variety of secondary mental health datasets. The data format is often manipulated to accommodate ... more variety of secondary mental health datasets. The data format is often manipulated to accommodate our research objectives. One example of this manipulation is “span coding ” using SAS. This code is specifically designed to transform overlapping inpatient hospital stays into one unique record by means of the admission and discharge dates. The techniques in this paper apply to health care agencies and the pharmaceutical industry but may easily be applied to other disciplines. Obtaining a unique record for inpatient hospital stays using multiple admission and discharge dates can be easily accomplished by using IF..THEN..ELSE..DO statements with retain statements. It is a simple and swift method to manipulate secondary data to a desirable format for answering research questions.
Today, social service administrators are examining client service utilization using cross system ... more Today, social service administrators are examining client service utilization using cross system analysis, because often a client's needs require accessing governmentfunded services from multiple organizations. One technical problem that arises is that organizations do not share common unique identifiers from which to link one individual’s information together (i.e., system #1 uses Social Security Number (SSN) and system #2 uses Personal Identification Number (PIN)). Different methods have been employed to deal with the issue of working with information across data sets when there is no common unique identifier. Probabilistic Population Estimation (PPE), Caseload Segregation/Integration Ratio (C/SIR), and Probabilistic Population Matching (PPM) are methods used in our shop. This paper discusses the use of SAS® to perform the PPE & C/SIR methods of cross system analysis. These methods accurately identify the number of individuals who cross multiple systems without using a unique ...
The Policy and Services Research Data Center (PSRDC) in the Department of Mental Health Law & Pol... more The Policy and Services Research Data Center (PSRDC) in the Department of Mental Health Law & Policy at The Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute performs research with a variety of secondary mental health datasets. The data format is often manipulated to accommodate our research objectives. One example of this manipulation is “span coding” using SAS. This code is specifically designed to transform overlapping inpatient hospital stays into one unique record by means of the admission and discharge dates. The techniques in this paper apply to health care agencies and the pharmaceutical industry but may easily be applied to other disciplines. Obtaining a unique record for inpatient hospital stays using multiple admission and discharge dates can be easily accomplished by using IF..THEN..ELSE..DO statements with retain statements. It is a simple and swift method to manipulate secondary data to a desirable format for answering research questions. INTRODUCTION The Policy and Se...
pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) 2, catalyzing the phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (... more pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) 2, catalyzing the phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and thus regulating the flux of pyruvate into the mitochondria, were investigated during SMC proliferation and the development of human IH. Methods and Materials: A novel human intimal hyperplasia (IH) model was established in which balloon-injured human internal mammary arteries (hMA) were transplanted into the abdominal aortic position of nude rats. Results: IH rapidly developed over 21 days and was morphologically and in immunohistochemistry identical to the neointima of human coronary arteries. Over 21 days, we found increased proliferative and decreased apoptotic activity within the IH lesion and luminal obliteration progressed to approx. 60%. Tissue PDK2 expression was significantly elevated and PDH was inhibited.PDGF was markedly elevated in the animal serum during neointima formation. Activation of SMC in vitro with PDGF caused increased PDK2 activity via both PI3K/Akt and Ras/Raf/Erkpathways. We observed an increase of the mitochondrial membrane potential ( m), a decreased release of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS), as well as enhanced cell proliferation. PDK2 inhibition using dichloroacetate(DCA) or PDK2 shRNA prevented PDGF-induced mitochondrial hyperpolarization and SMC proliferation.In vivo, oral DCAtreatment of rats or pre-implant PDK2 shRNA-transduction of the hMAs prevented the injuryinduced increase of SMC proliferation and significantly decreased IH development. Conclusions: PDK2 is the link between PDGF downstream pathways and mitochondrial metabolic modulation and its activation facilitates SMC proliferation. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of PDK2 in SMC attenuates PDGF-induced increase in m, cell proliferation and the development of human IH. PDK2 may be a novel target for the prevention of restenosis.
Multiple drugs are used for reversibility testing of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in advanced hear... more Multiple drugs are used for reversibility testing of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in advanced heart failure (HF), especially in the process of heart transplant evaluation. Effects of these drugs were never systematically compared. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare hemodynamic effects of different drugs. We identified 20 prospective studies reporting hemodynamic variables before and after acute pharmacologic testing for PH reversibility in patients with advanced HF. The data from individual studies were grouped by an outcome measure and analyzed. A mixed model meta-analysis was performed using SAS to give weighted mean effect of pre- and post-test change and inverse variance. The mean effects were weighted by the published sample size. Prostacyclin, inhaled or intravenous, and prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) had the most potent effect on pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin decreased pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), and mean pulmonar...
Background Hazardous air pollutants (HAP) have been associated with a wide variety of adverse hea... more Background Hazardous air pollutants (HAP) have been associated with a wide variety of adverse health effects, from minor irritation of respiratory tissues to chronic asthma. Formaldehyde, a volatile organic HAP, present abundantly in the lower atmosphere is known to cause serious health effects. Health impact assessments (HIA) for criteria pollutants are routinely performed by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) using Benefits Mapping Analysis Program (BenMAP). BenMAP can be modified to perform local HIA for formaldehyde using local data. Study Purpose The main objective of this research is to develop a method which can estimate impact on health outcomes due to change in local formaldehyde. The primary focus is to develop concentration response (CR) functions necessary in BenMAP for performing formaldehyde HIA. Methodology Detailed review of published literature on health effects of Formaldehyde and documentation on BenMAP was performed. Using published literature ...
As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's di... more As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease during a time prior to the implementation of the new waiver program, two sets of investigations were conducted. The first looked at some general questions ...
