Efficacy of a Nanofabricated Electrospun Wound Matrix in Treating Full-thickness Cutaneous Wounds in a Porcine Model.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the comparative performance of a resorbable nanofiber wound matrix (Restrata Wound Matrix; Acera Surgical Inc, St Louis, MO) and a bilayered collagen xenograft (Integra Bilayer Matrix Wound Dressing; Integra, Plainsboro, NJ) in healing critical full-thickness cutaneous wounds in a preclinical porcine model.

Materials And Methods: Full-thickness cutaneous wounds were created in Yucatan miniature swine and treated with either the nanofiber wound matrix or xenograft. Wound area was measured and inflammation and healing were assessed until euthanasia at day 15 or 30, at which time tissue samples were harvested for histopathology.

What Makes the Optimal Wound Healing Material? A Review of Current Science and Introduction of a Synthetic Nanofabricated Wound Care Scaffold.

Wound matrix materials are used to improve the regeneration of dermal and epidermal layers in both acute and chronic wounds. Contemporary wound matrices are primarily composed of biologic materials such as processed xenogeneic and allogeneic tissues. Unfortunately, existing biologic wound matrices possess multiple limitations including poor longevity, durability, strength, and enzymatic resistance required for persistent support for new tissue formation.

Comparison of a Fully Synthetic Electrospun Matrix to a Bi-Layered Xenograft in Healing Full Thickness Cutaneous Wounds in a Porcine Model.

A fully synthetic electrospun matrix was compared to a bi-layered xenograft in the healing of full thickness cutaneous wounds in Yucatan miniature swine. Full thickness wounds were created along the dorsum, to which these matrices were applied. The wound area was measured over the course of healing and wound tissue was scored for evidence of inflammation and healing.

Pain and somatic symptoms are sequelae of sexual assault: results of a prospective longitudinal study.

Background: Cross-sectional studies have shown that chronic musculoskeletal pain and somatic symptoms are frequently reported by sexual assault (SA) survivors; however, prospective studies examining pain and somatic symptoms in the months after SA have not been performed.

Methods: Women SA survivors 18 years of age or older who presented for care within 48 h of SA were recruited. Pain in eight body regions (head and face, neck, breast, arms, abdomen, back, genital and pelvic, and legs) and 21 common somatic symptoms (e.

μ-Opioid receptor gene A118G polymorphism predicts pain recovery after sexual assault.

Unlabelled: Pain is common after sexual assault (SA), but etiology of pain symptoms after SA is unknown. Preclinical studies suggest that the release of endogenous opioids during stress produces delayed-onset hyperalgesia. In human studies, individuals with ≥1 G allele at the μ-opioid receptor functional single nucleotide polymorphism A118G have been shown to have a reduced response to opioids.

Acute severe pain is a common consequence of sexual assault.

Unlabelled: Sexual assault (SA) is common, but the epidemiology of acute pain after SA has not previously been reported. We evaluated the severity and distribution of pain symptoms in the early aftermath of SA among women receiving Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) care, and the treatment of pain by SANE nurses. Severe pain (≥7 on a 0-10 numeric rating scale) was reported by 53/83 women sexual assault survivors (64% [95% CI, 53-74%]) at the time of SANE evaluation and 43/83 women (52% [95% CI, 41-63%]) 1 week later.

Odontogenic signs and symptoms as predictors of odontogenic infection: a clinical trial.

Background: The authors conducted a study to determine if odontogenic signs and symptoms in the emergency department predicted the development of overt odontogenic infection at a follow-up dental visit.

Methods: One hundred ninety-five patients with odontalgia, but without overt signs of infection, were enrolled in a prospective, double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Data included dental diagnosis, pain characteristics, presence of caries and restorations, presence and size of periapical radiolucencies and other diagnostic test results.

Efficacy of penicillin for dental pain without overt infection.

Objectives: Dental pain is a common presenting symptom in the acute care setting. Even in the absence of overt infection, many physicians routinely prescribe antibiotics such as penicillin. The authors sought to test the hypothesis that penicillin is not necessary or beneficial in the treatment of undifferentiated dental pain without overt infection.

The posterior impingement sign: diagnosis of rotator cuff and posterior labral tears secondary to internal impingement in overhand athletes.

We conducted this study to determine whether a test, the posterior impingement maneuver, could be used to prospectively identify articular side tears of the rotator cuff and/or posterior labrum. Sixty-nine athletes presented with posterior shoulder pain that developed during overhand athletics. Injured shoulders were placed into 90 degrees to 110 degrees of abduction, slight extension, and maximum external rotation, and an effort was made to elicit pain deep within the posterior aspect.

Histology of the torn meniscus: a comparison of histologic differences in meniscal tissue between tears in anterior cruciate ligament-intact and anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees.

Purpose: The purpose of this case control study was to evaluate possible preexisting structural differences between torn menisci in anterior cruciate ligament-intact and anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees.

Materials And Methods: Subjects were prospectively enrolled into the study from new patient referrals to the orthopaedic clinic. Forty-four meniscal specimens were retrieved during routine arthroscopy.

Experimental studies of electroosmotic flow dynamics during sample stacking for capillary electrophoresis.

Electroosmotic flow dynamics during a field-amplified sample stacking experiment have been studied experimentally using the periodic photobleaching of a dilute, neutral fluorophore added to the separation buffer. The effects of hydrodynamically injecting different sample plug lengths containing a mixture of arsenic compounds dissolved in 0.125 mM (120, 240, and 600 s) and 41.

