Missed appointments in an adolescent outpatient clinic: descriptive analyses of consultations over 8 years.

Missed appointments represent an important medical and economical issue. Few studies on the subject are reported in the literature, particularly regarding adolescents. Our aim was to characterize missed and cancelled appointments in a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic for adolescents, to assess the effectiveness of a policy aimed at reducing missed appointments by introducing payment for those missed appointments not cancelled in advance, and to compare the rates between staff and resident physicians. A total of 32,816 consultations (representing 35 patients aged 12-20 years, 82.4% females) between 1999 and 200 were analysed. The missed appointment rate was 11.8% whilst another 10.9% were cancellations. Females cancelled more than males (11.3% vs. 8.4%, AOR 1.31, 99% CI 1.08-1.59), but there was no difference for missed appointments (11.6% vs. 12.3%, AOR 0.88, 99% CI 0.61-1.08). April and June to October (vacation months) were associated with more missed appointments. Globally mornings had higher rates of missed appointments than afternoons (13.6% vs. 11.2%, AOR 1.25, 99% CI 1.11-1.40). There was a slight difference in missed appointment rates between staff physicians and residents (10.4%; 11.8%, AOR 1.20, 99% CI 1.08-1.33). Missed appointment rates before and after the new policy on missed appointments were similar (1999-2003: 11.9%; 2004-2006: 11.6%, AOR 0.96, 99% CI 0.83-1.10). Conversely, cancellation rates increased from 8.4% (1999-2003) to 14.5% (2004-2006) (AOR 1.83, 99% CI 1.63-2.05). Attendance rates among adolescents show variations depending on vacation and school hours. Being attentive to these factors could help prevent missed appointments. Although having to pay for missed appointments does not increase attendance, it increases cancellations with the advantage that the appointment can be rescheduled.

Ecological analysis of Acari recovered from coprolites from archaeological site of Northeast Brazil

Coprolite samples of human and animal origin from the excavations performed at the archaeological site of Furna do Estrago, at Brejo da Madre de Deus in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil and sent to the Paleoparasitology Laboratory at Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública-Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, were analyzed for mites. After rehydratation and sedimentation of the coprolites, the alimentary contents and the sediments were examined and the mites collected and prepared in definitive whole mounts, using Hoyer's medium. Mites of the following suborders and orders were recovered: suborder Acaridia; order Gamasida; order Ixodida with the familiy Ixodidae (Ixodes sp. and Amblyomma sp. larvae, scutum, idiosoma, gnathosoma); order Oribatida (Aphelacarus sp., Apolohmannia sp., Eophypochthonius sp., Cosmochthonius sp., Pterobates sp., Poronoticae with pteromorphae not auriculate); order Astigmata with the families Atopomelidae (Chirodiscoides caviae), Anoetidae hypopus, Acaridae (Suidasia pontifica), Glycyphagidae (Blomia tropicalis), Pyroglyphidae (Hirstia passericola); order Actinedida with the family Tarsonemidae (Iponemus radiatae). The present work discusses the possibility of the preservation of the mite groups found up to the present day. We also discuss their relationship with the environment and their importance to present populations.

Restaurant-OnLine

Aquesta és una aplicació de comerç electrònic que, encara que no inclou la possibilitat de realitzar el pagament en línia, ofereix una alternativa a la realització de comandes a establiments de restauració. S'ha utilitzat l'arquitectura J2EE.

A Study of Food Safety Knowledge, Microbiology and Refrigeration Temperatures in Restaurant Kitchens on the Island of Ireland

A population-based telephone survey conducted in 2002 estimated that there were 3.2 million episodes of acute gastroenteritis on the island of Ireland each year (Scallon et al., 2004). It is often very dif ficult to definitively identify the source of illness. However, of the respondents in that study suspecting food as the reason for their illness, 74% blamed food consumed from commercial premises such as restaurants, cafés, takeaways, canteens and pubs. Within the food services industry, statistics show a significant level of prosecutions, prohibition and closure orders of restaurants for food hygiene offences. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has identified the main contributory factors to foodborne infections to be: cross-contamination, inadequate cooking, inadequate storage, inadequate reheating, delayed serving and infected food handlers (FSAI, 2000). Development of appropriate training and education campaigns to target problem areas requires initial understanding of the current level of food safety knowledge and practices in the food services industry.

