bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cost analysis of pneumonia treatment in the Philippines
Authors: Liu Kehui , Dong Hengjin , Sauerborn Rainer 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThe objectives of this study were to describe the cost distribution of pneumonia treatment in tertiary hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR) and to identify variations in costs in order to provide basic information to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) for quality assurance and policy development. This study focuses on 3861 reimbursement claims, which come from 22 government and 38 private tertiary hospitals. Wide variations of cost existed among the hospitals and among the inpatients. Medicine was the leading expenditure in total costs (38%), second was examinations (27%), third was beds (22%) and the last was doctors fees (13%). The same ranking ocurred for reimbursement by PHIC. The private hospitals were more expensive than the government hospitals, but also more efficient in the length of hospitalization. The member patients spent more and were reimbursed more for clinical practice than the dependent patients. However, there was no difference in the length of hospitalization between member and dependent patients. There was no difference in the length of hospitalization and expenditure between Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in 1997 and Social Security System (SSS) patients. Clinical guidelines should be effectively implemented and PHIC should contribute more to reduce existing variations, improve cost‐effectiveness and the quality of clinical practices. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nordic privatization and private healthcare
Authors: Øvretveit John 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThe role of the private sector in public healthcare systems is much debated, but there is little research to inform the debate. In the Nordic countries the extent and type of private sector involvement is largely unknown and the changes and the consequences have not been studied. This paper presents a conceptual framework and some limited data about the changing private–public mix and privatization in the Nordic countries between 1985 and 2000. The data suggest a small increase in both private financing and provision which has accelerated in recent years, especially in specific healthcare fields such as diagnostic centres, dentistry, primary medical care and care for older people.The overall increase is small, but large in certain sectors. Differences between the countries can only be understood in relation to their historical, financial, economic and political context, even though there are many commonalities. Impact also is context dependent, but the findings do show a cross‐country pattern of a willingness to experiment and a change in underlying assumptions. The findings show a more extensive interpenetration of private and public than previously recognized but more research is required, especially about changes in recent years about which data are scarce. The paper considers the factors driving these trends, the likely larger changes in the next 10 years and the possible consequences for patients, professionals, managers and governments. It notes the different ways governments can control or influence finance and provision. It proposes that the Nordic and other governments improve regulation and data collection about the private sector and consider influencing private providers through partnership arrangements, rather than leaving the developments to be shaped by growing consumer demands or market logic alone. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of hydrological processes on the chemical composition of riverine suspended sediment in the Zhujiang River, China
Authors: Gao Quanzhou , Tao Zhen , Xie Meiqi , Cui Kunyan , Zeng Feng 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThe chemical composition of riverine suspended sediment is the integration of the weathering crust minerals, soil organic matter and erosion agency within a specific drainage basin, which has been largely disturbed by the human activities. Selected metal elements of the riverine suspended sediment in the Zhujiang River were analysed using inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry (ICP–AES) in three different hydrological phases from 1997 to 1998 at Makou and Sanshui hydrographic gauge stations, located at the lower reaches of the two main tributaries of the Zhujiang River, i.e. the Xijiang and the Beijing Rivers respectively. Organic carbon and nitrogen were also analysed using a conventional element analyser. The results demonstrate that the chemical composition of the riverine suspended sediment show obvious variability in different hydrological phases, which closely correlate to the organic matter content in suspended sediment. Intensified erosion in the flood phase results in lower concentration of the organic matter than that in the lower water level phase. The riverine suspended sediment with rich organic matter in the lower water level phase adsorbs some metal elements from the river water. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Complex permittivity measurements of chicken blood
Authors: Kratzenberg E. , Afsar M. N. , Wang Y. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThe basic dielectric properties of biological materials are required for the development of next‐generation microwave‐based medical instrumentation. The purpose of this paper is to further the study of the properties of blood using several different commonly used measurement methods. New data on the complex permittivity of chicken blood are presented in the frequency range between 45 MHz and 26.5 GHz at room temperature by using open‐ended coaxial probe techniques, and in the Ku‐band using waveguide techniques, with an Agilent 8510C network analyzer. A commonly used reference material, methanol, is used to verify the efficacy of these techniques. This data favorably compares to the general permittivity of blood that previous authors have published. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 54–56, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11125
