University of Illinois at Chicago

About: University of Illinois at Chicago is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 57071 authors who have published 110536 publications receiving 4264936 citations.

Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database: past and future.

Abstract: Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) exemplifies a population-level data source for generating real-world evidence to support clinical decisions and health care policy-making. Like with all claims databases, there have been some validity concerns of studies using the NHIRD, such as the accuracy of diagnosis codes and issues around unmeasured confounders. Endeavors to validate diagnosed codes or to develop methodologic approaches to address unmeasured confounders have largely increased the reliability of NHIRD studies. Recently, Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) established a Health and Welfare Data Center (HWDC), a data repository site that centralizes the NHIRD and about 70 other health-related databases for data management and analyses. To strengthen the protection of data privacy, investigators are required to conduct on-site analysis at an HWDC through remote connection to MOHW servers. Although the tight regulation of this on-site analysis has led to inconvenience for analysts and has increased time and costs required for research, the HWDC has created opportunities for enriched dimensions of study by linking across the NHIRD and other databases. In the near future, researchers will have greater opportunity to distill knowledge from the NHIRD linked to hospital-based electronic medical records databases containing unstructured patient-level information by using artificial intelligence techniques, including machine learning and natural language processes. We believe that NHIRD with multiple data sources could represent a powerful research engine with enriched dimensions and could serve as a guiding light for real-world evidence-based medicine in Taiwan.

Protecting Respondent Confidentiality in Qualitative Research

Abstract: For qualitative researchers, maintaining respondent confidentiality while presenting rich, detailed accounts of social life presents unique challenges. These challenges are not adequately addressed in the literature on research ethics and research methods. Using an example from a study of breast cancer survivors, I argue that by carefully considering the audience for one's research and by reenvisioning the informed consent process, qualitative researchers can avoid confidentiality dilemmas that might otherwise lead them not to report rich, detailed data.

Prevalence Rates and Correlates of Psychiatric Disorders among Preschool Children

Abstract: Objective To determine the prevalence and correlates of psychiatric disorders among preschool children in a primary care pediatric sample. Method In a two-stage design, 3,860 preschool children were screened; 510 received fuller evaluations. Results For quantitative assessment of disorder (90th percentile), prevalence of behavior problems was 8.3%. "Probable" occurrence of an Axis I DSM-III-R disorder was 21.4% (9.1%, severe). Logistic regression analyses indicated significant demographic correlates for quantitative outcomes (older age, minority status, male sex, low socioeconomic status, father absence, small family size) but not for DSM-III-R diagnoses. Maternal and family characteristics were generally not significant. Child correlates included activity level, timidity, persistence, and IQ. Conclusions Overall prevalence of disorder was consistent with rates for older children; correlates varied by approach used for classification.

Drug discovery from natural sources.

Abstract: Organic compounds from terrestrial and marine organisms have extensive past and present use in the treatment of many diseases and serve as compounds of interest both in their natural form and as templates for synthetic modification. Over 20 new drugs launched on the market between 2000 and 2005, originating from terrestrial plants, terrestrial microorganisms, marine organisms, and terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates, are described. These approved substances, representative of very wide chemical diversity, together with several other natural products or their analogs undergoing clinical trials, continue to demonstrate the importance of compounds from natural sources in modern drug discovery efforts.