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Journal of Registry Management 2023The past several years have been marked by substantial growth in pediatric cancer data and collection across the world. In the United States, multiple projects and...
The past several years have been marked by substantial growth in pediatric cancer data and collection across the world. In the United States, multiple projects and standard setters have laid a foundation for the growth of this data, and the need for an overview and explanation of a few of the programs directly relevant to cancer registrars has become apparent. This article will discuss 3 initiatives that highlight many of the efforts and intricacies involved with the collection of pediatric cancer data in the cancer registry world: the National Childhood Cancer Registry, the Toronto Pediatric Cancer Stage Guidelines, and the Pediatric Site-Specific Data Items Work Group.
Topics: Child; Humans; United States; Neoplasms; Registries; Neoplasm Staging; Data Management; Data Collection
PubMed: 37941745
DOI: No ID Found -
BMJ Open Quality Aug 2023This project aimed to address the issue of patients experiencing prolonged fasting periods before undergoing abdominal ultrasound scans in a busy surgical service at our... (Review)
Review
This project aimed to address the issue of patients experiencing prolonged fasting periods before undergoing abdominal ultrasound scans in a busy surgical service at our hospital. A review of in-patient data revealed that 78% of patients were not following the recommended 6 hours fast before the scan. This led to poor patient experiences, prolonged diagnosis and management, and increased costs due to rescheduling of scans. To address this problem, a series of plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles were implemented to test different interventions aimed at improving staff awareness and compliance with fasting guidelines. The first PDSA cycle involved displaying a poster with fasting instructions in the doctors and nursing offices. This was followed by increasing awareness of guidelines during meetings and presenting the findings at a teaching session. Each PDSA cycle was followed by data collection to assess the impact of the intervention. The project resulted in an improvement in patient experiences, with 88% of patients being appropriately fasted by the end of the project. The study highlights the importance of using PDSA cycles to test and refine interventions and the positive impact of simple interventions on patient outcomes and clinical workflow.
Topics: Humans; Hospitals; Ultrasonography; Data Collection; Fasting
PubMed: 37541691
DOI: 10.1136/bmjoq-2023-002396 -
Scientific Reports Nov 2023Crop disease detection and management is critical to improving productivity, reducing costs, and promoting environmentally friendly crop treatment methods. Modern...
Crop disease detection and management is critical to improving productivity, reducing costs, and promoting environmentally friendly crop treatment methods. Modern technologies, such as data mining and machine learning algorithms, have been used to develop automated crop disease detection systems. However, centralized approach to data collection and model training induces challenges in terms of data privacy, availability, and transfer costs. To address these challenges, federated learning appears to be a promising solution. In this paper, we explored the application of federated learning for crop disease classification using image analysis. We developed and studied convolutional neural network (CNN) models and those based on attention mechanisms, in this case vision transformers (ViT), using federated learning, leveraging an open access image dataset from the "PlantVillage" platform. Experiments conducted concluded that the performance of models trained by federated learning is influenced by the number of learners involved, the number of communication rounds, the number of local iterations and the quality of the data. With the objective of highlighting the potential of federated learning in crop disease classification, among the CNN models tested, ResNet50 performed better in several experiments than the other models, and proved to be an optimal choice, but also the most suitable for a federated learning scenario. The ViT_B16 and ViT_B32 Vision Transformers require more computational time, making them less suitable in a federated learning scenario, where computational time and communication costs are key parameters. The paper provides a state-of-the-art analysis, presents our methodology and experimental results, and concludes with ideas and future directions for our research on using federated learning in the context of crop disease classification.
Topics: Algorithms; Communication; Data Collection; Data Mining; Electric Power Supplies
PubMed: 37932344
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46218-5 -
Scientific Reports Oct 2023This research conducts an audit of Twitter's recommender system, aiming to examine the disparities between users' curated timelines and their subscription choices....
This research conducts an audit of Twitter's recommender system, aiming to examine the disparities between users' curated timelines and their subscription choices. Through the combined use of a browser extension and data collection via the Twitter API, our investigation reveals a high amplification of friends from the same community, a preference for amplifying emotionally charged and toxic tweets and an uneven algorithmic amplification across friends' political leaning. This audit emphasizes the importance of transparency, and increased awareness regarding the impact of algorithmic curation.
Topics: Humans; Social Media; Crowdsourcing; Communication
PubMed: 37798318
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43980-4 -
Canadian Journal of Public Health =... Aug 2023Tuberculosis incidence in Canada has remained essentially unchanged over the past decade. A strategic plan to reduce the burden of disease, underpinned by high-quality...
