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At least 847 records · Page 47Linked to original sources
PubMed2007

Cognitive rehabilitation in the elderly: overview and future directions.

This study provides an overview of the papers emanating from the experimental trial that evaluated a new cognitive rehabilitation program in older adults who were experiencing normal cognitive decline. The main features of the design are summarized, along with evidence that the training produced long-lasting improvement in memory performance, goal management, and psychosocial status. The benefits were attributed to several factors, including the program's emphasis on techniques that promoted efficient strategic processing. Limitations of the program and directions for future research are discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Use of molecular methods for genetic monitoring of an institutional mouse breeding colony.

It is important to perform genetic quality control on inbred mouse strains to minimize variability of genetic backgrounds. We used sensitive molecular methods to examine the genetic integrity of inbred mouse substrains maintained at an academic institution. Our goal, in part, was to compare the different molecular genetic monitoring methods to determine which were most sensitive, efficient, and beneficial in our genetic monitoring program. We examined the sensitivity and efficiency of simple sequence length polymorphism (SSLP) analysis of microsatellites and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of minisatellites with commercial, human, and synthetic mouse minisatellite probes. Although no polymorphisms were detected with the microsatellite analysis, certain minisatellite probes detected a small degree of polymorphism between our mouse substrains and the commercially available strains used as controls. Minisatellite probes also detected intra-substrain variation within our colonies; this variation probably represents mutations in highly unstable loci rather than genetic variation. Our analysis indicated that the genetic integrity of in-house C57BL/Ka, BALB/cKa, and C3H/Km inbred substrains had remained intact over 35 generations. Genetic monitoring by RFLP minisatellite analysis was more sensitive and efficient in detecting substrain differences than was SSLP microsatellite analysis. On the basis of these results, we established a strategy for future analysis of the in-house breeding colony.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed1987

[Adriamycin and chemotherapy of breast cancer. Personal experience].

The clinical results achieved for more than 10 years in patients with metastatic breast cancer have clearly demonstrated the efficacy of chemotherapy programs including Adriamycin. This therapeutic effect was confirmed when it is given in protocols of adjuvant chemotherapy. Some complementary studies have demonstrated 4 points in order to define the better modality of application of Adriamycin: the results of induction chemotherapy's protocols are not better if the treatment is given beyond 6 months, the alternative administration of 2 noncross resistant programs of chemotherapy is no more efficient than the continuous administration of a program of chemotherapy including Adriamycin, the increase of the doses of cytotoxic chemotherapy does not change the median of survival of the patients, the fractionated administration of Adriamycin is as effective as the conventional administration of the same total dose.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Approach for the smoothing of three-dimensional reconstructions of the human spine using dual Kriging interpolation.

In numerous situations, 3-D reconstructions of the spine are represented as curves in space, with the vertebral centroids as control points. Interpolation functions such as splines, polynomials or Fourier series have been used to minimise measurement errors and to perform specific calculations. A more general approach, dual Kriging, is presented which incorporates in a single formulation several methods, such as piece-wise linear interpolation, splines and least square functions as a limit case. To minimise user interaction and to control the different Kriging parameters, a computer program is developed allowing efficient use of these interpolation techniques in a clinical environment. Given different drift and covariance functions, the program determines the most suitable Kriging model for specific spine geometries and controls the amount of smoothing performed on raw data. Validation of the technique is with analytical 3-D curves, where random noise is added to represent reconstruction errors. A maximum absolute mean difference of 1.85 +/- 0.50 mm is found between the analytical and noisy curves smoothed with the Kriging technique for 200 points. Results obtained on actual 3-D reconstructions of scoliotic patients are very promising.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2006

snoSeeker: an advanced computational package for screening of guide and orphan snoRNA genes in the human genome.

