Aesthetics and Technology Integration in a Community-Based Primary Care Nursing Curriculum.

Background: Reconceptualized nursing education can prepare registered nurses to practice at the full scope of licensure on interprofessional teams across care continua while enhancing the quality of health care systems.

Problem: Traditional nursing programs minimally address primary care competencies. Rapidly changing managed care models demand nurses develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes to effectively deliver population health, primary care, care coordination, and disease prevention/management services across care continua.

Coronary artery calcium in HIV-infected men treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Calcium is a common component of an atherosclerotic plaque; therefore, the presence of coronary artery calcium (CAC) indicates atherosclerosis. This study investigated the difference in total CAC scores between HIV-infected patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and HIV-negative age-matched controls. HIV patients were 27 men treated with a protease inhibitor-containing HAART regimen for more than 1 year (M = 4.

Comparison of low risk and higher risk profiles in middle age to frequency and quantity of coronary artery calcium years later.

Little is known about the relation of having favorable levels of all major cardiovascular risk factors (low risk [LR]) earlier in life to coronary artery calcium (CAC) later in life. From 2002 to 2003, CAC was compared in participants aged >60 years who were LR (n = 42) with those not LR (n = 39) at baseline (from 1967 to 1973). Despite adverse changes in risk factors, the prevalence of measurable CAC and mean CAC scores were less for LR participants than for non-LR participants (60% vs 77%, p = 0.

Electron-beam tomography coronary artery calcium and cardiac events: a 37-month follow-up of 5635 initially asymptomatic low- to intermediate-risk adults.

Background: Conventional coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors fail to explain nearly 50% of CAD events. This study examines the association between electron-beam tomography (EBT) coronary artery calcium (CAC) and cardiac events in initially asymptomatic low- to intermediate-risk individuals, with adjustment for the presence of hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, diabetes, and a history of cigarette smoking.

Methods And Results: The study was performed in 8855 initially asymptomatic adults 30 to 76 years old (26% women) who self-referred for EBT CAC screening.

Cardiac anxiety in patients self-referred for electron beam tomography.

Studies have repeatedly shown that as many as 43% of patients undergoing coronary angiograms have no evidence of coronary heart disease (CHD). Fear of cardiac-related sensations has been posited as one explanation for complaints of chest pain in patients without CHD. The purpose of this study is to examine variables associated with cardiac anxiety in a sample of individuals self-referred for noninvasive coronary calcium screening.

The prevalence of coronary artery calcium among diabetic individuals without known coronary artery disease.

Objectives: We sought to examine the age and gender distribution of coronary artery calcium (CAC) by diabetes status in a large cohort of asymptomatic individuals.

Background: Among individuals with diabetes, coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Electron-beam tomography (EBT) quantifies CAC, a marker for atherosclerosis.

Conventional coronary artery disease risk factors and coronary artery calcium detected by electron beam tomography in 30,908 healthy individuals.

Purpose: Electron beam tomography (EBT) is a noninvasive measure of coronary artery calcium (CAC), a marker for atherosclerosis. In this study we examined the association between conventional risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) and CAC.

Methods: EBT CAC screening was performed on 30,908 asymptomatic individuals aged 30 to 90 years.

Electron beam tomography imaging of coronary calcium: the effect of body mass index on radiologic noise.

Purpose: To measure selected parameters of radiologic noise in electron beam tomographic (EBT) images obtained for coronary artery calcium (CAC) screening, and to determine an association between the level of radiologic noise and patient body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Electron beam tomographic CAC studies were performed on 311 persons. The study sample was stratified into three groups according to subjects' BMI.

Pilot study of coronary atherosclerotic risk and plaque burden in HIV patients: 'a call for cardiovascular prevention'.

Background: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has dramatically improved the life expectancy of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prompting increasing concerns related to chronic management. Suggestions of greater cardiovascular risk, partially related to recently proposed HAART-induced dyslipidemia and glucose intolerance, amplify these concerns. At this time, further corroboration of the emerging evidence for increased coronary risk, as well as complimentary estimates of coronary artery atherosclerotic burden, would be valuable to practicing physicians.