TFCshop : botiga virtual JavaEE

L'aplicació en qüestió consisteix en un front-end web per a l'exposició al públic del catàleg de productes d'una empresa qualsevol, que permeti als clients localitzar i consultar els productes que li interessen i efectuar comandes si ho desitja.

Impact of a computerized physician order entry system on compliance with prescription accuracy requirements.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the change in non-compliant items in prescription orders following the implementation of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system named PreDiMed. SETTING: The department of internal medicine (39 and 38 beds) in two regional hospitals in Canton Vaud, Switzerland. METHOD: The prescription lines in 100 pre- and 100 post-implementation patients' files were classified according to three modes of administration (medicines for oral or other non-parenteral uses; medicines administered parenterally or via nasogastric tube; pro re nata (PRN), as needed) and analyzed for a number of relevant variables constitutive of medical prescriptions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The monitored variables depended on the pharmaceutical category and included mainly name of medicine, pharmaceutical form, posology and route of administration, diluting solution, flow rate and identification of prescriber. RESULTS: In 2,099 prescription lines, the total number of non-compliant items was 2,265 before CPOE implementation, or 1.079 non-compliant items per line. Two-thirds of these were due to missing information, and the remaining third to incomplete information. In 2,074 prescription lines post-CPOE implementation, the number of non-compliant items had decreased to 221, or 0.107 non-compliant item per line, a dramatic 10-fold decrease (chi(2) = 4615; P < 10(-6)). Limitations of the computerized system were the risk for erroneous items in some non-prefilled fields and ambiguity due to a field with doses shown on commercial products. CONCLUSION: The deployment of PreDiMed in two departments of internal medicine has led to a major improvement in formal aspects of physicians' prescriptions. Some limitations of the first version of PreDiMed were unveiled and are being corrected.

Anàlisi, disseny i implentació d'una aplicació d'automatització de la força de vendes (SFA)

En aquest treball de final de carrera s'ha desenvolupat una aplicació client PDA per a l'automatització de la força de vendes (SFA). Es tracta d'una senzilla eina de vendes que permet als comercials obtenir la llista dels seus clients i contactes, el catàleg de productes, la captura de noves comandes i la gestió de les seves visites i notes de despeses.

Gestió de comandes d'un restaurant amb .NET

El projecte Gestió de comandes d'un restaurant amb .NET consisteix en el disseny i implementació d'una solució integral per a gestionar el negoci d'un restaurant de forma completa.

MotorsJMM : Aplicació Web de Botiga Electronica

El director comercial fa ja temps que demana una web corporativa en la que els seus clients puguin consultar les característiques tècniques dels productes i puguin fer les seves comandes. A més aquesta web podria servir com aparador per nous clients i per realçar la imatge de qualitat de l'empresa.

Theoretical study of the electrostatically driven step of receptor-G protein recognition.

This study proposes a theoretical model describing the electrostatically driven step of the alpha 1 b-adrenergic receptor (AR)-G protein recognition. The comparative analysis of the structural-dynamics features of functionally different receptor forms, i.e., the wild type (ground state) and its constitutively active mutants D142A and A293E, was instrumental to gain insight on the receptor-G protein electrostatic and steric complementarity. Rigid body docking simulations between the different forms of the alpha 1 b-AR and the heterotrimeric G alpha q, G alpha s, G alpha i1, and G alpha t suggest that the cytosolic crevice shared by the active receptor and including the second and the third intracellular loops as well as the cytosolic extension of helices 5 and 6, represents the receptor surface with docking complementarity with the G protein. On the other hand, the G protein solvent-exposed portions that recognize the intracellular loops of the activated receptors are the N-terminal portion of alpha 3, alpha G, the alpha G/alpha 4 loop, alpha 4, the alpha 4/beta 6 loop, alpha 5, and the C-terminus. Docking simulations suggest that the two constitutively active mutants D142A and A293E recognize different G proteins with similar selectivity orders, i.e., G alpha q approximately equal to G alpha s > G alpha i > G alpha t. The theoretical models herein proposed might provide useful suggestions for new experiments aiming at exploring the receptor-G protein interface.

