Transcending telemedicine: exploring telemedicine adoption perspectives of physicians

Telemedicine has become indispensable in contemporary healthcare, reshaping patient care worldwide. The utilization of it has significantly risen in the Philippines, particularly during the pandemic, mirroring a global trend. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of studies regarding its pragmatic implementation among Filipino physicians, a crucial aspect for enhancing healthcare delivery. A qualitative analysis utilized in-depth interviews with experienced physicians in the Philippines. The researchers employed an inductive methodology to investigate how 13 physicians integrate telemedicine into their private medical practices. The selection of participants was purposeful, specifically targeting physicians with more than two years of experience in telemedicine. The qualitative data collected was subjected to a rigorous thematic analysis, comprehensively examining the current telemedicine integration situations. The examination of the data indicated a central theme: ‘Transcending Telemedicine’, emphasizing its influence that goes beyond being a mere technological tool. It overcomes time, space, and geography constraints, enhancing physicians’ ability to serve patients. There are four subcategories connected that contribute to or hinder the achievement of this goal: factors influencing adoption and factors influencing implementation and responses and reactions to telemedicine adoption. This paper contributes to the general understanding of telemedicine’s function in healthcare, specifically in the setting of a developing country. It emphasizes the necessity for continuous support and adjustment to maximize its benefits

Using Caregiver Strain to Predict Participation in a Peer-Support Intervention for Parents of Children With Emotional or Behavioral Needs

Children receiving services for severe emotional and behavioral difficulties are less likely to have parents who are involved in their education and support services. Peer-to-peer family support programs are one approach to increasing the self-efficacy and empowerment of parents’ engagement in the treatment of a child’s mental health conditions. Furthermore, programs providing parental support may reduce the strain and negative consequences caregivers may experience due to the stress of caring for a child with emotional and behavioral needs. Although much is known about the relation between caregivers’ strain and children’s use of mental health services, less is known about caregiver strain and parents’ participation in family support programs. This study evaluated whether caregiver strain predicted parents’ (N = 52) participation in a phone-based, peer-to-peer support intervention. Results of the regression analysis indicated that highly strained parents participated in four to seven more phone conversations over the course of intervention, which occurred across the academic year. Therefore, findings have implications for the school and mental health providers aiming to increase the involvement of parents of children with emotional and behavioral disorders

Using Caregiver Strain to Predict Participation in a Peer-Support Intervention for Parents of Children With Emotional or Behavioral Needs

Children receiving services for severe emotional and behavioral difficulties are less likely to have parents who are involved in their education and support services. Peer-to-peer family support programs are one approach to increasing the self-efficacy and empowerment of parents’ engagement in the treatment of a child’s mental health conditions. Furthermore, programs providing parental support may reduce the strain and negative consequences caregivers may experience due to the stress of caring for a child with emotional and behavioral needs. Although much is known about the relation between caregivers’ strain and children’s use of mental health services, less is known about caregiver strain and parents’ participation in family support programs. This study evaluated whether caregiver strain predicted parents’ (N = 52) participation in a phone-based, peer-to-peer support intervention. Results of the regression analysis indicated that highly strained parents participated in four to seven more phone conversations over the course of intervention, which occurred across the academic year. Therefore, findings have implications for the school and mental health providers aiming to increase the involvement of parents of children with emotional and behavioral disorders

Variability in the Persistence of Women in Computing

This study examines the variability of women’s persistence in various information technology (IT) roles among sample respondents while presenting how organizational policies can complement Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 5—gender equality. The study gathers a range of experiences and challenges through semi-structured interviews with 13 women in technology. The thematic analysis was carried out in iterative stages using the Saturate application for collaborative data coding. The results show that persistence is facilitated by the following elements: existence needs, which are met by a competitive salary and strong family ties; relationship needs, which are met by a favorable organizational climate, social relations at work, recognition of the quality of one’s own work, and gender equality; and growth needs, which are met by development and stimulation. Effective pedagogy plays a key role in encouraging women’s interest and skills in computing, starting early with mentoring and incorporating gender-sensitive teaching practices. The long-term involvement of women in the IT industry can be supported by comprehensive organizational strategies and educational reforms, which also emphasize the need for constant improvements to remove barriers

Rapid automatic segmentation of abnormal tissue in late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance images for improved management of long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder. In order for late Gd enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance (LGE CMR) to ameliorate the AF management, the ready availability of the accurate enhancement segmentation is required. However, the computer-aided segmentation of enhancement in LGE CMR of AF is still an open question. Additionally, the number of centres that have reported successful application of LGE CMR to guide clinical AF strategies remains low, while the debate on LGE CMR’s diagnostic ability for AF still holds. The aim of this study is to propose a method that reliably distinguishes enhanced (abnormal) from non-enhanced (healthy) tissue within the left atrial wall of (pre-ablation and 3 months post-ablation) LGE CMR data-sets from long-standing persistent AF patients studied at our centre. Methods: Enhancement segmentation was achieved by employing thresholds benchmarked against the statistics of the whole left atrial blood-pool (LABP). The test-set cross-validation mechanism was applied to determine the input feature representation and algorithm that best predict enhancement threshold levels. Results: Global normalized intensity threshold levels T PRE = 1 1/4 and T POST = 1 5/8 were found to segment enhancement in data-sets acquired pre-ablation and at 3 months post-ablation, respectively. The segmentation results were corroborated by using visual inspection of LGE CMR brightness levels and one endocardial bipolar voltage map. The measured extent of pre-ablation fibrosis fell within the normal range for the specific arrhythmia phenotype. 3D volume renderings of segmented post-ablation enhancement emulated the expected ablation lesion patterns. By comparing our technique with other related approaches that proposed different threshold levels (although they also relied on reference regions from within the LABP) for segmenting enhancement in LGE CMR data-sets of AF patients, we illustrated that the cut-off levels employed by other centres may not be usable for clinical studies performed in our centre. Conclusions: The proposed technique has great potential for successful employment in the AF management within our centre. It provides a highly desirable validation of the LGE CMR technique for AF studies. Inter-centre differences in the CMR acquisition protocol and image analysis strategy inevitably impede the selection of a universally optimal algorithm for segmentation of enhancement in AF studies

