Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,783 records · Page 99Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

New telomere formation coupled with site-specific chromosome breakage in Tetrahymena thermophila.

Programmed chromosome breakage occurs in many ciliated protozoa and is accompanied by efficient new telomere formation. In this study, we have investigated the relationship between programmed chromosome breakage and telomere formation in Tetrahymena thermophila. Using specially constructed DNA clones containing the breakage signal Cbs in transformation studies, we have determined the locations of telomere addition around the breakage sites. They occur at variable positions, over 90% of which are within a small region (less than 30 bp) starting 4 bp from Cbs. This distribution is independent of the nucleotide sequence in the region or of the orientation of Cbs. In five of six cases determined, these sites occur at or before a T, and in the remaining case, the site occurs at or before a G. When sequences devoid of G or T are placed in this region, telomere addition still occurs within the region to maintain a similar distance relationship with Cbs. This efficient and healing process appears to be associated specifically with Cbs-directed breakage, since it does not occur when DNA ends are generated by restriction enzyme digestion. These results suggest a strong mechanistic link between chromosome breakage and telomere formation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1976

A training sequence for low vision patients.

A structured training program for teaching low vision patients to efficiently use their optical aids for reading tasks is presented. The arguments for the use of this particular training sequence is supported through the sample patient histories. The training sequences can be developed in any low vision practice and the materials are readily available. The importance of training in a low vision program is emphasized.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Design and standards for genetic evaluation of swine seedstock populations.

The purpose of this article is to describe a program for evaluation of seedstock populations in the swine industry. Differences among seedstock populations for economically important traits must be identified in order for pork producers to efficiently use available genetic resources. National genetic evaluation programs have the potential to identify the important differences among populations and to increase the rate of genetic improvement in a population. Program results provide performance benchmarks that stimulate testing and selection procedures by seedstock suppliers that further increase the rate of genetic improvement. A Terminal Sire Line Genetic Evaluation Program was designed and conducted in the United States by the National Pork Producers Council (Des Moines, IA) to compare seedstock populations for use in crossbreeding systems. High levels of statistical accuracy for program results were established; the ability to detect differences of 0.25 SD per trait, a power of test of 75%, and a 5% significance level were selected. Pure breeds and breeding company sire lines were nominated for the program. Semen was collected from nominated boars and distributed to cooperating commercial producers during eight 1-wk breeding periods. Pigs were produced in 136 commercial herds and transported to testing facilities at 8 to 23 d of age. Nine of the 11 sire lines originally entered in the program completed the sampling requirements for statistical analysis. High levels of statistical accuracy and a large, representative sample of boars with restrictions on genetic relationships ensured that the program results included unbiased, highly accurate sire line data for growth, carcass, meat quality, and eating quality traits of economic importance. This program has shown commercial producers that they have several choices of sire lines for changing their crossbreeding programs in desired trait areas. Commercial product evaluation must be an ongoing process, and this program serves as a model for future testing and evaluation of diverse genetic seedstock populations.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Comprehensive patient care and documentation through unit-based nursing rounds.

Unit-based nursing rounds is an advanced practice educational program implemented through collaboration between a unit-based clinical nurse specialist and an education nurse specialist. The purpose of this program is to provide an informal, time efficient means of teaching staff nurses during work hours. The format emphasizes utilization of the nursing process through presentation of selected case studies. The goal is to enhance incorporation of a nursing model into patient care planning to ensure comprehensive patient care and documentation. Each phase of coordinating, implementing, and evaluating this educational program will be reviewed.

Communication↗
PubMed1976

A model interdisciplinary diagnostic and treatment nursery.

A model interdisciplinary diagnostic and treatment nursery program for developmentally disabled children is objectively described to enable documentation of effectiveness and replication. The major components of the program were the parent-professional partnership and the objective specification by the interdisciplinary team of problems, treatment plan, and treatment methods for each youngster. The concept of efficiency index is used to document and compare program effectiveness for four treatment cases, one of which is presented in detail. Reasons for program effectiveness and potential problem areas are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed2001

The Minnesota Regional Peripheral Arterial Disease Screening Program: toward a definition of community standards of care.