Prevenda

Aquest projecte es base en una aplicació de prevenda per terminals amb Sistema Operatiu Windows CE 4.3 i plataforma Pocket PC 2003. L'aplicació permetrà al terminal conectar-se amb un ordenador central (PC) per tal de descarregar la informació dels clients, artícles, rutes, etc. Una vegada s'hagi rebut la informació, el comercial podrà anar visitant els diferents clients seguint una ruta i introduint les comandes. En qualsevol moment del dia el comercial podrà enviar les comandes a la central mitjançant una conecció remota o bé mitjançant una comunicació directa.

Desarrollo de una tienda virtual

El projecte consisteix en la creació d'una botiga virtual de venda a l'engròs d'articles de joieria. Es tracta de dues aplicacions web: d'una banda una botiga virtual, i per un altre un administrador del site, des del qual s'administren els continguts, usuaris, etc, i a més altres aspectes importants dintre del negoci, com són la preparació de comandes, control d'estocs, etc.

Tienda virtual para una empresa de muebles de cocina

El projecte estarà dedicat a dos tipus de clients: particulars i industrials ia la gestió que s'haurà de fer dels productes oferts (altes, baixes, manteniments, etc.). El web estarà configurada en un servidor d'aplicacions i constarà de dues parts: La interfície de l'administrador per al manteniment dels clients i articles i la interfície del client que li permetrà navegar pel catàleg i així poder fer les comandes dels productes que estiguin interessats. Utilitzarem els estàndards que ofereix el mercat per al programari de servidor (JSP, Struts, J2EE, etc.).

Host and invader impact of transfer of the clc genomic island into Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

Genomic islands, large potentially mobile regions of bacterial chromosomes, are a major contributor to bacteria evolution. Here, we investigated the fitness cost and phenotypic differences between the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and a derivative carrying one integrated copy of the clc element, a 103-kb genomic island [and integrative and conjugative element (ICE)] originating in Pseudomonas sp. strain B13 and a close relative of genomic islands found in clinical and environmental isolates of P. aeruginosa. By using a combination of whole genome transcriptome profiling, phenotypic arrays, competition experiments, and biofilm formation studies, only few differences became apparent, such as reduced biofilm growth and fourfold stationary phase repression of genes involved in acetoin metabolism in PAO1 containing the clc element. In contrast, PAO1 carrying the clc element acquired the capacity to grow on 3-chlorobenzoate and 2-aminophenol as sole carbon and energy substrates. No fitness loss >1% was detectable in competition experiments between PAO1 and PAO1 carrying the clc element. The genes from the clc element were not silent in PAO1, and excision was observed, although transfer of clc from PAO1 to other recipient bacteria was reduced by two orders of magnitude. Our results indicate that newly acquired mobile DNA not necessarily invoke an important fitness cost on their host. Absence of immediate detriment to the host may have contributed to the wide distribution of genomic islands like clc in bacterial genomes

Disseny d'un sistema de gestió per a una cambra de congelació robotitzada de masses congelades.

Alguns dels grans fabricants del sector de les masses congelades fan servir robots per a l'emmagatzematge, servei i gestió dels productes de les cambres de congelació. Aquests robots només emmagatzemen i serveixen palets de caixes d'un mateix tipus de producte; així, doncs, només són útils quan el client és un gran consumidor, com un distribuïdor o una delegació, però no un petit comerç, com un restaurant o una fleca, els quals també són clients potencials del fabricant. Per tant, el problema es planteja en el moment de servir els clients que tenen problemes d'emmagatzematge, els quals es veuen obligats a fer comandes de diversos productes, que, a més, en total no fan ni de bon tros un palet sencer. A partir d'aquí la idea és dissenyar un sistema, emprant la tècnica de l'orientació a objectes (O-O), que gestioni un conjunt de robots que, a més d'emmagatzemar i gestionar una cambra de congelació, siguin capaços de servir les comandes fent una selecció de caixes de productes concrets, és a dir, les que sol·licita el client que ha fet la comanda per caixes i no per palets. Per qüestions d'organització i d'estocs, aquests robots han de ser independents dels altres, és a dir, han de treballar en una cambra independent de la dels robots que treballen per palets (actualment aquesta feina la fan treballadors dins una cambra independent de la dels robots).