Search results for "THC"
showing 10 items of 901 documents
A framework for public purchasing under a decentralized organization: an empirical study in the healthcare sector in Italy
2009
More and more public companies are showing interest in how no conventional purchasing strategies, such as purchasing group solutions, may improve efficiency in purchasing activities by providing consistent saving on public organization budgets. This issue is essential for the healthcare sector, whose public spending is still increasing and represents a significant part of the GNP of many European countries. In this paper, different purchasing strategies have been addressed; more specifically, the main objective is to formalize a framework supporting purchasing strategy formulation, and operazionalize it through an empirical application to the Sicilian Region healthcare industry.
Adversarial Machine Learning in e-Health: Attacking a Smart Prescription System
2022
Machine learning (ML) algorithms are the basis of many services we rely on in our everyday life. For this reason, a new research line has recently emerged with the aim of investigating how ML can be misled by adversarial examples. In this paper we address an e-health scenario in which an automatic system for prescriptions can be deceived by inputs forged to subvert the model's prediction. In particular, we present an algorithm capable of generating a precise sequence of moves that the adversary has to take in order to elude the automatic prescription service. Experimental analyses performed on a real dataset of patients' clinical records show that a minimal alteration of the clinical record…
Internet of Things. Preliminary Issues for MCCRC Research
2015
The presentation provides a definition of "thing" in an IoT context, clarifies the relations among the Internet of Things and cloud computing, points out who are the actors in such an environment and set the basis for an interdisciplinary research that will focus on e-Health
Relationship of Illness Severity with Health and Life Satisfaction in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease: The Mediating Role of Self-efficacy Belie…
2012
Guidelines for cardiovascular rehabilitation from different countries underline the importance of psychological factors in the achievement of improved clinical conditions and quality of life in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nevertheless, little research has been performed to identify the specific factors that greatly affect or foster patients' quality of life. The aim of the current study was to investigate the contribution of illness perceptions (IP) and self-efficacy beliefs (SE) on the impact exerted by illness severity on health and life satisfaction in patients with CVD undergoing a rehabilitation program. The study had a cross-sectional design and involved 116 patients (…
Differing kinetics of anti-spike protein IgGs and neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 after Comirnaty (BNT162b2) immunization
2022
Abstract Aims Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has had a serious worldwide impact on human health. On December 2020, an immunization campaign with a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (Comirnaty-BNT162b2 Pfizer-BioNTech) was started in Italy, first targeting healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aims to investigate the antibodies that are response against SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Methods and Results The kinetics and the persistence of both anti-S1/S2 IgGs and neutralizing antibodies (Nt-Abs) were investigated in 76 HCWs through a 4-month follow-up with multiple testing points starting at the first dose. Temporal analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Abs titre kinetics showed three diff…
Colesterolo e rischio cardiovascolare: Percorso diagnostico-terapeutico in Italia
2016
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease still represents the leading cause of death in western countries. A wealth of scientific evidence demonstrates that increased blood cholesterol levels have a major impact on the outbreak and progression of atherosclerotic plaques. Moreover, several cholesterol-lowering pharmacological agents, including statins and ezetimibe, have proven effective in improving clinical outcomes. This document is focused on the clinical management of hypercholesterolemia and has been conceived by 16 Italian medical associations with the support of the Italian National Institute of Health. The authors have considered with particular attention the role of hypercholesterole…
Why do Traditional Performance Management Systems in Healthcare not always lead to Improved Performance? Outlining the Unintended Consequences of the…
2021
Researchers all around the globe have not yet come to an end as regards the supposed positive impact of traditional performance management systems in healthcare, and some research has shown that, paradoxically, performance management policies do not always lead to improved hospital performance. Despite the extensive research identifying the “pitfalls” of the NPM reforms around Europe and the unintended consequences for hospital staff and patients, little is known about the mechanisms that caused those negative effects, which essentially creates a research gap worth investigating. This PhD study tries to address this gap and show why do traditional PM Systems in healthcare not always lead to…
Key-indicators for maternity hospitals and newborn readmission in Sicily
2017
This paper proposes a composite indicator for the classification of maternity units, which takes into account for the different dimensions of service delivery, as potential predictors of health outcomes. As a measure of outcome, infant readmissions is considered, being a proxy of morbidity. The results highlight that after controlling for risk factors of the newborn, and for the presence of neonatal intensive unit, infants born in lower level hospitals show readmission rates higher than infants born in higher level hospitals.
Beliefs and preferences regarding biological treatments for severe asthma
2020
Background: Severe asthma is a serious condition with a significant burden on patients' morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. Some biological therapies targeting the IgE and interleukin-5 (IL5) mediated pathways are now available. Due to the lack of direct comparison studies, the choice of which medication to use varies. We aimed to explore the beliefs and practices in the use of biological therapies in severe asthma, hypothesizing that differences will occur depending on the prescribers’ specialty and experience. Methods: We conducted an online survey composed of 35 questions in English. The survey was circulated via the INterasma Scientific Network (INESNET) platform as well as throu…
Epidemiology of intensive care unit-acquired sepsis in Italy: Results of the SPIN-UTI network
2018
Background. Sepsis is the major cause of mortality from any infectious disease worldwide. Sepsis may be the result of a healthcare associated infection (HAI): the most frequent adverse events during care delivery especially in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The main aim of the present study was to describe the epidemiology of ICU-acquired sepsis and related outcomes among patients enrolled in the framework of the Italian Nosocomial Infections Surveillance in ICUs - SPIN-UTI project. Study design. Prospective multicenter study. Methods. The SPIN-UTI network adopted the European protocols for patient-based HAI surveillance. Results. During the five editions of the SPIN-UTI project, from 2008 to…