Tuberculosis incidence in Canada has remained essentially unchanged over the past decade. A strategic plan to reduce the burden of disease, underpinned by high-quality surveillance data, is sorely needed. However, tuberculosis surveillance data are lacking in Canada for multiple reasons. There is no single entity responsible for coordinating a tuberculosis response, including strategies for surveillance, thus inhibiting effective solutions. This in turn affects the timeliness and comprehensiveness of national tuberculosis surveillance reporting: between 2000 and 2020, there was an average 25-month delay to publication of annual surveillance data and the comprehensiveness of reports has precipitously fallen over time. Compounding these issues are case report forms for tuberculosis surveillance data which have not been updated since 2011, failing to keep up with the changing tuberculosis epidemiology and to provide information required for strategic planning. Common-sense steps can be taken to vastly improve the utility of collected tuberculosis surveillance data, and the development of a strategic plan for tuberculosis elimination. These include initiating a country-wide consultation on surveillance needs; allocating resources for data collection and analysis and data sharing; setting precise, measurable goals; and, importantly, establishing an oversight committee with representation from all provincial/territorial tuberculosis program leads who are held to account for performance.
Topics: Humans; Tuberculosis; Data Collection; Data Accuracy; Information Dissemination; Canada
PubMed: 37014575
DOI: 10.17269/s41997-023-00767-4 -
F1000Research 2023Research suggests that gamification can increase work engagement by providing employees with a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and by creating a fun and...
Research suggests that gamification can increase work engagement by providing employees with a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and by creating a fun and engaging work environment. Gamification is designed to increase consumer and employee engagement and see that they holistically collaborate to achieve a shared vision. The concept of gamification is as old as learning itself, just that the use of the terminology "Gamification" is of a recent origin. This article focuses on the impact of gamification in various organizations and simultaneously sees its relationship with job engagement and productivity. A primary investigation was done to determine the nexus between the various variables and data collection from 400 respondents working in various fraternities of the economy from both public and private domains from countries in the Gulf region. The structural equation model and SPSS has been inferred to analyse the results. The study results show that variable such as perceived adoption and usefulness in the gamified system is significantly associated with job engagement. Similarly, employee's recognition and perceived motivation have a positive impact on productivity. The study identified job engagement mediating factor to enhance organisational productivity in a gamified system. The effectiveness of gamification in enhancing work engagement may depend on factors such as the design of the gamification system, the preferences and motivations of individual employees, and the organizational culture and goals. The findings have significant implications for insight into how employees in the service sector are aware of the gamified working environment and react to the system through work engagement and productivity.
Topics: Humans; Gamification; Efficiency, Organizational; Data Collection; Learning; Motivation
PubMed: 38434668
DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.131579.2 -
Primary Health Care Research &... Jul 2023Clinical research provides evidence to underpin and inform advancements in the quality of care, services and treatments. Primary care research enables the general... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Clinical research provides evidence to underpin and inform advancements in the quality of care, services and treatments. Primary care research enables the general patient population access and opportunities to engage in research studies. Nurses play an integral role in supporting the delivery of primary care research, but there is limited understanding of nurses' experiences of this role and how they can be supported to facilitate the delivery of research.
AIM
To explore the experiences of nurses delivering research studies in primary care settings.
METHODS
We identified studies published between 2002 and June 2021 from key electronic databases. A two-level inclusion/exclusion and arbitration process was conducted based on study selection criteria. Data extraction and quality appraisal were performed simultaneously. Data were analysed in the form of a narrative synthesis.
FINDINGS
The key themes identified included: (1) what nurses value about primary care research and their motivations for study engagement, (2) the role of nurses in research, (3) working with research teams, (4) study training, (5) eligibility screening, data collection and study documentation, (6) nurse/participant dynamic, (7) gatekeeping, (8) relationships with colleagues and impact on recruitment, (9) time constraints and workload demands, and (10) health and safety.
CONCLUSIONS
Nurses are integral to the delivery of research studies in primary care settings. The review highlights the importance of good communication by study teams, timely and study-specific training, and support from colleagues to enable nurses to effectively deliver research in primary care.
Topics: Humans; Communication; Data Collection; Databases, Factual; Primary Health Care; Nurses
PubMed: 37435653
DOI: 10.1017/S146342362300035X -
PloS One 2023Urban parks have been studied for their effects on health and the environment. Accessing park data from reliable and comparable sources remains challenging, reinforcing...
Urban parks have been studied for their effects on health and the environment. Accessing park data from reliable and comparable sources remains challenging, reinforcing the importance of standardized search tools, notably in Latin America. We designed a systematized methodology to identify processes of accessing, collecting, verifying, and harmonizing urban park spatial data in all Brazilian capitals included in the Urban Health in Latin America (SALURBAL) project. We developed a research protocol using official and non-official sources combining the results of Google Maps (GMaps) points and OpenStreetMap (OSM) polygons-GMaps-OSM. Descriptive analyses included the frequency of the distribution of parks before and after harmonization stratified by data source. We used the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to assess agreement in the area between official and GMaps-OSM data. Official data were obtained for 16 cities; for the remaining 11 capitals, we used GMaps-OSM. After verification and harmonization, 302 urban parks were obtained from official data and 128 from GMaps-OSM. In a sub-study of the 16 cities with official data (n = 302 parks), we simulated a collection of non-official data using GMaps-OSM and OSM only. From GMaps-OSM, we obtained 142 parks, and from OSM, 230 parks. Statistical analysis showed a better agreement between official data and OSM. After completing verification and harmonization, the complete dataset (official and GMaps-OSM) included 430 urban parks with a total area of 145.14 km2. The mean number of parks across cities was 16, with a mean size area of 0.33 km2. The median number of parks was nine, with a median area of 0.07 km2. This study highlights the importance of creating mechanisms to access, collect, harmonize, and verify urban park data, which is essential for examining the impact of parks on health. It also stresses the importance of providing reliable urban park spatial data for city officials.
Topics: Humans; Parks, Recreational; Brazil; Cities; Urban Health; Data Collection; Urban Population
PubMed: 37561781
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288515 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Oct 2023Reddit's (Reddit Inc) large user base, diverse communities, and anonymity make it a useful platform for substance use research. Despite a growing body of literature on... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Reddit's (Reddit Inc) large user base, diverse communities, and anonymity make it a useful platform for substance use research. Despite a growing body of literature on substance use on Reddit, challenges and limitations must be carefully considered. However, no systematic scoping review has been conducted on the use of Reddit as a data source for substance use research.
OBJECTIVE
This review aims to investigate the use of Reddit for studying substance use by examining previous studies' objectives, reasons, limitations, and methods for using Reddit. In addition, we discuss the implications and contributions of previous studies and identify gaps in the literature that require further attention.
METHODS
A total of 7 databases were searched using keyword combinations including Reddit and substance-related keywords in April 2022. The initial search resulted in 456 articles, and 227 articles remained after removing duplicates. All included studies were peer reviewed, empirical, available in full text, and pertinent to Reddit and substance use, and they were all written in English. After screening, 60 articles met the eligibility criteria for the review, with 57 articles identified from the initial database search and 3 from the ancestry search. A codebook was developed, and qualitative content analysis was performed to extract relevant evidence related to the research questions.
RESULTS
The use of Reddit for studying substance use has grown steadily since 2015, with a sharp increase in 2021. The primary objective was to identify tendencies and patterns in various types of substance use discussions (52/60, 87%). Reddit was also used to explore unique user experiences, propose methodologies, investigate user interactions, and develop interventions. A total of 9 reasons for using Reddit to study substance use were identified, such as the platform's anonymity, its widespread popularity, and the explicit topics of subreddits. However, 7 limitations were noted, including the platform's low representativeness of the general population with substance use and the lack of demographic information. Most studies use application programming interfaces for data collection and quantitative approaches for analysis, with few using qualitative approaches. Machine learning algorithms are commonly used for natural language processing tasks. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications and contributions of the included articles are summarized and discussed. The most prevalent practical implications are investigating prevailing topics in Reddit discussions, providing recommendations for clinical practices and policies, and comparing Reddit discussions on substance use across various sources.
CONCLUSIONS
This systematic scoping review provides an overview of Reddit's use as a data source for substance use research. Although the limitations of Reddit data must be considered, analyzing them can be useful for understanding patterns and user experiences related to substance use. Our review also highlights gaps in the literature and suggests avenues for future research.
Topics: Humans; Algorithms; Data Collection; Databases, Factual; Language; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 37878361
DOI: 10.2196/48905 -
Social Studies of Science Jun 2024Data are versatile objects that can travel across contexts. While data's travels have been widely discussed, little attention has been paid to the sites from where and...
Data are versatile objects that can travel across contexts. While data's travels have been widely discussed, little attention has been paid to the sites from where and to which data flow. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in two connected data-intensive laboratories and the concept of domestication, we explore what it takes to bring data 'home' into the laboratory. As data come and dwell in the home, they are made to follow rituals, and as a result, data are reshaped and form ties with the laboratory and its practitioners. We identify four main ways of domesticating data. First, through about the data's origins, data practitioners draw the boundaries of their laboratory. Second, through , staff transform samples into digital data that can travel well while ruling what data can be let into the home. Third, through , data practitioners become familiar with their data and at the same time imprint the data, thus making them belong to their home. Finally, through , staff turn data into a resource for knowledge production. Through the lens of domestication, we see the data economy as a collection of homes connected by flows, and it is because data are tamed and attached to homes that they become valuable knowledge tools. Such domestication practices also have broad implications for staff, who in the process of 'homing' data, come to belong to the laboratory. To conclude, we reflect on what these domestication processes-which silence unusual behaviours in the data-mean for the knowledge produced in data-intensive research.
Topics: Anthropology, Cultural; Data Collection
PubMed: 38006306
DOI: 10.1177/03063127231212506