Enhancing Infection Control and Student Learning: A Collaborative Strategy Using Nursing Students During COVID-19.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 resulted in restrictions in didactic and clinical rotations while sites denied entry or limited numbers of nursing student placements to decrease impact staff nurse workload. Pandemic incidences of hospital-acquired infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) increased, underscoring the importance of increasing workforce-ready nurses.

Method: To increase the number of nursing students permitted into the hospital, hospital and school administrators devised the nurse assist program (NAP), which is a collaborative approach developed to address increased staff workloads and personnel shortages and facilitate student return to clinical settings.

Impairment of Glucose Uptake Induced by Elevated Intracellular Ca in Hippocampal Neurons of Malignant Hyperthermia-Susceptible Mice.

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a genetic disorder triggered by depolarizing muscle relaxants or halogenated inhalational anesthetics in genetically predisposed individuals who have a chronic elevated intracellular Ca concentration ([Ca]) in their muscle cells. We have reported that the muscle dysregulation of [Ca] impairs glucose uptake, leading to the development of insulin resistance in two rodent experimental models. In this study, we simultaneously measured the [Ca] and glucose uptake in single enzymatically isolated hippocampal pyramidal neurons from wild-type (WT) and MH-R163C mice.

Gabapentinoids Increase the Potency of Fentanyl and Heroin and Decrease the Potency of Naloxone to Antagonize Fentanyl and Heroin in Rats Discriminating Fentanyl.

Despite a significant decrease in the number of prescriptions for opioids, the opioid crisis continues, fueled in large part by the availability of the phenylpiperidine opioid receptor (MOR) agonist fentanyl. In contrast, the number of prescriptions for and the off-label use of gabapentinoids (gabapentin and pregabalin) has increased dramatically, with gabapentinoids commonly detected in opioid overdose victims. Although gabapentinoids can decrease the potency of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone to reverse heroin-induced hypoventilation in male rats, the specificity and nature of interaction between gabapentinoids and MOR agonists and any potential sex difference in those interactions are not well characterized.

Post-Anesthesia Cognitive Dysfunction in Mice Is Associated with an Age-Related Increase in Neuronal Intracellular [Ca]-Neuroprotective Effect of Reducing Intracellular [Ca]: In Vivo and In Vitro Studies.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a common disorder after general anesthesia in elderly patients, the precise mechanisms of which remain unclear. We investigated the effect of isoflurane with or without dantrolene pretreatment on intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca]), reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, cellular lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leak, calpain activity, and cognitive function using the Morris water maze test of young (3 months), middle-aged (12-13 months), and aged (24-25 months) C57BL6/J mice. Aged cortical and hippocampal neurons showed chronically elevated [Ca] compared to young neurons.

Enhancing Muscle Intracellular Ca Homeostasis and Glucose Uptake: Passive Pulsatile Shear Stress Treatment in Type 2 Diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is a significant global public health problem that has seen a substantial increase in the number of affected individuals in recent decades. In a murine model of T2D (db/db), we found several abnormalities, including aberrant intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca]), decreased glucose transport, increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), elevated levels of pro-inflammatory interleukins and creatine phosphokinase (CK), and muscle weakness. Previously, we demonstrated that passive pulsatile shear stress, generated by sinusoidal (headward-forward) motion, using a motion platform that provides periodic acceleration of the whole body in the Z plane (pGz), induces the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) mediated by constitutive nitric oxide synthase (eNOS and nNOS).