Awareness and perspectives of audiologists on assessment and management of misophonia in India

Background:The assessment and management of misophonia need a team approach,and audiologists are essential team members.However,the role of an audiologist in this condition is not well understood,and there is a lack of awareness even among professionals about their role in the assessment and management of misophonia.Purpose:The main aim of our study is to document the present level of awareness and knowledge about misophonia assessment and management among audiologists in India.Methods:A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among audiologists from all over India.Descriptive statistical procedures were measured based on the type of questions being addressed,and a non-parametric chi-square test was done to see the association among variables.Results:The results show a lack of knowledge about misophonia even among audiologists,as only 15.3%of the audiologist reported being confident in handling cases with misophonia.Conclusion:Although the exact assessment and management of misophonia is still the topic of debate,it is clear that audiologists are the team's key members.However,the results clearly show a lack of confidence in handling cases of misophonia among audiologists in India.This result shows the future need for Research in misophonia from an audiological perspective.

Assessment and management of the performance risk of a pilot reclaimed water disinfection process

Chlorination disinfection has been widely used in reclaimed water treatment plants to ensure water quality. In order to assess the downstream quality risk of a running reclaimed water disinfection process, a set of dynamic equations was developed to simulate reactions in the disinfection process concerning variables of bacteria, chemical oxygen demand （COD）, ammonia and monochloramine. The model was calibrated by the observations obtained from a pilot disinfection process which was designed to simulate the actual process in a reclaimed water treatment plant. A Monte Carlo algorithm was applied to calculate the predictive effluent quality distributions that were used in the established hierarchical assessment system for the downstream quality risk, and the key factors affecting the downstream quality risk were defined using the Regional Sensitivity Analysis method. The results showed that the seasonal upstream quality variation caused considerable downstream quality risk; the effluent ammonia was significantly influenced by its upstream concentration; the upstream COD was a key factor determining the process effluent risk of bacterial, COD and residual disinfectant indexes; and lower COD and ammonia concentrations in the infiuent would mean better downstream quality.

Towards an integrated risk analysis security framework according to a systematic analysis of existing proposals

The information society depends increasingly on risk assessment and management systems as means to adequately protect its key information assets.The availability of these systems is now vital for the protection and evolution of companies.However,several factors have led to an increasing need for more accurate risk analysis approaches.These are:the speed at which technologies evolve,their global impact and the growing requirement for companies to collaborate.Risk analysis processes must consequently adapt to these new circumstances and new technological paradigms.The objective of this paper is,therefore,to present the results of an exhaustive analysis of the techniques and methods offered by the scientific community with the aim of identifying their main weaknesses and providing a new risk assessment and management process.This analysis was carried out using the systematic review protocol and found that these proposals do not fully meet these new needs.The paper also presents a summary of MARISMA,the risk analysis and management framework designed by our research group.The basis of our framework is the main existing risk standards and proposals,and it seeks to address the weaknesses found in these proposals.MARISMA is in a process of continuous improvement,as is being applied by customers in several European and American countries.It consists of a risk data management module,a methodology for its systematic application and a tool that automates the process.

The effects of information platform-based nursing on preventing venous thromboembolism in patients with hip fractures

Purpose:Venous thromboembolism(VTE)is a major health issue among hip fracture patients.This study aimed to develop an information platform based on a mobile application and then evaluate whether information platform-based nursing could improve patient’’s drug compliance and reduce the incidence of VTE in hip fracture patients.Methods:This study retrospectively analyzed hip fracture patients who were treated with conventional prevention and intervention methods for VTE(control group)between January 2008 and November 2012,and prospectively analyzed hip fracture patients who were treated with nursing intervention based on the information platform(study group)between January 2016 and September 2017.All the patients included in the both groups were hip fracture patients who had an age over 50 years,treated with surgery,and hospitalized≥48 h.Patients were excluded if they admitted to hospital due to old fractures,had a severe bleeding after 72 h of admission,diagnosed with any type of VTE,or refused to participate in the study.The information platform was divided into medical,nursing,and patient interface.Based on the information platform,medical practitioners and nurses could perform risk assessments,monitoring management and early warnings,preventions and treatments,health educations,follow-up,and other aspects of nursing interventions for patients.This study compared essential characteristics,drug compliance,VTE occurrence,and mean length of hospitalization between the two groups.Besides,a subgroup analysis was performed in the study group according to different drug compliances.SPSS 18.0 software(IBM Corp.,NY,and USA)was used for statistical analysis.Results:Altogether 1177 patients were included in the control group,and 491 patients in the study group.Regarding baseline data,patients in the study group had more morbidities than those in the control group(p<0.05).The difference of drug compliance between the two groups was statistically significant(p<0.001):761(64.7%)of the patients in the control group and only 30(6.1%)patients in the study group had poor drug compliance.In terms of VTE,10.7%patients(126/1177)in the control group had VTE,and the rate in the study group was 7.1%(35/491),showing a statistically significant difference(p=0.02).Moreover,the average length of hospitalization in the study group was also significantly lower than that in the control group(10.4 daysvs.13.7 days,p<0.001).Subgroup analyses of the study group showed that the incidence of VTE in patients with poor,partial,and good compliances were 56.7%(17/30),5.8%(10/171),and 2.8%(8/290),respectively,revealing a significantly huge difference(p<0.001).Conclusions:Poor drug compliance leads to higher VTE occurrence.The information platform-based nursing can effectively improve the compliance of hip fracture patients and thus considerably reduce the incidence of VTE.The mobile application may be an effective tool to prevent VTE in hip fracture patients.