A Soft Sensor for Bleeding Detection in Colonoscopies.

Colonoscopies allow surgeons to detect common diseases i.e. colorectal cancer, ulcers and other ailments. However, there is a risk of bleeding in the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract while maneuvering endoscopes. This may be due to perforations, hemorrhaging, polyps, diverticuli or post-biopsy complications. Thus, it is essential for the surgeon to be able to detect bleeding at the site and evaluate the severity of blood leakage. This paper presents a soft sensor that can detect the presence of blood at the bleeding site during colonoscopies. The sensor consists of optical waveguides that interface with a microfluidic channel. Blood flow causes absorption and scattering of incident light that can be picked up by the optical sensing apparatus via light transmission through the waveguide. The surgeon can be alerted when bleeding occurs through a graphical user interface. The device is compact and measures only 1 mm thick. This allows the sensor to be circumferentially mounted onto a colonoscope at different locations. The sensor is able to record the presence of blood as an optical loss, rapidly detect the presence of blood in under 100 milliseconds as it enters the microchannel, and differentiate between gastric fluid and blood through changes in measured optical loss.

Effects of a Transitional Care Practice for a Vulnerable Population: a Pragmatic, Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Trial.

BACKGROUND: There is limited experimental evidence on transitional care interventions beyond 30 days post-discharge and in vulnerable populations. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate effects of a transitional care practice (TC) that comprehensively addresses patients' medical and psychosocial needs following hospital discharge. DESIGN: Pragmatic, randomized comparative effectiveness trial. PATIENTS: Adults discharged from an initial emergency, observation, or inpatient hospital encounter with no trusted usual source of care. INTERVENTIONS: TC intervention included a scheduled post-discharge appointment at the TC practice, where a multidisciplinary team comprehensively assessed patients' medical and psychosocial needs, addressed modifiable barriers, and subsequent linkage to a new primary care source. Routine Care involved assistance scheduling a post-discharge appointment with a primary care provider that often partnered with the hospital where the initial encounter occurred. MAIN MEASURES: The primary outcome was a binary indicator of death or additional hospital encounters within 90 days of initial discharge. Secondary outcomes included any additional hospital encounters, and counts of hospital encounters, over 180 days. KEY RESULTS: Four hundred ninety patients were randomized to TC intervention and 164 to Routine Care; 34.6% were uninsured, 49.7% had Medicaid, and 57.4% were homeless or lived in a high-poverty area. There was no significant difference between arms in the 90-day probability of death or additional hospital encounters (relative risk [RR] 0.89; 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74-1.13). However, TC patients had 37% and 35% lower probability of any inpatient admission over 90 days (RR 0.63; 95% CI 0.43-0.91) and 180 days (RR 0.65; 95% CI 0.47-0.89), respectively. Over 180 days, TC patients had 42% fewer inpatient admissions (incidence rate ratio 0.58; 95% CI 0.37-0.90). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients randomized to a patient-centered transitional care intervention, there was no significant reduction in 90-day probability of death or additional hospital encounters. However, there were significant decreases in measures of inpatient admissions over 180 days. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT03066492.

One-year effects of a group-based lifestyle intervention in adults with type 2 diabetes: A randomized encouragement trial.

AIMS: To estimate the real-world effects of offering a group-based lifestyle intervention (GLI) to adults with diabetes. METHODS: This randomized encouragement trial included adult primary care patients in metropolitan Chicago with type 2 diabetes and body mass index ≥24 kg/m2. Participants were randomized to standard care (brief dietary and lifestyle counseling) or standard care plus being encouraged, but not required, to participate in a free-of-charge GLI offered by the YMCA. The GLI was a group-based adaptation of the Look AHEAD lifestyle intervention. RESULTS: Of 331 participants, 167 were randomized to standard care and 164 to the GLI encouragement arm. About one third of participants were non-Hispanic White (34.4%). In the GLI arm, 75 (45.7%) attended ≥1 GLI visits. In the primary intention-to-treat analysis, the effect of GLI encouragement was 0.95% weight loss at six months (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.13-1.77%; P = 0.02), and 1.20% weight loss at 12 months (95% CI, 0.05-2.36%; P = 0.04). At 12 months, there was a 0.30% (3.3 mmol/mol) reduction in hemoglobin A1c, but this result did not achieve statistical significance (P = 0.054). In instrumental variable analysis estimating effects among the subgroup of participants who attended any GLI visits, the effect of GLI attendance was 2.30% weight loss at six months (95% CI, 0.30-4.30%; P = 0.02), and 2.07% weight loss at 12 months (95% CI, 0.25-3.88%; P = 0.02). We detected no significant blood pressure or cholesterol effects. CONCLUSIONS: Among adults with type 2 diabetes, a group-based lifestyle intervention in a community-based setting achieved modest weight loss at 6 and 12 months. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01435603.

A pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness trial of transitional care for a socioeconomically diverse population: Design, rationale and baseline characteristics.

Transitional care programs have been widely used to reduce readmissions and improve the quality and safety of the handoff process between hospital and outpatient providers. Very little is known about effective transitional care interventions among patients who are uninsured or with Medicaid. This paper describes the design and baseline characteristics of a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness trial of transitional care. Northwestern Medical Group- Transitional Care (NMG-TC) care model was developed to address the needs of patients with multiple medical problems that required lifestyle changes and were amenable to office-based management. We present the design, evaluation methods and baseline characteristics of NMG-TC trial patients. Baseline demographic characteristics indicate that our patient population is predominantly male, Medicaid insured and non-white. This study will evaluate two methods for implementing an effective transitional care model in a medically complex and socioeconomically diverse population.