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This study investigates the characteristics of space-borne Lightning Mapping Imager (LMI) lightning products and their relationships with cloud properties using ground-based total lightning observations from the Beijing Broadband Lightning Network (BLNET) and cloud information from S-band Doppler radar data. LMI showed generally consistent lightning spatial distributions with those of BLNET, and yielded a considerable lightning detection capability over regions with complex terrain. The ratios between the LMI events, groups and flashes were approximately 9:3:1, and the number of LMI-detected flashes was roughly one order of magnitude smaller than the number of BLNET-detected flashes. However, in different convective episodes, the LMI detection capability was likely to be affected by cloud properties, especially in strongly electrified convective episodes associated with frequent lightning discharging and thick cloud depth. As a result, LMI tended to detect lightning flashes located in weaker and shallower cloud portions associated with fewer cloud shielding effects. With reference to the BLNET total lightning data as the ground truth of observation (both intra-cloud lightning and cloud-to-ground lightning flashes), the LMI event-based detection efficiency (DE) was estimated to reach 28% under rational spatiotemporal matching criteria (1.5 s and 65 km) over Beijing. In terms of LMI flash-based DE, it was much reduced compared with event-based DE. The LMI flash-based ranged between 1.5% and 3.5% with 1.5 s and 35–65 km matching scales. For 330 ms and 35 km, the spatiotemporal matching criteria used to evaluate Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), the LMI flash-based DE was smaller (<1%).

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Nosocomial Methicillin-Resistant and Methicillin-SusceptibleStaphylococcus AureusPrimary Bacteremia: At What Costs?

Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology ◽

10.1086/501641 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 20 (6) ◽

pp. 408-411 ◽

Cited By ~ 224

Author(s):

Murray A. Abramson ◽

Daniel J. Sexton

Keyword(s):

Hospital Stay ◽

Medical Center ◽

A Priori ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Length Of Hospital Stay ◽

Bloodstream Infections ◽

Methicillin Resistant ◽

Tertiary Care Medical Center ◽

Matching Criteria ◽

Nested Case Control

Objective:To determine the attributable hospital stay and costs for nosocomial methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistantS aureus(MRSA) primary bloodstream infections (BSIs).Design:Pairwise-matched (1:1) nested case-control study.Setting:University-based tertiary-care medical center.Patients:Patients admitted between December 1993 and March 1995 were eligible. Cases were defined as patients with a primary nosocomialS aureusBSI; controls were selected according to a priori matching criteria.Measurements:Length of hospital stay and total and variable direct costs of hospitalization.Results:The median hospital stay attributable to primary nosocomial MSSA BSI was 4 days, compared with 12 days for MRSA (P=.023). Attributable median total cost for MSSA primary nosocomial BSIs was $9,661 versus $27,083 for MRSA nosocomial infections (P=.043).Conclusion:Nosocomial primary BSI due toS aureussignificantly prolongs the hospital stay. Primary nosocomial BSIs due to MRSA result in an approximate threefold increase in direct cost, compared with those due to MSSA.

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Influence of Social and Environmental Responsibility in Energy Efficiency Management for Smart City

Journal of Interconnection Networks ◽

10.1142/s0219265921410024 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 2141002

Author(s):

Zang Huiyi ◽

C Chandru Vignesh ◽

J Alfred Daniel

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Labour Market ◽

Smart City ◽

Smart Cities ◽

New Technology ◽

Environmental Responsibility ◽

Management Skills ◽

Critical Approach ◽

Social Competencies ◽

Matching Criteria

Sustainability is becoming one of the organizational plans of intelligent communities. They represent the critical approach to a prosperous future. In another direction, the smart city is aimed at tackling renewable energy challenges. This research explores energy conservation’s impact from a labour market viewpoint of the Efficient Smart Cities model. The study meets the study divide on developing the power manager career in cities environmentally urban paradigm. This research’s primary purpose is to establish a current detailed approach to certification bodies’ skills that focus on new technology. The proposed Social and environmental responsibility in energy efficiency management for the Smart City (SER-EEM) framework represents the convergence between the conceptual and functional methods. For the presentation of labour market scientific studies, qualitative data were shown. The conclusion is that conservation and cloud computing are the central components of the Sustainable Smart City model. Work market analysis divided energy executives into developing nation’s expertise in terms of quantity and composition of production, and matching criteria for qualification were identified. The power management’s capability model comprises many core categories related to particular expertise, social competencies and behavioural competencies. By incorporating this study of resource management skills in industrial and non-commercial companies such as educational institutions and training classes, current research results will lead to development and awareness.

