Home Monitoring for Fever: An Inexpensive Screening Method to Prevent Household Spread of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic surge has exceeded testing capacities in many parts of the world. We investigated the effectiveness of home temperature monitoring for early identification of COVID-19 patients. Study Design: We compared home temperature measurements from a convenience sample of 1180 individuals who reported being test positive for SARS-CoV-2 to an age, sex, and location matched control group of 1249 individuals who had not tested positive. Methods: All individuals monitored their temperature at home using an electronic smartphone thermometer that relayed temperature measurements and symptoms to a centralized cloud based, de-identified data bank. Results: Individuals varied in the number of times they monitored their temperature. When temperature was monitored for over 72 hours fever (> 37.6 C or 99.7 F or a change in temperature of > 1 C or 1.8 F) was detected in 73% of test positive individuals, a sensitivity comparable to rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests. When compared our control group the specificity of fever for COVID-19 was 0.70. However, when fever was combined with complaints of loss of taste and smell, difficulty breathing, fatigue, chills, diarrhea, or stuffy nose the odds ratio of having COVID-19 was sufficiently high as to obviate the need to employ RTPCR or antigen testing to screen for and isolate coronavirus infected cases. Conclusions - Our findings suggest that home temperature monitoring could serve as an inexpensive convenient screen for the onset of COVID-19, encourage earlier isolation of potentially infected individuals, and more effectively reduce the spread of infection in closed spaces.

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Effects of Teaching Resourcefulness in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Western Journal of Nursing Research ◽

10.1177/01939459211020757 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 019394592110207

Author(s):

Min Wen ◽

Yaqin Liang ◽

Qianqian Shen ◽

Juping Yu ◽

Pingping He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Coronary Heart Disease ◽

Heart Disease ◽

Health Education ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Coping Styles ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Control Group ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Cluster Randomized ◽

And Coping

This cluster randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the effects of an intervention to teach resourcefulness on depression and coping style of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). A convenience sample of 72 patients in community settings took part. Participants in the intervention group (n = 36) received an 8-week intervention based on the concept of resourcefulness, plus routine health education. Participants in the control group (n = 36) received routine health education only. After the intervention, participants in the intervention group had significantly higher scores on resourcefulness and coping styles, and lower scores on depression than those in the control group (both ps < .001). The findings suggest that a well-developed intervention to teach resourcefulness could help patients with CHD to be more resourceful, improve their level of depression, and choose more effective strategies to cope with stress.

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Abstract T MP103: Effect of Follow-up Phone Calls on 30-day Readmission Rates for Stroke Patients

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.46.suppl_1.tmp103 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 46 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Kelly Anderson

Keyword(s):

Intervention Group ◽

Signs And Symptoms ◽

Lifestyle Changes ◽

Phone Call ◽

Control Group ◽

Readmission Rates ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Phone Calls ◽

Number Of Patients

Background and Purpose: Patients who are hospitalized for a stroke or TIA go home with a great deal of information about risk factors, medications, diet and exercise, signs and symptoms of stroke and follow-up care. This information may be difficult for the patient or caregiver to understand and can be overwhelming in the face of a new life-changing event. In addition, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will start publicly reporting 30-day readmission rates beginning in 2016. The purpose of this study is to determine if follow-up phone calls with a nurse help to reduce 30 day readmission rates for patients with stroke and TIA. Methods: This study utilized a convenience sample of adult patients who were admitted for ischemic stroke, ICH, SAH or TIA from March 2013 to February 2014. Patients in the intervention group participated in a phone call seven days after discharge to assess their compliance with medications, physician appointments and lifestyle changes. The proportion of readmissions between the groups was compared with Fisher’s exact test. Results: The total number of patients enrolled in the study was 586 and there were no significant differences in demographics between the control and intervention groups. Of the 533 patients in the control group, 54 (10%) of them were readmitted, including 11 patients readmitted for elective surgical procedures. Of the 52 patients in the intervention group, 3 (5.7%) of them were readmitted before the 7-day phone call. Of the 49 patients who participated in the 7-day phone call, none of them were readmitted ( p =0.0098). Conclusions: Patients who participate in a 7-day phone call appear to benefit and are less likely to be readmitted to the hospital. Other strategies may need to be considered for patients who are at higher risk, and thus more likely to be readmitted within seven days of discharge. In addition, some providers may wish to reconsider how they schedule elective procedures for secondary stroke prevention.

