Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction and COVID-19, when the Sick Get Sicker: Unmasking Racial and Ethnic Inequities During a Pandemic.

Minoritized racial and ethnic groups have the highest incidence, prevalence, and hospitalization rate for heart failure. Despite improvement in medical therapies and overall survival, the morbidity and mortality of these groups remain elevated. The reasons for this disparity are multifactorial, including social determinant of health (SDOH) such as access to care, bias, and structural racism.

Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction and COVID-19, when the Sick Get Sicker: Unmasking Racial and Ethnic Inequities During a Pandemic.

Minoritized racial and ethnic groups have the highest incidence, prevalence, and hospitalization rate for heart failure. Despite improvement in medical therapies and overall survival, the morbidity and mortality of these groups remain elevated. The reasons for this disparity are multifactorial, including social determinant of health (SDOH) such as access to care, bias, and structural racism.

Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Valvular Heart Failure Management.

Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities are present in the diagnosis and management of valvular heart disease. The prevalence of valvular heart disease varies by race, ethnicity, and gender, but diagnostic evaluations are not equitable across the groups, which makes the true prevalence less clear. The delivery of evidence-based treatments for valvular heart disease is not equitable.

Development of Synthetic mRNAs Encoding Split Cytotoxic Proteins for Selective Cell Elimination Based on Specific Protein Detection.

For the selective elimination of deleterious cells (e.g., cancer cells and virus-infected cells), the use of a cytotoxic gene is a promising approach.

Unequitable Heart Failure Therapy for Black, Hispanic and American-Indian Patients.

Despite the high prevalence of heart failure among Black and Hispanic populations, patients of colour are frequently under-prescribed guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) and American-Indian populations are not well characterised. Clinical inertia, financial toxicity, underrepresentation in trials, non-trustworthy medical systems, bias and structural racism are contributing factors. There is an urgent need to develop evidence-based strategies to increase the uptake of GDMT for heart failure in patients of colour.

3D-printed oxygen-releasing scaffolds improve bone regeneration in mice.

Low oxygen (O) diffusion into large tissue engineered scaffolds hinders the therapeutic efficacy of transplanted cells. To overcome this, we previously studied hollow, hyperbarically-loaded microtanks (μtanks) to serve as O reservoirs. To adapt these for bone regeneration, we fabricated biodegradable μtanks from polyvinyl alcohol and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) and embedded them to form 3D-printed, porous poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL)-μtank scaffolds.

Exercise increases NPY/AgRP and TH neuron activity in the hypothalamus of female mice.

Recent evidence identifies a potent role for aerobic exercise to modulate the activity of hypothalamic neurons related to appetite; however, these studies have been primarily performed in male rodents. Since females have markedly different neuronal mechanisms regulating food intake, the current study aimed to determine the effects of acute treadmill exercise on hypothalamic neuron populations involved in regulating appetite in female mice. Mature, untrained female mice were exposed to acute sedentary, low- (10 m/min), moderate- (14 m/min), and high (18 m/min)-intensity treadmill exercise in a randomized crossover design.

Energy Status Differentially Modifies Feeding Behavior and POMC Neuron Activity After Acute Treadmill Exercise in Untrained Mice.

Emerging evidence identifies a potent role for aerobic exercise to modulate activity of neurons involved in regulating appetite; however, these studies produce conflicting results. These discrepancies may be, in part, due to methodological differences, including differences in exercise intensity and pre-exercise energy status. Consequently, the current study utilized a translational, well-controlled, within-subject, treadmill exercise protocol to investigate the differential effects of energy status and exercise intensity on post-exercise feeding behavior and appetite-controlling neurons in the hypothalamus.

A qualitative study of stakeholder views on the use of a digital app for supported self-management in early intervention services for psychosis.

Background: Digital tools such as Smartphones have the potential to increase access to mental health support including self-management interventions for individuals with psychosis, and ultimately to improve outcomes. Self-management strategies, including relapse prevention and crisis planning and setting personal recovery goals, are intended to assist people with long-term conditions to take an active role in their recovery, with evidence for a range of benefits. However, their implementation is inconsistent, and access and uptake need to be improved.

A combined therapeutic regimen of citalopram and environmental enrichment ameliorates attentional set-shifting performance after brain trauma.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) have led to lasting deficits for an estimated 5.3 million American patients. Effective therapies for these patients remain scarce and each of the clinical trials stemming from success in experimental models has failed.

Transitioning to age inclusive early intervention for psychosis.

