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Results for “Program Efficiency”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

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At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Artificial insemination of beef cattle.

A system for the artificial insemination fo beef cattle was described. The system involved preparation of the cattle and facilities, visual oestrous detection twice a day, drafting each morning and insemination of oestrous cows twice a day. The AI program was evaluated during the course of the program and at pregnancy test 35 to 90 days after the end of the insemination period. The insemination period was from 25 to 60 days depending on efficiency, with programs from 25 to 35 days being favoured. Results for 12218 first inseminations (65.9%) and 2222 second inseminations (57.8%) in 56 AI programs compared favourably with results in dairy AI. Pregnancy rates in lactating cows (70.5%) were significantly higher than in nonlactating cows and heifers (66.1%). Overall efficiency of well-managed AI programs were represented by 63% of cows put into a program becoming pregnant in a 29-day insemination period. Seventy-two per cent of the cows put into the program were inseminated yielding an 88% pregnancy rate. The efficiency of visual oestrous detection was 95% but this estimate did not include false positives. Efficiency of AI programs were effected by management, nutrition, infection, inseminators, facilities and the origin and type of cattle put into a program. Environmental factors such as handling, stress and thunderstorms did not effect efficiency except via a nutritional effect.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Stiff upper lips.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An efficient and robust PC program to calculate MR based regional cerebral blood volume maps.

In addition to morphological and anatomical information, functional information is increasingly used in clinical routine to assess pathological alterations of the brain. In addition to nuclear-medical methods there is a growing interest in using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate tissue perfusion of the brain. The method employed is based on the indicator-dilution method after bolus injection of a contrast agent. In this paper we present the implementation of an efficient algorithm to calculate quantitatively the regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV). Computation requires about 1 min on a Macintosh Quadra 660AV. The results are represented as parameter images that allow global overall visual inspection as well as quantitative local evaluation by means of user-defined regions of interest.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

A dynamic programming approach to the efficient design of clinical trials.

If the prospective evaluation of all feasible strategies of patient management is not possible or efficient then this poses a number of questions: (i) which clinical decision problems will be worth evaluating through prospective clinical research; (ii) if a clinical decision problem is worth evaluating which of the many competing alternatives should be considered "relevant" and be compared in the evaluation; (iii) what is the optimal (technically efficient) scale of this prospective research; (iv) what is an optimal allocation of trial entrants between the competing alternatives; and (v) what is the value of this proposed research? The purpose of this paper is to present a Bayesian decision theoretic approach to the value of information which can provide answers to each of these questions. An analysis of the value of sample information was combined with dynamic programming and applied to numerical examples of sequential decision problems. The analysis demonstrates that this approach can be used to establish: optimal sample size; optimal sample allocation; and the societal payoff to proposed research. This approach provides a consistent way to identify which of the competing alternatives can be regarded as "relevant" and should be included in any evaluative study design. Bayesian decision theory can provide a general methodological framework that can ensure consistency in decision making between service provision, research and development, and the design, conduct and interpretation clinical research.

Bayes Theorem↗
PubMed1994

Managing the health care market in developing countries: prospects and problems.

