Injured neurons intrinsically adapt to and partially overcome inhibitory proteoglycan expression in the central nervous system by upregulating integrin expression. It remains unclear however, to what extent varying proteoglycan concentrations influence the strength of this response, how rapidly neurons adapt to proteoglycans, and how pathfinding dynamics are altered over time as integrin expres...

MOTIVATION Differential co-expression analysis (DCEA) has emerged in recent years as a novel, systematic investigation into gene expression data. While most DCEA studies or tools focus on the co-expression relationships among genes, some are developing a potentially more promising research domain, differential regulation analysis (DRA). In our previously proposed R package DCGL v1.0, we provide...

In order to facilitate effective clinical coding and hence the precise financial reimbursement of acute services, in 2005 Western District Health Service (WDHS) (located in regional Victoria, Australia) undertook a provisional coding trial for inpatient medical episodes to determine the magnitude and accuracy of clinical documentation. Utilising clinical coding software installed on a laptop co...

This study investigated various factors explaining the technical, allocative and cost efficiency of Finnish hospitals using parametric frontier models and nonparametric DEA models. DEA scores were correlated to the same set of variables as efficiency scores by stochastic frontier models. Specialization, specialization in expensive DRGs, sufficiently high proportion of resident physicians and in...

This article briefly relates the experience of a clinical coder working in the private healthcare sector in the Australian state of New South Wales and questions whether it is possible to work in this environment while adhering to the Clinical Coders' Creed. Private facilities in Australia that handle acute, psychiatric, respite and rehabilitation cases, rely mainly upon health insurance funds ...

BACKGROUND In 2012, Switzerland has introduced a diagnosis related group (DRG) system for hospital financing to increase the efficiency and transparency of hospital services and to reduce costs. However, little is known about the efficiency of specific processes within hospitals. The objective of this study is to describe the relationship between timing of radiological interventions, in particu...

On October 1, 2013 the reporting of diagnoses and procedures in the U.S. will transition from the clinical modification of the ninth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9-CM) to the tenth revision (ICD-10). The impact of conversion to ICD-10 on Medicare MS-DRG payments to hospitals was estimated using 2009 Medicare data. A minimal hospital payment increase of 0.05 perc...

BACKGROUND German diagnosis-related groups (G-DRG) have been introduced in Germany as a reimbursement system for in-patient care. The aim of this study was to report data-based experiences from the introduction process and to evaluate the impact on in-patient dermatology. METHODS A quantitative analysis including clinical data from two large university centres of dermatology over a time perio...

Knowledge about resource consumption and utilisation is vital in modern healthcare environments. In order to manage both human and material resources efficiently, a typical approach is to group the patients based on common characteristics. The most widely used approach is driven by the Case Mix funding formula, namely to classify patients according to diagnostic related groups (DRGs). Although ...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To examine and describe the relationship between age and disposition in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of a statewide database. SETTING All acute-care hospitals in New York State. PATIENTS All patients (n=10,473) aged > or = 18 years discharged from hospital during 1993 with a final diagnosis related group (DRG) coding of 475. ...