Students at Enrollment Into CommunityBased Systems of Care: Characteristics and Predictors of Functioning in School

Community-based systems of care (SOC) provide a range of services to students with significant emotional and behavioral difficulties and their families. However, little is known about the educational characteristics and functioning of students at enrollment in SOC. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous research by examining the educational characteristics and predictors of school functioning for students referred to SOC using a large and diverse national data source. Participants were 5,628 students ages 6 to 18 years who were enrolled in community-based SOC across 45 U.S. states, districts, and territories. Students’ grades, discipline, and attendance (as reported by caregivers) were used as indicators of school functioning, and students’ demographic characteristics, referral source, and emotional/behavioral functioning were used to predict functioning in school, including the testing of interaction effects. Findings revealed that, although many students earned average grades, a large portion of students had significant discipline and attendance problems. Results of the ordinal regression analyses indicated that most demographic variables and measures of clinical functioning significantly predicted students’ grades, attendance, and discipline, and that age and special education status represented a significant interaction. Findings provide insight into the educational functioning of students at enrollment in community-based SOC and have implications for research and practice

Clinical PhD Graduate Student Views of Their Scientist-Practitioner Training

Objectives: The goal of the scientist-practitioner (S-P) training model is to produce clinical psycholo-gists equipped to integrate and utilize both science and practice in the clinical and research domains. However, much has been written regarding the possible shortcomings of S-P training and whether clinical psychology graduate students are actually gaining the knowledge and skills to integrate sci-ence and practice during graduate training and beyond (Chang, Lee, & Hargreaves, 2008; Gelso, 2006; Merlo, Collins, & Bernstein, 2008; Phillips, 1993). Methods: As such, the present study assessed ratings of satisfaction, perception of ability, and use of the S-P training model within 653 clinical psychology graduate students enrolled in programs that are members of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology. Results: Findings suggest that students are consistently trained in the integration of science and practice and have confidence in their abilities to apply the S-P integra-tion to research and clinical work. However, despite understanding the ways in which science can influence practice, over one third of students reported that they rarely use science-based decisions when informing clients of the clinical services they will be providing. Conclusions: The implications of these results support the need for a more detailed evaluation of clinical psychology graduate stu-dents as well as the use of research-informed practice and the process of providing clients with in-formation they need to make informed choices about treatment

Arabidopsis MSL10 Has a Regulated Cell Death Signaling Activity That Is Separable from Its Mechanosensitive Ion Channel Activity

Members of the MscS superfamily of mechanosensitive ion channels function as osmotic safety valves, releasing osmolytes under increased membrane tension. MscS homologs exhibit diverse topology and domain structure, and it has been proposed that the more complex members of the family might have novel regulatory mechanisms or molecular functions. Here, we present a study of MscS-Like (MSL)10 from Arabidopsis thaliana that supports these ideas. High-level expression of MSL10-GFP in Arabidopsis induced small stature, hydrogen peroxide accumulation, ectopic cell death, and reactive oxygen species- and cell death-associated gene expression. Phosphomimetic mutations in the MSL10 N-terminal domain prevented these phenotypes. The phosphorylation state of MSL10 also regulated its ability to induce cell death when transiently expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves but did not affect subcellular localization, assembly, or channel behavior. Finally, the N-terminal domain of MSL10 was sufficient to induce cell death in tobacco, independent of phosphorylation state. We conclude that the plant-specific N-terminal domain of MSL10 is capable of inducing cell death, this activity is regulated by phosphorylation, and MSL10 has two separable activities-one as an ion channel and one as an inducer of cell death. These findings further our understanding of the evolution and significance of mechanosensitive ion channels

Four-Gene Pan-African Blood Signature Predicts Progression to Tuberculosis.

Rationale: Contacts of patients with tuberculosis (TB) constitute an important target population for preventive measures because they are at high risk of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and progression to disease.Objectives: We investigated biosignatures with predictive ability for incident TB.Methods: In a case-control study nested within the Grand Challenges 6-74 longitudinal HIV-negative African cohort of exposed household contacts, we employed RNA sequencing, PCR, and the pair ratio algorithm in a training/test set approach. Overall, 79 progressors who developed TB between 3 and 24 months after diagnosis of index case and 328 matched nonprogressors who remained healthy during 24 months of follow-up were investigated.Measurements and Main Results: A four-transcript signature derived from samples in a South African and Gambian training set predicted progression up to two years before onset of disease in blinded test set samples from South Africa, the Gambia, and Ethiopia with little population-associated variability, and it was also validated in an external cohort of South African adolescents with latent M. tuberculosis infection. By contrast, published diagnostic or prognostic TB signatures were predicted in samples from some but not all three countries, indicating site-specific variability. Post hoc meta-analysis identified a single gene pair, C1QC/TRAV27 (complement C1q C-chain / T-cell receptor-α variable gene 27) that would consistently predict TB progression in household contacts from multiple African sites but not in infected adolescents without known recent exposure events.Conclusions: Collectively, we developed a simple whole blood-based PCR test to predict TB in recently exposed household contacts from diverse African populations. This test has potential for implementation in national TB contact investigation programs