Readmission discount factors in program evaluation. An output value analysis of an adult psychiatry program

The application of output value analysis, a type of benefit/cost analysis, to a psychiatric patient population is reported. A method for discounting the value of the program if a patient was readmitted within a year after discharge was introduced. The application of this discount factor reduces the value produced by the program and thereby reduces both productivity and effectiveness indices. When applied to groups known to differ in readmission rates, such as first admissions and readmissions or voluntary and involuntary admissions, the discount factor can accentuate group differences markedly. When selected diagnostic groups were compared, the discount factor could even reverse the relative standing of the groups.     

Cytogenetic studies of the Australian rodent, Uromys caudimaculatus, a species showing extensive heterochromatin variation

The Australian rodent, Uromys caudimaculatus, consists of two chromosome races. a) The Southern Race is characterized by the possession of two to twelve B-chromosomes. These vary considerably in size, morphology, and C- and G-banding characteristics, they behave as univalent at meiosis and are inherited in a random manner. b) The Northern Race lacks B-chromosomes, but possesses large blocks of distal C-positive heterochromatin on between 18 and 28 of the 46 chromosomes. The C-blocks may be entirely G-positive entirely G-negative, or G-banded, suggesting heterogeneity with the C-blocks. There is extensive variation both between and within populations of the northern race in the number and size of the distal heterochromatic blocks. There is no apparent difference between the races in chiasma frequency. The northern race does have much higher proportion of interstitial versus distal chiasmata, although it is probable that this is merely a reflection of lack of crossing over in the heterochromatic blocks rather than an actual shift of chiasma localisation within the euchromatin. Despite the extensive differences between the races in the amount and organization of constitutive heterochromatin, hybrids show no abnormalities at meiosis and they are fully fertile.     

Investigation of the piroxicam/hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complexation by means of a supercritical solvent in the presence of auxiliary agents

The complexation of piroxicam and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin by means of supercritical CO₂ has been investigated. The experiments were carried out by varying the temperature, pressure and contact time and introducing two different auxiliary agents: polyvinyl pyrrolidone or l-lysine.Cyclodextrins, which are widely used to solubilize a large variety of poorly soluble drugs, are often used in combination with some auxiliary agents to enhance the complexation efficiency of the conventional techniques. While many recent literature works report that supercritical carbon dioxide is a clean, non-toxic alternative to organic solvents, the use of auxiliary agents in the supercritical complexation process has been scarcely examined and still needs to be investigated.The inclusion complexes obtained in this work were analysed by means of the ‘differential solubility method’, differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the supercritical treatment could be successfully employed below 140-150 °C without incurring thermal degradation of the samples. While 66% inclusion efficiency could be obtained at 140 °C and 30 MPa for a mixture of piroxicam/2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (1:2 molar ratio), higher percentages of complexation (95% in the ternary samples with polyvinyl pyrrolidone and 89-91% in those with l-lysine) could be obtained at a lower temperature (130 °C) when auxiliary agents were employed.     

Deductive verification of alternating systems

Alternating systems are models of computer programs whose behavior is governed by the actions of multiple agents with, potentially, different goals. Examples include control systems, resource schedulers, security protocols, auctions and election mechanisms. Proving properties about such systems has emerged as an important new area of study in formal verification, with the development of logical frameworks such as the alternating temporal logic ATL*. Techniques for model checking ATL* over finite-state systems have been well studied, but many important systems are infinite-state and thus their verification requires, either explicitly or implicitly, some form of deductive reasoning. This paper presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of alternating infinite-state systems. It describes models of computation, of various degrees of generality, and alternating-time logics such as ATL* and its variations. It then develops a proof system that allows to prove arbitrary ATL* properties over these infinite-state models. The proof system is shown to be complete relative to validities in the weakest possible assertion language. The paper then derives auxiliary proof rules and verification diagrams techniques and applies them to security protocols, deriving a new formal proof of fairness of a multi-party contract signing protocol where the model of the protocol and of the properties contains both game-theoretic and infinite-state (parameterized) aspects.     

An EPQ model with promotional demand in random planning horizon: population varying genetic algorithm approach

One of the economic production quantity problems that have been of interest to researchers is the production with reworking of the imperfect items including waste most disposal form and vending the units. The available models in the literature assumed that the decay rate of the items is satisfied from three different points of view: (i) minimum demands of the customer’s requirement, (ii) demands to be enhanced for lower selling price and (iii) demands of the customers who are motivated by the advertisement. The model is developed over a finite random planning horizon, which is assumed to follow the exponential distribution with known parameters. The model has been illustrated with a numerical example, whose parametric inputs are estimated from market survey. Here the model is optimized by using a population varying genetic algorithm.     

Coexpression of Bcl-2, c-Myc, and p53 oncoproteins as prognostic discriminants in patients with colorectal carcinoma

Lanepitant is a high-affinity, selective neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1) and is effective in the dural inflammation model of acute migraine. Lanepitant 30, 80, and 240 mg given orally was evaluated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study to determine its effect in reducing migraine pain and severity of associated symptoms. Outpatients treated four migraine headaches of moderate or severe pain intensity with study drug according to a randomization schedule. They recorded their pain intensity and severity of migraine-associated symptoms at 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. Although 53 patients were randomly allocated to a treatment sequence, only 40 patients completed all treatments. There was no statistically significant difference in improvement in migraine pain at any time for any of the treatments. Additionally, there was no change in severity of migraine-associated symptoms associated with lanepitant therapy. No adverse events could be attributed to lanepitant. Lanepitant was ineffective orally in treating acute migraine in this trial. This may be due to poor bioavailability during a migraine attack. Alternatively, the neurogenic inflammation hypothesis may not apply to migraine.     

Reproductive senescence predicts cognitive decline in aged female monkeys

The present investigation provide evidences from a non-human primate model that naturally occurring menopause predicts a prominent signature of age-related cognitive decline. Young and aged rhesus monkeys were tested on a delayed response (DR) task known to the sensitive to aging, and reproductive status was evaluated according to menstrual cyclicity and urinary hormone profiles. Peri-/postmenopausal monkeys exhibited significant DR impairments relative to either age-matched premenopausal females, or young control subjects. In addition, markers of endocrine decline in the aged animals were selectively correlated with behavioral performance measures that distinguished premenopausal and peri-/postmenopausal monkeys. These results document that menopause is coupled to cognitive decline in the monkey, and they establish a valuable primate model for defining the effects of endocrine aging on brain and behavioral function.