Plos One
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. There is evidence to support a connection between COPD and diabetes mellitus (DM), another common medical disorder. However, additional research is required to improve our knowledge of these relationships and their possible implications. In this study, we investigated the impact of DM on patient outcomes through the clinical course of COPD. ⋯ DM, either pre-existing or incident, was associated with worse outcomes in COPD patients. Targeted surveillance and management of DM may be important in clinical care of the COPD population.
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For the purpose of providing excellent patient care, residents need to be strong, effective leaders. The lack of clinical leadership is alarming given the detrimental effects on patient safety. The objective of the study was to assess whether a leadership training addressing transactional and transformational leadership enhances leadership skills in residents. ⋯ These findings support the use of the transactional and transformational leadership framework for graduate leadership training. Future studies should incorporate time-latent post-tests, evaluating the stability of the behavioral performance increase.
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This study examined predictors of the development of Wikipedia articles that deal with controversial issues. We chose a corpus of articles in the German-language version of Wikipedia about alternative medicine as a representative controversial issue. We extracted edits made until March 2013 and categorized them using a supervised machine learning setup as either being pro conventional medicine, pro alternative medicine, or neutral. ⋯ We also found a positive effect of the number of authors and of the authors' heterogeneity on articles' balance. However, while the effect of the number of authors was reserved to pro-conventional medicine articles, the authors' heterogenity effect was restricted to pro-alternative medicine articles. Finally, we found a negative effect of incongruity between authors' and articles' perspectives that was pronounced for the pro-alternative medicine articles.
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Epidemiologic findings of low-volume alcohol consumption in relation to gastrointestinal cancers including gastric cancer are inconsistent. ⋯ Light drinking including even one alcoholic drink a day is associated with increased risks of esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancer.
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded access to health insurance for millions of Americans, but the impact of Medicaid expansion on healthcare delivery and utilization remains uncertain. ⋯ We observed a significant shift in payer for ED visits and hospitalizations after Medicaid expansion in California without a significant change in top diagnoses or overall rate of these ED visits and hospitalizations. There appears to be a shift in reimbursement burden from patients and hospitals to the government without a dramatic shift in patterns of ED or hospital utilization.