The Minnesota Regional Peripheral Arterial Disease Screening Program was designed to define the efficacy of community PAD detection efforts, to assess the disease-specific and health-related morbidity, to assess PAD awareness rates, and to determine the magnitude of atherosclerosis disease risk factors and the intensity of their management. The target population was recruited via mass media efforts directed at individuals over 50 years of age and those with leg pain with ambulation. Screening sessions included assessments of the ankle-brachial index, blood pressure, fasting lipid profile, and use of validated tools to detect symptomatic claudication (by the Modified WHO-Edinburgh Claudication Questionnaire), walking impairment (Walking Impairment Questionnaire - WIQ), quality of life (MOS SF-36), PAD awareness, and the intensity of PAD medical therapeutic interventions. PAD was defined as any ankle-brachial index < or =0.85 or a history of lower extremity revascularization. The program evaluated 347 individuals and identified 92 subjects with PAD and 255 subjects without PAD, yielding a detection rate of 26.5%. Individuals with PAD were older, tended to have higher blood pressures, and had a significant walking impairment and an impaired health-related quality of life compared with the non-PAD subjects. Current rates of tobacco use were low. Lipid-lowering, estrogen replacement, anti-platelet, and antihypertensive medications and exercise therapies were underutilized in the PAD cohort. Peripheral arterial disease awareness was low in these community-identified patients. This Program demonstrated that individuals with PAD can be efficiently identified within the community, but that current standards of medical care are low. These data can assist in the future development of PAD awareness, education, and treatment programs.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Environment of care. Organize to find your way through the maze.

The Environment of Care and the Orientation, Training, and Education sections of the JCAHO manual will be important parts of the 1995 survey process. All departments must be able to describe their role in both programs, as well as demonstrate compliance with them. Staff knowledge of the two programs is also critical since 40-50% of the survey process will be devoted to asking staff members questions concerning their role in each of the two programs. Organizing the manual as described will force you to examine each section closely. As each section is completed, you will accomplish two goals. First, you have complied with the requirements because you have developed departmental programs geared towards EOC. Second, by developing these sections, you have created a basic training outline for your staff. If you organize and gather the data described in this article, the development of your training programs will be much easier. Most of you have all of the tools required to comply with both programs, but by organizing them in an efficient and orderly fashion, you will assure yourself a much easier time complying with the new EOC standards.

Health Personnel↗
PubMed2000

Tuberculosis surveillance in immigrants through health undertakings in Western Australia.

SETTING: Tuberculosis Control Program, Western Australia. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness and efficiency of tuberculosis (TB) surveillance in immigrants. DESIGN: Retrospective descriptive analysis of records of immigrants who first registered with the Tuberculosis Program from January 1994 to December 1995, having entered Western Australia on health undertakings (nonlegal contracts signed by those determined during premigration screening to require post-arrival evaluation). RESULTS: Of 1,344 immigrants on health undertakings for TB in the period, 587 (44%) had findings directly related to TB through pre-migration screening, 69 of whom required treatment for active disease. Another 443 (33%) had chest X-ray changes for which TB could not be excluded. Of the remaining 314 (23%), 172 had poor quality X-rays. Post-arrival assessment and follow-up of the whole group detected four of seven additional cases of active TB, 373 persons (28%) requiring on-going surveillance, 667 (50%) with non-TB conditions and 280 (21%) with normal chest X-rays. CONCLUSIONS: Migrant surveillance for TB in Australia is effective in detecting active disease and identifying a high-risk subgroup requiring further evaluation. Efficiency can be improved and high compliance achieved with simple administrative changes. Routine pre-migration Mantoux testing is inappropriate, and its inclusion in post-arrival assessments should be a national policy decision.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

CHARTLINE: providing bibliographic references relevant to patient charts using the UMLS Metathesaurus Knowledge Sources.

A successful medical informatics program helps its users to match their information needs as closely and efficiently as possible to the capabilities of the system. CHARTLINE is a computer program whose input is a free text, "natural language" patient chart in ASCII format. Using the UMLS Metathesaurus Knowledge Sources, CHARTLINE can suggest bibliographic references relevant to the patient case described in the chart. The program does not attempt to "understand" the natural language content of the chart. CHARTLINE only recognizes UMLS Metathesaurus Main Concept terms (or their synonyms) as they occur in the medical text, since those terms represent the tokens used to index the literature. The program depends on user feedback to determine which topics of a large number of potentially relevant subjects are of interest to the user.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMed2001

Outpatient surgery care unit work process redesign.

