University of Pittsburgh

About: University of Pittsburgh is a education organization based out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 87042 authors who have published 201012 publications receiving 9656783 citations. The organization is also known as: Pitt & Western University of Pennsylvania.

Impact of shale gas development on regional water quality

Abstract: Unconventional natural gas resources offer an opportunity to access a relatively clean fossil fuel that could potentially lead to energy independence for some countries. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing make the extraction of tightly bound natural gas from shale formations economically feasible. These technologies are not free from environmental risks, however, especially those related to regional water quality, such as gas migration, contaminant transport through induced and natural fractures, wastewater discharge, and accidental spills. We review the current understanding of environmental issues associated with unconventional gas extraction. Improved understanding of the fate and transport of contaminants of concern and increased long-term monitoring and data dissemination will help manage these water-quality risks today and in the future.

Time to treatment and mortality during mandated emergency care for sepsis

Abstract: BackgroundIn 2013, New York began requiring hospitals to follow protocols for the early identification and treatment of sepsis. However, there is controversy about whether more rapid treatment of sepsis improves outcomes in patients. MethodsWe studied data from patients with sepsis and septic shock that were reported to the New York State Department of Health from April 1, 2014, to June 30, 2016. Patients had a sepsis protocol initiated within 6 hours after arrival in the emergency department and had all items in a 3-hour bundle of care for patients with sepsis (i.e., blood cultures, broad-spectrum antibiotic agents, and lactate measurement) completed within 12 hours. Multilevel models were used to assess the associations between the time until completion of the 3-hour bundle and risk-adjusted mortality. We also examined the times to the administration of antibiotics and to the completion of an initial bolus of intravenous fluid. ResultsAmong 49,331 patients at 149 hospitals, 40,696 (82.5%) had the 3-hour...

The Consensus Sleep Diary: Standardizing Prospective Sleep Self-Monitoring

Abstract: Study objectives: To present an expert consensus, standardized, patient-informed sleep diary. Methods and results: Sleep diaries from the original expert panel of 25 attendees of the Pittsburgh Assessment Conference(1) were collected and reviewed. A smaller subset of experts formed a committee and reviewed the compiled diaries. Items deemed essential were included in a Core sleep diary, and those deemed optional were retained for an expanded diary. Secondly, optional items would be available in other versions. A draft of the Core and optional versions along with a feedback questionnaire were sent to members of the Pittsburgh Assessment Conference. The feedback from the group was integrated and the diary drafts were subjected to 6 focus groups composed of good sleepers, people with insomnia, and people with sleep apnea. The data were summarized into themes and changes to the drafts were made in response to the focus groups. The resultant draft was evaluated by another focus group and subjected to lexile analyses. The lexile analyses suggested that the Core diary instructions are at a sixth-grade reading level and the Core diary was written at a third-grade reading level. Conclusions: The Consensus Sleep Diary was the result of collaborations with insomnia experts and potential users. The adoption of a standard sleep diary for insomnia will facilitate comparisons across studies and advance the field. The proposed diary is intended as a living document which still needs to be tested, refined, and validated.

A neural model of voluntary and automatic emotion regulation: implications for understanding the pathophysiology and neurodevelopment of bipolar disorder.

Abstract: The ability to regulate emotions is an important part of adaptive functioning in society. Advances in cognitive and affective neuroscience and biological psychiatry have facilitated examination of neural systems that may be important for emotion regulation. In this critical review we first develop a neural model of emotion regulation that includes neural systems implicated in different voluntary and automatic emotion regulatory subprocesses. We then use this model as a theoretical framework to examine functional neural abnormalities in these neural systems that may predispose to the development of a major psychiatric disorder characterized by severe emotion dysregulation, bipolar disorder.

Strengthening the Satisfaction-Profit Chain

Abstract: Customer satisfaction programs do not always deliver anticipated results. Disenchanted, some have labeled satisfaction measurement a “trap” and argued for abandoning customer satisfaction as a means for optimizing customer retention and profitability. The authors argue that doing so may be a mistake because the satisfaction-profit chain is conceptually solid. However, to achieve results, an important step is to recognize that the links in the satisfaction-profit chain are asymmetric and nonlinear. In this article, the authors review recent developments pertaining to the asymmetric and nonlinear nature of the links involved. They also discuss several examples based on commercial satisfaction studies where incorporating the asymmetry and nonlinearity added significant value to the firm’s understanding of the satisfaction-profit chain.