Developing a Comprehensive Framework of Safeguarding Strategies to Address Anticipated Errors With Organizational High-Alert Medications.

To describe the development of a comprehensive framework of safeguarding strategies to address observed/anticipated errors with organizational high-alert medications. Observed/anticipated errors were identified for organizational high-alert medications and medication classes based on a review of external literature and alerts as well as internal voluntary error reporting. Anticipated or frequently reported errors were categorized into common cause error types.

Customized Scaffolds for Direct Assembly of Functionalized DNA Origami.

Functional DNA origami nanoparticles (DNA-NPs) are used as nanocarriers in a variety of biomedical applications including targeted drug delivery and vaccine development. DNA-NPs can be designed into a broad range of nanoarchitectures in one, two, and three dimensions with high structural fidelity. Moreover, the addressability of the DNA-NPs enables the precise organization of functional moieties, which improves targeting, actuation, and stability.

The potential for floral evolution in response to competing selection pressures following the loss of hawkmoth pollination in Ruellia humilis.

Premise: In the absence of hawkmoth pollinators, chasmogamous (CH) flowers of Ruellia humilis self-pollinate by two secondary mechanisms. Other floral visitors might exert selection on CH floral traits to restore outcrossing, but at the same time preferential predation of CH seeds generates selection to increase the allocation of resources to cleistogamous (CL) flowers.

Methods: To assess the potential for an evolutionary response to these competing selection pressures, we estimated additive genetic variances ( ) and covariances for 14 reproductive traits and three fitness components in a Missouri population lacking hawkmoth pollinators.

Prospective Study of a Novel Risk Stratification Process for Opioid-Related Harm Reduction in Cancer Patients Seen in an Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic.

Oncologists and palliative specialists prescribe opioids for millions of cancer patients despite limited research on effective screening and mitigation strategies to reduce risk of opioid-related harm in that population. To evaluate the efficacy of a novel opioid risk stratification process for predicting significant aberrant behaviors (SABs) related to prescribed opioid medications. This is a prospective, longitudinal study of 319 consecutive patients referred to an outpatient palliative care clinic between 2010 and 2012, a period during which prescription opioid-related deaths began to increase in the United States.

Description of the role of pharmacist independent double checks during cognitive order verification of outpatient parenteral anti-cancer therapy.

Introduction: To describe pharmacist interventions as a result of an independent double check during cognitive order verification of outpatient parenteral anti-cancer therapy.

Methods: A single-center, retrospective analysis of all individual orders for outpatient, parenteral anti-cancer agents within a hematology/oncology infusion center during a 30 day period was conducted. The primary endpoint was error identification rates during first and second verification.

Visuomotor control of ankle joint using position vs. force.

Ankle joint plays a critical role in daily activities involving interactions with environment using force and position control. Neuromechanical dysfunctions (e.g.

Evaluation of QTc Interval Prolongation Among Patients With Cancer Using Enteral Methadone.

Context:: The effect of methadone on corrected QT interval (QTc) in patients with cancer pain is not well-known.

Objectives:: To describe and characterize the effect of low-, moderate-, and high-dose enteral methadone on QTc interval in patients with cancer.

Methods:: Retrospective cohort study including patients prescribed enteral methadone during the 27-month study period.

Pharmacogenomics of sickle cell disease: steps toward personalized medicine.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a monogenetic disease but has a wide range of phenotypic expressions. Some of these differences in phenotype can be explained by genetic polymorphisms in the human globin gene. These polymorphisms can result in different responses to typical treatment, sometimes leading to inadequate therapeutics.

Evaluation of Emergency Department Management of Opioid-Tolerant Cancer Patients With Acute Pain.

Context: There are no previously published studies examining opioid doses administered to opioid-tolerant cancer patients during emergency department (ED) encounters.