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Fibre optic temperature sensing: A new tool for temperature measurements in boreholes

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/1.1444027 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 61 (4) ◽

pp. 1065-1067 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Stephan Großwig ◽

Eckart Hurtig ◽

Katrin Kühn

Keyword(s):

Temperature Monitoring ◽

Temperature Sensing ◽

Temperature Measurements ◽

New Approach ◽

Temperature Probe ◽

Stop And Go ◽

First Results ◽

Optical Fiber Sensing ◽

Distributed Optical Fiber ◽

Fiber Optic Temperature

Usually, the temperature in boreholes is determined using a standard temperature probe. The logging technique is either “stop and go”, or the probe is lowered as a moving probe into the borehole using a controlled speed. Distributed temperature probe arrays installed permanently in a borehole are an alternative to moving probes and can be applied especially for temperature monitoring even under conditions where moving probes cannot be used. The distributed optical fiber sensing technique represents a new approach for temperature measurements. The basis for this method is given in Boiarski (1993), Dakin et al. (1985), Farries and Rogers (1984), Hartog and Gamble (1991), Rogers (1988), Rogers (1993). First results using fiber optic temperature sensing in boreholes and temperature monitoring for studying geotechnical and environmental problems (e.g., waste deposits) are published in Hurtig et al. (1993; 1994; 1995) and Hurtig and Schrötter (1993).

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Postoperative Home Monitoring After Joint Replacement: Retrospective Outcome Study Comparing Cases With Matched Historical Controls (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.10169 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Homer Yang ◽

Geoff Dervin ◽

Susan Madden ◽

Ashraf Fayad ◽

Paul Beaulé ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emergency Room ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Home Monitoring ◽

Standard Of Care ◽

Control Group ◽

Emergency Room Visits ◽

American Society ◽

Patient Readmissions ◽

The Cost ◽

Historical Controls

BACKGROUND A retrospective cohort study was conducted in patients undergoing postoperative home monitoring (POHM) following elective primary hip or knee replacements. OBJECTIVE The objectives of our study were to compare the cost per patient, readmissions rate, emergency room visits, and mortality within 30 days to the historical standard of care using descriptive analysis. METHODS After Research Ethics Board approval, patients who were enrolled and had completed a POHM study were individually matched to historical controls by age, American Society of Anesthesiology class, and procedure at a ratio 1:2. RESULTS A total of 54 patients in the study group and 107 in the control group were eligible for the analysis. Compared with the historical standard of care, the average cost per case was Can $5826.32 (SD 1418.89) in the POHM group and Can $9198.58 (SD 1513.59) for controls. After 30 days, there were 2 emergency room visits (3.7%) and 0 readmissions in the POHM group, whereas there were 8 emergency room visits (7.5%) and 2 readmissions (1.9%) in the control group. No mortalities occurred in either group. CONCLUSIONS The POHM study offers an early hospital discharge pathway for elective hip and knee procedures at a 38% reduction of the standard of care cost. The multidisciplinary transitional POHM team may provide a reliable forum to minimize readmissions, and emergency room visits within 30 days postoperatively. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02143232; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02143232 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/73WQ9QR6P)

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Effectiveness of the toxin-degrading strain screening strategy: Deficiency and improvement in screening the gossypol-degrading microorganism Aspergillus niger

10.21203/rs.3.rs-152600/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chen Zhang ◽

Gangqin Shu ◽

Hui Wang ◽

Daojie Li ◽

Yuan Xü ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aspergillus Niger ◽

Free Gossypol ◽

Screening Method ◽

Screening Strategy ◽

Gossypol Content ◽

Control Group ◽

Total Gossypol ◽

Screening Strategies ◽

Free Gossypol Content ◽

Degrading Microorganism

Abstract The effectiveness of the classic screening strategy was verified, by duplicating and verifying the degradation of gossypol by the Aspergillus niger. It can reduce the free gossypol content through biosorption but has no effect on the total gossypol content and cannot effectively degrade gossypol. And the most interesting thing we found the strain can secrete agarase, utilise agar as carbon source. In this case, that will mislead researchers and lead them to make wrong judgments. That turns out the usual methods of previous screening strategies are not rigorous enough, the classic screening method has defect in screening toxin-degrading strain, so agar control group should be added. In this study, some suggestions are put forward to optimise the same type of experiments and broaden the idea of detoxification by microorganisms and provide reference for screening effective toxin-degrading microorganisms.

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Does message framing matter for promoting the use of nutritional warnings in decision making?

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s1368980019002507 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 22 (16) ◽

pp. 3025-3034 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gabriela Vidal ◽

Leandro Machín ◽

Jessica Aschemann-Witzel ◽

Gastón Ares

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Message Framing ◽

Choice Task ◽

Control Group ◽

Minor Effect ◽

Eye Tracker ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Average Percentage ◽

Nutrition Messages ◽

The Impact

AbstractObjective:To evaluate the impact of message framing on attitudes towards messages aimed at promoting the use of nutritional warnings, behavioural intention and actual behaviour, evaluated through visual attention to nutritional warnings and the choice of a snack product during a real choice task.Design:Following a between-subjects design, participants were exposed to loss-framed nutrition messages, gain-framed nutrition messages or non-nutrition-related messages (control group). After evaluating the messages, participants were asked to select a snack product as a compensation for their participation. The experiment was conducted using an eye tracker.Setting:Montevideo (Uruguay).Participants:Convenience sample of 201 people (18–51 years old, 58 % female).Results:The average percentage of participants who fixated their gaze on the nutritional warnings during the choice task was slightly but significantly higher for participants who attended to nutrition messages (regardless of their framing) compared with the control group. Participants who attended to loss-framed messages fixated their gaze on the warnings for the longest period of time. In addition, the healthfulness of the snack choices was higher for participants exposed to nutrition-related messages compared with the control group.Conclusions:Results from the present work suggest that nutrition messages aimed at increasing awareness of nutritional warnings may increase consumers’ visual attention and encourage more heathful choices. The framing of the messages only had a minor effect on their efficacy.