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FC 096THE EFFECT OF INCREMENTAL START OF HAEMODIALYSIS ON BLOOD PRESSURE AND INTERDIALYTIC WEIGHT GAIN: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE ENDURE STUDY

Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation ◽

10.1093/ndt/gfab128.004 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Adil Hazara ◽

Victoria Allgar ◽

Maureen Twiddy ◽

Sunil Bhandari

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Propensity Scores ◽

Phase 1 ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Residual Renal Function ◽

Care Hospital ◽

Interdialytic Weight Gain ◽

Matching Criteria ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background and Aims Mortality rates are high in patients starting haemodialysis/haemodiafiltration (HD) therapy. Incremental HD may help reduce this risk by reducing the burden of early treatment whilst patients are still adapting to long-term HD therapy. A feasibility study (ENDURE study – Clinical trials ID: NCT04268264) is being conducted with the primary objectives of evaluating the acceptability and tolerance of a new incremental HD regime. Its secondary aims are to evaluate the impact of this form of incremental HD on indicators of patient safety and wellbeing. These indicators include blood pressure (BP) control and interdialytic weight gains (IDWG) which are independently associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients on long-term HD. We present preliminary findings from the study related to systolic BP and IDWG. Method The ENDURE study is being carried out at a tertiary care hospital in the United Kingdom. Patients aged > 18 years known to renal services for at least 90 days, referred for start of HD, were eligible for participation. Following approved consenting procedures, they are started on a new regime of incremental HD starting dialysis twice weekly with progressive increases in the duration and frequency of sessions over 15 weeks. This period is split in to four phases; phase 1 representing the first two days of dialysis (baseline) whereas phases 2 – 4 representing the pre-specified incremental steps. Propensity scores were calculated to match each participant (incremental HD group) with two controls from a database of patients who previously started HD at our centres using the standard protocol of 3 times weekly, 4hr long sessions. The matching criteria accounted for 14 key demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics. Results were analysed as intention to treat. In comparing BP and IDWG between the two groups, only readings taken pre-dialysis at the first session of the week was considered. This study has been approved by the West of Scotland Research Ethics committee-4 (Ref: 19/WS/0019). Results Baseline characteristics of the first 15 participants (target 20) and their matched controls are presented in table 1. The proportion of females and duration of previous specialist input was higher in the incremental HD group. Conclusion The ENDURE study tests the feasibility of starting patients on a novel incremental HD regime. Early data suggest that control of systolic BP and IDWG are comparable to patients who start dialysis at 3 times weekly. Further work is needed to understand the impact of reducing dialysis frequency on BP control correlating the findings with changes residual renal function and objective measures of fluid overload.

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Does Social Franchising Private Health Facilities Shift Consumers Budget Line? An Econometric Analysis of the Average Treatment Effect within Private Health Facilities in Embu County, Kenya

Management and Economics Research Journal ◽

10.18639/merj.2020.961352 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Stephen Nyag ◽

Susan Okeri ◽

◽

Keyword(s):

Average Treatment Effect ◽

Health Facilities ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Social Franchising ◽

