BACKGROUND COPD is a civilization disease. It affects up to 8%-10% of population >30 years of age. Coexistence of depression occurs in 20%-40% of patients with COPD. Depression and anxiety reduce compliance and worsen prognosis. OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were to determine the degree of illness acceptance among patients with COPD, to examine the relation between disease acceptance and p...

BACKGROUND In a previous study, we reported on a successful clinical decision support (CDS) intervention designed to improve electronic problem list accuracy, but did not study variability of provider response to the intervention or provider attitudes towards it. The alert system accurately predicted missing problem list items based on health data captured in a patient's electronic medical reco...

There are many situations for statistical process in which we have both random and vagueinformation. When uncertainty is due to fuzziness of information, fuzzy statistical control charts play animportant role in the monitoring process, because they simultaneously deal with both kinds of uncertainty.Dealing with fuzzy characteristics using classical methods may cause the loss of information and ...

BACKGROUND Guidelines from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program stipulate that multicomponent self-management interventions for asthma should include a written action plan (WAP). However the specific, independent effect of WAPs in improving outcomes remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To measure the association between WAP use during the previous year and improved asthma outcomes. ME...

Editor—Clearly the editorial by Murray et al on junior doctors’ shifts has struck a chord with many, as on-call rotas are something close to many doctors hearts. 2 To most it seems the grass is not greener on the other side. Having worked most rotas, be it a traditional one in four, with full weekends, to partial, hybrid, and full shift patterns, I am in a reasonable position to comment on what...

This study is concerned with the reliability of biometric verification systems when used in forensic applications. In particular, when such systems are subjected to targeted impersonation attacks. The authors expand on the existing work in targeted impersonation, focusing on how best to measure the reliability of verification systems in forensic contexts. It identifies two scenarios in which ta...

Effective health care interventions are underutilized in the developing world, and income-related disparities in use are large. The evidence concerning this access problem is summarized and its demand side causes are identified. Broad strategies that have been proposed to tackle the access problem through changes in economic incentives are considered. It is argued that there is a need to go bey...

A theoretical framework for viewing health services utilization is presented, emphasizing the importance of the (1) characteristics of the health services delivery system, (2) changes in medical technology and social norms relating to the definition and treatment of illness, and (3) individual determinants of utilization. These three factors are specified within the context of their impact on t...