Rapid access to medical treatment is a key determinant of outcomes for cardiovascular events. Emergency medical services (EMS) play an important role in delivering early treatment for acute cardiovascular events. Attention has increased on the potential for EMS data to contribute to our understanding of prehospital treatment. Maine recently began to explore the possible role of EMS data in card...

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In recent years, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) has caused major epidemics, which has been a burden to North America's swine industry. Low infectious dose and high viability in the environment are major challenges in eradication of this virus. To further understand the viability of PEDv in the infected manure, we longitudinally monitored survivability and infectivity of PEDv in two open...

BACKGROUND Differences in activation of emergency medical services (EMS) may contribute to racial/ethnic and sex disparities in stroke outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether EMS use varied by race/ethnicity and sex among a current, diverse national sample of hospitalized acute stroke patients. METHODS AND RESULTS We analyzed data from 398,798 stroke patients admitted to ...

BACKGROUND Accurate recognition of stroke symptoms by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is necessary for timely care of acute stroke patients. We assessed the accuracy of stroke diagnosis by EMS in clinical practice in a major US city. METHODS AND RESULTS Philadelphia Fire Department data were merged with data from a single comprehensive stroke center to identify patients diagnosed with stroke...

INTRODUCTION Several initiatives aiming to improve retention and adherence in Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs include "expert mothers" (EMs) as a central tenet of their interventions. This article compares the role of EMs in 3 implementation research studies examining approaches for improving retention in care among mothers living with HIV. METHODS We compar...

INTRODUCTION Workplace attitude, beliefs, and culture may impact the safety of patient care. This study characterized perceptions of safety culture in a nationwide sample of emergency medical services (EMS) agencies. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional survey involving 61 advanced life support EMS agencies in North America. We administered a modified version of the Safety Attitudes Questio...

The ems/Emx genes encode homeodomain transcription factors that have conserved actions in anterior embryonic patterning in bilaterian animals ranging from insects to mammals. Recently, genes of the ems/Emx family have been identified in cnidarians raising the possibility that some of their developmental functions might be conserved throughout the Eumetazoa. To determine to what extent functions...