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INTRODUCTION: A small proportion of patients presenting to the Emergency department (ED) of any hospital tend to take discharge against medical advice (DAMA) due to several patient related or hospital/service related reasons. Amongst these, orthopaedic patients are a special group due to their inability to mobilise independently due to injuries and have treatment needs which involve higher costs. The aim of the current study was to ascertain and analyse the reasons for orthopaedic walkouts at a tertiary care new private hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective telephonic structured interview-based study was carried out on all orthopaedic patients taking DAMA during a one-year period from July 2016 to June 2017. They were telephonically interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Hospital and ED records were analysed for demographic as well as temporal characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 68 orthopaedic patients walked out of casualty against medical advice out of a total 775 (8.77%) orthopaedic patients presenting during the period as against 6.4% overall rate of DAMA for all specialties. The main reasons for DAMA were financial unaffordability of treatment (36.7%), preference for another orthopaedic surgeon (22%) and on advice of the patient’s General Practitioner (16.1%). CONCLUSION: Unaffordability of treatment is a significant cause for walkouts amongst orthopaedic patients. Private hospitals need to recognise and implement processes by which these patients can be treated at affordable costs and with coverage either by medical insurance or robust charity programs. Patient education and awareness are important to encourage them to have insurance coverage.

The recent advances in hardware and software related to distributed smart sensing have opened unprecedented opportunities for building effective solutions to applications, such as object detection, tracking and recognition for surveillance, mobile medical imaging, distributed video monitoring/retrieval, gesture recognition, etc.

OBJECTIVE We compared South Asians with four other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. to determine whether sociodemographic, lifestyle, or metabolic factors could explain the higher diabetes prevalence and whether insulin resistance and b-cell dysfunction oc

The transformation of business and the economy is a key business problem, and its importance was further heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the increased pressure on enterprises. Hence, the digital readiness of their business will likely determine its future competitiveness in the field. Objectives: The paper addresses the issue of digital readiness for business, with the aim of examining similarities and differences in the digital readiness of European Union countries. The main focus is on identifying the changes during the first two years of the pandemic. Methods/Approach: We conducted a factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis based on selected indicators. The results revealed some significant differences. Results: While the countries that lead in digital readiness remained the same, there were relatively large differences in the classification of other EU countries. Some countries, such as Latvia or Slovenia, significantly improved in many aspects of digital readiness during the pandemic. On the other hand, Bulgaria and Romania are still included in the same cluster, representing an overall low digital readiness. Conclusion: Enterprises in more developed countries also have a higher level of digital readiness. Although COVID-19 had a positive impact on digital readiness in some less developed countries, the impact is only partial, indicating a need for stronger actions to bridge the digital divide at the EU level. These findings provide a hopeful outlook, suggesting that with the right actions, the digital divide in the EU can be effectively bridged.

While the occupation of a train driver can be likened to other transportation professions like truck or bus drivers, it is essential to note that there are distinct hazards exclusive to this role that have a notable impact on the mental and physical well-being of train drivers. The study aims to define personal characteristics, work organisation and work characteristics, professional development and work in general in connection with risk factors among employees who perform the work tasks of train drivers in railway transport.

A High Pressure Flow Visualization Cell has been designed and constructed to perform a fundamental investigation of the deformation behavior of liquid lubricants under lubricated concentrated contact conditions. A pressure of 0.3 GPa and a shear stress between parallel plates of about 25 MPa has been demonstrated. Time averaged velocity profiles show no continuous slip either in the bulk or at walls. Localized slip at shear bands inclined to the walls was demonstrated to occur during nonlinear shear response. The number of shear bands increases with shear rate (and shear stress) from as few as one at the onset of non-Newtonian flow until the shear region is essentially filled with bands with a spatial periodicity of 7 micrometers. Bands are typically inclined 19 deg off the solid surfaces in a direction which reduces the compressive normal stress due to shear on the plane of the band.