Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide, and the majority of cases are associated with cigarette smoking. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) arising in smokers has a different spectrum of molecular abnormalities than does NSCLC arising in non-smokers, suggesting differences in molecular etiology, pathogene-sis and possibly prognosis. For example, KRAS mutations occur in 2...

BACKGROUND Although pay for performance (P4P) has become common, many worry that P4P will lead providers to avoid offering surgical procedures to the sickest patients out of concern that poor outcomes will lead to financial penalties. METHODS AND RESULTS We used Medicare data to compare change in rates of coronary artery bypass graft surgery between 2002 to 2003 and 2008 to 2009 among patient...

AIM This paper is a discussion of the derivation of the Nursing Services Delivery Theory from the application of open system theory to large-scale organizations. BACKGROUND The underlying mechanisms by which staffing indicators influence outcomes remain under-theorized and unmeasured, resulting in a 'black box' that masks the nature and organization of nursing work. Theory linking nursing wor...

Public management and policy scholars have empirically demonstrated that in complex policy arenas, governments depend on the collaboration of policy actors outside their direct control to produce needed goods and services. Government-sponsored shared-cost programs are one of the premier mechanisms to foster such cooperation, yet little is known about the inner patterns of participation in such ...

the aim of this study was to fit regression equation of knowledge management and organizational effectiveness in iran sport organizations to determine the effect of knowledge management processes on organizational effectiveness. the statistical population consisted of all staff managers of the ministry of sport and youth, executive board of national olympic committee, staff managers of the nati...

BACKGROUND The Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM) has been implemented on various claims and electronic health record (EHR) databases, but has not been applied to a hospital transactional database. This study addresses the implementation of the OMOP CDM on the U.S. Premier Hospital database. METHODS We designed and implemented an extract, transform, load...

BACKGROUND Comparing heart failure (HF) outcomes across hospitals requires adequate risk adjustment. We aimed to develop and validate a model that can be used to compare quality of HF care across hospitals. METHODS AND RESULTS We included patients with HF aged ≥18 years admitted to one of 433 hospitals that participated in the Premier Inc Data Warehouse. This model (Premier) contained patient...

Carotenoids are a family of about 700 fat-soluble molecules that are only produced by phytoplankton, algae, plants, and a limited number of fungi and bacteria. Beta-carotene was named after its isolation from carrots and is probably the most familiar carotenoid. It is categorized as a ‘carotene’ whereas other carotenoids with additional oxygenated groups, such as lutein, are ‘xanthophyll’ (ZAN-...