Exploring the experiences of adults with stroke in virtual community-based stroke programs: a qualitative descriptive study.

Background: Stroke is among the top contributors to disability and can impact an individual's cognition, physical functioning, and mental health. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, several community-based organizations have started delivering stroke programs virtually. However, participants' experiences in these programs remain understudied, and evidence-based guidelines to inform and optimize virtual stroke program development and delivery are lacking.

Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 global pandemic dictated rapid change to outpatient services within our London-based maternity hospital. Coupled with long waiting times in the Consultant-led Antenatal clinic, we aimed to reduce hospital footfall and unnecessary contact with a clinically vulnerable patient population by reducing face-to-face consultations. Numerous specialties have already successfully implemented safe and effective teleconferencing, allowing remote review while reducing the risks posed by face-to-face contact.

Eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine versus 1% lidocaine injection for lumbar punctures in pediatric oncology patients.

Background: The role of local analgesics for lumbar punctures (LPs) in pediatric oncology patients has not been specifically studied.

Aim: To compare the efficacy of eutectic mixture of local anesthetics (EMLA) cream to 1% lidocaine injection for LPs.

Method: This was a retrospective observational study of all patients receiving either EMLA cream (EMLA group) or 1% lidocaine subcutaneous injection (lidocaine group) in addition to fentanyl and propofol for LPs over 18 months.

The crystalline structure of copper phthalocyanine films on ZnO(1100).

The structure of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) thin films (5-100 nm) deposited on single-crystal ZnO(1100) substrates by organic molecular beam deposition was determined from grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction reciprocal space maps. The crystal structure was identified as the metastable polymorph α-CuPc, but the molecular stacking was found to vary depending on the film thickness: for thin films, a herringbone arrangement was observed, whereas for films thicker than 10 nm, coexistence of both the herringbone and brickstone arrangements was found. We propose a modified structure for the herringbone phase with a larger monoclinic β angle, which leads to intrastack Cu-Cu distances closer to those in the brickstone phase.