Framework to elicit consent from lightly sedated mechanically ventilated intensive care patients in nursing practice.

Aim: The study aimed to ascertain a framework of nursing practices to elicit consent from lightly sedated ventilated patients.

Methods: Study participants were nurses working in intensive care and critical care wards, whose observations and semi-structured interviews were assessed using a modified grounded theory approach.

Results: A total of 15 concepts were generated, from which three categories and three subcategories were generated.

Evaluation of pain severity in critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation.

Objectives: To elucidate how patients' illness severity, respiratory status, or haemodynamics are associated with the pain score of critically ill patients.

Methods: This was an observational study of patients on mechanical ventilation after surgeries. At rest and on turning, patient pain was evaluated using the Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS) and the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT).

Factors affecting pain assessment scores in patients on mechanical ventilation.

Objective: To determine how respiratory status and other aspects of the patients' condition affect pain assessments.

Methods: 　Pain was assessed in 20 patients aged ≥20 years who underwent cardiovascular surgery, and required postoperative mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit using the Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS). A BPS score of ≥6 (pain) versus <6 (no pain) was the dependent variable for determining the effect on pain.

Molecular cloning and characterization of porcine Mx2 gene.

Mx, an interferon-inducible protein, is found in various vertebrates and confers resistance to several RNA viruses. At least two Mx proteins occur in vertebrates, and these proteins are key components of innate defense against viral infection. In mice and humans, the two Mx genes have different antiviral activities.

A naturally occurring variant of porcine Mx1 associated with increased susceptibility to influenza virus in vitro.

Mx1 has been implicated in resistance to the influenza virus. We have now identified four alleles of the Mxl gene in domesticated breeds of pigs. Two of the alleles encode deletion variants (a 3-bp deletion in exon 13 and an 11-bp deletion in exon 14), which might be expected to interfere with Mx activity.

Prevention of HIV-1 infection in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by specific RNA interference.

The RNA interference (RNAi) phenomenon is a recently observed process in which the introduction of a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into a cell causes the specific degradation of a mRNA containing the same sequence. The 21-23 nt guide RNAs, generated by RNase III cleavage from longer dsRNAs, are associated with sequence-specific mRNA degradation. Here, we show that dsRNA specifically suppresses the expression of HIV-1 genes.