Evaluating the effect of COVID-19 on quality measures of patients with type 2 diabetes in two family nurse practitioner-owned clinics.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated lockdowns resulting in the disruption of access to primary care. A family nurse practitioner (NP)-owned practice shifted many visits to telehealth to provide care to all their patients including those with chronic illness . The purpose of this project was to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on selected diabetes quality measures and adherence to national diabetes guidelines in two previously well-performing NP-owned primary care clinics.

Nutrient sources for offspring formation: diet-mother and mother-offspring isotope discrimination in domesticated gallinaceous birds.

Stable isotope techniques can be used to assess nutrient acquisition and allocation strategies used to produce offspring. Before stable isotope techniques can be employed, researchers need reliable isotope discrimination values. In this context, isotope discrimination compares the difference in the isotope ratio between the maternal-offspring tissue that occurs during nutrient transfer prior to egg laying.

Maladaptive nest-site selection by a sagebrush dependent species in a grazing-modified landscape.

Animals are expected to select habitats that maximize their fitness over evolutionary time scales. Yet in human-modified landscapes, habitat selection might not always lead to increased fitness because animals undervalue high-quality resources that appear less attractive than those of lower quality. In the American West, agriculture has modified landscapes, yet little is known about whether agricultural changes alter the reliability of the cues animals use to identify habitat quality; ultimately forming maladaptive breeding strategies where behavioral cues are mismatched with survival outcomes.

Improving the quality of clinical research on chronic wound infection treatment: expert-based recommendations.

Objective:: To produce recommendations for the design of reliable and informative clinical investigations in chronic wound infection.

Method:: A multidisciplinary panel of international experts from four countries (Italy, UK, Ireland and the US) were involved in a detailed, semi-structured discussion on how to better select and describe a target population, interventions and outcomes, and which infection-related criteria to apply in order to achieve a high-quality trial. Consent among the experts was measured using the Delphi method and GRADE Working Group suggestions.

Linking beaver dam affected flow dynamics to upstream passage of Arctic grayling.

Beaver reintroductions and beaver dam structures are an increasingly utilized ecological tool for rehabilitating degraded streams, yet beaver dams can potentially impact upstream fish migrations. We collected two years of data on Arctic grayling movement through a series of beaver dams in a low gradient mountain stream, utilizing radio-telemetry techniques, to determine how hydrology, dam characteristics, and fish attributes impeded passage and movement rates of spawning grayling. We compared fish movement between a "normal" flow year and a "low" flow year, determined grayling passage probabilities over dams in relation to a suite of factors, and predicted daily movement rates in relation to the number of dams each fish passed and distance between dams during upstream migration to spawning areas.

The cost-effectiveness of a novel soluble beta-glucan gel.

Objective: Wounds that have stalled healing are costly in terms of patient morbidity and increase in use of material and financial resources. A natural polymer beta-glucans has been incorporated into a methylcellulose gel to provide a topical gel designed to accelerate healing in wounds where it has stalled. Although the gel provides an environment conducive to moist wound healing the active agent, beta-glucans, activate the innate immune response.

Clinical evaluation of a bioactive beta-glucan gel in the treatment of 'hard-to-heal' wounds.

Objective: The aim of this evaluation is to assess the effects of a wound healing gel in a wounds of different aetiologies.

Method: Data was recorded on the wound surface area, tissue type, and patient level of wound pain at baseline (0) and at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8.

Results: Of the total 39 patients enrolled in the study, 26 patients who complied with the protocol criteria completed the minimum four-week study period.

Comparing ostomates' perceptions of hydrocolloid and silicone seals: a survey.

Most stoma flanges are made of hydrocolloid material. Hydrocolloid is a hydrophilic material that attracts water, potentially resulting in moisture becoming trapped between the flange and skin. Also, as hydrocolloids are absorbent, the material breaks down over time, and there is a risk that some of the adhesive can remain on the skin on removal.

Evaluating a native collagen matrix dressing in the treatment of chronic wounds of different aetiologies: a case series.

Objective: To collate clinical evidence on the use of a native collagen matrix dressing, consisting of a fibrillary collagen network, in patients with a variety of chronic wounds.

Method: Patients whose wounds had not improved in the eight weeks before the beginning of the evalutaion were recruited. All participants had their dressings changed twice weekly and received standard adjunctive wound care as part of their treatment.

Recommendations for the management of biofilm: a consensus document.

The potential impact of biofilm on healing in acute and chronic wounds is one of the most controversial current issues in wound care. A significant amount of laboratory-based research has been carried out on this topic, however, in 2013 the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) pointed out the lack of guidance for managing biofilms in clinical practice and solicited the need for guidelines and further clinical research. In response to this challenge, the Italian Nursing Wound Healing Society (AISLeC) initiated a project which aimed to achieve consensus among a multidisciplinary and multiprofessional international panel of experts to identify what could be considered part of 'good clinical practice' with respect to the recognition and management of biofilms in acute and chronic wounds.

Seasonal Change in Trophic Niche of Adfluvial Arctic Grayling (Thymallus arcticus) and Coexisting Fishes in a High-Elevation Lake System.

Introduction of non-native species is a leading threat to global aquatic biodiversity. Competition between native and non-native species is often influenced by changes in suitable habitat or food availability. We investigated diet breadth and degree of trophic niche overlap for a fish assemblage of native and non-native species inhabiting a shallow, high elevation lake system.

A multi-centre clinical evaluation of reactive oxygen topical wound gel in 114 wounds.

Objective: This article reports the outcomes of the use of Surgihoney RO (SHRO), topical wound dressing in a multi-centre, international setting. The aims were to explore the clinical effects of SHRO, including a reduction in bacterial load and biofilm and improvement in healing in a variety of challenging non-healing and clinically infected wounds.

Method: This was a non-comparative evaluation, where both acute and chronic wounds with established delayed healing were treated with the dressing.