Aim: Early Intervention in psychosis Services (EIS) have previously restricted access based on age. However, there is now a move to age inclusive service. We aimed to examine differences between early and late onset (>35 years) psychosis to see if a threshold was valid.

Spontaneous recovery of traumatic brain injury-induced functional deficits is not hindered by daily administration of lorazepam.

Agitation and aggression are common sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and pose a challenge to physicians and other health providers during acute patient care and subsequent neurorehabilitation. Antipsychotic drugs (APDs) are routinely administered to manage TBI patients displaying such maladaptive behaviors despite several clinical and preclinical studies demonstrating that they hinder recovery. A potentially viable alternative to APDs may be the benzodiazepines, which have differing mechanisms of action.

Comparable impediment of cognitive function in female and male rats subsequent to daily administration of haloperidol after traumatic brain injury.

Antipsychotic drugs, such as haloperidol (HAL), are prescribed in the clinic to manage traumatic brain injury (TBI)-induced agitation. While preclinical studies have consistently shown that once-daily administration of HAL hinders functional recovery after TBI in male rats, its effects in females are unknown. Hence, the objective of this study was to directly compare neurobehavioral and histological outcomes in both sexes to determine whether the reported deleterious effects of HAL extend to females.

Diurnal variation of anterior scleral and conjunctival thickness.

Purpose: To examine whether anterior scleral and conjunctival thickness undergoes significant diurnal variation over a 24-h period.

Methods: Nineteen healthy young adults (mean age 22 ± 2 years) with minimal refractive error (mean spherical equivalent refraction -0.08 ± 0.

Do progression and remediation policies improve NCLEX-RN pass rates?

Administrators at 5 schools of nursing who implemented a progression policy based on HESI Exit Examtrade mark scores were interviewed regarding their NCLEX-RN pass rates before and after initiating the policy and methods used for remediation. Even though the methods used for remediation were quite different among the participating schools, data obtained from these interviews indicated that the schools' NCLEX-RN pass rates improved 9-41% within 2 years after implementing the progression policies.

Parents' and professionals' perceptions of the implementation of family-centered practices in child assessments.

Purpose: To determine the degree to which early intervention professionals and families agreed on whether specific family-centered practices were implemented in specific child assessments and which practices were viewed as important to include in future child assessments.

Method: A self-rating instrument was used to survey 134 early intervention professionals (across a variety of disciplines) and 58 family members in triads (2 professionals and 1 family member for each assessment) after they had participated together in a child assessment. Participants were asked to identify across 41 family-centered practices whether the practice was implemented (actual practice) and would be important to include in future assessments (ideal practice).

Do progression and remediation policies improve NCLEX-RN pass rates?

Administrators at 5 schools of nursing who implemented a progression policy based on HESI Exit Exam scores were interviewed regarding their NCLEX-RN pass rates before and after initiating the policy and methods used for remediation. Even though the methods used for remediation were quite different among the participating schools, data obtained from these interviews indicated that the schools' NCLEX-RN pass rates improved 9-41% within 2 years after implementing the progression policies.

Do progression and remediation policies improve NCLEX-RN pass rates?

Administrators at 5 schools of nursing who implemented a progression policy based on HESI Exit Exam scores were interviewed regarding their NCLEX-RN pass rates before and after initiating the policy and methods used for remediation. Even though the methods used for remediation were quite different among the participating schools, data obtained from these interviews indicated that the schools' NCLEX-RN pass rates improved 9-41% within 2 years after implementing the progression policies.

Writing multiple-choice test items that promote and measure critical thinking.

Faculties are concerned about measurement of critical thinking especially since the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission cited such measurement as a requirement for accreditation (NLNAC, 1997). Some writers and researchers (Alfaro-LeFevre, 1995; Blat, 1989; McPeck, 1981, 1990) describe the need to measure critical thinking within the context of a specific discipline. Based on McPeck's position that critical thinking is discipline-specific, guidelines for developing multiple-choice test items as a means of measuring critical thinking within the discipline of nursing are discussed.

Affective language between depressed mothers and their children: the potential impact of psychotherapy.

Objective: To determine whether depressed mothers who had had psychotherapy were more able to communicate accurately about emotions than depressed mothers who had not had treatment.

Method: Three groups of mother-child pairs were studied: mothers without psychiatric diagnosis or treatment (n = 31), depressed mothers without treatment (n = 10), and depressed mothers with psychotherapy (n = 43). Photographs of infants expressing emotions were viewed and discussed by the mother-child pair and were rated independently.