Switching to Electronic Health Record Systems: A Replication of the User Resistance Model

The purpose of this conceptual replication study is to understand the resistance construct of the User Resistance Model (URM) in the context of Health Information Technology (HIT) at an international healthcare organization. Specifically, we studied resistance towards Electronic Health Record systems (EHR). For this, the original scale items were adapted to the new context, and the model was tested with the data collected from 226 employees who work with an EHR system at a large public hospital in Amman, Jordan. Overall, the results support six of the eleven posited hypotheses. One hypothesis was contradicted, and the remaining four hypotheses were not supported. Moreover, the model fit statistics suggested that the current URM does not have a good fit. This indicates that the URM in the new context needs further investigation. We first discuss the hypotheses that are not supported or contradicted and then begin to suggest refinements to the model in an effort to improve its fit

Agenda setting and framing of gender-based violence in Nepal: how it became a health issue.

: Gender-based violence (GBV) has been addressed as a policy issue in Nepal since the mid 1990s, yet it was only in 2010 that Nepal developed a legal and policy framework to combat GBV. This article draws on the concepts of agenda setting and framing to analyse the historical processes by which GBV became legitimized as a health policy issue in Nepal and explored factors that facilitated and constrained the opening and closing of windows of opportunity. The results presented are based on a document analysis of the policy and regulatory framework around GBV in Nepal. A content analysis was undertaken. Agenda setting for GBV policies in Nepal evolved over many years and was characterized by the interplay of political context factors, actors and multiple frames. The way the issue was depicted at different times and by different actors played a key role in the delay in bringing health onto the policy agenda. Women's groups and less powerful Ministries developed gender equity and development frames, but it was only when the more powerful human rights frame was promoted by the country's new Constitution and the Office of the Prime Minister that legislation on GBV was achieved and a domestic violence bill was adopted, followed by a National Plan of Action. This eventually enabled the health frame to converge around the development of implementation policies that incorporated health service responses. Our explicit incorporation of framing within the Kindgon model has illustrated how important it is for understanding the emergence of policy issues, and the subsequent debates about their resolution. The framing of a policy problem by certain policy actors, affects the development of each of the three policy streams, and may facilitate or constrain their convergence. The concept of framing therefore lends an additional depth of understanding to the Kindgon agenda setting model.<br/

Xeroderma pigmentosa -A disfiguring disease

Abstract Xeroderma pigmentosa is a rare inherited autosomal recessive disease with the inability to repair DNA damage caused by UV light. Recognized in the late 1800 by Maritz Kaposi it has been reported world wide and in al1 races with an over prevalence of 1-4 per million population. Kunwar et all 1,2 . Those affected are extremely sensitive to the UV portion of the light and have a 2000 fold increased risk of skin cancer in the sun exposed skin. Basal cell carcinoma is the most commonly associated carcinoma followed by Squamous cell carcinoma and Melanoma. The pigmentation on the face and the rest of the body can be horribly disfiguring. The recurring cancer occurring on the face and repeated surgical treatment for the ulcerations have important social and psychological implications not encountered with other cancers 3 . We report two cases of BCC and melanoma. The first case is of BCC of the face in a teenaged girl coexisting with xeroderma pigmentosa. The second case presented with melanoma of the scalp in a 10years old female child. The details of these cases are presented and the management. Key Words: Xeroderma pigmentosa, Autosomal recessive, Basal cell carcinoma, Squamous cell carcinoma, Melanoma. nherited as an autosomal recessive trait Xeroderma pigmentosa is genetically heterogeneous with at least 7 different variants 4 . Those affected are extremely sensitive to the UV portion of light. They rapidly develop skin atrophy, splotchy pigmentation, telangiectasia and skin cancer. Case Report: 1 A 17years of age female patient who had already been diagnosed as a case of Xeroderma pigmentosa two years back had presented with history of skin pigmentation over the face, neck and the limbs for 10 years, freckles over the face and photophobia. The trunk had been spared. Ulceration 2 by 1 inch over the nasal bridge was present for two years. She gave history of similar ulcerations over the cheeks two years back which had been excised and grafting. No recurrence has occurred on these grafted areas. Biopsy report of the excised portion had revealed BCC. She also received 6-7 weeks of radiotherapy for the same. Her younger brother was unaffected with the disease though she hasn&apos;t seen him for the past two years. Local examination revealed ulcerations extending over whole of the nasal bridge and the root of the nose also involving the medial canthus with crusting and haemorrhage. She had small ulcerations on the forehead .She had two areas of previous skin graft on either cheeks. Small pustular and papular lesions over the body sparing the trunk were also seen. No significant cervical lymphadenopathy was present. Systemic examinations including neurological function were normal. All investigations with serum biochemistry were within normal limit. Management: She was managed with surgical excision of the basal cell carcinoma of the nose. Wide surgical excision of the carcinoma with the trimming of the medial nasal septum and some excision of the right alae cartilage which appeared to be involved in the ulcer. It was decided to cover the nasal defect with midline forehead flap based on the right supraorbital and supratrochlear vessels. As the skin was insufficient on the left side a small left cheek skin was added by doing a VY plasty. The forehead was having many small ulcers so the whole forehead skin was excised and a thick skin graft from the upper arm was applied

