Practical guidance for the use of potassium binders in the management of hyperkalaemia in patients with heart failure and/or chronic kidney disease.

Given the critical physiological role of potassium, it is understandable that the development of severe hyperkalaemia requires effective management to reduce its effects, which include muscle weakness, paralysis and cardiac arrhythmias. Hyperkalaemia most often results from the failure of renal adaptation to potassium imbalance. Patients who are most susceptible to the development of hyperkalaemia include those with chronic kidney disease and those with heart failure.

Perceptions of nurses caring for pregnant women in vegetative states.

Purpose: To explore the perceptions of labor and delivery nurses caring for women in persistent vegetative states with viable pregnancies.

Study Design And Method: For this qualitative research study, participants included a purposive sample of 13 RNs who provided bedside care to pregnant women in persistent vegetative states. The researchers simultaneously collected and analyzed data from the participants.

Application of the relationship-based care model to improve health outcomes via the electronic personal health record.

This article examines the metaparadigm of the relationship-based care (RBC) model in health care delivery, delineates selected characteristics of the electronic personal health record (ePHR), provides an example of how RBC applies to integration of the ePHR in the health care delivery setting, discusses the utility of RBC for interprofessional collaboration using the ePHR, and examines how application of RBC in conjunction with the ePHR has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes.

Phase II trial of ritonavir/lopinavir in patients with progressive or recurrent high-grade gliomas.

Current therapies for recurrent or progressive high-grade gliomas (HGG, WHO grade 3-4) produce a 6-month progression-free survival of only 10-25%. Migration and invasion by HGG is mediated in part by matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) which promote remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Several HIV protease inhibitors (HIVPI) decrease the expression of MMPs in astrocytes and microglia.

Worker safety and glutaraldehyde in the gastrointestinal lab environment.

Glutaraldehyde is considered a high-level surgical disinfectant commonly used in the United States in gastrointestinal lab environments. Glutaraldehyde requires proper ventilation when used as glutaraldehyde vapors are known irritants to the skin, eyes, nose, and lungs without proper ventilation in the work environment. Vapor concentration is the unit of measurement for the environmental presence of glutaraldehyde.