Health care practitioners at all levels within an organization have a professional responsibility to deliver quality patient care. The overall systems operation, as well as customer outcomes, can be enhanced by using redesign and process improvement strategies. This article highlights the implementation of these change strategies as a part of process improvement efforts in the Outpatient Surgery Care Unit (OSCU). OSCU work process redesign was one in a series of 8 redesign efforts in the department of Surgical Services. A summary of the redesign process and its corresponding educational program is provided. Tools used to enhance efficiency and cost savings are also included.

Cost Savings↗
PubMed1991

Utilization review. Health economics and cost-effective resource management.

In an effort to reduce their health care burden, health care payors have turned to utilization controls and restructured health care payment systems to control health care costs. While health care payors are interested in economic restraints, health care providers are being placed at increasing levels of financial risk, and they struggle to maintain high quality services. Quality of care must remain our number one priority, but it is essential to achieve this goal in a cost-efficient manner. Cost-efficiencies are gained through the development of a comprehensive physician education program that encourages information exchange, physician input, and the implementation of positive alternatives that lead to efficiencies in resource management.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1999

The family as provider of long-term care: efficiency, equity, and externalities.

The passage of the baby-boom generation into old age raises the prospect of intense pressures on public programs benefiting the elderly, limiting any contemplated expansion of programs serving those needing sustained personal care. This necessitates consideration of comparative efficiency of alternative resources for elder care. I focus on two distinct aspects of such efficiency: productive--the relationship between inputs and outputs--and target--the coincidence of served and those viewed as needing services. I argue that for theoretical reasons family members, specifically children, may be more productive and efficient carers than paid helpers. Furthermore, even if no more efficient than formal providers, care provided by children reduces public expenditures on long-term care. In view of the value to society of children's caregiving activities, if a collective program of long-term care insurance were to be adopted, it should be configured to target its financing and benefits according to family composition.

Caregivers↗
PubMed2005

Calibration of solid-phase micro-extraction for quantitative analysis by gas chromatography.

Calibration of SPME by the injection of liquid standard solution is a common method for SPME quantitative analysis by gas chromatography. The feasibility of this calibration method relies on the assumption that sample transfer efficiencies are the same for both the liquid injection and the SPME fiber injection. Sample transfer efficiencies for liquid injection and SPME fiber injection were studied in this paper. The results showed that the sample transfer efficiency for liquid injection was affected by several factors, such as the dimensions of the liner, the presence of the wool, and the temperature of the injector. The sample transfer efficiency for SPME fiber injection was affected by the cross-sectional area of the space between the column and the liner, the carrier gas flow rate, and the length of the column inside the liner. An equation was proposed to estimate the sample loss rate for SPME injection. It was found that the use of a direct injection (DI) liner and program temperature vaporizing provides high sample transfer efficiencies, for both liquid injection and SPME fiber injection. When a common SPME straight liner is used, large outer diameter (o.d.) pre-column will help to achieve high sample transfer efficiency.

Acenaphthenes↗
PubMed1976

[Training and dominance in human voluntary movements. Right-left-comparisons of putting and throwing programs (author's transl)].

1. Muscle action potentials and efficiency were measured during shot putting and ball throwing in right and left handed normals. The dominant and the nondominant side were compared in trained and untrained persons in order to investigate motor learning effects. 2. Trained shot putters show a coordinated sequence of activation of trunk, leg and arm muscles of both sides which precedes the final arm extension. After turning the body from an initially inclined and twisted position the final arm extension transfers the force of the accelerated body mass to the shot. 3. When shot putting or throwing is performed by the nondominant arm in subjects trained for the dominant arm the coordination of the contralateral dominant arm is lacking, in contrast to the performance by the trained arm. 4. In untrained persons the shot putting is effected mainly by arm extension on either side. The preceding trunk and leg action is very incomplete and without coordination of the contralateral arm, whereas the shot putting arm shows stronger triceps brachii innervation. The distances achieved by untrained shot putters reach only one-fifth or one-third of those of highly trained persons. 5. In ball throwing the throwing arm shows final coactivation of the biceps and triceps muscles coordinated with trunk and contralateral arm movements. The distances reached by throwing with the untrained arm are about half of those of the trained dominant arm. 6. Trained sportsmen put the shot with the untrained nondominant arm to 73% of the distance achieved by the trained arm. Untrained persons, however, show an approximately equal, smaller range of shot with the dominant and nondominant arm (8% side difference). 7. A biomechanical factor causing different performances of trained and untrained persons in shot putting is the different force of the energy transferring mass: the untrained person thrusts mainly with the arm which has barely 1/20 of the mass of the whole body, used by the trained shot putter. 8. That bilateral training and not hemispheric dominance is the decisive factor producing the improved efficiency is demonstrated by three observations: a) the maximal efficiency and bilateral coordination of shot putting in trained persons, b) the lack of contralateral activation of the dominant arm in shot putting and throwing by the nondominant arm, and c) the minimal left and right side differences in performance of untrained persons.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1995

