scholarly journals Improving Access to Refractive Services in Adults: A Health Examination Center-Based Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haishuang Lin ◽  
Jing Sun ◽  
Nathan Congdon ◽  
Meiping Xu ◽  
Shanshan Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Refractive Error ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Fundus Photography ◽  
Health Examination ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Uncorrected Refractive Error

Purpose: To assess the potential of a health examination center-based screening model in improving service for uncorrected refractive error.Methods: Individuals aged ≥18 years undergoing the routine physical examinations at a tertiary hospital in the northeast China were invited. Presenting visual acuity, noncycloplegic autorefraction, noncontact tonometry, fundus photography, and slit-lamp examination were performed. Refractive error was defined as having spherical equivalent ≤ -0.75 D or ≥ +1 D and uncorrected refractive error was considered as refractive error combined with presenting visual acuity < 6/12 in the better eye. Costs for the screening were assessed.Results: A total of 5,284 participants (61 ± 14 years) were included. The overall prevalence of myopia and hyperopia was 38.7% (95% CI, 37.4–40.0%) and 23.5% (95% CI, 22.3–24.6%), respectively. The prevalence of uncorrected refractive error was 7.85% (95% CI, 7.13–8.58%). Women (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003), those with age ≥ 70 years (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003), and myopia (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001) were at higher risk of uncorrected refractive error and uncorrected refractive error-related visual impairment. Spectacle coverage rate was 70.6% (95% CI, 68.2–73.0%). The cost to identify a single case of refractive error and uncorrected refractive error was US$3.2 and US$25.2, respectively.Conclusion: The prevalence of uncorrected refractive error is high in the urban Chinese adults. Health examination center-based refractive error screening is able to provide an efficient and low-cost model to improve the refractive services in China.

scholarly journals Prevalence and causes of vision loss in East Asia in 2015: magnitude, temporal trends and projections

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 616-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Yu Cheng ◽  
Ningli Wang ◽  
Tien Y Wong ◽  
Nathan Congdon ◽  
Mingguang He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Macular Degeneration ◽  
Refractive Error ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Vision Impairment ◽  
Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Uncorrected Refractive Error

BackgroundTo determine the prevalence and causes of blindness and vision impairment (VI) in East Asia in 2015 and to forecast the trend to 2020.MethodsThrough a systematic literature review and meta-analysis, we estimated prevalence of blindness (presenting visual acuity <3/60 in the better eye), moderate-to-severe vision impairment (MSVI; 3/60≤presenting visual acuity <6/18), mild vision impairment (mild VI: 6/18≤presenting visual acuity <6/12) and uncorrected presbyopia for 1990, 2010, 2015 and 2020. A total of 44 population-based studies were included.ResultsIn 2015, age-standardised prevalence of blindness, MSVI, mild VI and uncorrected presbyopia was 0.37% (80% uncertainty interval (UI) 0.12%–0.68%), 3.06% (80% UI 1.35%–5.16%) and 2.65% (80% UI 0.92%–4.91%), 32.91% (80% UI 18.72%–48.47%), respectively, in East Asia. Cataract was the leading cause of blindness (43.6%), followed by uncorrected refractive error (12.9%), glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, corneal diseases, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy (DR). The leading cause for MSVI was uncorrected refractive error, followed by cataract, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, corneal disease, trachoma and DR. The burden of VI due to uncorrected refractive error, cataracts, glaucoma and DR has continued to rise over the decades reported.ConclusionsAddressing the public healthcare barriers for cataract and uncorrected refractive error can help eliminate almost 57% of all blindness cases in this region. Therefore, public healthcare efforts should be focused on effective screening and effective patient education, with access to high-quality healthcare.

scholarly journals An IoT Smart Broiler Farming Model for Low Income Farmers

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Hazael Phiri ◽  
Douglas Kunda ◽  
Jackson Phiri
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Climate Control ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Zigbee Protocol ◽  
Gsm Network ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Broiler House

<p class="Abstract"><span lang="EN-US">The coming of Internet of things (IoT) brings opportunities for the deploying of wireless sensor networks. One area of deployment is smart poultry farming to improve the quality and security of chicken varieties that include broilers. The quality of broilers produced is dependent on the environment in which the broilers are kept. In addition, the revenue of the farmer is guaranteed if theft of stock is prevented. The current methods farmers use are labour intensive and time consuming as they are manual. Leveraging the features of IoT and sensors can help to monitor the environment and ensure adverse conditions are reported for farmers to take action before they harm the livestock. Incorporating intruder detection when monitoring conditions in the environment can also prevent stock theft and that can increase the income obtained by farmers. For such a system to be widely adopted by low income farmers, the cost should be low compared commercially available climate control systems that are meant for commercial farmers. The system should also provide ease of use for less technically skilled farmers, reduce the time taken by farmers to take action in controlling theft and conditions in the environment and be accessible from any location other than the broiler house. In this paper, we propose a low-cost model that can be used to monitor conditions in the environment of a broiler house and send the values to the farmer in real-time. The proposed model is based on open source microcontrollers, ZigBee protocol, GSM network, mobile applications and cloud computing. </span></p>