Inhaled corticosteroids in childhood asthma: Income differences in use
Authors: Kozyrskyj Anita L. , Mustard Cameron A. , R. Simons F. Estelle 
Published: August 2003

AbstractAsthma hospitalization rates in children increase with decreasing level of household income. This research was undertaken to determine whether use of inhaled corticosteroid drugs, which can prevent asthma hospitalizations, followed a similar socioeconomic gradient in children with asthma. We performed a cross‐sectional study of association, using population‐based prescription and healthcare data sources. Our subjects were 16,862 Manitoba children, aged 5–15 years, with prescriptions for asthma drugs during January 1995–March 1996. Our measures were adjusted for asthma severity, physician specialty, and proportion of children with an inhaled corticosteroid prescription by neighborhood income. Forty‐five percent of children treated for asthma had at least one inhaled corticosteroid prescription during January 1995–March 1996. The proportion of children with inhaled corticosteroid prescriptions decreased with successive decreases in neighborhood income. The socioeconomic gradient in the likelihood of an inhaled corticosteroid prescription was most evident among children with mild‐moderate asthma who were not in the care of an asthma specialist. In conclusion, a socioeconomic gradient in the use of inhaled corticosteroids prescriptions can be found among children with universal access to healthcare and drug insurance. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2003; 36:241–247. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Discrimination of native loop conformations in membrane proteins: Decoy library design and evaluation of effective energy scoring functions
Authors: Forrest Lucy R. , Woolf Thomas B. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThe recent determination of crystal structures for several important membrane proteins opens the way for comparative modeling of their membrane‐spanning regions. However, the ability to predict correctly the structures of loop regions, which may be critical, for example, in ligand binding, remains a considerable challenge. To meet this challenge, accurate scoring methods have to discriminate between candidate conformations of an unknown loop structure. Some success in loop prediction has been reported for globular proteins; however, the proximity of membrane protein loops to the lipid bilayer casts doubt on the applicability of the same scoring methods to this problem. In this work, we develop “decoy libraries” of non‐native folds generated, using the structures of two membrane proteins, with molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo techniques over a range of temperatures. We introduce a new approach for decoy library generation by constructing a flat distribution of conformations covering a wide range of Cα–root‐mean‐square deviation (RMSD) from the native structure; this removes possible bias in subsequent scoring stages. We then score these decoy conformations with effective energy functions, using increasingly more cpu‐intensive implicit solvent models, including (1) simple Coulombic electrostatics with constant or distance‐dependent dielectrics; (2) atomic solvation parameters; (3) the effective energy function (EEF1) of Lazaridis and Karplus; (4) generalized Born/Analytical Continuum Solvent; and (5) finite‐difference Poisson–Boltzmann energy functions. We show that distinction of native‐like membrane protein loops may be achieved using effective energies with the assumption of a homogenous environment; thus, the absence of the adjacent lipid bilayer does not affect the scoring ability. In particular, the Analytical Continuum Solvent and finite‐difference Poisson–Boltzmann energy functions are seen to be the most powerful scoring functions. Interestingly, the use of the uncharged states of ionizable sidechains is shown to aid prediction, particularly for the simplest energy functions. Proteins 2003;52:492–509. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Quality Control Trial for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Drug Resistance Testing Using Clinical Samples Reveals Problems with Detecting Minority Species and Interpretation of Test Results
Authors: Korn Klaus , Reil Heide , Walter Hauke , Schmidt Barbara 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACT
Between January and March 2000, a quality control panel for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drug resistance testing was analyzed by 20 laboratories in five countries. The panel consisted of three clinical samples with different drug resistance genotypes and phenotypes and one HIV-negative plasma. Participants were asked to report the methods used for amplification and sequencing, a list of drug resistance-associated mutations that were detected in the protease and reverse transcriptase of each sample, and an interpretation concerning the susceptibility or resistance to 14 antiretroviral drugs. A total of 22 genotypic data sets were generated, which showed an overall good technical quality except for three participants, who failed to report key mutations for drug resistance. Problems were encountered in three respects: (i) resistant minorities of L90M in the protease, which were determined to about 12% by real-time amplification, were only detected by one-fourth of the participants; (ii) newly described resistance mutations were frequently not reported; and (iii) interpretations of drug resistance-associated mutations varied widely, in particular for protease inhibitors. In some cases, different interpretations were caused by differences in the detection of resistant minorities, but even for the same genotypic profile, interpretations varied considerably. Similar discrepancies were revealed if current Web-based interpretation systems were used to predict drug resistance for samples of the proficiency panel. This indicates that a consensus for the interpretation of drug resistance-associated mutations is urgently needed.
Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci: Comparison of Phenotypic and Genotypic Oxacillin Susceptibility Tests and Evaluation of the Agar Screening Test by Using Different Concentrations of Oxacillin
Authors: Ferreira Rosana B. R. , Iorio Natalia L. P. , Malvar Karoline L. , Nunes Ana Paula F. , Fonseca Leila S. , Bastos Carla C. R. , Santos Kátia R. N. 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the oxacillin susceptibilities of 152 coagulase-negative staphylococcal (CoNS) strains of 12 species by disk diffusion; agar dilution; E-test; the slide latex agglutination test (Slidex MRSA Detection test; bioMérieux S/A, Paris, France); the agar screening test with 1, 2, 4, or 6 μg of oxacillin per ml and incubation for 24 or 48 h; and detection of the
mecA
gene by PCR. The results revealed that the agar screening test with 4 μg of oxacillin per ml and incubation for 48 h was superior to any single phenotype-based susceptibility assay, presenting a sensitivity and a specificity of 100% each. For the different methods evaluated, the sensitivities and specificities were as follows: for disk diffusion, 94.2 and 91.8%, respectively; for the agar dilution test 100 and 73.5%, respectively; for E-test, 100 and 71.4%, respectively; and for the slide latex agglutination test, 97.1 and 98%, respectively. A good correlation was observed between oxacillin susceptibility testing results and PCR results for
Staphylococcus epidermidis
,
S. haemolyticus
,
S. hominis
subsp.
hominis
, and all
mecA
-positive strains. However, at least 60% of the
mecA
-negative isolates of the species
S. saprophyticus
,
S. cohnii
subsp.
urealyticum
,
S. lugdunensis
, and
S. sciuri
were erroneously classified as oxacillin resistant by the agar dilution test. Conversely, the slide latex agglutination test presented a high sensitivity (97.1%) and a high specificity (98%) for all CoNS species. Our results demonstrated the accuracy of the agar screening test with 4 μg of oxacillin per ml and incubation for 48 h and the slide latex agglutination test for the appropriate detection of the oxacillin susceptibilities of CoNS isolates. Both assays are technically simple and can be easier to perform in routine laboratories than PCR.
Oral
Actinomyces
Isolates Forming Red Colonies on Brain Heart Blood Agar Can Be Unambiguously Classified as
A. odontolyticus
by Macroscopic Examination
Authors: Kaetzke Annette , Körner Henrike , Kneist Susanne , Eschrich Klaus 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACT

The accurate classification of oral
Actinomyces
isolates as one species is difficult. Out of 18
Actinomyces
isolates forming red colonies on brain heart blood agar, 12 could be straightforwardly assigned as
Actinomyces odontolyticus
by biochemical, morphological, and chemotaxonomic characteristics. For the remaining six isolates, the results of the different identification methods were inconsistent. By sequencing a 16S ribosomal DNA fragment by a rapid mass spectrometric method, all isolates could be identified unambiguously as
A. odontolyticus.
This result proves the importance of red colony pigmentation on brain heart blood agar together with the characteristic cell morphology for unequivocal assignment of oral
Actinomyces
isolates to the species
A. odontolyticus
.
Rapid Identification of Bacteria from Positive Blood Cultures by Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Profile Analysis of the 16S rRNA Gene
Authors: Christensen Jeffrey E. , Stencil Jennifer A. , Reed Kurt D. 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACT

Bacteremia results in significant morbidity and mortality, especially among patient populations that are immunocompromised. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are administered to patients suspected to have bloodstream infections that are awaiting diagnosis that depends on blood culture analysis. Significant delays in identification of pathogens can result, primarily due to the dependence on growth-based identification systems. To address these limitations, we took advantage of terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length polymorphisms (T-RFLP) due to 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence diversity to rapidly identify bacterial pathogens directly from positive blood culture. TRF profiles for each organism were determined by sizing fragments from restriction digests of PCR products derived from two sets of 16S rDNA-specific fluorescent dye-labeled primers. In addition, we created a TRF profile database (TRFPD) with 5,899 predicted TRF profiles from sequence information representing 2,860 different bacterial species. TRF profiles were experimentally determined for 69 reference organisms and 32 clinical isolates and then compared against the predicted profiles in the TRFPD. The predictive value of the profiles was found to be accurate to the species level with most organisms tested. In addition, identification of 10 different genera was possible with profiles comprising two or three TRFs. Although it was possible to identify
Enterobacteriaceae
by using a profile of three TRFs, the similarity of the TRF profiles of these organisms makes differentiation of species less reliable with the current method. The ability to rapidly (i.e., within ∼8 h) identify bacteria from blood cultures has potential for reducing unnecessary use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and promoting more timely prescription of appropriate antibiotics.