Objectives: To determine if opioid-tolerant cancer patients presenting with acute pain exacerbations receive adequate initial doses of as needed (PRN) opioids during ED encounters based on home oral morphine equivalent (OME) use.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of opioid-tolerant cancer patients who received opioids in our ED over a two-year period.

Position versus force control: using the 2-DOF robotic ankle trainer to assess ankle's motor control.

An estimated of 2,000,000 acute ankle sprains occur annually in the United States. Furthermore, ankle disabilities are caused by neurological impairments such as traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy and stroke. The virtually interfaced robotic ankle and balance trainer (vi-RABT) was introduced as a cost-effective platform-based rehabilitation robot to improve overall ankle/balance strength, mobility and control.

Diltiazem for the management of malignancy-associated perineal pain and tenesmus.

Background: Perineal pain is a frequent complaint of patients with advanced cancer (colorectal, genitourinary, prostate), and often quite difficult to manage with significant impact on quality of life. Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are potent inhibitors of intestinal smooth muscle contraction and have been shown to impact tone and motility of the gastrointestinal tract. As such, they have been used in various pain syndromes of the lower gastrointestinal tract, such as chronic anal fissure, to promote healing and improve pain.

Introducing W.A.T.E.R.S.: a workflow for the alignment, taxonomy, and ecology of ribosomal sequences.

Background: For more than two decades microbiologists have used a highly conserved microbial gene as a phylogenetic marker for bacteria and archaea. The small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene, also known as 16 S rRNA, is encoded by ribosomal DNA, 16 S rDNA, and has provided a powerful comparative tool to microbial ecologists. Over time, the microbial ecology field has matured from small-scale studies in a select number of environments to massive collections of sequence data that are paired with dozens of corresponding collection variables.

Propensity to high-fat diet-induced obesity in rats is associated with changes in the gut microbiota and gut inflammation.

Consumption of diets high in fat and calories leads to hyperphagia and obesity, which is associated with chronic "low-grade" systemic inflammation. Ingestion of a high-fat diet alters the gut microbiota, pointing to a possible role in the development of obesity. The present study used Sprague-Dawley rats that, when fed a high-fat diet, exhibit either an obesity-prone (DIO-P) or obesity-resistant (DIO-R) phenotype, to determine whether changes in gut epithelial function and microbiota are diet or obese associated.

The complete genome sequence of Haloferax volcanii DS2, a model archaeon.

Background: Haloferax volcanii is an easily culturable moderate halophile that grows on simple defined media, is readily transformable, and has a relatively stable genome. This, in combination with its biochemical and genetic tractability, has made Hfx. volcanii a key model organism, not only for the study of halophilicity, but also for archaeal biology in general.

Human gut microbiome adopts an alternative state following small bowel transplantation.

Small bowel transplants provide an exceptional opportunity for long-term study of the microbial ecology of the human small bowel. The ileostomy created at time of transplant for ongoing monitoring of the allograft provides access to samples of ileal effluent and mucosal biopsies. In this study, we used qPCR to assay the bacterial population of the small bowel lumen of 17 small bowel transplant patients over time.

An automated phylogenetic tree-based small subunit rRNA taxonomy and alignment pipeline (STAP).

Comparative analysis of small-subunit ribosomal RNA (ss-rRNA) gene sequences forms the basis for much of what we know about the phylogenetic diversity of both cultured and uncultured microorganisms. As sequencing costs continue to decline and throughput increases, sequences of ss-rRNA genes are being obtained at an ever-increasing rate. This increasing flow of data has opened many new windows into microbial diversity and evolution, and at the same time has created significant methodological challenges.

Genetic and physical mapping of DNA replication origins in Haloferax volcanii.

The halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii has a multireplicon genome, consisting of a main chromosome, three secondary chromosomes, and a plasmid. Genes for the initiator protein Cdc6/Orc1, which are commonly located adjacent to archaeal origins of DNA replication, are found on all replicons except plasmid pHV2. However, prediction of DNA replication origins in H.