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Rationale and Objectives: To characterize the use of gender-specific (chairman) and non-inclusive terminology (chief) to describe departmental and divisional/sectional leadership within academic radiology department and radiological society websites., Methods: From a total of 157 unique institutions identified, we gathered a list of 123 departments with functioning websites. We screened for use of "chairman" and "chief" on departmental home pages, welcome messages, faculty listings, and residency program pages, noting location on websites, and alternative terms, if present. We also assessed for use of "chairman" through a list of 14 radiological society websites. The overall usage of these terms was determined and the relationships between geographic region, faculty gender, and use of terminology were assessed., Results: "Chairman" is common among radiology department websites, with 42.1% (51/121) of websites using the term at least once. Usage of "chairman" was higher in departments whose chairs were men (OR 4.32, 95% CI: 1.36-13.69) and lower in those located in the Midwest (versus Northeast, OR 0.34, 95% CI: 0.12-0.96). Use of "chief" is extremely common among departments listing divisional leadership, at 82.7% (67/81). Alternative terms used included "chair," "head," "chairperson," and "director." Among departments, the proportion of women in leadership roles is low, representing 19.7% (22/122) of chairs and 31.1% (272/874) of other leadership. Radiological societies were unlikely to use "chairman," with only one website using the term., Conclusion: Use of "chairman" and "chief" is frequent among academic radiology departments. Further efforts should be made to assess the usage of non-inclusive terminology and its potential impact within academic radiology departments., (Copyright © 2021 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Large health systems responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic face a broad range of challenges; we describe 14 examples of innovative and effective informatics interventions., Materials and Methods: A team of 30 physician and 17 nurse informaticists with an electronic health record (EHR) and associated informatics tools., Results: To meet the demands posed by the influx of patients with COVID-19 into the health system, the team built solutions to accomplish the following goals: 1) train physicians and nurses quickly to manage a potential surge of hospital patients; 2) build and adjust interactive visual pathways to guide decisions; 3) scale up video visits and teach best-practice communication; 4) use tablets and remote monitors to improve in-hospital and posthospital patient connections; 5) allow hundreds of physicians to build rapid consensus; 6) improve the use of advance care planning; 7) keep clinicians aware of patients' changing COVID-19 status; 8) connect nurses and families in new ways; 9) semi-automate Crisis Standards of Care; and 10) predict future hospitalizations., Discussion: During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UCHealth Joint Informatics Group applied a strategy of "practical informatics" to rapidly translate critical leadership decisions into understandable guidance and effective tools for patient care., Conclusion: Informatics-trained physicians and nurses drew upon their trusted relationships with multiple teams within the organization to create practical solutions for onboarding, clinical decision-making, telehealth, and predictive analytics., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.)

Background: Follicular lymphoma (FL) is less prevalent in Asians, but detailed epidemiological analyses were not available. This study aimed to characterize the epidemiologic features of FL in Taiwan to explore the factors relevant to disease development and prognosis., Methods: We obtained epidemiological data for Taiwanese citizens during 1990-2012 from Taiwan's National Cancer Registry Database, and the corresponding data for US Caucasians from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. Changes in incidence rates were evaluated with age-period-cohort (APC) analyses. Patient outcomes were compared with 5-year relative survival rates (RS) estimates., Results: Incidence rates of FL in Taiwan increased continuously during the study period (0.34 to 0.91 per 100 000 person-year from 1993-1997 to 2008-2012 in men, and from 0.29 [1993-1997] to 0.81 [2008-2012] in women), while rates in the US remained stable in both sexes, ranging between 3.73 and 3.96 in men and between 3.24 and 3.55 in women. Estimates of average annual percentage changes in incidence were significantly positive in Taiwan, but not in US Caucasians. Notably, the APC analysis identified a strong birth-cohort effect in Taiwan, corresponding to environmental alterations present during the study period. The estimated 5-year RS rates in both populations showed steady improvement, but the RS in Taiwanese patients was consistently 10% lower than in US Caucasians., Conclusion: A distinct increasing trend of incidence with a strong birth-cohort effect was identified in Taiwan, providing evidence of the association between environmental factors and disease development., (© 2019 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is much less prevalent in Taiwan than in the West, but we have recently addressed the distinctly increasing incidence of CLL in Taiwan. We sought to find out whether there is any difference in cytogenetic abnormalities (CA) of CLL between the West and the East. We analyze the CA, by conventional cytogenetics (CG) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and their clinical significance in 83 Taiwanese CLL patients and compared the data to those of Western countries. Thirty-five patients (42.2 %) possessed CG-CA and 58 (69.9 %) FISH-CA. By either CG or FISH, deletion of 17p or 11q was associated with poorer overall survival (OS) (P<0.001 and P=0.008, respectively), whereas isolated 13q deletion was associated with better OS (P=0.050). Trisomy 3 by CG was found in five patients; all of them were in Binet A stage but had strikingly poor OS (P<0.001). This prognostic impact was independent from the other CA and Binet stages. We conclude that, though the disease incidence is much different, the CA of CLL in Taiwan are similar to those in the West. The combined CG and FISH analysis is able to predict the patients' prognosis. The clinical significance of trisomy 3 warrants further validation.

