Developmental stage and level of submersion in water impact the viability of lone star and winter tick eggs.

Female ticks deposit large egg clusters that range in size from hundreds to thousands. These egg clusters are restricted to a deposition site as they are stationary, usually under leaf litter and other debris. In some habitats, these sites can be exposed to periodic flooding.

Test-Retest Reliability and Visual Perturbation Performance Costs During 2 Reactive Agility Tasks.

Context: High secondary injury rates after orthopedic surgeries have motivated concern toward the construct validity of return-to-sport test batteries, as it is evident that common strength and functional assessments fail to elicit pertinent behaviors like visual search and reactive decision making. This study aimed to establish the test-retest reliability of 2 reactive agility tasks and evaluate the impact of visual perturbation on physical performance.

Methods: Fourteen physically active individuals completed 2 agility tasks with reaction time (ie, 4 corner agility), working memory, and pathfinding (ie, color recall) components.

Developmental stage and level of submersion in water impact the viability of lone star and winter tick eggs during flooding.

Female ticks deposit large egg clusters that range in size from hundreds to thousands. These clusters are restricted to a deposition site, usually under leaf litter and other debris. These sites can be exposed to periodic flooding, where the cluster of tick eggs can float to the surface or remain underneath organic debris entirely underwater.

Development of a decision-support framework to support professionals and promote comfort among older hospital inpatients living with dementia.

Background: Acute hospital wards can be difficult places for many people living with dementia. Promoting comfort and wellbeing can be challenging in this environment. There is little evidence-based support for professionals working on acute care wards on how to respond to distress and maximise comfort and wellbeing among patients living with dementia.

T2 FLAIR Hyperintensity Volume Is Associated With Cognitive Function and Quality of Life in Clinically Stable Patients With Lower Grade Gliomas.

Survival outcomes for patients with lower grade gliomas (LrGG) continue to improve. However, damage caused both by tumor growth and by the consequences of treatment often leads to significantly impaired cognitive function and quality of life (QoL). While neuropsychological testing is not routine, serial clinical MRIs are standard of care for patients with LrGG.

Cognitive impact of lower-grade gliomas and strategies for rehabilitation.

Outcomes for patients with lower-grade gliomas (LrGGs) continue to improve with advances in molecular characterization and treatment. However, cognitive sequela from the tumor and its treatment leave a significant impact on health-related quality of life for these patients. Several factors affect each patient's cognition, such as tumor location, treatment, medication, and comorbidities.

Postacute Cognitive Rehabilitation for Adult Brain Tumor Patients.

Intrinsic brain tumors often occur within functional neural networks, leading to neurological impairment and disability of varying degrees. Advances in our understanding of tumor-network integration, human cognition and language processing, and multiparametric imaging, combined with refined intraoperative tumor resection techniques, have enhanced surgical management of intrinsic brain tumors within eloquent areas. However, cognitive symptoms impacting health-related quality of life, particularly processing speed, attention, concentration, working memory, and executive function, often persist after the postoperative recovery period and treatment.

High-Dose Vitamin D Administration Is Associated With Increases in Hemoglobin Concentrations in Mechanically Ventilated Critically Ill Adults: A Pilot Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Background: Anemia and vitamin D deficiency are highly prevalent in critical illness, and vitamin D status has been associated with hemoglobin concentrations in epidemiologic studies. We examined the effect of high-dose vitamin D therapy on hemoglobin and hepcidin concentrations in critically ill adults.

Materials And Methods: Mechanically ventilated critically ill adults (N = 30) enrolled in a pilot double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of high-dose vitamin D (D ) were included in this analysis.

The Vitamin D for Enhancing the Immune System in Cystic Fibrosis (DISC) trial: Rationale and design of a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of high dose bolus administration of vitamin D3 during acute pulmonary exacerbation of cystic fibrosis.

Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in children and adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). Recent studies have found an association between vitamin D status and risk of pulmonary exacerbations in children and adults with CF. The ongoing Vitamin D for enhancing the Immune System in Cystic fibrosis (DISC) study is a multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial that will test the hypothesis of whether high dose vitamin D given as a single oral bolus of 250,000 IU to adults with CF during a pulmonary exacerbation followed by a maintenance dose of vitamin D will improve time to next pulmonary exacerbation and re-hospitalization, improve survival and lung function compared to placebo and reduce the rates of pulmonary exacerbation,.

Vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy in pediatric cancer patients.

Vincristine is a chemotherapeutic agent that is a component of many combination regimens for a variety of malignancies, including several common pediatric tumors. Vincristine treatment is limited by a progressive sensorimotor peripheral neuropathy. Vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy (VIPN) is particularly challenging to detect and monitor in pediatric patients, in whom the side effect can diminish long term quality of life.

Comparison of oxaliplatin and paclitaxel-induced neuropathy (Alliance A151505).

Purpose: Oxaliplatin and paclitaxel are commonly used chemotherapies associated with acute and chronic neuropathies. There is a need to better understand the similarities and differences of these clinical syndromes.

Methods: Neuropathy data were pooled from patients receiving adjuvant oxaliplatin and weekly paclitaxel or every 3 weeks of paclitaxel.

High-dose vitamin D reduces circulating hepcidin concentrations: A pilot, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in healthy adults.

