Optical Properties and Applications of Photonic Shells.

Uniformly sized cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) shells are fabricated from a reactive CLC mesogen mixture via a microfluidic method with a fine-tuned density of the inner phase of the CLC shell by controlling the mixing ratio of glycerol and water. The solid-state CLC (CLCsolid) shell is obtained after UV curing and chiral-dopant extraction. Stable CLCsolid shells are obtained when the density of the inner phase is comparable to that of the CLC shell during UV curing. The CLCsolid shells display three modes of reflection patterns: central reflection ( Rcent), cross-communications among adjacent CLC shells ( Rcomm), and reflection within the shell interior ( Rin). The three different modes of reflection of the CLCsolid shells are utilized for solvent sensors, anti-counterfeiting patches, and labeled templates for monodispersed droplets using their characteristics of differing swellings of CLCsolid shells in different organic solvents, the complexity of the Rcent, Rcomm, and Rin patterns, and the pores formed in the CLCsolid after chiral-dopant extraction, respectively. Thus, CLCsolid shells have intriguing photonic properties and can be applied in many different fields, which have previously not been explored with liquid crystal-state CLC shells.

Randomized controlled trial of a personalized cellular phone reminder system to enhance adherence to antiretroviral therapy.

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) represents one of the strongest predictors of progression to AIDS, yet it is difficult for most patients to sustain high levels of adherence. This study compares the efficacy of a personalized cell phone reminder system (ARemind) in enhancing adherence to ART versus a beeper. Twenty-three HIV-infected subjects on ART with self-reported adherence less than 85% were randomized to a cellular phone (CP) or beeper (BP). CP subjects received personalized text messages daily; in contrast, BP subjects received a reminder beep at the time of dosing. Interviews were scheduled at weeks 3 and 6. Adherence to ART was measured by self-report (SR, 7-day recall), pill count (PC, past 30 days at baseline, then past 3 weeks), Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS; cumulatively at 3 and 6 weeks), and via a composite adherence score constructed by combining MEMS, pill count, and self report. A mixed effects model adjusting for baseline adherence was used to compare adherence rates between the intervention groups at 3 and 6 weeks. Nineteen subjects completed all visits, 10 men and 9 females. The mean age was 42.7 ± 6.5 years, 37% of subjects were Caucasian and 89% acquired HIV heterosexually. The average adherence to ART was 79% by SR and 65% by PC at baseline in both arms; over 6 weeks adherence increased and remained significantly higher in the ARemind group using multiple measures of adherence. A larger and longer prospective study is needed to confirm these findings and to better understand optimal reminder messages and user fatigue.

A standardised pre-hospital electronic patient care system.

This paper describes the design, development and testing of a pre-hospital documentation and patient monitoring application called iRevive. The application utilises a sensor gateway and data mediator to enable semantic interoperability with a wide variety of medical devices and applications. Initial test results indicate that complete and consistent pre-hospital Electronic Medical Records (EMR) can be semantically exchanged with two heterogeneous, in-hospital IT applications.

An intelligent pre-hospital patient care system.

iRevive is a sensor-supported, pre-hospital patient care system for the capture and transmittal of electronic patient data from the field to hospitals. It is being developed by 10Blade and Boston MedFlight. iRevive takes advantage of emerging technologies to offer a robust, flexible, and extensible IT infrastructure for patient data collection.

A mobile trauma database with charge capture.

BACKGROUND: Charge capture plays an important role in every surgical practice. We have developed and merged a custom mobile database (DB) system with our trauma registry (TRACS), to better understand our billing methods, revenue generators, and areas for improved revenue capture. METHODS: The mobile database runs on handheld devices using the Windows Compact Edition platform. The front end was written in C# and the back end is SQL. The mobile database operates as a thick client; it includes active and inactive patient lists, billing screens, hot pick lists, and Current Procedural Terminology and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code sets. Microsoft Information Internet Server provides secure data transaction services between the back ends stored on each device. Traditional, hand written billing information for three of five adult trauma surgeons was averaged over a 5-month period. Electronic billing information was then collected over a 3-month period using handheld devices and the subject software application. One surgeon used the software for all 3 months, and two surgeons used it for the latter 2 months of the electronic data collection period. This electronic billing information was combined with TRACS data to determine the clinical characteristics of the trauma patients who were and were not captured using the mobile database. RESULTS: Total charges increased by 135%, 148%, and 228% for each of the three trauma surgeons who used the mobile DB application. The majority of additional charges were for evaluation and management services. Patients who were captured and billed at the point of care using the mobile DB had higher Injury Severity Scores, were more likely to undergo an operative procedure, and had longer lengths of stay compared with those who were not captured. CONCLUSION: Total charges more than doubled using a mobile database to bill at the point of care. A subsequent comparison of TRACS data with billing information revealed a large amount of uncaptured patient revenue. Greater familiarity and broader use of mobile database technology holds the potential for even greater revenue capture.