Cost Variance ◽

Matching Criteria ◽

The Cost ◽

The Impact ◽

Radius Matching

The Kenyan private health sector is one of the most developed in Sub-Saharan Africa and is highly critical in healthcare delivery. It is estimated 47 percent of the first quintile of income earners utilize the private facility for healthcare needs and 33 percent of women seek family planning (FP) services in this sector. However, the cost of healthcare services has been a great impediment to service utilization. To improve service quality and increase access, social franchising, interventions on the demand side such as the use of insurance and vouchers, and supply of subsidized medical products on the supply side are intended to reduce the cost of services. This study sought to investigate the impact of interventions of social franchisors on the cost of healthcare in private facilities in Kenya. The study used primary data collected from 215 individuals living within catchment areas with private health facilities using researcher-administered questionnaire. The main franchisors included in this study were Sustainable Health Foundation (CFW) and Population Services Kenya (Tunza). Results revealed that women whose primary motivation to visit private facilities included FP services, need of a lower cost of treatments, and quality services had higher odds of choosing franchised health facilities. Propensity score matching (PSM) using three matching criteria—nearest neighbor, kernel matching, and radius matching of 0.01—indicated that individuals seeking children’s health services and 3-month FP methods paid similar amounts in either franchised or nonfranchised health facilities. However, there was a huge cost variance for long-term FP methods where women paid significantly less, implying that social franchisors’ main impact is on long-term FP methods. The cost variance was due to vouchers utilized by some respondents hence, incurring zero cost in franchised facilities. Therefore, the study recommends the expansion of social franchising membership and the use of the voucher system for financially incapable consumers.

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Endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy vs. Laparoscopic appendectomy for uncomplicated acute appendicitis

Endoscopy ◽

10.1055/a-1737-6381 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Baohong Yang ◽

Lingjian Kong ◽

Ullah Saif ◽

Lixia Zhao ◽

Dan Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Acute Appendicitis ◽

Laparoscopic Appendectomy ◽

Hospital Length Of Stay ◽

Adverse Event Rate ◽

Recurrence Time ◽

Endoscopic Retrograde ◽

Significant Difference ◽

One Year ◽

Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis ◽

Matching Criteria

Background and study aims: To assess the efficacy and clinical outcomes of endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT) versus laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) for patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis (AA). Patients and methods: We adopted propensity score matching (1:1) to compare ERAT and LA patients with uncomplicated AA from April 2017 to March 2020. We reviewed a total of 2880 patients with suspected acute appendicitis, of whom 422 patients with uncomplicated AA met the matching criteria (ERAT, 79; LA, 343), yielding 78 pairs of patients. Results: The rate of curative treatment within one year after ERAT was 92.1%; 95% CI, [83.8% - 96.3%]. The percentage of Visual Analog Scale (VAS) ≤ 3 at six hours after treatment was 94.7%; 95% CI [87.2% - 97.9%] in the ERAT group, and significantly higher than that in the LA group 83.3%; 95% CI [73.5% - 90.0%]. Median operative/procedure time and median hospital length of stay in the ERAT group were significantly lower compared to the LA group. At one year, the median recurrence time was 50 days (IQRs, 25-127) in the ERAT group. The overall adverse event rate was 24.3%; 95% CI [14.8% - 33.9%] in the LA group and 18.4%; 95% CI [9.7% - 27.1%] in the ERAT group, with no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusions: ERAT is a technically feasible method to treat uncomplicated AA compared to LA.

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Human Papillomavirus and Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Case-Control Study regarding Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption

Pathology Research International ◽

10.4061/2011/806345 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2011 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

F. Farshadpour ◽

S. Konings ◽

E. J. M Speel ◽

G. J. Hordijk ◽

R. Koole ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Squamous Cell ◽

Tumor Stage ◽

Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Fish Analysis ◽

Hpv Dna ◽

Negative Tumor ◽

Matching Criteria

We aimed to determine the role of HPV in the pathogenesis and outcome of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in lifelong nonsmoking and nondrinking patients. A case-case analysis was performed to compare the presence of HPV-DNA in tumor cells of 16 nonsmoking and nondrinking with 16 matched smoking and drinking patients (matching criteria: age at incidence, gender, tumor sublocation, tumor stage). HPV was detected using 2 PCR tests, FISH analysis, and p16INK4A immunostaining. Nonsmoking and nondrinking patients had more HPV-positive tumors than smoking and drinking patients (n=12; 75% versus n=2; 13%; P<0.001). All HPV-positive tumors showed p16INK4A overexpression, and 1 HPV-negative tumor had p16INK4A overexpression, (P<0.001). Overall survival and disease-specific survival were higher for HPV-positive compared to HPV-negative cases (P=0.027, P=0.039, resp.). In conclusion, HPV is strongly associated with OSCC of nonsmoking and nondrinking patients. Specific diagnostic and therapeutic actions should be considered for these patients to achieve a better prognosis.

