Repurposing Licensed Drugs with Activity Against Epstein-Barr Virus for Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Approach.

Background: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is implicated as a necessary factor in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) and may also be a driver of disease activity. Although it is not clear whether ongoing viral replication is the driver for MS pathology, MS researchers have considered the prospect of using drugs with potential efficacy against EBV in the treatment of MS. We have undertaken scientific and lived experience expert panel reviews to shortlist existing licensed therapies that could be used in later-stage clinical trials in MS.

The continuation of non-physical abuse from childhood to adulthood in eating disorder patients: An interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Background: The ED literature has focused on the physical forms of childhood abuse with respect to eating disorders, overlooking non-physical abuse even though eating disorder patients report the latter either as primary experiences or as a revival of their childhood experiences. Additionally, there is no literature exploring whether adult eating disorder patients who have experienced childhood non-physical abuse continue to experience abuse as adults, and if they do, how well-being is impacted or linked with eating pathology.

Objective: This study explored the lived experiences of eating disorders patients who have experienced non-physical childhood abuse in childhood and adulthood.

Treatment of Nocturnal Enuresis Using Miniaturised Smart Mechatronics With Artificial Intelligence.

Our study was designed to develop a customisable, wearable, and comfortable medical device - the text so-called "MyPAD" that monitors the fullness of the bladder, triggering an alarm indicating the need to void, in order to prevent badwetting - i.e., treating Nocturnal Enuresis (NE) at the text pre-void stage using miniaturised mechatronics with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

A structural equation model in adults with type 1 and 2 diabetes: exploring the interplay of psychological states and diabetes outcomes, and the mediating effect of resilience.

Aims: Type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus (T1DM and T2DM) can lead to emotional distress and cognitive impairments, often caused by psychological factors such as low mood or anxiety; yet, few studies have explored the theoretical mechanisms underlying these relationships and within one study. This study explored the relationships between psychological states (anxiety/worry, fatigue) and diabetes outcomes (diabetes distress, cognitive dysfunction), and whether resilience mediated the association between these in T1DM and T2DM.

Methods: A sample of 307 UK adults with a clinical diagnosis of diabetes (T1DM = 129; T2DM = 178) completed a cross-sectional online survey, composed of six questionnaires.

Effects of family functioning on eating pathology and psychosocial quality of life: The mediating role of self-esteem.

Objective: Family dysfunction and self-esteem play an important role in the development of eating disorders (EDs), but this role has not been sufficiently examined regarding eating pathology and psychosocial quality of life (QoL), which often remains unchanged even after ED symptoms reduce. The purpose of this study was to therefore assess the mediating role of self-esteem between family dysfunction and both eating pathology and psychosocial QoL in ED patients and controls.

Method: One hundred and fifty four female adult ED patients and 154 female healthy adult controls were recruited from Athens, Greece, and self-reported measures were used to assess family dysfunction, eating pathology, self-esteem, and psychosocial QoL.

Troublesome knowledge for entry-level PhD nursing students: Threshold concepts essential for the research-focused doctorate.

Background: Evidence supports that PhD doctoral students experience conceptually difficult knowledge, or troublesome knowledge, during their studies. These areas of troublesome knowledge are often associated with threshold concepts, those ideas specific to a discipline that must be understood to advance ways of thinking and making knowledge in the discipline.

Purpose: To examine troublesome knowledge identified by a group of PhD nursing students during an introductory course and to consider threshold concepts related to that knowledge.

Diabetes and eating disorders: an exploration of 'Diabulimia'.

Background: 'Diabulimia' is the term given to the deliberate administration of insufficient insulin for the purpose of weight loss. Although Diabulimia can be life-threatening and prevalence rates in diabetes are high, there is a lack of research for how to effectively support people with the condition. This exploratory study aimed to provide much-needed information to healthcare professionals and guide the focus for future research.

Intelligent autonomous treatment of bedwetting using non-invasive wearable advanced mechatronics systems and MEMS sensors : Intelligent autonomous bladder monitoring to treat NE.

