On SHiPs and safety: a journey of safe patient handling in pediatrics.

Nursing personnel have consistently been ranked among the top ten professions impacted by musculoskeletal injuries. Inpatient pediatric nurses witnessed an increase in injuries and upon discovering limited evidence applicable to pediatrics, conducted a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of a safe patient handling program. Surveys were distributed to assess risk and workplace safety perceptions.

Sudden cardiac death and heart failure.

Ischemic heart disease and dilated cardiomyopathy are among the most common cardiovascular disease processes associated with heart failure that can lead to lethal arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD). With the increasing incidence of heart failure in the United States, many patients are now at risk for SCD. Nurses should understand the pathophysiology, current treatment guidelines, and the rationale for these therapies to effectively manage systolic dysfunction and to mitigate the risk of SCD.

Hierarchical statistical modeling of xylem vulnerability to cavitation.

Cavitation of xylem elements diminishes the water transport capacity of plants, and quantifying xylem vulnerability to cavitation is important to understanding plant function. Current approaches to analyzing hydraulic conductivity (K) data to infer vulnerability to cavitation suffer from problems such as the use of potentially unrealistic vulnerability curves, difficulty interpreting parameters in these curves, a statistical framework that ignores sampling design, and an overly simplistic view of uncertainty. This study illustrates how two common curves (exponential-sigmoid and Weibull) can be reparameterized in terms of meaningful parameters: maximum conductivity (k(sat)), water potential (-P) at which percentage loss of conductivity (PLC) =X% (P(X)), and the slope of the PLC curve at P(X) (S(X)), a 'sensitivity' index.

Systolic time ratio by impedance cardiography to distinguish preserved vs impaired left ventricular systolic function in heart failure.

Left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) is used to assess patients with heart failure (HF); however, frequent measurements are not cost-effective. Impedance cardiography (ICG) is a low-cost, noninvasive test that measures systolic time intervals and may be a method for detecting impaired vs intact EF. This study evaluated the relationship between EF by echocardiography or gated nuclear ventriculography and systolic time ratio (STR) by ICG in outpatients with chronic HF.

Integrating preconception health into public health practice: a tale of three cities.

In 2006, the national Select Panel on Preconception Care published a set of 10 recommendations on how to improve preconception health and healthcare in the United States. Since then, CDC has been engaged in efforts to ensure that those recommendations are implemented. To help translate the national recommendations into action at the local level, CDC funded CityMatCH, a national maternal and child health organization representing urban health departments, to coordinate a practice collaborative.

The inevitability of infidelity: sexual reputation, social geographies, and marital HIV risk in rural Mexico.

Marriage presents the single greatest risk for HIV infection among women in rural Mexico. We drew on 6 months of participant observation, 20 marital case studies, 37 key informant interviews, and archival research to explore the factors that shape HIV risk among married women in one of the country's rural communities. We found that culturally constructed notions of reputation in this community lead to sexual behavior designed to minimize men's social risk (threats to one's social status or relationships), rather than viral risk and that men's desire for companionate intimacy may actually increase women's risk for HIV infection.

Optimizing therapy for heart failure patients: cardiac resynchronization and defibrillator therapy.

Heart failure continues to be diagnosed at unprecedented rates. It is essential that the affiliated professional, including the nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, and physician assistant, be aware of the current treatments and technology that improve symptoms and reduce mortality rates in patients with heart failure. Medications remain critical in reducing symptoms.

Preventing sudden cardiac death in post myocardial infarction patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

Cardiovascular nurses play a key role in caring for the post myocardial infarction (MI) patient. That role includes reducing the risk of MI recurrence and the progression to heart failure. Equally important is evaluating for the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD).

Nesiritide for pulmonary arterial hypertension with decompensated cor pulmonale.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension complicated by decompensated cor pulmonale is a challenging clinical problem with few effective therapeutic options. B-type natriuretic peptide is a pluripotent hormone that promotes diuresis and natriuresis, vasodilates systemic and pulmonary vessels, and reduces circulating levels of endothelin and aldosterone. It may represent a possible therapeutic strategy for decompensated cor pulmonale in the same manner that it is used to treat decompensated left heart failure.

The role of Munc18-1 in docking and exocytosis of peptide hormone vesicles in the anterior pituitary.

Background Information: Many neurons secrete classical transmitters from synaptic vesicles as well as peptide transmitters from LDCVs (large dense-core vesicles). Little is known about the mechanistic differences between these two secretory pathways. The soluble protein Munc18-1 is essential for synaptic vesicle secretion [Verhage, Maia, Plomp, Brussaard, Heeroma, Vermeer, Toonen, Hammer, van den Berg, Missler, et al.