There is increasing interest in the prospects for managed market reforms in developing countries, stimulated by current reforms and policy debates in developed countries, and by perceptions of widespread public sector inefficiency in many countries. This review examines the prospects for such reforms in a developing country context, primarily by drawing on the arguments and evidence emerging from developed countries, with a specific focus on the provision of hospital services. The paper begins with a discussion of the current policy context of these reforms, and their main features. It argues that while current and proposed reforms vary in detail, most have in common the introduction of competition in the provision of health care, with the retention of a public monopoly of financing, and that this structure emerges from the dual goals of addressing current public sector inefficiencies while retaining the known equity and efficiency advantages of public health systems. The paper then explores the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence for and against these reforms, and examines their relevance for developing countries. Managed markets are argued to enhance both efficiency and equity. These arguments are analysed in terms of three distinct claims made by their proponents: that managed markets will promote increased provider competition, and hence, provider efficiency; that contractual relationships are more efficient than direct management; and that the benefits of managed markets will outweigh their costs. The analysis suggests that on all three issues, the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence remain ambiguous, and that this ambiguity is attributable in part to poor understanding of the behaviour of health sector agents within the market, and to the limited experience with these reforms. In the context of developing countries, the paper argues that most of the conditions required for successful implementation of these reforms are absent in all but a few, richer developing countries, and that the costs of these reforms, particularly in equity terms, are likely to pose substantial problems. Extensive managed market reforms are therefore unlikely to succeed, although limited introduction of particular elements of these reforms may be more successful. Developed country experience is useful in defining the conditions under which such limited reforms may succeed. There is an urgent need to evaluate the existing experience of different forms of contracting in developing countries, as well as to interpret emerging evidence from developed country reforms in the light of conditions in developing countries.

Commerce↗
PubMed1992

Finance for health care: part of a broad canvas.

The economic crisis of the 1980s led to cuts in both government and household expenditure on health in the Third World. In order to address these issues it is necessary to adopt a macroeconomic approach to the analysis of the health sector; this allows its relationship to the whole economy to be understood. The efficient and equitable utilization of resources is particularly important in times of severe financial constraint.

Africa↗
PubMed1998

A qualitative assessment of the referral system at district level in Zimbabwe: implications on efficiency and effective delivery of health services.

OBJECTIVE: To qualitatively assess the referral system at district level from the consumers' point of view and assess implications it had on efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. DESIGN: Descriptive study. SETTING: Districts of Tsholotsho and Murewa. SUBJECTS: Subjects of the study included community members, ward health team members outpatient department (OPD). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The nature and magnitude of the problem; health seeking behaviour; the perceived role of a hospital versus a health centre; knowledge on the referral system; user fees and the referral system and communication between the service and the community; and perceptions on the referral system. RESULTS: The community does not know the functional differences between a hospital and a clinic. What is clearly known is the physical differences that exist between the two. That is one of the reasons why the choice of a point of entry into the health care delivery system is not always correct. People do understand the mechanics of referring a patient to higher levels of care but they were not happy with the high hospital charges. Although the majority are eligible for free treatment the issues of high transport and other indirect costs were mentioned. There is no effective communication system between the service and the users. This manifested itself through the lack of knowledge or the existence and role of ward health teams or clinic committees. This lack of communication seems to be a major determinant in the failures of many a good policy. The impact of the new fee structure of January 1994 was minimal at district level because the communities felt that although referred patients do not pay hospital consultation fees, once admitted the patient still has to pay or at least prove that he/she is eligible for free services. The inconvenience of proving eligibility for free care still exists. CONCLUSION: In general, the community did not fully comprehend the purposes and intentions of the new user fees policy of January 1994 which was meant to rationalise the referral system. Generally, communities are seldom consulted in time to ensure effective policy implementation and realisation of the intended impact. Impressions generated on the impact of the problem of the referral system on resource use at hospital level show that it has been considerable, although this study did not quantify it. Unnecessary overloading of referral centres negatively affected the care of referral cases, which actually required hospital care, due to competition with primary care cases.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

A computer program for the deconvolution of thermoluminescence glow curves.

A quick and efficient computer program was developed in order to resolve the peaks from the thermoluminescence (TL) glow curve. The program was designed to be easily used on any MS Windows-based computer with a graphical user interface. In this program, a new method based on the general one-trap TL equation was adopted to analyse the TL glow curve with the traditional first-order, second-order and general-order kinetics model. The method described here, general approximation, generates TL glow peaks and interpolates the relevant TL parameters from the glow data. The program was tested with simulated and experimental TL glow data and the results were found to be adequate and reliable.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1990

Swaziland: perspectives in school health.