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Metal on Metal Bearing in Total Hip Arthroplasty and Its Impact on Synovial Cell Count

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm9103349 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 3349

Author(s):

Henrik C. Bäcker ◽

Chia H. Wu ◽

David Krüger ◽

Clemens Gwinner ◽

Carsten Perka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Synovial Fluid ◽

Total Hip Arthroplasty ◽

Hip Arthroplasty ◽

Periprosthetic Joint Infection ◽

Joint Infection ◽

Control Group ◽

Total Hip ◽

Metal On Metal ◽

Matching Criteria ◽

The Impact

Introduction: The effect of different bearings on synovial white blood cell (WBC) count and polymorphonuclear percentage (PMN%) in aspirations remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of aseptic Metal-on-Metal (MoM) bearing on synovial fluid. Methods: We searched our arthroplasty registry for aseptic painful THAs with MoM bearings between 2011 and 2018. Then, a case-matched control group was selected with septic and aseptic Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) with ceramic on a polyethylene (PE) bearing. The matching criteria consisted of gender, age +/−10 years, and time of aspiration (+/−2years). Periprosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) was defined according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) using bacterial cultures, sonication and histology. Results: In total, 19 patients who underwent hip aspiration with MoM bearing were identified. Five patients had to be excluded due to insufficient synovial fluid obtained (n = 2) or bacterial growth after sonication that was initially negative with the standard microbiological cultures (n = 3). As such, 14 were included. These patients were matched with 14 aseptic and 14 septic THAs with ceramic on a PE bearing, which constituted the control group. The mean serum chrome level was 20.0 ± 15.5 nmol/L and cobalt level 18.4 ± 22.1 nmol/L. The synovial WBC and PMN% varied significantly between MoM bearing group and the aseptic THA ceramic PE group (both p < 0.001), as well as the septic THA group (WBC p = 0.016, PMN% p < 0.001). Furthermore, the septic THA group had significantly higher CRP values than the aseptic MoM group (p = 0.016). Conclusion: MoM bearing shows significantly higher synovial WBC and PMN% when compared to aseptic THA with ceramic on PE bearing above the MSIS cut-off. This is an important consideration when diagnosing periprosthetic joint infection using the MSIS guidelines.

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Operating performance of acquirers after acquisition: evidence from India

Journal of Indian Business Research ◽

10.1108/jibr-08-2018-0204 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 327-341

Author(s):

Bipin Kumar Dixit

Keyword(s):

Design Methodology ◽

Operating Performance ◽

Difference In Difference ◽

Return On Assets ◽

Content Type ◽

Acquisition Period ◽

Acquiring Firms ◽

Book To Market Ratio ◽

Matching Criteria ◽

And Control

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the operating performance of Indian using difference-in-difference (DD) methodology. It, further, examines whether there is a difference in the operating performance of acquirers doing partial and full acquisitions. Design/methodology/approach Four different benchmark criteria are used to select control firms, namely, size, size and industry, size and leverage, and size and book-to-market ratio. To measure the operating performance, return on assets (ROA) is calculated as the ratio between earnings before depreciation, interest, tax and amortization (EBDITA) and total assets (TA), expressed in percentage. This paper examines the ROA of event and control firms for three years in each pre- and post-acquisition period and finally compares them using the DD method. Findings Using a sample of Indian acquirers, the results show that the operating performance of Indian acquirers neither improves nor deteriorates after accounting for an appropriate benchmark. Operating performance of event firms significantly reduces in the post-acquisition period. However, non-acquiring firms of similar size and pre-operating performance also exhibit similar results. Finally results show that, the operating performance of acquirers making full acquisitions deteriorates. Originality/value It provides insights into the operating performance of Indian acquirers with an improved methodology, which accounts for the performance of control firms. The author also uses multiple matching criteria to find control firms to overcome the possible bias of the results dependent on the matching criteria. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the author could not find other studies comparing the operating performance of acquirers making partial and full acquisitions.

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