Symptomatic thrower's exostosis. Arthroscopic evaluation and treatment.

A long-term follow-up was performed on 22 patients treated for a posterior glenoid osteophyte and symptomatic posterior shoulder pain during either the late cocking, acceleration, or follow-through phases of throwing. Arthroscopic evaluation of these patients revealed undersurface tearing of the rotator cuff in all but one. Fifteen patients also had tearing of the posterior labrum.

Concept mapping: promoting science learning in BN learners in Australia.

Background: We reviewed the process of using concept mapping as a methodology to teach science to RNs in a bachelor degree of nursing program in Australia.

Method: The technique was used for two classes of students in the science unit during 1995 with work packages and independent student learning being the focus of the unit.

Results: Both instructors and students found the experience mainly positive.

Caudal slope of the tibia and its relationship to noncontact injuries to the ACL.

To determine the role that an increased caudal slope of the tibia might have on the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, tibial slope was measured in 49 patients (50 knees), with noncontact ACL injury mechanisms (group 1) and an age-matched group of 39 patients (50 knees) with a diagnosis of patellofemoral pain syndrome (group 2). No significant difference was noted in mean posterior slope between the two groups (group 1: 9.7+/-1.

Nurses' understanding of physical science in nursing practice.

When science educators teach nurses, their primary aim should be to help them to develop understanding of their world of nursing. From a study of registered nurses' conceptions of the physical science underlying their clinical practice, we assert that nurses' understanding of the physical sciences is inadequate in terms of the competencies required of them as nurses. Rather than respond to this contention by altering the content of physical science units in nursing courses, we propose that those who teach nurse students should look more carefully at factors that influence nurses' learning: these factors are images of nursing, shared experience and shared language.

Significance of increased Tl-201 uptake by the lungs in patients undergoing oral dipyridamole-thallium myocardial imaging.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significance of increased Tl-201 uptake by the lungs after oral dipyridamole testing. In conjunction with myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, intravenous dipyridamole has been recently approved as an alternative to exercise for the evaluation of coronary artery disease in patients who cannot adequately exercise, and it will largely replace oral dipyridamole testing. This study contributes to the understanding of the significance of increased lung thallium uptake during pharmacologic stress testing.

Improving compliance in an inner-city hypertensive patient population.

Because hypertension is a "silent" disease process, compliance with therapy is always a problem. In the inner city, where socioeconomic factors such as poverty, illiteracy, and substance abuse raise additional barriers to effective health care, poor compliance with antihypertensive regimens can reach epidemic proportions--as it did in our clinic in the early 1970s. After identifying the major causes of poor compliance in our patients, we instituted measures that led directly to greatly improved compliance and control, among them the expansion of clinic hours, the expediting of laboratory services, and the training of nurse-therapists to assume many of the responsibilities of running the clinic.

Centrally acting alpha-2 agonists, peripherally acting adrenergic-blocking drugs, and direct vasodilators in the treatment of mild and moderate essential hypertension.

The experience with three groups of antihypertensive agents in a large hypertension clinic serving a black patient population is reported. A retrospective review of clinic records was undertaken to determine the efficacy and adverse effects of the centrally acting adrenergic agonists methyldopa and clonidine, the alpha-1 antagonist prazosin, and the direct vasodilator hydralazine in patients with mild and moderate hypertension. Treatment with methyldopa, clonidine, or prazosin, usually in combination with a diuretic produced a 30 to 38 mmHg decrease in systolic blood pressure, and a 24 to 28 mmHg reduction in diastolic blood pressure.

Correlation between first morning sample and 24-hour urinary estriol excretion.

The estriol concentration of a morning sample of urine from high-risk pregnant women was correlated with the total 24-hour estriol excretion. One hundred seventy sample pairs compared the estriol concentration of the morning specimen with those of a 24-hour specimen of the previous day, while 110 sample pairs compared the value of morning specimen with those of a 24-hour specimen of the following day. Although there is highly significant statistical correlation between those sample pairs, they are of modest magnitude.

Significance of amniotic fluid corticosteroid levels in human pregnancies.

Retrospective analysis of 103 samples of amniotic fluid was performed. Twenty-four samples were obtained prior to midtrimester abortion, 31 were from patients who delivered spontaneously, 14 were from patients in whom labor was induced, and the remaining samples were obtained from patients who were delivered by cesarean section. In all normal pregnancies, there was a rising trend in corticosteroid levels in amniotic fluid as the gestation advanced.

Chorioamnionitis.

Chorioamnionitis is an inflammatory reaction occurring in the fetal membranes of the placenta. It is usually associated with premature rupture of the membranes, whether spontaneous or artificial. Rupture of the fetal membranes sets off a time bomb that threatens both maternal and fetal welfare.

An unusual foreign body in the pelvic cavity after laparotomy.

An unusual case of a glass bottle remaining in the pelvic peritoneal cavity for 6 years after laparotomy is reported, and the prevention of such occurrences is emphasized.

Ovarian hemorrhage complicating warfarin sodium anticoagulant therapy.

Three cases of women in the reproductive age group who received warfarin sodium therapy for pulmonary embolism are presented. The therapy was complicated by rupture of ovarian cysts with intraperitoneal hemorrhage necessitating exploratory laparatomy. The possibility of intraperitoneal hemorrhage must be considered in patients who present with abdominal pain and a history of anticoagulant therapy.