Ablation Compared to Pharmacological Treatment for the Reduction of Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence: A Meta-Analysis.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common heart arrhythmias, and due to its variable presentation, detecting and treating AF appropriately can reduce some of its serious complications. Among treatment options, surgical ablation and antiarrhythmic drug therapy are two of the most widely used choices. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to examine the rates of AF recurrence in those treated with ablation compared to pharmacological treatment.

Drug-Induced dermatomyositis following COVID-19 vaccination.

Dermatomyositis (DM) is a multi-organ idiopathic inflammatory myopathy that presents with proximal symmetric muscle weakness accompanied by characteristic cutaneous findings. Most individuals present with skin manifestations prior to muscle involvement and its course can involve the blood vessels, joints, esophagus, and lungs and can be paraneoplastic, making a malignancy assessment imperative. Although its etiology is unknown, type I interferon appears to be a component in evoking the characteristic inflammatory response and patients with DM often have an increase in type I inducible genes.

Rash and Fever in a Returned Traveler.

Case Presentation: A 21-year-old, otherwise healthy female presented to the emergency department with fever among other nonspecific symptoms after recently returning from Ghana. On physical exam, she had a characteristic upper extremity rash, and a tourniquet test revealed numerous petechiae. The diagnosis of dengue was suspected and subsequently confirmed.

Reducing or Discontinuing Insulin or Sulfonylurea When Initiating a Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Agonist.

Background: Hypoglycemia and weight gain are well-known adverse effects of insulin and sulfonylureas in patients with type 2 diabetes. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist monotherapy has a low incidence of hypoglycemia, but when combined with insulin or sulfonylureas, patients have higher rates of hypoglycemia.

Methods: The primary study outcome was to determine the percentage of patients with dose reductions or discontinuation of insulin or a sulfonylurea at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months.

Fragile hands: targeting nonmelanoma skin cancer on older hands using 595 nm pulsed dye laser.

Purpose: The mainstay of treatment for nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) on thin skin remains surgical, but procedures on older hands may be complicated by skin fragility and dermal atrophy. Used without cooling, 595 nm (nm) pulsed dye laser (PDL) has the capability of destroying NMSC through nonspecific thermal necrosis. The purpose of this study was to understand recurrence of NMSC on dorsal hands of older patients after one or two treatments using 595 nm PDL.

Aligning Simulation-Based Education With Didactic Learning in Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Education.

Background: Research has shown there is a gap between academia and practice. Nursing stakeholders support the use of the clinical judgment model in developing competency for practice.

Purpose: This study analyzed the effectiveness of simulation-based education on the development of clinical judgment and explored new graduate nurses' perceptions of their preparation for practice.

Dhat Syndrome: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Comorbidities, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management.

Dhat syndrome is a culture-bound psychiatric syndrome most commonly found in the Indian subcontinent. It has been characterized as the experiential fear of losing semen through ejaculation, nocturnal emission, or other means. While Dhat syndrome is common in the Indian subcontinent, given the lack of representativeness, generalizability, and closer connection to Ayurvedic system, there have been limited studies or recognition of symptoms among healthcare providers around the world.

How Health Experiences in Tanzania Foster Change in Nursing Student Perceptions of Diversity and Self.

International study abroad programs offered by American universities provide opportunities to experience global health care disparities. This qualitative phenomenological research using a hermeneutic approach was conducted to explore how clinical experience in Tanzania influenced the knowledge and attitudes of prelicensure baccalaureate nursing students toward culture, health care disparities, and health care outcomes. Two main themes emerged from the research: thinking as another and carrying it forward.

Analyzing long-term water quality of lakes in Rhode Island and the northeastern United States with an anomaly approach.

Addressing anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosystems is a focus of lake management. Controlling phosphorus and nitrogen can mitigate these impacts, but determining management effectiveness requires long-term datasets. Recent analysis of the LAke multi-scaled GeOSpatial and temporal database for the Northeast (LAGOS-NE) United States found stable water quality in the northeastern and midwestern United States; however, sub-regional trends may be obscured.

Influence of inter-observer delineation variability on radiomic features of the parotid gland.