Post-void alarm systems to monitor bedwetting in nocturnal enuresis (NE) have been deemed unsatisfactory. The aim of this study is to develop a safe, comfortable and non-invasive pre-void wearable alarm and associated technologies using advanced mechatronics. Each stage of development includes patient and public involvement and engagement (PPI).

Patient Engagement in Medical Device Design: Refining the Essential Attributes of a Wearable, Pre-Void, Ultrasound Alarm for Nocturnal Enuresis.

Background: To date, no pre-void wearable alarm exists to treat nocturnal enuresis (NE)-night-time bedwetting, and children with NE and their families are disappointed in relation to the post-void moisture alarms and medicine currently available. Development of a safe, comfortable and non-invasive wearable pre-void alarm and associated technology, using advanced mechatronics, is underway (the MyPAD device). Each stage of development includes patient and public involvement (PPI), particularly with respect to human factors, in collaboration with physicians, radiologists, psychologists, nurses, engineers and designers.

Threshold Concepts in Doctoral Education: A Framework for Writing Development in Novice Nurse Scientists.

Pedagogical practices for writing development in doctoral programs are often the by-product of completing dissertation research and may lack deliberate strategies to assist students with complex genres of writing. This article proposes a framework for doctoral education to assist students with mastery of threshold concepts in writing. Threshold concepts in writing are examined for their applicability to the evolution of writing in PhD nursing students as they begin to think and write like nurse scientists.

Factors Facilitating Publication by Clinical Nurses in a Magnet® Hospital.

Objective: This study examined the cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors that facilitate publication by clinical nurses in Magnet® hospitals.

Background: The culture promoted by the Magnet Recognition Program® promotes nurses practicing in those settings to use, generate, and disseminate best practices. Successful and promising models of care and nursing practice are rarely disseminated beyond the organization where they are practiced.

Changing the Publication Culture From "Nice to Do" to "Need to Do": Implications for Nurse Leaders in Acute Care Settings.

Problem: Nurses in clinical settings often generate innovative practice ideas to inform their practice and improve patient outcomes. Yet, few publish and share these innovations with a wider audience. Barriers impeding clinical nurses from writing for publication include discomfort with writing, lack of time, and scarce resources.

Survey of high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy practice in Australia and New Zealand, 2010-2011.

Introduction: A survey was designed to establish a baseline data set for the current routine practice of high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy (HDR-PB) in Australia and New Zealand. Existing treatment protocols and clinical implementations are not generally known.

Methods: The survey, for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, collected data including number of patients treated; equipment used; imaging modalities; applicator verification and correction methods; dose prescriptions and normal tissue dose constraints.

Directly observed versus self-administered antiretroviral therapies: preference of HIV-positive jailed inmates in San Francisco.

Directly observed therapy (DOT) of antiretroviral (ARV) medications has beneficial effects on HIV treatment for incarcerated inmates but has been associated with limited continuation after release and inadvertent disclosure of HIV status. Guided self-administered therapy (g-SAT) may be a preferred method of ARV delivery and may encourage medication-taking behavior. We surveyed the preference of 102 HIV-positive jailed inmates at the San Francisco City and County Jails regarding receiving ARVs via DOT versus g-SAT while incarcerated.

A small tolerance for catheter displacement in high-dose rate prostate brachytherapy is necessary and feasible.

Purpose: We examined catheter displacement in patients treated with fractionated high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy boost for prostate cancer and the impact this had on tumor control probability (TCP). These data were used to make conclusions on an acceptable amount of displacement.

Methods And Materials: The last 20 patients treated with HDR brachytherapy boost for prostate cancer at our center in 2007 were replanned using simulated interstitial catheter displacements of 3, 6, 9, and 12 mm with originally planned dwell times.

Delivering mental health awareness training to police officers.

Police officers regularly come into contact with people with mental health problems but receive relatively little training on the issue. This article outlines an initiative to deliver awareness training to officers, and explores the benefits of such programmes. It also gives details of the evaluation carried out.

Pharmacy-refill measure of adherence to efavirenz can predict maintenance of HIV viral suppression.

