Search

Purpose To prepare for big data analyses on radiation therapy data, we developed Stature, a tool-supported approach for standardization of structure names in existing radiation therapy plans. We applied the widely endorsed nomenclature standard TG-263 as the mapping target and quantified the structure name inconsistency in 2 real-world data sets. Methods and Materials The clinically relevant structures in the radiation therapy plans were identified by reference to randomized controlled trials. The Stature approach was used by clinicians to identify the synonyms for each relevant structure, which was then mapped to the corresponding TG-263 name. We applied Stature to standardize the structure names for 654 patients with prostate cancer (PCa) and 224 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who received curative radiation therapy at our institution between 2007 and 2017. The accuracy of the Stature process was manually validated in a random sample from each cohort. For the HNSCC cohort we measured the resource requirements for Stature, and for the PCa cohort we demonstrated its impact on an example clinical analytics scenario. Results All but 1 synonym group (“Hydrogel”) was mapped to the corresponding TG-263 name, resulting in a TG-263 relabel rate of 99% (8837 of 8925 structures). For the PCa cohort, Stature matched a total of 5969 structures. Of these, 5682 structures were exact matches (ie, following local naming convention), 284 were matched via a synonym, and 3 required manual matching. This original radiation therapy structure names therefore had a naming inconsistency rate of 4.81%. For the HNSCC cohort, Stature mapped a total of 2956 structures (2638 exact, 304 synonym, 14 manual; 10.76% inconsistency rate) and required 7.5 clinician hours. The clinician hours required were one-fifth of those that would be required for manual relabeling. The accuracy of Stature was 99.97% (PCa) and 99.61% (HNSCC). Conclusions The Stature approach was highly accurate and had significant resource efficiencies compared with manual curation.

Risky, non-dependent alcohol use is prevalent in the United States, affecting 25% of adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014b). Massachusetts has higher rates of alcohol use and binge drinking than most states (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015). Serious physical, social, and economic consequences result. Excessive alcohol use contributes to cancer, cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders, birth defects, motor vehicle injuries, and suicide, and it complicates management of chronic illnesses (Green, McKnight-Eily, Tan, Mejia,Denny, 2016; Laramee et al., 2015; Mokdad, Marks, Stroup,Gerberding, 2004; Rehm et al., 2009). Excessive alcohol use is one of the top causes of death, and over 240 alcohol-related deaths occur daily in the US (Mokdad et al., 2004; Stahre, Roeber, Kanny, Brewer,Zhang, 2014). In comparison, 78 people die from an opioid overdose each day (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Excessive drinking is estimated to cost over $249 billion annually in the US and $5.6 billion in the Commonwealth (Sacks, Gonzales, Bouchery, Tomedi,Brewer, 2015). This issue brief describes the scope of the risky drinking problem in the US and associated costs and consequences. The brief then examines the evidence base for tools to address risky drinking and outlines policy strategies that health care system stakeholders may employ to address further this critical public health issue. Screening and brief intervention (SBI) is an evidence-based, cost-effective practice to address risky alcohol use, typically using a short validated screening tool followed by a brief counseling session if a patient screens positive. Research shows SBI conducted in primary care outpatient settings significantly reduces alcohol use (Bertholet, Daeppen, Wietlisbach, Fleming,Burnand, 2005b; Bien, Miller,Tonigan, 1993; Kaner et al., 2009; Saitz, 2010a), hospitalizations (Fleming, Barry, Manwell, Johnson,London, 1997b) and mortality (Cuijpers, Riper,Lemmers, 2004). Alcohol SBI saves an estimated $217.95 per person screened (Barbosa, Cowell, Bray,Aldridge, 2015).

The "Preliminary Look into the Icd9/10 Transition Impact on Public Health Surveillance" roundtable will provide a forum for the syndromic surveillance Community of Practice (CoP) to discuss the public health impacts from the ICD-10-CM conversion, and to support jurisdictional public health practices with this transition. The discussion will be aimed at identifying conversion challenges, solutions, and best practices.

The International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS), in consultation with the CDC and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), conducted a project to develop consensus-driven syndrome definitions based on ICD-10-CM codes. The goal was to have the newly created ICD-9-CM-to-ICD-10-CM mappings and corresponding syndromic definitions fully reviewed and vetted by the syndromic surveillance community, which relies on these codes for routine surveillance as well as for research purposes. The resulting tool, the Master Mapping Reference Table, may be leveraged by other federal, state, and local public health entities to better prepare and improve their surveillance, analytics, and reporting activities impacted by the ICD-10-CM transition.

Public health agencies strive to develop and maintain cost-effective disease surveillance systems to better understand the burden of disease within their jurisdiction. The emergence of novel avian influenza and other respiratory viruses such as MERS-CoV along with other emerging diseases including Ebola virus disease offer new challenges to public health practitioners. The authors conducted a series of surveys of influenza surveillance coordinators to identify and define these challenges. The results emphasize the importance of maintaining sufficient infrastructure and the trained personnel needed to operate these surveillance systems for optimal disease detection and public health preparedness and response readiness.

Public health agencies strive to develop and maintain cost-effective disease surveillance systems to better understand the burden of disease within their jurisdiction. The emergence of novel influenza and other respiratory viruses such as MERS-CoV along with other emerging diseases including Ebola virus disease offer new challenges to public health practitioners. The authors conducted a series of surveys of influenza surveillance coordinators to identify and define these challenges. The results emphasize the importance of maintaining sufficient infrastructure and the trained personnel needed to operate these surveillance systems for optimal disease detection and public health preparedness and response readiness.

Prior to the October 1, 2015 transition deadline, all public health jurisdictions should prepare for the impact that the ICD-9/10 transition will have on their syndromic surveillance practice. This change presents challenges involving resources, funding, and time constraints for code translation and syndrome classification. It will also require new statistical methodologies to accommodate changes to coding practices. This session describes the process developed to incorporate practical public health input to translate syndromic surveillance syndromes and sub-syndromes from ICD-9 diagnostic codes to ICD-10 codes. These translations will be a solution that addresses how the challenge of the transition can be used to improve surveillance practice.

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — With the match tied at 1-1 in the second half, few would’ve blamed Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum for bringing in defensive reinforcements against Women’s World Cup co-host Australia. Instead, Waldrum went all in Thursday. He sent on striker Asisat Oshoala to combine with midfielder Rasheedat Ajibade and push for an upset win. Two fine individual players, they’re even better as a team. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — South Korea showed its age in the Women's World Cup and is now looking toward necessary changes to get to the next level.The rebuild will be built around 16-year-old phenom Casey Phair, the first multiracial footballer named to the South Korea national team. Phair was born in South Korea to an American father and South Korean mother and resides in New Jersey in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]