more significant explanatory variable for the level of increase in stress than the difference in environment between big cities (Tokyo, Osaka) and rural areas (Nagano), the type of housing, and the decrease in income compared to the pre-pandemic period.


Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 354
Author(s):  
Tim Tofan ◽  
Rimantas Stonkus ◽  
Raimondas Jasevičius

The aim of this research is to investigate related effect of dyeability to linen textiles related to different printing parameters. The study investigated the change in color characteristics when printing on linen fabrics with an inkjet MIMAKI Tx400-1800D printer with pigmented TP 250 inks. The dependence of color reproduction on linen fabrics on the number of print head passes, number of ink layers to be coated, linen fabric density, and different types of linen fabric was investigated. All this affects the quality of print and its mechanical properties. The change in color characteristics on different types of linen fabrics was determined experimentally. We determine at which print settings the most accurate color reproduction can be achieved on different linen fabrics. The difference between the highest and the lowest possible number of head passages was investigated. The possibilities of reproducing different linen fabric colors were determined.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 3988
Author(s):  
Fátima Ternero ◽  
Pedro M. Amaral ◽  
Jorge Cruz Fernandes ◽  
Luís Guerra Rosa

A type of disc-on-plate test methodology was used to determine the wear behavior of metallic binders employed in the manufacturing of diamond impregnated tools. The disc consists of a special circular wheel that allows the binder materials alone (i.e., without diamond, but sintered under conditions identical to those of the complete tool) to be tested against a plate of stone material under pre-determined testing conditions. The testing conditions are intended to be equivalent to those used in the industrial processes. Using plates of five types of granite and one type of marble, this work comprises wear tests of 15 different types of metallic binders and two sintering modes conducted under, at least, three different values of contact-force. The analysis of the results demonstrated that the wear of the binders can be related to their mechanical properties through an empirical expression. The larger the difference between the characteristics of the tribological pair (binder versus stone), the higher is the correlation between the experimental wear data and the values given by the empirical expression. The relationships presented in this work allow predicting the wear behavior of the binder, and therefore may help in the design process of diamond tools. There was a clear difference between the wear behavior of metallic binders when they were employed against the two main classes of stone under analysis (marble and granite).


2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (spe) ◽  
pp. 74-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisca Marina de Souza Freire Furtado ◽  
José Anderson Galdino Santos ◽  
Stedile Loredanna ◽  
Eunice Araújo ◽  
Ana Alayde Werba Saldanha ◽  
...  

In the 30 years of the AIDS pandemic in Brazil, it is recognized the HIV virus internalization of the phenomenon as a challenge to care and current health policies. In this sense, it aimed to verify sex practices and social representations that rural towns residents have about the disease. Attended by 789 people, men and women, between 18 and 90 years old, residents in 41 towns with fewer than 11,000 inhabitants in the state of Paraiba / Brazil. Data were collected by a questionnaire and the free association of words test. The results showed low concern about disease, perception of invulnerability to HIV infection and not using condoms during sexual intercourse, and confidence in the major reason related partner. Also showed endure derogatory and stereotypical representations, revealing that still persist in rural areas, beliefs and representations concerning the beginning of the epidemic. From these findings, it is possible to point out deficiencies in the care provided by the health services in these localities, which may result in increased vulnerability of this population to diseases, so there is the need to intensify information campaigns and intervention. The results reveal the existence of three different types of modes of learning health literacy skills in informal context: : i) learning that takes place in action, in achieving daily tasks; ii) learning processes that result from problem solving; iii) learning that occurs in an unplanned manner, resulting from accidental circumstances and, in some cases, devoid of intentionality.


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