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) represent an abundant group of non-coding RNAs in eukaryotes. They can be divided into guide and orphan snoRNAs according to the presence or absence of antisense sequence to rRNAs or snRNAs. Current snoRNA-searching programs, which are essentially based on sequence complementarity to rRNAs or snRNAs, exist only for the screening of guide snoRNAs. In this study, we have developed an advanced computational package, snoSeeker, which includes CDseeker and ACAseeker programs, for the highly efficient and specific screening of both guide and orphan snoRNA genes in mammalian genomes. By using these programs, we have systematically scanned four human-mammal whole-genome alignment (WGA) sequences and identified 54 novel candidates including 26 orphan candidates as well as 266 known snoRNA genes. Eighteen novel snoRNAs were further experimentally confirmed with four snoRNAs exhibiting a tissue-specific or restricted expression pattern. The results of this study provide the most comprehensive listing of two families of snoRNA genes in the human genome till date.

Algorithms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Screening to control infectious diseases: evaluation of control programs for gonorrhea and syphilis.

Gonorrhea and syphilis serve as models for the definition of criteria for the evaluation of screening programs for detection of disease. Mass screening and selective screening are distinguished from individual screening (case finding). Important characteristics of screening tests are sensitivity, specificity, efficiency, precision, accuracy, and acceptability. Program evaluation includes process evaluation and outcome evaluation. Major criteria to consider in the evaluation of mass screening programs are prevalence and incidence of disease, predictive value of tests used, yield, available screening tests, acceptance, follow-up services, costs and benefits, and control over the spread of infection. All forms of screening programs should be evaluated by available methods so that they will operate with maximal efficiency and so that nonproductive programs can be discarded.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed1992

Battling AIDS through home care in Uganda and Zambia.

Innovative home care programs, providing a variety of services to persons with HIV infection and their families and reflecting different health, political, cultural, social, and philosophical concepts, have been developed in Africa, starting in 1987. In 1989 the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Programme on AIDS conducted a descriptive study of some of these programs. It is hoped that these experiences will assist planners and health care providers in their decision making and thereby benefit persons with HIV infection and their families. The lessons learned about the context, backgrounds, structure, process, and outcome of the six selected home care programs can be used and adapted by policymakers and program planners in their own settings when deciding on "their" model of home care.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2004

Skin cancer prevention: children's health education on protection from sun exposure and assessment of its efficiency.

The aim of the study was to assess schoolchildren's knowledge on sun exposure, the peculiarities of behavior in the sun, and the possibility of altering these indicators via education program. The study of the efficiency of the self-designed educational program "Let's know the sun better" included 213 fifth grade pupils (113 boys and 100 girls) from Kaunas city schools; the pupils were differentiated into two groups: the experimental (n=106) and the control (n=107) groups. The method employed was anonymous questionnaire-based inquiry. The data of the inquiry applied before the application of the educational programs showed that schoolchildren's behavior in the sun is careless: 40.4% of the studied schoolchildren experienced severe sunburns; 54.0% of children spend three and more hours on the beaches, most frequently between 11 am and 3 pm. Not all schoolchildren use sun protection measures. Most frequently they only have bathing suits (70.0%), baseball caps (56.8%), and sunglasses (57.7%). Out of the studied schoolchildren 18.8% use sunscreen, but only 7.3% of them know how to use it properly. The second inquiry was performed after the schoolchildren were able to apply the recommendations of the educational program "Let's know the sun better" in practice during the summer. The data of this inquiry showed that the knowledge, attitudes, and the peculiarities of behavior in the sun in the experimental group were better compared to the control group. Significantly more schoolchildren in the experimental group (44.1%), compared to the control group (8.5%), used sunscreens properly (p<0.05) and knew which sunscreen is the most suitable (respectively, 42.3% and 20.6%; p<0.05); in addition to that, the children in the experimental group more frequently wore long-sleeved shirts on the beaches (21.0% and 7.5%, respectively; p<0.05), wide-brimmed sunbonnets (37.1% and 10.4%; p<0.05), and sunglasses (61.9% and 44.3%; p<0.05). The findings of the study proved both the necessity and the efficiency of the prepared educational program.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Database programs as a literature research tool for the 1990s scientist: surveillance of neurotoxicology data.

