Technology and health care : official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Observational StudyInfluence of spinopelvic parameters on non-operative treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.
Non-operative treatment is widely accepted for early stages of lumbar spinal stenosis. In general, a trial of conservative treatment is recommended prior to surgery. ⋯ Subjects with higher pelvic incidence reported significantly greater back pain improvements at three months follow-up. ODI improvements were higher for patients with high sacral slope immediately after treatment and for patients with a higher lumbar lordosis after three months. No influence of sagittal alignment was observed on leg pain or quality of life.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Surgery scheduling optimization considering real life constraints and comprehensive operation cost of operating room.
Operating Room (OR) is the core sector in hospital expenditure, the operation management of which involves a complete three-stage surgery flow, multiple resources, prioritization of the various surgeries, and several real-life OR constraints. As such reasonable surgery scheduling is crucial to OR management. ⋯ The nested-ACO considering real-life operation constraints such as the difference between first and following case, surgeries priority, and fixed nurses in pre/post-operative stage is proposed to solve the surgery scheduling optimization problem. The results clearly show the benefit of using the nested-ACO in enhancing the OR management efficiency and minimizing the comprehensive overall operation cost.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Comparative StudyDual small fragment plating improves screw-to-screw load sharing for mid-diaphyseal humeral fracture fixation: a finite element study.
A smaller humerus in some patients makes the use of a large fragment fixation plate difficult. Dual small fragment plate constructs have been suggested as an alternative. ⋯ The results support using a dual small fragment locking plate construct as an alternative in cases where crutch weight-bearing (compression) tolerance may be important and where anatomy limits the size of the humerus bone segment available for large fragment plate fixation.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Time trend of injection drug errors before and after implementation of bar-code verification system.
Bar-code technology, used for verification of patients and their medication, could prevent medication errors in clinical practice. ⋯ Bar-code medication administration is effective for prevention of wrong patient errors. However, ordinary bar-code verification systems are limited in their ability to prevent incorrect drug preparation in hospital wards.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
A pilot study using the XBOX Kinect for exercise conditioning in sedentary female university students.
There is little research exploring training effects of engaging in active video gaming activities. ⋯ Engaging in dancing using dance videogames can lead to improved cardiovascular conditioning and flexibility in sedentary female university students.