Background & Aims: In vitro studies suggest that vitamin D may reduce hepcidin expression and pro-inflammatory cytokine release from monocytes. However, data assessing the vitamin D-mediated effects on iron recycling in healthy individuals are lacking. We aimed to examine the effect of high-dose vitamin D on plasma hepcidin, inflammatory cytokine, and ferritin concentrations in healthy adults.

Oncology Nursing Certification: Relation to Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes About Pain, Patient-Reported Pain Care Quality, and Pain Outcomes.

Purpose/objectives: To (a) compare pain knowledge and attitudes between nurses with oncology certified nurse (OCN®) status, non-OCN®-certified nurses, and nurses ineligible for certification and (b) examine the relationships among OCN® status, nurses' knowledge and attitudes about pain, patient-reported quality of nursing pain care, and pain outcomes. 
.

Design: Prospective, correlational survey design.

Free 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations in Cystic Fibrosis.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is common in cystic fibrosis (CF), but there is no previous data on free 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) in CF or in relation to healthy individuals.

Methods: We assessed total serum 25(OH)D concentration by chemiluminescence and serum free 25(OH)D concentration by both direct measurement (ELISA) and calculation, using serum albumin and vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) levels in 80 subjects (28 healthy adults, 25 clinically stable adults and children with CF and 27 adults experiencing a CF exacerbation).

Results: Serum albumin and VDBP concentrations were lower in CF compared with healthy controls.

Vitamin D and anemia: insights into an emerging association.

Purpose Of Review: The current review highlights recent findings in the emerging association between vitamin D and anemia through discussion of mechanistic studies, epidemiologic studies, and clinical trials.

Recent Findings: Vitamin D has previously been found to be associated with anemia in various healthy and diseased populations. Recent studies indicate that the association may differ between race and ethnic groups and is likely specific to anemia of inflammation.

Critically Ill Children Have Low Vitamin D-Binding Protein, Influencing Bioavailability of Vitamin D.

Rationale: Vitamin D deficiency, often defined by total serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) <20 ng/ml, is common in critically ill patients, with associations with increased mortality and morbidity in the intensive care unit. Correction of vitamin D deficiency in critical illness has been recommended, and ongoing clinical trials are investigating the effect of repletion on patient outcome. The biologically active amount of 25(OH)D depends on the concentration and protein isoform of vitamin D-binding protein (VDBP), which is also an acute-phase reactant affected by inflammation and injury.

Clinical Course of Oxaliplatin-Induced Neuropathy: Results From the Randomized Phase III Trial N08CB (Alliance).

Purpose: Given that the clinical course of oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy is not well defined, the current study was performed to better understand clinical parameters associated with its presentation.

Methods: Acute and chronic neuropathy was evaluated in patients receiving adjuvant FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) on study N08CB (North Central Cancer Treatment Group, Alliance). Acute neuropathy was assessed by having patients complete daily questionnaires for 6 days with each cycle of FOLFOX.

Changes in Mineral Micronutrient Status During and After Pulmonary Exacerbation in Adults With Cystic Fibrosis.

Background: Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) may be at risk for micronutrient depletion, particularly during periods of illness and infection. The purpose of this study was to investigate serum micronutrient status over time in adults with CF initially hospitalized with a pulmonary exacerbation.

Materials And Methods: This was an ancillary study of a multicenter trial investigating the role of high-dose vitamin D supplementation in 24 adults with CF (mean age, 29.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with anaemia among African Americans in a US cohort.

Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in the US population and is associated with numerous diseases, including those characterised by inflammatory processes. We aimed to investigate the link between vitamin D status and anaemia, hypothesising that lower vitamin D status would be associated with increased odds of anaemia, particularly anaemia with inflammation. A secondary aim was to examine the effects of race in the association between vitamin D status and anaemia.

Nursing knowledge, practice patterns, and learning preferences regarding chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Purpose/objectives: To explore nurses' practice patterns, knowledge, and barriers related to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).

Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional.

Setting: The United States.

Cancer treatment-related neuropathic pain syndromes--epidemiology and treatment: an update.

Cancer treatment-related chronic neuropathic pain (NP) is a pervasive and distressing problem that negatively influences function and quality of life for countless cancer survivors. It occurs because of cancer treatment-induced damage to peripheral and central nervous system structures. NP becomes chronic when pain signal transmission persists, eventually sensitizing neurons in the dorsal horn and other pain-processing regions in the central nervous system.

What about Alice? Peripheral neuropathy from taxane-containing treatment for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer.

Purpose: In this review, we discuss the plight of Alice, a patient with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who struggles with taxane-related peripheral neuropathy (PN). Using this unique point of view helps us to appreciate the implications of PN on daily activities as well as the difficulty in decision-making regarding continuation of treatment. In addition, published reports of phase 3 trials are reviewed to identify the incidence and severity of chemotherapy-induced PN as well as the assessment tools used in these studies.

Nursing's presence in the changing cooperative group setting.

Objectives: To describe the history of nurse-led contributions within three legacy cancer cooperative groups and the challenges and new opportunities faced by nurses with the merger of these three groups.

Data Sources: Journal articles, government and special health reports.

Conclusion: Recent changes in the cancer cooperative group have significantly altered the way cancer clinical trials will be conducted in the future.