Nursing Work Environment Staffing Councils: An Alternative to Mandatory Regulated Staffing Ratios.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the self-reported perceptions of the healthy work environment (HWE) of nurses who are members of Nursing Workplace Environment and Staffing Councils (NWESCs).

Background: In a statewide initiative, NWESCs were established at hospitals throughout the state of New Jersey as an alternative to nurse staffing ratio laws and to provide clinical nurses a voice in determining resources needed for patient care and support an HWE.

Methods: This quantitative descriptive study presents the results of the Healthy Workplace Environment Assessment Tool (HWEAT) and open-ended questions about NWESCs among a sample of 352 nurses.

A multicenter study of animal-assisted activity and anxiety among older adults hospitalized in acute care settings.

Background: For older adults (≥65 years old), hospitalization can be a stressful and anxiety- provoking event. Due to physiological changes in this population that make pharmacological therapy to manage anxiety challenging, use of alternative therapies, such as animal-assisted activities (AAA), could prove beneficial.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if an AAA visit from a registered human-animal team during hospitalization would reduce perceived anxiety for older adults.

The courage to speak out: A study describing nurses' attitudes to report unsafe practices in patient care.

Aim: To identify workplace factors that influence patient advocacy among registered nurses (RNs) and their willingness to report unsafe practices.

Background: A prior study by Black illustrated that 34% of respondents were aware of conditions that may have caused patient harm but had not reported the issue. The most common reasons identified for failing to report issues were fear of retaliation and a belief that nothing would prevail from the reports.

The 21st Century Cures Act Implications for the Reduction of Racial Health Disparities in the US Criminal Justice System: a Public Health Approach.

Past drug epidemics have disproportionately criminalized drug addiction among African Americans, leading to disparate health outcomes, increased rates of HIV/AIDS, and mass incarceration. Conversely, the current opioid addiction crisis in the USA focuses primarily on white communities and is being addressed as a public health problem. The 21st Century Cures Act has the potential to reduce racial health disparities in the criminal justice system through the Act's public health approach to addiction and mental health issues.

The relationships among health promotion behaviors, compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in nurses practicing in a community medical center.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relationships among health promotion behaviors, compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among nurses practicing in a community medical center.

Background: Compassion fatigue and burnout are significant nursing stressors. Programs are available to offset the negative consequence of compassion fatigue and burnout and enhance compassion satisfaction, yet there remains a paucity of literature examining the relationships between health promotion behaviors, compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction.

Collagen expression in the pregnant human cervix is decreased with labor.

Objective: The current study tested the hypothesis that collagen content in the pregnant cervix decreases with labor, using morphologically preserved specimens, avoiding limitations of earlier studies. Collagen abundance remote from pregnancy was also evaluated.

Materials And Methods: Histologic sections of postpartum cervix obtained from 22 cases of total hysterectomy performed immediately after delivery: 13 cases performed after delivery with no labor and 9 cases in which labor had ensued before delivery.

Protein kinase A-independent cAMP stimulation of progesterone in a luteal cell model is tyrosine kinase dependent but phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase independent.

Comprehensive understanding of the cellular mechanisms utilized by luteal cells in response to extracellular hormonal signals resulting in the normal synthesis and secretion of their steroid and peptide products has yet to be achieved. Previous studies have established that cAMP functions as a second messenger in mediating gonadotropin stimulated luteal progesterone secretion. Classically, increased intracellular concentrations of cAMP result in activation of protein kinase A (PKA), which in turn phosphorylates gene regulatory transcription factors.

Relaxin regulation of endometrial structure and function in the rhesus monkey.

Despite the documented importance of the protein hormone relaxin in reproduction in various mammalian species, the role of relaxin in human reproduction is poorly understood, largely because of the lack of studies in women or in suitable non-human primate models. Here we describe the establishment of a non-human primate model of early human pregnancy and its use in defining the actions of relaxin. Results demonstrate that relaxin exerts dramatic uterine effects including pronounced increase in uterine weight and stimulation of endometrial angiogenesis and resident endometrial lymphocyte number.