As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's di... more As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease during a time prior to the implementation of the new waiver program, two sets of investigations were conducted. The first looked at some general questions ...
variety of secondary mental health datasets. The data format is often manipulated to accommodate ... more variety of secondary mental health datasets. The data format is often manipulated to accommodate our research objectives. One example of this manipulation is “span coding ” using SAS. This code is specifically designed to transform overlapping inpatient hospital stays into one unique record by means of the admission and discharge dates. The techniques in this paper apply to health care agencies and the pharmaceutical industry but may easily be applied to other disciplines. Obtaining a unique record for inpatient hospital stays using multiple admission and discharge dates can be easily accomplished by using IF..THEN..ELSE..DO statements with retain statements. It is a simple and swift method to manipulate secondary data to a desirable format for answering research questions.
Today, social service administrators are examining client service utilization using cross system ... more Today, social service administrators are examining client service utilization using cross system analysis, because often a client's needs require accessing governmentfunded services from multiple organizations. One technical problem that arises is that organizations do not share common unique identifiers from which to link one individual’s information together (i.e., system #1 uses Social Security Number (SSN) and system #2 uses Personal Identification Number (PIN)). Different methods have been employed to deal with the issue of working with information across data sets when there is no common unique identifier. Probabilistic Population Estimation (PPE), Caseload Segregation/Integration Ratio (C/SIR), and Probabilistic Population Matching (PPM) are methods used in our shop. This paper discusses the use of SAS® to perform the PPE & C/SIR methods of cross system analysis. These methods accurately identify the number of individuals who cross multiple systems without using a unique ...
The Policy and Services Research Data Center (PSRDC) in the Department of Mental Health Law & Pol... more The Policy and Services Research Data Center (PSRDC) in the Department of Mental Health Law & Policy at The Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute performs research with a variety of secondary mental health datasets. The data format is often manipulated to accommodate our research objectives. One example of this manipulation is “span coding” using SAS. This code is specifically designed to transform overlapping inpatient hospital stays into one unique record by means of the admission and discharge dates. The techniques in this paper apply to health care agencies and the pharmaceutical industry but may easily be applied to other disciplines. Obtaining a unique record for inpatient hospital stays using multiple admission and discharge dates can be easily accomplished by using IF..THEN..ELSE..DO statements with retain statements. It is a simple and swift method to manipulate secondary data to a desirable format for answering research questions. INTRODUCTION The Policy and Se...
pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) 2, catalyzing the phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (... more pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) 2, catalyzing the phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and thus regulating the flux of pyruvate into the mitochondria, were investigated during SMC proliferation and the development of human IH. Methods and Materials: A novel human intimal hyperplasia (IH) model was established in which balloon-injured human internal mammary arteries (hMA) were transplanted into the abdominal aortic position of nude rats. Results: IH rapidly developed over 21 days and was morphologically and in immunohistochemistry identical to the neointima of human coronary arteries. Over 21 days, we found increased proliferative and decreased apoptotic activity within the IH lesion and luminal obliteration progressed to approx. 60%. Tissue PDK2 expression was significantly elevated and PDH was inhibited.PDGF was markedly elevated in the animal serum during neointima formation. Activation of SMC in vitro with PDGF caused increased PDK2 activity via both PI3K/Akt and Ras/Raf/Erkpathways. We observed an increase of the mitochondrial membrane potential ( m), a decreased release of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS), as well as enhanced cell proliferation. PDK2 inhibition using dichloroacetate(DCA) or PDK2 shRNA prevented PDGF-induced mitochondrial hyperpolarization and SMC proliferation.In vivo, oral DCAtreatment of rats or pre-implant PDK2 shRNA-transduction of the hMAs prevented the injuryinduced increase of SMC proliferation and significantly decreased IH development. Conclusions: PDK2 is the link between PDGF downstream pathways and mitochondrial metabolic modulation and its activation facilitates SMC proliferation. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of PDK2 in SMC attenuates PDGF-induced increase in m, cell proliferation and the development of human IH. PDK2 may be a novel target for the prevention of restenosis.
Multiple drugs are used for reversibility testing of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in advanced hear... more Multiple drugs are used for reversibility testing of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in advanced heart failure (HF), especially in the process of heart transplant evaluation. Effects of these drugs were never systematically compared. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare hemodynamic effects of different drugs. We identified 20 prospective studies reporting hemodynamic variables before and after acute pharmacologic testing for PH reversibility in patients with advanced HF. The data from individual studies were grouped by an outcome measure and analyzed. A mixed model meta-analysis was performed using SAS to give weighted mean effect of pre- and post-test change and inverse variance. The mean effects were weighted by the published sample size. Prostacyclin, inhaled or intravenous, and prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) had the most potent effect on pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin decreased pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), and mean pulmonar...
Background Hazardous air pollutants (HAP) have been associated with a wide variety of adverse hea... more Background Hazardous air pollutants (HAP) have been associated with a wide variety of adverse health effects, from minor irritation of respiratory tissues to chronic asthma. Formaldehyde, a volatile organic HAP, present abundantly in the lower atmosphere is known to cause serious health effects. Health impact assessments (HIA) for criteria pollutants are routinely performed by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) using Benefits Mapping Analysis Program (BenMAP). BenMAP can be modified to perform local HIA for formaldehyde using local data. Study Purpose The main objective of this research is to develop a method which can estimate impact on health outcomes due to change in local formaldehyde. The primary focus is to develop concentration response (CR) functions necessary in BenMAP for performing formaldehyde HIA. Methodology Detailed review of published literature on health effects of Formaldehyde and documentation on BenMAP was performed. Using published literature ...
As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's di... more As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease during a time prior to the implementation of the new waiver program, two sets of investigations were conducted. The first looked at some general questions ...
As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's di... more As a means of establishing the characteristics of Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease during a time prior to the implementation of the new waiver program, two sets of investigations were conducted. The first looked at some general questions ...
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