The Ottawa model for nursing curriculum renewal: An integrative review.

Background: High-quality and relevant nursing education is needed to ensure graduates meet entry to practice competencies. Despite the important role of curricula in the development of nurses and the nursing profession, there does not appear to be a consistent or widely accepted approach to nursing curriculum renewal.

Objective: To identify and synthesize existing curriculum renewal/redesign practices, create an aggregated logic model depicting an evidence-informed process for nursing curriculum renewal, and stimulate dialogue about how to keep nursing curricula relevant in an ever-changing healthcare context.

Current induced polycrystalline-to-crystalline transformation in vanadium dioxide nanowires.

Vanadium dioxide (VO) exhibits a reversible insulator-metal phase transition that is of significant interest in energy-efficient nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices. In these applications, crystalline materials are usually preferred for their superior electrical transport characteristics as well as spatial homogeneity and low surface roughness over the device area for reduced scattering. Here, we show applied electrical currents can induce a permanent reconfiguration of polycrystalline VO nanowires into crystalline nanowires, resulting in a dramatically reduced hysteresis across the phase transition and reduced resistivity.

Skin-to-skin contact with an umbilical venous catheter: prospective evaluation in a level 3 unit.

Unlabelled: The aim was to assess the incidence of complications related to skin-to-skin contact (SSC) in newborns with an umbilical venous catheter (UVC). We carried out a prospective follow-up study of all UVCs in a level 3 unit where SSC is systematic. A total of 333 babies were included (mean gestational age of 31.

Electrically controllable extraordinary optical transmission in gold gratings on vanadium dioxide.

Highly tunable optical transmission through one-dimensional gold gratings patterned on top of a film of the phase transition material, vanadium dioxide (VO2), is demonstrated. Dense electrical integration is enabled by grating features that also function as electrical contacts to the VO2. Extraordinary optical transmission is observed in the VO2 insulator phase, and the optical transmission is extinguished by up to about 6 dB in a 170 nm thick VO2 film.

Wavelength-size hybrid Si-VO(2) waveguide electroabsorption optical switches and photodetectors.

Ultra-compact waveguide electroabsorption optical switches and photodetectors with micron- and sub-micron lengths and compatible with silicon (Si) waveguides are demonstrated using the insulator-metal phase transition of vanadium dioxide (VO(2)). A 1 μm long hybrid Si-VO(2) device is shown to achieve a high extinction ratio of 12 dB and a competitive insertion loss of 5 dB over a broad bandwidth of 100 nm near λ = 1550 nm. The device, operated as a photodetector, can measure optical powers less than 1 μW with a responsivity in excess of 10 A/W.

Whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI for staging lymphoma at 3.0T: comparative study with MR imaging at 1.5T.

Objective: To compare 3T and 1.5T Whole Body Diffusion Weighted MRI (WB-DW-MRI) in patients at initial diagnosis of lymphoma.

Methods: Twenty-three patients were included.

Kinetic response of a genotoxicity biomarker in the three-spined stickleback and implication for environmental monitoring.

The ultimate sink for the majority of anthropogenic compounds are the aquatic ecosystems, either through direct discharges or indirectly through hydrologic or atmospheric processes, possibly leading to long-term adverse effects in aquatic living resources. In order to assess exposure, fate and effects of chemical contaminants, aquatic ecotoxicologists have developed a large array of early-warning biomarkers proving that toxicants have entered organisms, have been distributed between organs and have triggered toxic effects regarding critical targets. However, optimal use of biomarkers in environmental studies previously requires in-depth knowledge of the kinetics of response of biomarkers.

Ecotoxicological risk assessment linked to the discharge by hospitals of bio-accumulative pharmaceuticals into aquatic media: The case of mitotane.

The release of hospital wastewater into the urban sewer networks contributes to the general contamination of aquatic media by pharmaceutical residues. These residues include bio-accumulative pharmaceuticals that lead to increased risk for ecosystems because they can concentrate in organisms and food chains, and therefore reach toxic levels. In order to assess the ecotoxicological risks linked to this particular category of residues, we have developed a specific method, by combining a theoretical calculation of pollutant concentrations in organisms to estimate Body Residue (BR), and ecotoxicity biomarkers in fish cell lines, enabling the calculation of a Critical Body Residue (CBR).

A priori assessment of ecotoxicological risks linked to building a hospital.

Hospital wastewaters contain a large number of chemical pollutants such as disinfectants, detergents, and drug residues. A part of these pollutants is not eliminated by traditional urban waste water treatment plants, leading to a major risk for the aquatic ecosystems receiving these effluents. After having formulated a specific methodology in order to assessment ecotoxicological risk for such a situation, we applied it to the project to build a new hospital shared by several towns in the French Alps.

Women's desire for children in an HIV population: a clinical pilot study in Burkina Faso.

Introduction: Today, thanks to the HAART, HIV has become a chronic disease. In most cases, HIV positive women are of reproductive age and at present, the vertical transmission rate is around 0.1% for women with an undetectable viral load.

Survey of educators' end-of-life care learning needs in a Canadian baccalaureate nursing programme.

Aim: To examine the potential need for faculty development in end-of-life care (EOLC) of theory and clinical educators in a collaborative bilingual undergraduate nursing programme in a Canadian university.

Method: A purposive sample of 53 Anglophone and Francophone theory and clinical educators completed the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing, the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale and an adapted Educators Educational Needs Questionnaire (Patterson et al, 1997).

Results: Results indicated that educators held positive attitudes towards caring for dying patients and had modest knowledge levels.

Providing direction for change: assessing Canadian nursing students learning needs.

Aim: To examine the current curriculum content and learning needs of graduating nursing students related to end-of-life care (EOLC).

Design: A survey method was employed.

Sample: A purposive sample of 58 Anglophone and Francophone students completed the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) and Frommelt's Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD).

[Study on the relationship between the degree of periportal fibrosis, hepatic parenchymatous fibrosis and diameter of portal vein in Schistosoma japonicum infection].

The degree of periportal fibrosis, hepatic parenchymatous fibrosis and the diameter of portal vein in fishermen from highly endemic area of schistosomiasis japonica in Dongting Lake region were measured. The results showed a significant correlation between the degree of periportal fibrosis and parenchymatous fibrosis and the portal venous diameter with a correlation coefficient of 0.375 and 0.

Inhibin assays of ovarian cyst liquid obtained by needle aspiration may allow differential diagnosis between functional and organic cysts.

Radioimmunoassays of estradiol, CA125 and inhibin were carried out on ovarian cyst fluid samples. The samples were taken from ten women with functional cysts and 15 women with organic cysts. Statistical analysis shows that estradiol and inhibin assays allows satisfactory differential diagnosis between functional and organic cysts.