An improvement in the appointment scheduling in primary health care centers using data mining.

An optimal resource management in health care centers implies the use of an appropriate timetabling scheme to schedule appointments. Timetables of health centers are usually divided into time slots whose duration is equal to time required for clinical attendance. However doctors perform a series of tasks that are not always clinical in nature: issuing prescriptions or prescribing sick leave certificates. In this sense the time spent in attending a clinical or an administrative matter is different. This last required less time to attend the patient. This study is focused in the administrative task. A predictive model is generated to provide daily information on how many patients will go to the health center for an administrative issue. The accuracy of the model is less than 4,6 % absolute error and the improvement in scheduling appointments is a time saving of 21,73 %.

Modifications in the human T cell proteome induced by intracellular HIV-1 Tat protein expression.

The effects of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Tat protein on cellular gene expression were analysed using a Jurkat cell line that was stably transfected with tat gene in a doxycycline-repressible expression system. Expressed Tat protein (aa 1-101) was proved to present basically a nuclear localisation, and to be fully functional to induce HIV LTR transactivation. Tat expression also resulted in protection from Tunicamycin-induced apoptosis as determined by DNA staining and TUNEL assays. We applied proteomics methods to investigate changes in differential protein expression in the transfected Jurkat-Tat cells. Protein identification was performed using 2-D DIGE followed by MS analysis. We identified the down-regulation of several cytoskeletal proteins such as actin, beta-tubulin, annexin II, as well as gelsolin, cofilin and the Rac/Rho-GDI complex. Down-expression of these proteins could be involved in the survival of long-term reservoirs of HIV-infected CD4+ T cells responsible for continuous viral production. In conclusion, in addition to its role in viral mRNA elongation, the proteomic approach has provided insight into the way that Tat modifies host cell gene expression.

Spatial analysis and prediction of the flow of patients to public health centres in a middle-sized Spanish city.

Human and medical resources in the Spanish primary health care centres are usually planned and managed on the basis of the average number of patients in previous years. However, sudden increases in patient demand leading to delays and slip-ups can occur at any time without warning. This paper describes a predictive model capable of calculating patient demand in advance using geospatial data, whose values depend directly on weather variables and location of the health centre people are assigned to. The results obtained here show that outcomes differ from one centre to another depending on variations in the variables measured. For example, patients aged 25-34 and 55-65 years visited health centres less often than all other groups. It was also observed that the higher the economic level, the fewer visits to health centres. From the temporal point of view, Monday was the day of greatest demand, while Friday the least. On a monthly basis, February had the highest influx of patients. Also, air quality and humidity influenced the number of visits; more visits during poor air quality and high relative humidity. The addition of spatial variables minimised the average error the predictive model from 7.4 to 2.4% and the error without considering spatial variables varied from the high of 11.8% in to the low of 2.5%. The new model reduces the values in the predictive model, which are more homogeneous than previously.

Functional characterization of human and fungal MAP kinases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A functional comparison of three human SAPKs with fungal Hog1p was undertaken, using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a heterologous expression system. We characterized the role of mammalian MAP kinases in sensitivity to both osmotic and oxidative stress of a S. cerevisiae hog1 mutant. Western blot analyses indicated that S. cerevisiae can only phosphorylate mammalian MAP kinases in response to osmotic stress but not to oxidative stress, while morphogenetic defects characteristic of hog1 mutants under hyperosmotic stress are only suppressed by fungal and not mammalian Hog1p. Our data demonstrate the functional conservation of MAPKs although they also evidence differential aspects among the three human SAPKs and the fungal MAPKs.