A longitudinal twin study of the association between childhood autistic traits and psychotic experiences in adolescence

- Background: This twin study investigated whether autistic traits during childhood were associated with adolescent psychotic experiences. - Methods: Data were collected from a community sample of approximately 5000 twin pairs, which included 32 individuals with diagnosed autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Parents rated autistic traits in the twins at four points between ages 8–16 years. Positive, negative, and cognitive psychotic experiences were assessed at age 16 years using self- and parent-report scales. Longitudinal twin analyses tested the associations between these measures. - Results: Autistic traits correlated weakly or nonsignificantly with positive psychotic experiences (paranoia, hallucinations, and grandiosity), and modestly with cognitive psychotic experiences (cognitive disorganisation). Higher correlations were observed for parent-rated negative symptoms and self-reported anhedonia, although the proportion of variance in both accounted for by autistic traits was low (10 and 31 %, respectively). The majority of the genetic influences on negative symptoms and anhedonia were independent of autistic traits. Additionally, individuals with ASC displayed significantly more negative symptoms, anhedonia, and cognitive disorganisation than controls. - Conclusions: Autistic traits do not appear to be strongly associated with psychotic experiences in adolescence; associations were also largely restricted to negative symptoms. Of note, the degree to which the genetic and environmental causes of autistic traits influenced psychotic experiences was limited. These findings thus support a phenotypic and etiological distinction between autistic traits and psychotic experiences

Understanding Black Males' IT Career Choices

The under-representation of Blacks in the information technology (IT) profession is a longstanding issue. The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that influence Black male college students to pursue IT careers. This paper presents the results of interviews with 27 Black males majoring in IT at a historically black university. Four themes (community encouragement, exposure to computing, hustler’s ambition, “New Black”) emerged as particularly useful for understanding IT career choice. These findings have practical implications for designing effective interventions that broaden the participation of under-represented groups in the IT workforce, as well as scholarly implications for the conduct of research on academic achievement and IT career choice of successful Black males.ye

Measurement of the B0 anti-B0 oscillation frequency using l- D*+ pairs and lepton flavor tags

The oscillation frequency Delta-md of B0 anti-B0 mixing is measured using the partially reconstructed semileptonic decay anti-B0 -> l- nubar D*+ X. The data sample was collected with the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider during 1992 - 1995 by triggering on the existence of two lepton candidates in an event, and corresponds to about 110 pb-1 of pbar p collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV. We estimate the proper decay time of the anti-B0 meson from the measured decay length and reconstructed momentum of the l- D*+ system. The charge of the lepton in the final state identifies the flavor of the anti-B0 meson at its decay. The second lepton in the event is used to infer the flavor of the anti-B0 meson at production. We measure the oscillation frequency to be Delta-md = 0.516 +/- 0.099 +0.029 -0.035 ps-1, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to Physical Review

AMCIS 2022 Awards Luncheon

This is a video recording and PDF document with the AMCIS 2022 Awards Ceremony

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

A Lipid Based Antigen Delivery System Efficiently Facilitates MHC Class-I Antigen Presentation in Dendritic Cells to Stimulate CD8+ T Cells

The most effective strategy for protection against intracellular infections such as Leishmania is vaccination with live parasites. Use of recombinant proteins avoids the risks associated with live vaccines. However, due to low immunogenicity, they fail to trigger T cell responses particularly of CD8+cells requisite for persistent immunity. Previously we showed the importance of protein entrapment in cationic liposomes and MPL as adjuvant for elicitation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses for longterm protection. In this study we investigated the role of cationic liposomes on maturation and antigen presentation capacity of dendritic cells (DCs). We observed that cationic liposomes were taken up very efficiently by DCs and transported to different cellular sites. DCs activated with liposomal rgp63 led to efficient presentation of antigen to specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, lymphoid CD8+ T cells from liposomal rgp63 immunized mice demonstrated better proliferative ability when co-cultured ex vivo with stimulated DCs. Addition of MPL to vaccine enhanced the antigen presentation by DCs and induced more efficient antigen specific CD8+ T cell responses when compared to free and liposomal ntigen. These liposomal formulations presented to CD8+ T cells through TAP-dependent MHC-I pathway offer new possibilities for a safe subunit vaccine