Opening a Donor Management Center.

In the United States alone, more than 100,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. In response to the growing need for viable organs to transplant, donor management centers have opened to provide care to brain-dead organ donors prior to the organ procurement operation. This article describes donor management center operations, details the opening of one such unit, and describes the results and lessons learned.

High-Dose IV Administration of Rasburicase Suppresses Anti-rasburicase Antibodies, Depletes Rasburicase-Specific Lymphocytes, and Upregulates Treg Cells.

Therapeutic proteins can be potent agents for treating serious diseases, but in many patients these proteins provoke antibody responses that blunt therapeutic efficacy. Intravenous administration of high doses of some proteins induces immune tolerance, but the mechanisms underlying this effect are poorly understood. As a model to study tolerance induction in mice, we used rasburicase, a commercial recombinant uricase used for the treatment of hyperuricemia.

Collaborative health education for Somali Bantu refugee women in Kansas City.

Objective: To partner with and understand the health of Somali Bantu refugee women, small group sessions were designed and conducted using a community-based collaborative action research (CBCAR) approach. Health topics identified by this community were presented in 42 sessions with eleven women. Follow-up individual interviews with the women were used to ask questions about health experiences and plan for future health education.

Introductory Dialogue and the Köhler Effect in Software-Generated Workout Partners.

Objectives: This study explored the Köhler motivation gain effect utilizing adults and software-generated partners (SGPs) during an abdominal exercise regimen and compared the type of participant-SGP introductory dialogue as a moderator. The Köhler effect applies interdependent team dynamics in which group performance is dependent upon the weaker member. The third objective was to examine if this motivation paradigm would result in adverse consequences to secondary variables: exertion, enjoyment, and self-efficacy beliefs.

Enhancing Aerobic Exercise with a Novel Virtual Exercise Buddy Based on the Köhler Effect.

Objective: Research on active videogames (AVGs) has demonstrated the motivation-boosting power of the Köhler effect (a motivating force for "weak links" in groups based on group principles of upward social comparison and indispensability) with software-generated partners (SGPs), but the effect has yet to be examined over time. We tested the viability of the Köhler effect in an AVG with an SGP over 12 exercise sessions using a cycle ergometer and whether a fatiguing partner (FP) could further boost the effect.

Materials And Methods: A repeated-measures design was used to assess mean changes in exercise persistence over time.