Study aims. The aim of this part of the study was to evaluate the intra- and inter-rater agreement of CT for quantifying VC and to examine the test-retest reproducibility of three scoring methods, including the Agatston, modified Agatston and volume scores, for quantifying VC in multiple large vessels using CT. The use of moderate dose, non-contrast CT may provide a reliable method for quantifying VC within the AA and at other vascular sites for use in future research studies. Furthermore, the current study also examined the intra- and inter- rater agreement and test-retest reproducibility of lateral VFA for quantifying AAC using the previously validated 24-point and 8-point scoring methods. Results from this part of the study provide valuable data for assessing the potential role of lateral VFA scan images as a quick and simple method of assessing AC in women with low BMD and OP in both research studies and routine clinical practice.
Study aims. List study aims relevant to the manuscript. If the manuscript does not fall under a specific aim, or the aims have changed since the study started, please describe these differences and any related input from ADVANCE.
Study aims. This study further investigates methods to estimate state-level healthcare costs of falls in older adults. The primary aim is to estimate direct medical costs using two different methods, compare the estimates, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each. The methods will include: 1. the partial attributable fraction method which applies the national fraction of healthcare spending attributable to older adult falls to the state annual health expenditures by payer, and 2. the count applied to cost method which uses counts of fall injures from SID and SEDD databases with WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports. The end result of this study is to provide assistance to states in estimating the economic burden of older adult falls.
Study aims. This current study was undertaken with the intent of exploring whether the level of a clinician’s training and experience affected the levels of agreement between palliative care practitioners when they were asked to report their assessments of the amount of faecal shadowing visible on plain abdominal radiographs. Patients and Methods
Study aims. In the United States, PLH are subjected to significantly higher rates of trauma (both violent and nonviolent forms). Exposure to traumatic life events predicts mental disorders, medical morbidity, diminished adherence to HIV care, increases healthcare costs, and reduces the overall quality of life for PLH. Trauma informed care seeks to incorporate better management of patients whom experienced trauma in order to encourage better health care outcomes. The barriers to HIV care adherence have been thoroughly vetted, however, barriers to incorporating TIC from the staff and providers perspective have been overlooked. This research aims to inform public health efforts to integrate trauma informed care into HIV treatment center operations. Using an exploratory mixed methods study design, we seek to assess TIC at a large comprehensive Xxxx Xxxxx funded treatment center describing the following research objectives across the 8 SAMSHA identified TIC domains:
Study aims. The purpose of the report is to provide evidence that can help inform discussion of the possible introduction of exemptions from the provisions of the Fourth Accounting Directive for a category of ‘micro entities’, as prompted by the European Commission’s Communication on a simplified business environment for companies in the areas of company law, accounting and auditing. The specific aims of the study were to provide: • Detailed statistical information about the number and size distribution of enterprises in a representative sample of 10 Member States; • Estimations of the effects of differing thresholds in respect of number of employees, turnover and balance sheet totals; • An analysis of administrative costs and of projected reductions arising with differing thresholds for micro entities in relation to the general situation of enterprises, on the basis of the estimates of compliance costs made in an earlier study; • A brief outline of the current use of the category of ‘micro entity’ in the EU Member States. The study collected data from the following Member States: • Larger states: Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK; • Medium size states: Denmark, Hungary, Portugal; • Smaller states: Lithuania, Luxembourg. An important distinction in the analysis is that between the data collected on ‘companies’ - those business entities of a legal form covered by the provisions of the Fourth Accounting Directive - and ‘enterprises’ – the wider group of business entities of any legal form. ‘Companies’ – business entities of the form covered by the Fourth Directive – account for about one quarter of all ‘enterprises’. Notes are provided on further statistical definitions and some of the associated problems. We believe that the data published for the first time in this report provide the best basis for making the required judgements on threshold levels.