The objective of this study was to determine if a lower rate of adherence (<95%) is sufficient to maintain HIV viral suppression in patients on an efavirenz-based regimen. This study was a retrospective review of pharmacy refill records at an HIV specialty pharmacy at Montefiore Medical Center's outpatient clinic. Data from 151 HIV-positive patients on an efavirenz-based regimen with at least one undetectable viral load (HIV RNA < 400 copies/mL) from December 2003 through March 2005 were reviewed.

Immunologic benefits of enfuvirtide in patients enrolled in a drug assistance program.

Background: Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that enfuvirtide plus an optimized background regimen can cause a significant increase in CD4+ cell counts and a reduction in HIV RNA levels.

Objective: To describe and analyze CD4+ cell count and HIV RNA changes in HIV-infected patients receiving enfuvirtide and a prescribed background regimen (PBR) in a primarily clinical setting.

Methods: A retrospective review from September 1998 through August 2005 of CD4+ cell counts and HIV RNA changes from baseline was conducted in patients receiving enfuvirtide.

A comparison of finger 2D:4D by self-report direct measurement and experimenter measurement from photocopy: methodological issues.

The ratio of 2nd and 4th digit length (2D:4D) is sexually dimorphic and may be a correlate of prenatal sex steroids. 2D:4D is often calculated from measurements of photocopies of fingers. However, 2D:4D from photocopies is lower than 2D:4D from direct measurements of the fingers.

Endurance running and digit ratio (2D:4D): implications for fetal testosterone effects on running speed and vascular health.

There is anatomical and physiological evidence that endurance running (ER), i.e., running one or more kilometers using aerobic metabolism, originated early in the evolution of Homo, and the consequences of early selection for ER may be important in modern Homo.

Photocopies yield lower digit ratios (2D:4D) than direct finger measurements.

The ratio between 2nd and 4th digit length (2D:4D) may be a negative correlate of prenatal testosterone. This possibility has led to a number of studies of 2D:4D and its relationship with sexual orientation and other sex-dependent traits. At first, 2D:4D ratio was calculated from measurements made directly on the fingers but recently a number of studies have used measurements from photocopies of the hands.

"Constitutive" skin pigmentation: a marker of breast cancer risk?

There is much evidence to support a link between oestrogen and breast cancer. Both adult and foetal oestrogen may have this predisposing effect, and between-individual and between-population differences in oestrogen may account for much of the variation in risk for breast cancer. Here we suggest that "constitutive" skin colour in women is a marker for prenatal and adult oestrogen levels such that within ethnic groups light-skinned women have experienced higher in utero and adult oestrogen than dark-skinned women.

Differential effects of active and passive stress on food intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters.

This study examined the effects of active (AC) and passive coping (PC) stress tasks on food intake in female restrained (n = 20) and unrestrained eaters (n = 20) Participants completed a reaction time task (AC), a cold-pressor test (PC), and a relaxation control condition separated by 1-week intervals. Food intake was assessed after each task. Self-reported anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure (BP) were measured before and after each task.

Dosimetry of a low-kV intra-operative X-ray source using basic analytical beam models.

The low energy (30-50 kVp) beams from an intra-operative X-ray source are modelled using a basic analytical model considering just primary beam attenuation and absorption. Spatial dosimetry at such low energies is difficult due to the rapid changes in dose-rate from the radiation source. The purpose of the model was to determine the variation with distance in water of coefficients required for beam dosimetry and to validate beam measurements performed in water of high-gradient dose distributions.

Reducing a peritoneal dialysis program's cost by changing from a vendor-provided to a program-provided system for general medical supplies: significant savings in CCPD.

An examination of the costs associated with outpatient chronic peritoneal dialysis prompted us to investigate the charges for general medical supplies used by patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) in our hospital-owned, not-for-profit peritoneal dialysis program. The items used by patients to perform their dialysis exchanges and daily exit site care included 4 x 3 and 2 x 2 sterile gauze pads, antibacterial soap, masks, tape, and betadine swabsticks. The charges for these supplies when purchased from the dialysis vendor were compared with charges for the same items if purchased directly from hospital stores by the peritoneal dialysis program and then distributed to the patients.