Objective: Impact of mandatory trans fat labelling on US snack food introductions is examined., Design: Using label information, lipid ingredients and fat profiles are compared pre- and post-labelling., Setting: Key products in the US snack food industry contribute significant amounts of artificial trans fat. Industry efforts to reformulate products to lower trans fat may alter the overall fat profile, in particular saturates., Subjects: Composition data for more than 5000 chip and cookie products introduced for sale between 2001 (pre-labelling) and 2009 (post-labelling) were analysed., Results: One-way ANOVA was used to test for significant changes in saturated fat content per serving and the ratio of saturated to total fat. The shares of chip and cookie introductions containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oil declined by 45 and 42 percentage points, respectively. In cookies, there was an increase of 0·49 (98 % CI 0·01, 0·98) g in the average saturated fat content per 30 g serving and an increase of 9 (98 % CI 3, 15) % in the average ratio of saturated to total fat. No statistically significant changes in fat content were observed in chips., Conclusions: This research suggests that, holding other factors constant, the policy has resulted in a decreased use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in chip products without a corresponding increase in saturated fat content, but led to significantly higher levels of saturated fat and ratio of saturated fat to total fat in cookie products.

Dietary advice emphasizes that some dietary fats increase the risk of heart disease, whereas other dietary fats decrease risk if they are substituted for more risk-increasing fats. Thus, it is important that consumers understand the differences between dietary fats. Existing evidence in the United States suggests troublesome consumer misunderstanding. As part of its continuing effort to promote public health, the US Food and Drug Administration measured consumer awareness and understanding of dietary fats in its Health and Diet Survey- 2004 Supplement. After cognitive interviews and pretests of the questionnaire, telephone interviews of randomly selected noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 years and older in the United States were conducted between October 12, 2004, and January 21, 2005. Using cross-sectional data collected from 1,798 respondents who completed the survey, this study estimated the prevalence of awareness and understanding of six dietary fats among US adults and identified the characteristics of adults with different levels of awareness and understanding. Descriptive analyses were used, along with logistic regression models, developed to accommodate the survey design and responses. There was a wide disparity among US consumers in their awareness and understanding. Saturated fat was most recognized and understood, whereas awareness of other fats was much lower. Most importantly, having heard of a fat did not necessarily mean understanding its relationship to heart disease. Only half of those who had heard of trans fat and n-3 fatty acids understood that the fats raise and lower the risk of heart disease, respectively. Only a minority of those who had heard of partially hydrogenated oil and polyunsaturated fat knew the fats raise and lower the risk of heart disease, respectively. Many admitted being uncertain about how a fat relates to the risk of heart disease. College or more-educated adults had better awareness and understanding. Nonwhite adults were less knowledgeable. Findings on the awareness and understanding and how they are related to individual characteristics can inform deliberations about educational messages, nutrition programs, and food labeling about dietary fats to promote public health., (Copyright (c) 2010 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act (HIPPA) stipulates that patients must be permitted to review and amend their medical records. As information technology makes medical records more accessible to patients, it may become more commonplace for patients to review their records routinely. This article analyzes the potential benefits and drawbacks of facilitating patient access to the medical record by reviewing previously published research. Previous research includes analysis of clinical notes, surveys of patients and practitioners, and studies of patient-accessible medical records. Overall, studies suggest the potential for modest benefits (for instance, in enhancing doctor-patient communication). Risks (for instance, increasing patient worry or confusion) appear to be minimal in medical patients. The studies, however, were of limited quality and low statistical power to detect the variety of outcomes that may result from implementation of a patient-accessible medical record. The data from these studies lay the foundation for future research.

Objective: To determine whether a brief previsit questionnaire about referral concerns can improve primary care provider (PCP) recognition of patient concerns and satisfaction with care., Design: Sequential prospective study in the internal medicine clinic of an academic medical center providing primary care to patients enrolled in a gatekeeper-model managed care plan., Participants and Methods: Twelve faculty internists serving as PCPs for 1495 consecutive patient visits. Patients were given a previsit questionnaire asking about referral need and rationale and a postvisit questionnaire asking about discussion of referral concern and visit satisfaction. Providers were given a postvisit questionnaire asking whether a referral was discussed and made and about visit satisfaction. In the control phase, patient previsit questionnaires remained confidential, whereas in the intervention phase PCPs were shown the previsit questionnaires at the time of encounter., Results: The intervention significantly increased PCP referral recognition from 61% to 81% (P < .001) and was associated with increased visit satisfaction (P = .05). Satisfaction of PCPs with the referral discussion, overall rate of referral, and visit duration were not affected by the intervention., Conclusions: Using a brief previsit questionnaire about patient referral concerns increases PCP recognition of such concerns. The intervention does not adversely affect PCP satisfaction with the referral discussion or the overall referral rate and may enhance patient visit satisfaction.