As the mass of data and literature in any scientific field grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to recall details of early experiments and to relate findings in different studies. Simple database programs are available for the individual scientist to record and manipulate information, to provide a reliable and flexibly updatable memory aid, and to reveal new relationships through (re)organizations of information. Such programs can increase the efficiency of the literature research process and increase writing productivity by orders of magnitude. The use of database programs for literature research is exemplified with a behavioral neurotoxicology database revealing previously unappreciated consistencies in the human worksite research literature.

Databases, Bibliographic↗
PubMed2000

Future prospects of voluntary health insurance in Thailand.

Voluntary health insurance schemes in Thailand are still under development and have yet to seriously address the questions of equity and efficiency, while private health insurance is limited to people who can afford the premium. One form of insurance, commonly known as the health insurance card scheme, was first introduced as the Health Card Program in 1983. This program is based on risk sharing of health expenditures, with no cost sharing, in a voluntary health insurance prepayment scheme. With the uncertain performance of the Thai economy, program sustainability and the efficient use of resources are major concerns. The Health Card Program needs enough enrollees to ensure a sufficient pool of risks. This study looks at health card purchase and utilization patterns, using data from Khon Kaen Province, and finds that employment, education levels and the presence of illness are significant factors influencing card purchase. The last factor is related to the problem of adverse selection of the program; families with symptoms of sickness are more likely to buy cards, resulting in greater use of health services. The results also show an improvement in accessibility to health care and a high level of satisfaction among card holders, both key objectives of the program. It is suggested that changes in the health card system could enable it to evolve into a community-based compulsory health insurance scheme for rural areas.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Interactive video instruction increases efficiency in cognitive learning in a baccalaureate nursing education program.

An interactive videodisc instruction module on therapeutic communication in nursing was evaluated to assess its impact on learning and retention. A pre-test, post-test, re-test, control group design was used on two comparison groups. Results showed that the intervention group met therapeutic communication course objectives more efficiently than the control group. Although all 65 student study participants met therapeutic communication course objectives equally well and at a high level by the end of the semester, the intervention group had achieved these objectives at a higher level than the control group within the first month of the semester. The results support the use of computer assisted instruction, and more specifically, interactive videodisc instruction for teaching therapeutic communication skills and permitting an increase in the student-faculty ratio, with no loss in quality.

Chi-Square Distribution↗
PubMed1997

Efficiency evaluation of community-based youth services in Virginia.

This study investigates the efficiency of community-based youth services in the Commonwealth of Virginia using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Efficiency was calculated based on resources available, the demand of services, and the service units produced. Results demonstrated the extent of inefficiency in community-based youth programs and how much efficiency can be improved relative to comparison with peer groups. The differences between large and small communities, urban and rural communities, and rich and poor communities were analyzed. There was no significant difference between each type for all three categories.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Safety and economic impacts of photo radar program.

OBJECTIVE: Unsafe speed is one of the major traffic safety challenges facing motorized nations. In 2003, unsafe speed contributed to 31 percent of all fatal collisions, causing a loss of 13,380 lives in the United States alone. The economic impact of speeding is tremendous. According to NHTSA, the cost of unsafe speed related collisions to the American society exceeds 40 billion US dollars per year. In response, automated photo radar speed enforcement programs have been implemented in many countries. This study assesses the economic impacts of a large-scale photo radar program in British Columbia. The knowledge generated from this study could inform policy makers and project managers in making informed decisions with regard to this highly effective and efficient, yet very controversial program. METHODS: This study establishes speed and safety effects of photo radar programs by summarizing two physical impact investigations in British Columbia. It then conducts a cost-benefit analysis to assess the program's economic impacts. The cost-benefit analysis takes into account both societal and funding agency's perspectives. It includes a comprehensive account of major impacts. It uses willingness to pay principle to value human lives saved and injuries avoided. It incorporates an extended sensitivity analysis to quantify the robustness of base case conclusions. RESULTS: The study reveals an annual net benefit of approximately 114 million in year 2001 Canadian dollars to British Columbians. The study also finds a net annual saving of over 38 million Canadian dollars for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) that funded the program. These results are robust under almost all alternative scenarios tested. The only circumstance under which the net benefit of the program turns negative is when the real safety effects were one standard deviation below the estimated values, which is possible but highly unlikely. CONCLUSION: Automated photo radar traffic safety enforcement can be an effective and efficient means to manage traffic speed, reduce collisions and injuries, and combat the huge resulting economic burden to society. The cost-effectiveness of the program takes on special meaning and urgency when considering the present and future government funding constraints. The application of the program, however, should be planned and implemented with caution. Every effort should be made to focus on and to promote the program on safety improvement grounds. The program can be easily terminated because of political considerations, if the public perceives it as a cash cow to enhance government revenue.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1975

