Pediatric Ice Pop Administration to Improve Patient Experience Scores.

Objective: To assess the impact on patient experience scores of giving an ice pop (Popsicle, Good Humor-Breyers, Oakland, CA) to patients in a pediatric emergency department (ED).

Patients And Methods: A prospective two-center trial was conducted at a tertiary academic pediatric ED and a community ED from January 1, 2018, through March 31, 2018. The intervention arm gave an ice pop to all eligible patients 0 to 14 years of age on even-numbered days versus conventional practice on odd-numbered days.

Increased body mass index does not impact the imaging quality of focused assessment with sonography in trauma.

Background: Many clinicians believe that a patient's body mass index (BMI) affects the likelihood of obtaining high quality ultrasound images.

Objectives: To assess the hypothesis that increased BMI is associated with worsening focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) image quality.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-center study of FAST examinations performed in a large academic emergency department (ED) with fellowship-trained emergency ultrasonography faculty performing quality assurance review.

FGF and Notch signaling in sensory neuron formation: a multifactorial approach to understanding signaling pathway hierarchy.

The ophthalmic trigeminal (opV) placode exclusively gives rise to sensory neurons, making it a good model to study the molecular regulation of sensory neurogenesis. A number of signaling pathways including Wnt, PDGF, FGF, and Notch have been shown to be involved in the process of opV placode cell development. However, the regulatory relationships between these signaling pathways in placode cells are still unknown and have been difficult to study experimentally.

Collision cross sectional areas from analysis of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance line width: a new method for characterizing molecular structure.

We demonstrate a technique for determining molecular collision cross sections via measuring the variation of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) line width with background damping gas pressure, under conditions where the length of the FTICR transient is pressure limited. Key features of our method include monoisotopic isolation of ions, the pulsed introduction of damping gas to a constant pressure using a pulsed leak valve, short excitation events to minimize collisions during the excitation, and proper choice of damping gas (Xe is superior to He). The measurements are reproducible within a few percent, which is sufficient for distinguishing between many structural possibilities and is comparable to the uncertainty in cross sections calculated from computed molecular structures.