Using patient focus groups for new patient services.

BACKGROUND: This article is intended to illustrate the usefulness of patient input in the strategic planning process and to demonstrate in particular the use of focus groups in concept development, concept testing, and program evaluation. INTERACTIVE PLANNING: Three areas of patient services were designed partly on the basis of patient input. "Service Teams with Appropriate Resources" (STARs) were conceived as basic organizational units to deliver interdisciplinary care to meet the needs of specific groups of patients. A patient services "menu" was envisioned to allow the patient or caregiver to decide which service would most appropriately and efficiently meet patient needs. The "Service Expectation Program" was formulated to ease entry into the hospital by providing information on what patients should expect from the hospital experience. CONCEPT TESTING: Focus groups were used again to test and refine the concepts developed during the interactive planning stage. General themes included the need for improved communication, the desire to be treated with respect and dignity (personhood), the need for coordination across the continuum of care, and the desire for more personal choice and control. ONGOING EVALUATION: Sources of patient feedback used in the ongoing evaluation process included a patient satisfaction survey and a telephone survey. Additional focus groups and telephone surveys are planned. MANAGEMENT ISSUES: The focus group discussions with patients introduced useful data into the quality improvement and interactive planning process. Findings were disseminated to all levels of hospital management and program staff through newsletters, reports, and in-service training sessions. Data were useful in interactive planning, program concept testing, and the development and implementation of new services.

Focus Groups↗
PubMed1990

A computer program for selection of oligonucleotide primers for polymerase chain reactions.

We have designed a computer program which rapidly scans nucleic acid sequences to select all possible pairs of oligonucleotides suitable for use as primers to direct efficient DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction. This program is based on a set of rules which define in generic terms both the sequence composition of the primers and the amplified region of DNA. These rules (1) enhance primer-to-target sequence hybridization avidity at critical 3'-end extension initiation sites, (2) facilitate attainment of full length extension during the 72 degrees C phase, by minimizing generation of incomplete or nonspecific product and (3) limit primer losses occurring from primer-self or primer-primer homologies. Three examples of primer sets chosen by the program that correctly amplified the target regions starting from RNA are shown. This program should facilitate the rapid selection of effective and specific primers from long gene sequences while providing a flexible choice of various primers to focus study on particular regions of interest.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1988

Influence of food restriction coupled with weight cycling on carcass energy restoration during ad-libitum refeeding.

Mature (450 g) rats were subjected to food restriction (60 percent of usual intake) with or without weight cycling (produced by cycles of 3 days of fasting followed by 7 days of refeeding). Weight cycling did not affect body weight, body composition, or food efficiency during the restriction period. However, the group subjected to weight cycling (WC) had an elevated level of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity in the epididymal adipose tissue as compared to the group receiving a constant amount of food each day (CO). After 40 days (four 10-day cycles) of food restriction, rats were allowed ad-libitum access to a stock diet for 18 days. WC rats restored carcass energy more rapidly, with a greater food efficiency than CO rats. Carcass energy was not totally restored at the end of the 18-day period, but WC rats had regained significantly more total carcass energy and total fat-free dry weight (FFDW) than CO rats. Food intake during refeeding did not differ significantly between WC and CO rats. These results suggest that weight cycling in a food-restricted program has the potential to increase food efficiency during a subsequent refeeding period.

Adipose Tissue↗