Purpose: This study aimed to quantify the variability in the values of radiomic features extracted from a right parotid gland (RPG) delineated by a series of independent observers.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of anonymous data from a delineation workshop. Inter-observer variability of the RPG from 40 participants was quantified using DICE similarity coefficient (DSC) and Hausdorff distance (HD).

Evidence-Based Practice Competence in Nursing Students Preparing to Transition to Practice.

Background: Opportunities to embed and evaluate evidence-based practice (EBP) competency in the clinical setting across nursing curricula are not well described in the literature.

Aims: This research aims to describe how clinical learning environments influence senior nursing students' integration of EBP competencies in their practice and perceptions of EBP competence development in a traditional baccalaureate nursing program.

Methods: A sequential, mixed-methods design was used with senior students upon completion of their last two clinical experiences in the nursing program.

Learning the Language of Social Media: A Comparison of Engagement Metrics and Social Media Strategies Used by Food and Nutrition-Related Social Media Accounts.

Health promoters have been unable to reach and engage people on social media (SM) to the extent that food industry brands and lifestyle personalities have. The objective of this study was to identify the SM post strategies associated with higher engagement in nutrition and food-related posts using a retrospective content analysis. The six most engaging posts from both Facebook and Instagram's 10 most successful nutrition and food-related accounts were analysed across four fields.

Postherpetic Neuralgia: Current Evidence on the Topical Film-Forming Spray with Bupivacaine Hydrochloride and a Review of Available Treatment Strategies.

Purpose Of Review: This is a comprehensive review of the literature about the use of bupivacaine hydrochloride for the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). It briefly reviews the background, biology, diagnosis and conventional treatment for PHN, and then introduces and compares the recent evidence for the use of topical bupivacaine.

Recent Findings: PHN is defined by pain lasting 90 days or more after the initial presentation of herpes zoster ("Shingles", HZ) rash and is the most common complication of this disease.

Effect of case study versus video simulation on nursing students' satisfaction, self-confidence, and knowledge: A quasi-experimental study.

Background: Research on simulation in nursing education has demonstrated the positive impact active, experiential learning has on student satisfaction, self-confidence, and knowledge. As a result, simulation laboratories with high-fidelity human patient simulators have become a common adjunct to clinical teaching. It is important to also promote active learning in the classroom setting; however, there is limited evidence on using video simulations in large classrooms.

Nurse Preceptor Role in New Graduate Nurses' Transition to Practice.

The transition to practice period is a challenging and demanding time for new graduate nurses. Leaving the structured environment of nursing school and entering professional practice can cause reality and transition shock for the new nurse resulting in unsafe patient care, as well as intention to leave their position or the profession. Successful transition to practice depends on the new nurse building confidence and gaining essential clinical reasoning abilities while orienting to their role.

The Lived Experience of Being a Male Nursing Student: Implications for Student Retention and Success.

Background: Despite the need to improve gender diversity in the United States nursing workforce, limited studies have explored the experience of former male nursing students and research is needed to provide guidance about teaching and mentoring strategies that can promote male student retention and success.

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore the lived experience of former male nursing students.

Methods: A descriptive phenomenological approach was used.

Thermal imaging reveals sizable shifts in facial temperature surrounding yawning in budgerigars ().

Accumulating comparative and interdisciplinary research supports a brain cooling function to yawning. In particular, previous research has shown significant decreases in both brain and skull temperature following yawning in mammals. In a recent study using a thermal imaging camera, significant reductions in both the cornea and concha temperature were observed following yawns in the high-yawning subline of Sprague-Dawley rats.

LAGOS-NE: a multi-scaled geospatial and temporal database of lake ecological context and water quality for thousands of US lakes.

Understanding the factors that affect water quality and the ecological services provided by freshwater ecosystems is an urgent global environmental issue. Predicting how water quality will respond to global changes not only requires water quality data, but also information about the ecological context of individual water bodies across broad spatial extents. Because lake water quality is usually sampled in limited geographic regions, often for limited time periods, assessing the environmental controls of water quality requires compilation of many data sets across broad regions and across time into an integrated database.