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The Bruxoff Device as a Screening Method for Sleep Bruxism in Dental Practice

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm8070930 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (7) ◽

pp. 930 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Klara Saczuk ◽

Barbara Lapinska ◽

Paulina Wilmont ◽

Lukasz Pawlak ◽

Monika Lukomska-Szymanska

Keyword(s):

Muscle Activity ◽

Dental Treatment ◽

Screening Method ◽

Video Camera ◽

Sleep Bruxism ◽

Control Group ◽

Asymptomatic Patients ◽

Group Data ◽

Screening Device ◽

Reliable Methods

Sleep bruxism (SB) is a masticatory muscle activity during sleep and a common phenomenon. Severe SB can have a serious impact on the success of dental treatment. Reliable methods of screening and diagnosing patients with SB are crucial. Therefore, in this study, a Bruxoff device as a potential screening and diagnostic method for sleep bruxism was evaluated. A total of 60 adults participated in this study: 35 patients with symptoms of bruxism (study group) and 25 asymptomatic patients (control group). Data were recorded using Bruxoff. All symptomatic patients participating in the study turned out to be bruxers, while not all asymptomatic patients turned out to be non-bruxers according to the Bruxoff device. Bruxoff is a simple screening device that can be safely used to evaluate masseter muscle activity during sleep. Since the device does not have a built-in microphone and/or video camera and, therefore, cannot record grinding sounds, the objective capabilities of Bruxoff as a single diagnostic device for sleep bruxism are limited.

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Assessing Diabetic Foot Infections With the ThermoScale: A Comparative Thermometry Device Designed as a Patient Self-Screening Tool

The International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds ◽

10.1177/1534734620948304 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 153473462094830

Author(s):

Laure Arts ◽

Johan De Neve ◽

Samira Baharlou ◽

Nathalie Denecker ◽

Laura Kerselaers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Temperature Measurement ◽

Diabetic Foot ◽

Characteristic Curve ◽

Screening Method ◽

Area Under The Curve ◽

Control Group ◽

Measurement Technology ◽

Diabetic Patients ◽

Home Setting ◽

Diabetic Foot Infections

Diabetic foot infection (DFI) is an important risk factor for amputation, and late diagnosis or referral is often incriminated for poor outcome. To enable an earlier diagnosis of DFI, comparative foot thermometry has been suggested as a self-screening method for patients in a home setting. We validated the efficacy of the ThermoScale, a weighing scale outfitted with temperature sensors that allows accurate temperature measurement in both feet. Temperature differentials in DFI patients (n = 52) were compared with a control group of similar diabetic patients (n = 45) without any foot wounds. Based on these findings, we drafted a receiver operating characteristic curve to determine an area-under-the-curve of 0.8455. This value suggests that the ThermoScale, as a diagnostic test, is reasonably accurate. A cutoff value of 2.15 °C temperature difference corresponded with a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 61.5%. As wearables, portable health electronics, and telemedicine become increasingly popular, we think that comparative temperature measurement technology is valuable in improving early diagnosis of DFIs.

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Competitive Performance Effects of Psychological Skill Training for Youth Swimmers

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/0031512519852533 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 126 (5) ◽

pp. 886-903 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jennifer Meggs ◽

Mark A. Chen

Keyword(s):

Goal Setting ◽

Swimming Performance ◽

Skills Training ◽

Analysis Of Covariance ◽

Control Group ◽

Psychological Skills ◽

Competitive Performance ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Self Talk ◽

Positive Effect

This study assessed the effect of two different psychological methods of skills training—self-talk and goal setting—on the swimming performance of youth swimmers. We allocated a convenience sample of club and county level youth swimmers ( N = 49; Mage = 10.8, SD = 1.25) to one of the three groups: self-talk, goal setting, or a control group engaged in no systematic psychological method of skills training. The groups were balanced in terms of competitive performance ability, age, and gender. Participants in the experimental conditions (self-talk and goal setting) completed a 5-week psychological skills intervention program and were measured on pre- and post-200-m swimming time in competition. After controlling for level of engagement in the program, analysis of covariance revealed a significant omnibus effect ( p = .006, [Formula: see text] = .20) with post hoc pairwise comparisons using magnitude-based statistics demonstrating that goal setting had a small positive effect compared with self-talk ( η2 = .40; ± 0.45). Both self-talk ( η2 = .50; ±0.48) and goal setting ( η2 = .71; ±0.4) showed a small and moderate positive effect, respectively, relative to the control group. A social validation check confirmed that the swimmers found the intervention to be relevant, beneficial, and meaningful for improving performance. Psychological skills training may be effective in improving youth swimming performance; specific mechanisms underlying these benefits need further exploration.

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