Seronegative Bacteremic Melioidosis Caused by
Burkholderia pseudomallei
with Ambiguous Biochemical Profile: Clinical Importance of Accurate Identification by 16S rRNA Gene and
groEL
Gene Sequencing
Authors: Woo Patrick C. Y. , Lau Susanna K. P. , Woo Gibson K. S. , Fung Ami M. Y. , Ngan Antonio H. Y. , Hui Wai-ting , Yuen Kwok-yung 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACT

An aerobic gram-negative bacterium was isolated from the blood and sputum of an 84-year-old, chair-bound nursing home resident with acute bacteremic pneumonia. Although the phenotypic characteristics suggested that the bacterium could be
Burkholderia pseudomallei
, the Vitek 1 system (GNI+), which can successfully identify 99% of
B. pseudomallei
strains, showed that the bacterium was “unidentified.” Immunoglobulin G against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of
B. pseudomallei
, as detected by an LPS-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with 95% sensitivity, was negative in both the acute-phase and convalescent-phase sera. Sequencing of the
groEL
gene showed that the isolate was
B. pseudomallei
. Proper identification of the bacterium in this study is crucial, since there would be a radical difference in the duration of antimicrobial therapy.
Emerging crisis of continuing professional education: becoming a dead letter between external pressure and personal incentive?
Authors: Aiga Hirotsugu , Banta James E. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractCsontinuing professional education (CPE) has been recognized as an effective tool for equipping health professionals with updated knowledge and skills for improving health services quality. However, there is globally increasing skepticism concerning the effectiveness of CPE. In developed countries, the major reasons for participation in CPE include compliance with employers' requirements and renewal of specialist qualifications and licences. In developing countries, CPE, frequently supported by development agencies, often provides subsistence support to participants and is possibly perceived as an extra income opportunity or tool for promotion among health professionals. The knowledge and skills learned are insufficiently applied in daily practice. This carrot‐and‐stick approach should be reduced and efforts should be made to increase the level of application of what has been learned. To deliver more effective and efficient CPE, it is critical to study this issue in more depth. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An asymptotic formula for estimating coupling between suspended plate antennas with an inclined ground plane
Authors: Zhang Hong‐Xuan , Chen Zhi‐Ning , Li Le‐Wei 
Published: August 2003

AbstractIn this paper, an asymptotic formula using Newton and Chebyshev interpolations is developed and presented. With this formula, the coupling coefficient between suspended plate antennas with an inclined ground plane is estimated. The accuracy of this formula is validated by full‐wave analysis in terms of the simulation results obtained using the Zeland IE3D software package. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 19–22, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11114
A 1.3‐GHz SiGe active filter using a finite‐gain amplifier
Authors: Temcamani F. , Diab H. , Régis M. , Gautier J. L. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractA 1.3‐GHz Sallen and Key filter, based on a voltage amplifier designed with an original topology, is presented. SiGe realization showed good agreement between simulation and measurement. In particular, the amplifier gain and the filter selectivity can be tuned and Q factors of up to 60 were measured. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 22–24, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11115
On focusing left‐handed materials by arbitrary layers
Authors: Simovski C. R. , Sauviac B. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractIn this paper, we consider the field produced by a line current behind a layer of left‐handed material (LHM). Our purpose is to show that any slab of LHM (except the known case ε = −1 and μ = −1) when is illuminated by a point source has infinite number of focal points with approximately same smearing as the recently studied LHM layer with εμ = 1. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 64–67, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11128
Planar inverted‐F antenna with slotted ground plane
Authors: Row Jeen‐Sheen 
Published: August 2003

AbstractBy embedding a group of parallel slots in the ground plane, novel dual‐frequency operations of a single‐feed planar inverted‐F antenna (PIFA) are presented. Simulation based upon the method of moments (MoM) is used to model the performance of the antenna. An example of the proposed antenna is fabricated to validate the simulation, and the experimental results show that the 10‐dB return‐loss impedance bandwidths are about 9% and 8.4% for frequency bands of 1.9 and 2.4 GHz, respectively. In addition, the measured radiation patterns in the two frequency bands are similar to that of a conventional planar inverted‐F antenna. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 72–75, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11131
Optimum design of an aperture‐coupled microstrip patch antenna
Authors: Kim Jeong Phill 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThis paper describes an efficient design method for an aperture‐coupled microstrip patch antenna, based on an improved transmission line model. The governing equations have been derived and applied to the design of the antenna with a center operating frequency of 11 GHz. The theoretical return loss was compared to the observed results from the fabricated antenna. The error of the proposed design method is less than 1.5%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 75–78, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11132