Two-component systems (TCS) are modular signal transduction pathways that allow cells to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions by modifying cellular physiology. Staphylococcus aureus has 16 TCSs to adapt to the diverse microenvironments encountered during its life cycle, including host tissues and implanted medical devices. S. aureus is particularly prone to cause infections associated t...

This pilot study examined whether giving stress reduction (SR) instructions to pregnant women would be effective in regulating stress, mood, and cortisol levels during pregnancy. Forty-one predominantly low-income Latina women, receiving prenatal services at a public county hospital, completed measures of stress and mood (depressive symptoms, positive and negative affect) and provided morning a...

BACKGROUND The new round of Healthcare Reform in China has implemented over 3 years since 2009, and promoted greatly the development of public county hospitals. The purpose of this study is to evaluate county hospitals efficiency before and after the healthcare reform, and further assess the reform effectiveness through the comparative analysis of the efficiency. METHODS Data envelopment anal...

OBJECTIVE To develop and test a statistical model which correctly predicts the approval of outpatient referrals when reviewed by a specialty service based on nine discriminating variables. DESIGN Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING Large public county hospital system in a southern US city. PARTICIPANTS Written documents and associated data from 500 random adult referrals made by ...

BACKGROUND The self-consciousness and practicality of preferentially prescribed essential medicines (EMs) are not high enough in county hospitals. The purposes of this study were to use the information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model to identify the predictors of essential medicines prescribing behavior (EMPB) among doctors and to examine the association between demographic variables, ...

Objective To study predictors of symptom relief six months after septoplasty using data from the Swedish National Septoplasty Register. Participants This is a retrospective register study of adult patients undergoing septoplasty in Sweden in 2003-2012. Outcome Relief of nasal symptoms was analysed in relation to age, gender, size of hospital performing the surgery, addition of turbinoplasty...

OBJECTIVES Chinese county hospitals have been excessively enlarging their scale during the healthcare reform since 2009. The purpose of this paper is to examine the technical efficiency and productivity of county hospitals during the reform process, and to determine whether, and how, efficiency is affected by various factors. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS 114 sample county hospitals were selected ...

BACKGROUND In China, public hospital reform has been underway for almost 5 years, and 311 pilot county hospitals are the current focus. This study aimed to assess the job satisfaction and active participation of medical staff in the reform. A total of 2268 medical staff members in pilot and non-pilot county hospitals in Hubei, China, were surveyed. METHODS Questionnaires were used to collect ...