Computer-retrievable surgical pathology files. A low-cost, shareable system.

Reading descriptions of computer-retrievable surgical pathology files, the tissue pathologist might like to institute a similar system, but faces two problems. He finds little cost information and, without either the time or the skill for computer programming, he is unable to proceed with system development. We have a system that was developed to maximize cost efficiency. All of the programs are written in FORTRAN so that the system will run on almost any time-sharing computer. There is a need for computer-retrievable systems in pathology, and after careful consideration of affordability and shareability, computerization is workable.

Computers↗
PubMed1998

Response (re-)programming in aging: a kinematic analysis.

BACKGROUND: Age-related motor slowing may reflect either motor programming deficits, poorer movement execution, or mere strategic preferences for online guidance of movement. We controlled such preferences, limiting the extent to which movements could be programmed. METHODS: Twenty-four young and 24 older adults performed a line drawing task that allowed movements to be prepared in advance in one case (i.e., cue initially available indicating target location) and not in another (i.e., no cue initially available as to target location). Participants connected large or small targets illuminated by light-emitting diodes upon a graphics tablet that sampled pen tip position at 200 Hz. RESULTS: Older adults had a disproportionate difficulty initiating movement when prevented from programming in advance. Older adults produced slower, less efficient movements, particularly when prevented from programming under greater precision requirements. CONCLUSIONS: The slower movements of older adults do not simply reflect a preference for online control, as older adults have less efficient movements when forced to reprogram their movements. Age-related motor slowing kinematically resembles that seen in patients with cerebellar dysfunction.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

PCP: a program for supervised classification of gene expression profiles.

UNLABELLED: PCP (Pattern Classification Program) is an open-source machine learning program for supervised classification of patterns (vectors of measurements). The principal use of PCP in bioinformatics is design and evaluation of classifiers for use in clinical diagnostic tests based on measurements of gene expression. PCP implements leading pattern classification and gene selection algorithms and incorporates cross-validation estimation of classifier performance. Importantly, the implementation integrates gene selection and class prediction stages, which is vital for computing reliable performance estimates in small-sample scenarios. Additionally, the program includes automated and efficient model selection (optimization of parameters) for support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The distribution includes Linux and Windows/Cygwin binaries. The program can easily be ported to other platforms. AVAILABILITY: Free download at http://pcp.sourceforge.net

Algorithms↗
PubMed2004

A complexity-scalable software-based MPEG-2 video encoder.

With the development of general-purpose processors (GPP) and video signal processing algorithms, it is possible to implement a software-based real-time video encoder on GPP, and its low cost and easy upgrade attract developers' interests to transfer video encoding from specialized hardware to more flexible software. In this paper, the encoding structure is set up first to support complexity scalability; then a lot of high performance algorithms are used on the key time-consuming modules in coding process; finally, at programming level, processor characteristics are considered to improve data access efficiency and processing parallelism. Other programming methods such as lookup table are adopted to reduce the computational complexity. Simulation results showed that these ideas could not only improve the global performance of video coding, but also provide great flexibility in complexity regulation.

Journal Article↗