Strabismus, Visual Acuity, and Uncorrected Refractive Error in Portuguese Children Aged 6 to 11 Years

Strabismus ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Lança ◽  
Helena Serra ◽  
João Prista
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Refractive Error ◽  
Uncorrected Refractive Error

scholarly journals Economics of an Additive Manufactured Heat Exchanger for Concentrating Solar Power

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Ziev ◽  
Erfan Rasouli ◽  
Ines Noelly-Tano ◽  
Ziheng Wu ◽  
Srujana Yarasi Rao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Efficiency ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Concentrated Solar Power ◽  
Future Technologies ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Alternative Current ◽  
The Impact

Developing low cost, high efficiency heat exchangers (HX) for application in concentrated solar power (CSP) is critical to reducing CSP costs. However, the extreme operating conditions in CSP systems present a challenge for typical high efficiency HX manufacturing processes. We describe a process-based cost model (PBCM) to estimate the cost of fabricating an HX for this application using additive manufacturing (AM). The PBCM is designed to assess the effectiveness of different designs, processes choices, and manufacturing innovations to reduce HX cost. We describe HX design and AM process modifications that reduce HX cost from a baseline of$780/kW-thto$570/kW-th. We further evaluate the impact of alternative current and potential future technologies on HX cost, and identify a pathway to further reduce HX cost to$270/kW-th.

scholarly journals Angka kejadian miopia pada anak usia sekolah dasar di Kecamatan Banjararum Kabupaten Kulon Progo, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reny Setyowati ◽  
Indra Tri Mahayana ◽  
Tri Winarti ◽  
Suhardjo Pawiroranu
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Refractive Error ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Visual Disturbance ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Normal Vision ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Uncorrected Refractive Error

Refractive disorders begin to affect many children and become a burden of disease in the community due to lack of awareness by parents and screening by health workers. This research was a cross-sectional study and carried out at screening of visual acuity in primary school-aged children. A total of 38 children aged 6 - 12 were the subjects in this study. This research was conducted in Banjararum sub-district, Kulon Progo Regency, Yogyakarta Special Province in September 2018. The average age of subjects was 8.8 ± 1.4 years. Result showed refraction status before correction (uncorrected refractive error/URE) with mean visual acuity of 0.3 logMAR (equivalent to 6/12 Snellen). The most common refractive disorders were myopia simplex (63.2%) and 38.8% of subjects experienced moderate visual impairment. After being corrected, as much as 97.4% of subjects reached normal vision. Burden of undiagnosed refractive disorders in rural population was high even though the visual disturbance is reversible.

scholarly journals Data Analysis of Ambient Intelligence in a Healthcare Simulation System: A Pilot Study in High-end Health Screening Process Improvement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Shu Chen ◽  
Kun-Chih Wu ◽  
Yu-Ling Tsai ◽  
Bernard C. Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Waiting Time ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Health Screening ◽  
Health Examination ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Arrival Times ◽  
System A ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Bottleneck Resources

Abstract This study aimed to reduce the total waiting time for high-end health screening processes. The subjects of this study were recruited from a health screening center in a tertiary hospital in northern Taiwan from September 2016 to February 2017 and a total of 2,342 high-end customers were collected. Arena software was used to simulate the examination process. We presented the simulation results of three different policies and compared those results to the current state. The first policy presented a predetermined proportion of customer types, in which the total waiting time was increased from 72.29 to 83.04 mins. The second policy was based on increased bottleneck resources and provided significant improvement, with the total waiting time was decreased from 72.29 to 28.39 mins. However, this policy also caused the cost to increase dramatically, while lowering the utilization of this exam station. The third policy was adjusting customer arrival times, which reduced the waiting time significantly, as the total waiting time was reduced from 72.29 to 55.02 mins. Although the wait time of this policy was slightly longer than that of the second policy, the additional cost was much lower than the second plan. Scheduled arrival intervals could help to reduce customer waiting time in the health screening department base on FIFO rule. The simulation model of this study could be utilized and the parameters could be modified to comply with different health examination centers to improve process and service quality.