Study aims. The primary goals of this study were to (1) evaluate prior antibiotic use as a risk factor for AGE among children, specifically that caused by norovirus or rotavirus and (2) assess the association between prior antibiotic use and the severity of acute gastroenteritis among children. Through this study, we sought to gain a better understanding of the role the intestinal microbiota plays in acute gastroenteritis among children, specifically that caused by norovirus or rotavirus. This study used data from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN), specifically from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine site from December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2015. Chapter II: Manuscript Abstract Background: Among children under 5 years of age in the U.S., acute gastroenteritis (AGE) accounts for >1.5 million outpatient visits, 200,000 hospitalizations and approximately 300 deaths each year. Most AGE in children is caused by viruses, with norovirus and rotavirus being the most prevalent pathogens. Despite growing biologic evidence that the intestinal microbiota is involved in norovirus and rotavirus infections, there is a lack of epidemiologic studies which evaluate the relationship between antibiotic use and AGE caused by these pathogens. Methods: We analyzed AGE cases and healthy controls from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine site of the New Vaccine Surveillance Network from December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2015. Four outcome groups were defined: overall AGE, norovirus-associated AGE, rotavirus-associated AGE, and non-norovirus/non-rotavirus AGE. Multiple logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between prior antibiotic use and the four AGE outcomes as well as with AGE severity. Results: The percentage of patients with reported antibiotic use in the 3 months prior to enrollment was similar across the four AGE outcomes (overall: 21.1%, norovirus-associated: 23.4%, rotavirus-associated: 26.0%, and non-norovirus/non-rotavirus: 22.2%), and was higher than reported among healthy controls (9.4%). Compared to healthy controls, overall AGE cases were 4.1 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.6, 10.3) times more likely to have antibiotic use in the 3 weeks prior to enrollment and 2.7 (95% CI: 1.7, 4.3) times more likely to have antibiotic use within 3 months prior to enrollment. Similar results were found for the other specific AGE outcomes. For the overall AGE group, the odds of antibiotic use in the 3 months prior to illness onset was 4.4 (95...
Study aims. The aims of this study are to: • Provide a legal inventory of reserves of activities linked to professional qualifications in 3 sectors (construction, business services, tourism) and 13 EU Member States; • Provide an assessment of the economic impacts of reserves of activities linked to the possession of specific professional qualifications in the above sectors. There are currently about 800 different regulated professions in the European Union (EU) that have been reserved to individual professionals and to service providers holding specific qualifications. The reserve of activities to holders of a specific professional qualification has been frequently mentioned as a barrier to the effective functioning of the Single Market in the provision of cross-border services, notably between Member States in which professions are, and are not, regulated. Indeed, many service activities are regulated in only a few Member States, and some are regulated in only a single Member State. The Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) enables professionals willing to establish or provide services in another Member State to ask for the recognition of their professional qualifications. However, in practice, the presence of a reserve of activities linked to a specific qualification can constitute an obstacle to the free movement of professionals in instances in which a professional moves from a Member State in which the profession is not regulated to another in which it is regulated. Examples in this regard are provided in the report. Generally, different reasons of general interest justify the reserves of activities to particular professions: • Consumer protection – ensuring high quality of services / preventing low quality professionals from providing services. Reserves of activities are also used in overcoming information asymmetries (i.e. some professional services require a high level of technical knowledge and consumers may find it difficult to judge the quality of services being provided). • Public good – some sectors or services may be seen as important for the national interest with an attendant need to ensure high standards of service provision. Also, the protection of the independence of the exercise of a given activity. • Health and safety– ensuring occupational health and safety for workers and that service recipients are adequately protected (including risks to third parties). The reservation of a particular task or service activity to a regulated profes...
Study aims. 1.7.1 This study will be taken forward in the context of the Strategic Development Plan, the Regional Transport Strategy and the Strategic Infrastructure Plan. Underneath these strategic documents, sit a range of local plans and more detailed action plans which are also of relevance, including Local Development Plans and Local Transport Strategies of the two councils as well as the Nestrans Rail Action Plan, Bus Action Plan, Health and Transport Action Plan, Active Travel Action Plan, City Centre Masterplan and Roads Hierarchy, links to which can be found on the Council and Nestrans websites respectively.
Study aims. The existing literature suggests that emotion regulation plays an important role in psychopathology in general, particularly in relation to difficulties with affect and impulse control arising in the context of a trauma history, and in psychosis in particular. Importantly, although both trauma and affective disturbance are associated with psychosis and psychotic-like experiences (e.g. paranoia) in adults, the literature indicates that ER has an independent association, suggesting it may form an additional and separate target for therapeutic intervention. Both affective disturbance and adverse or traumatic life events are associated with PLE severity in young people, and ER is hypothesized to mediate the impact of adversity and trauma history (constituting disruptions to attachment) on subsequent psychopathology. However little is known about the particular strategies characterizing ER in adolescents, whether ER has a similar independent relationship with adolescent PLEs as with adult psychosis, and whether or not ER predicts clinical outcomes. The current study was designed to investigate ER in an adolescent inpatient sample to:
