The recording capability of a microelectrode array in the cat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) was studied in 11 acute experiments, 373 single, discriminable sensory units were recorded on 587 electrodes (0.64 units/electrode). Sensory action potentials as large as 1750 microV were obtained (mean=132 microV). These were comparable to literature reports of the best DRG extracellular recordings made wi...

OBJECTIVE With the success of DRGs (Diagnosis Related Groups) in developing countries, this prospective payment system has been imported into China from the early 21(st) century. However, DRGs has been struggling and has made little progress since (its adoption in) 2004. This study contributes to the debate on how to bridge the pay-for-service (system/scheme) and DRGs (Diagnosis Related Groups)...

PRINCIPLES Case weights of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) are determined by the average cost of cases from a previous billing period. However, a significant amount of cases are largely over- or underfunded. We therefore decided to analyze earning outliers of our hospital as to search for predictors enabling a better grouping under SwissDRG. METHODS 28,893 inpatient cases without additional p...

BACKGROUND To test the hypothesis that complications increase the use of resources in managing patients in hospitals, we examined the costs of managing patients with the same disease with and without complications. METHODS We used a database developed by the University HealthSystems Consortium that contains the costs of managing more than 1 million patients in 60 University hospitals. We crea...

BACKGROUND Patients with heart failure (HF) or pulmonary diseases (PD) present with similar symptoms. Effective disease management requires an accurate diagnosis. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is increased in patients with HF and is normal in PD patients without cardiac involvement. OBJECTIVE To determine if the readmission rate for patients with either HF or PD who later present with the ...

In recent years in Italy as well as in the other European countries, non-hospital services has been giving an increasing emphasis. While hospital services are usually monitored, and often financed, by DRGs, other services still lack of similar measurement systems. The peculiarities of public health make the measurement of these services almost difficult. For this reason it appears particularly ...

RET can be activated in cis or trans by its co-receptors and ligands in vitro, but the physiological roles of trans signaling are unclear. Rapidly adapting (RA) mechanoreceptors in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) express Ret and the co-receptor Gfrα2 and depend on Ret for survival and central projection growth. Here, we show that Ret and Gfrα2 null mice display comparable early central projection de...

1875 require treatment. CMS recognizes the importance of random variation and the need for actuarially stable populations in its Medicare Shared Savings Program, in which organizations cannot participate unless they serve at least 5000 beneficiaries. The bundled-payment initiative sets no such limits, and medium-sized hospitals typically have 100 to 200 cases for their highest-volume types of M...

BACKGROUND/AIM Global budget per calendar year is a traditional method of funding hospitals in Serbia. Diagnose related groups (DGR) is a method of hospital payment based on classification of patients into groups with clinically similar problems and similar utilization of hospital resources. The aim of this study was to compare current methods of hospital services payment with the projected cos...

Traditionally, the spinal cord is isolated by laminectomy, i.e. by breaking open the spinal vertebrae one at a time. This is both time consuming and may result in damage to the spinal cord caused by the dissection process. Here, we show how the spinal cord can be extruded using hydraulic pressure. Handling time is significantly reduced to only a few minutes, likely decreasing protein damage. Th...