A Methodology for the Comprehensive Assessment of International Procurement Costs

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Johnson ◽  
William J. Sawaya ◽  
Malini Natarajarathinam
Keyword(s):  
Cost Model ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Labor Cost ◽  
Location Decisions ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Manufacturing Costs ◽  
Holding Costs ◽  
Illustrative Case Study ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Inventory Holding

As the economy becomes more globalized and competitive, firms are manufacturing goods in a wider variety of locations. This may be to reduce costs by moving to a low cost country or to place production closer to potential customers. What is often lacking in these decisions is a holistic assessment of the costs associated with production location decisions. Too often the assessment is focused only on a limited set of cost factors (e.g., direct manufacturing and shipping) and does not take into account the dynamic nature of some costs. To address these limitations a comprehensive cost model to assess the cost of procuring goods from alternative locations is presented. A methodology is detailed for monetizing the numerous costs associated with international procurement. An illustrative case study analyzing the procurement of goods from two locations in Mexico and one in the US is detailed. Results of the case show that the non-direct manufacturing costs associated with procurement (e.g., inventory holding costs and shipping) can be greater than direct manufacturing costs. The effects of fuel and labor cost sensitively on the alternative locations is also detailed.

scholarly journals Association of Visual Acuity Improvement With Uncorrected Refractive Error in Patients New to Low Vision Clinics

2020 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
pp. 765
Author(s):  
Xinxing Guo ◽  
Bonnielin K. Swenor ◽  
Judith E. Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Refractive Error ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Uncorrected Refractive Error

scholarly journals Comparison between optical and digital blur using near visual acuity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kordek ◽  
Laura K. Young ◽  
Jan Kremláček
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Refractive Error ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Clinical Population ◽  
Altman Analysis ◽  
Bland Altman Analysis ◽  
Laboratory Setup ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Near Visual Acuity

AbstractIn a low-cost laboratory setup, we compared visual acuity (VA) for stimuli rendered with Zernike aberrations to an equivalent optical dioptric defocus in emmetropic individuals using a relatively short observing distance of 60 cm. The equivalent spherical refractive error of + 1, + 2 or + 4 D, was applied in the rendering of Landolt Rings. Separately, the refractive error was introduced dioptrically in: (1) unchanged Landolt Rings with an added external lens (+ 1, + 2 or + 4 D) at the subject's eye; (2) same as (1) but with an added accommodation and a vertex distance adjustment. To compare all three approaches, we examined VA in 10 healthy men. Stimuli were observed on a PC CRT screen. For all three levels of refractive error, the pairwise comparison did not show a statistically significant difference between digital blur and accommodation-plus-vertex-distance-adjusted dioptric blur (p < 0.204). The best agreement, determined by Bland–Altman analysis, was measured for + 4 D and was in line with test–retest limits for examination in the clinical population. Our results show that even for a near observing distance, it is possible to use digitally rendered defocus to replicate dioptric blur without a significant change in VA in emmetropic subjects.

scholarly journals The Prevalence and Causes of Visual Impairment among Children in Kenya – The Kenya Eye Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shadrack Muma ◽  
Stephen Obonyo
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Visual Impairment ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Refractive Error ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Uncorrected Refractive Error

Abstract Background: Visual impairment is the partial or complete loss of vision and it is attributed to uncorrected refractive error. In Kenya, little attention has been directed towards children vision and causes of visual impairment. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the prevalence and causes of visual impairment in the children population of Kenya.Methods: This cross-sectional population-based study included 3400 (1800, 52.9% female) randomly selected children with a mean age of 12 ± 2 years (range 5–16 years). Visual acuity was taken using Snellens chart at 6 meters. Anterior and posterior segment was assessed using slit lamp and indirect ophthalmoscope. The World Health Organization definition formed the baseline for calculating the mean prevalence of visual impairment.Results: Visual acuity measurements were available for 3240 (95.3%) participants. The mean prevalence of visual impairment, based on pin-hole value, using World Health Organization definition, was 1.7 ± 0.3%. The prevalence of visual impairment, based on presenting visual acuity value, was 2.4 ± 0.7%, using the World Health Organization definition. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the presence of visual impairment on pin-hole, according to World Health Organization definition increased significantly with increasing age (odds ratio 1.230, P=.021) and increased uncorrected refractive error (odds ratio 0.834, P = .032). Cases of uncorrected refractive error remained the main cause for presenting visual impairment. Causes of visual impairment due to presenting visual acuity were nystagmus (14%), amblyopia (24%) and uncorrected refractive error (62%).Conclusion: The prevalence of visual impairment in Kenya is associated with age. Uncorrected refractive error remains the major causes of visual impairment.

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