National Healthcare Safety Network data were analyzed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the incidence of healthcare-associated infections during 2021. Standardized infection ratios were significantly higher than those during the pre-pandemic period, particularly during 2021-Q1 and 2021-Q3. HAI incidence was elevated during periods of high COVID-19 hospitalizations.
This experiment examined the effects of the discharge of water treatment plant (WTP) sludge into the following three types of wastewater treatment systems: a pilot‐scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, a pilot‐scale activated sludge system, and a full‐scale activated sludge sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The UASB reactor received 50 mg of suspended solids (SS) of WTP sludge per liter of wastewater in the first phase, and, in the second phase, it received 75 mg SS/L. The pilot‐scale activated sludge system received 25 and 50 mg SS/L in the first and second phases, respectively. The full‐scale WWTP (SBR) received approximately 74 mg SS/L. The results of the experiments showed that, despite some negative effects on nitrification, there were positive effects on phosphorus removal, and, furthermore, there was the addition of solids in all systems.
Sexual and gender minorities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, experience barriers to healthcare as a result of stigma, discrimination, and poor cultural competence by healthcare and social services providers (HCSSP). The purpose of the study is to increase access to care and services for the LGBTQ community in a U.S.-Mexico border city by identifying LGBTQ-friendly HCSSP. A survey, developed based on concerns voiced in a predominantly Hispanic LGBTQ community, was administered to HCSSP and used to create a referral list, "The Purple Pages of El Paso" (PPoEP). Overall, 77 HCSSP have responded and 43 are included in the most recent version of the PPoEP. This model for developing a referral list of providers can be adapted in areas where LGBTQ communities face similar barriers to care and services. To be effective in reducing barriers to care, PPoEP must be updatable and sustainable.
in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).In this article, a multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) strategy, devoted to bias identification and estimation for processes operating under steady-state conditions, is presented. The technique makes use of the D statistic to detect the presence of biases. Besides, it uses a new decomposition of this statistic to identify the faulty sensors. The strategy is based only on historical process data. Neither process modeling nor assumptions about the probability distribution of measurement errors are required. In contrast to methods based on fundamental models, both redundant and nonredundant measurements can be examined to identify the presence of biases. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated using data-reconciliation benchmarks. Results indicate that the technique succeeds in identifying single and multiple biases and fulfills three paramount issues to practical implementation in commercial software: robustness, uncertainty, and efficiency.
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