Following major quantitative expansions of the educational system in Swaziland during the two decades since independence, the focus has shifted to improving efficiency. Efficiency of any educational system depends mainly on the characteristics of children entering school. Although Swaziland is not among the poorest countries, infant child mortality rates still reflect less than optimum living conditions and parental knowledge of child nutrition and disease prevention and management. Although access to primary schooling is universal, there is substantial waste during the early years of school through dropout and repetition, both associated with low socioeconomic status. School performance can be increased at little extra cost through increasing the nutrition and health status of students before school entry and through the early school years. In Swaziland, many activities are carried out to provide physical and mental health care to students. Coordinating these efforts and formulating clear policy on school health through cooperation among key ministries and nongovernmental organizations remains to be done.

Community Participation↗
PubMed1999

DREAM++: flexible docking program for virtual combinatorial libraries.

We present a set of programs, DREAM+2 (Docking and Reaction programs using Efficient seArch Methods written in C++), for docking computationally generated ligands into macromolecular binding sites. DREAM++ is composed of three programs: ORIENT++, REACT++ and SEARCH++. The program ORIENT++ positions molecules in a binding site with the DOCK algorithm. Its output can be used as input to REACT++ and SEARCH+2. The program REACT++ performs user-specific chemical reactions on a docked molecule, so that reaction products can be evaluated for three dimensional complementarity with the macromolecular site. The program SEARCH++ performs an efficient conformation search on the reaction products using a hybrid backtrack and incremental construction algorithm. We have applied the programs to HIV protease-inhibitor complexes as test systems. We found that we can differentiate high-affinity ligands based on several measures: interaction energies, occupancy of protein subsites and the number of successfully docked conformations for each product. Encouraged by the results in the test case, we applied the programs to propose novel inhibitors of HIV protease. These inhibitors can be generated by organic reactions using commercially available reagents. They are alternatives to the inhibitors synthesized by Glaxo.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1979

The influence of insemination timing and semen characteristics on the efficiency of a donor insemination program.

The analysis of accumulated data from conceptional and nonconceptional ovulatory menstrual cycles of patients undertaking artificial donor insemination has allowed some observations to be made on the practical aspects which may influence the efficiency of the program. The evidence suggests that with the use of preserved semen, accurate timing of insemination is essential, and that days 0 and +1 with respect to the luteinizing hormone surge appear to be advantageous as compared with closely related days. When the numbers of motile spermatozoa which were inseminated over a critical 4-day interval were analyzed, the results also suggested that improved conception rates occurred when larger numbers of active spermatozoa were used. A comparison was made between those patients who had been inseminated on a single occasion and those inseminated on more than one occasion during the periovulatory period. The results obtained from those cycles inseminated on a single occasion were inferior to those obtained from cycles inseminated more than once. Finally, some limited comparison is drawn between the established insemination programs of bovine husbandry and the relatively inefficient human experience. One explanation may lie in the wider spectrum of donor semen desirable for the human programs.

Cell Count↗
PubMed2003

Broad applicability of ultrarapid train stimulation as an efficient alternative to conventional programmed electrical stimulation.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY OBJECTIVE: Conventional programmed electrical stimulation (PES) is useful for establishing inducibility or noninducibility of clinical ventricular arrhythmias (VA), but is complex and time-consuming. This study compared a standard PES protocol with ultrarapid train stimulation (UTS) in a broad range of patients with and without a history of ventricular arrhythmias or structural heart disease. METHODS: Patients prospectively underwent electrophysiologic testing with both UTS and conventional PES protocols in a randomized, crossover design. RESULTS: The results were concordant in 79% of 150 matched pairs of comparisons in 104 patients (NS). There were no differences related to underlying heart disease or arrhythmia, or antiarrhythmic treatment. Induction of nonclinical arrhythmias with the two methods was similar (P = 0.524). Inhibition phenomena were minor except in some patients receiving amiodarone. Fewer drive-extrastimuli sequences and less time were needed to complete the trains protocol (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In cases where the main intent is to induce ventricular arrhythmias, UTS yields results that are similar to those of conventional PES protocols in a shorter length of time.

Anti-Arrhythmia Agents↗