Background: Family-centred care (FCC) emphasizes a partnership approach to care between healthcare providers (HCPs), patients, and families. FCC provides significant benefits to both children and families; however, challenges exist in implementing FCC into practice. This study aimed to explore HCPs' FCC behaviours in multidisciplinary specialty clinics at a tertiary pediatric health care center in Canada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To develop and assess the face and construct validity of the Clinician-reported Genetic Testing Utility Index (C-GUIDE) for genetic testing in prenatal care.
Methods: After a literature review and consultation with clinical experts, a preliminary draft of C-GUIDE Prenatal was developed. Its face and content validity were then assessed by 19 prenatal genetics' providers using interviews and surveys.
The importance of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in tree-ring-based climate reconstructions is increasingly recognized, especially in regions where traditional dendrochronological parameters, such as tree-ring width, usually fail. However, the effects of elevation and other site conditions on climate signals in tree-ring stable isotope (TRSI) chronologies remain unclear. Here, we assess the sensitivities to precipitation and drought of tree-ring width (TRW) and δC and δO TRSI chronologies of 136 living oaks (Quercus spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe impact of atmospheric pollution on the growth of European forest tree species, particularly European beech, Silver fir and Norway spruce, is examined in five mesic forests in the Czech Republic. Analyzing of basal area increment (BAI) patterns using linear mixed effect models reveals a complex interplay between atmospheric nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) deposition, climatic variables and changing CO concentrations. Beech BAI responds positively to N deposition (in tandem with air CO concentration), with soil phosphorus (P) availability emerging as a significant factor influencing overall growth rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficiency of water use in plants, a critical ecophysiological parameter closely related to water and carbon cycles, is essential for understanding the interactions between plants and their environment. This study investigates the effects of ongoing climate change and increasing atmospheric CO concentration on intrinsic (stomata-based; iWUE) and evaporative (transpiration-based; eWUE) water use efficiency in oak trees along a naturally small altitudinal gradient (130-630 m a.s.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTemperate forests are undergoing significant transformations due to the influence of climate change, including varying responses of different tree species to increasing temperature and drought severity. To comprehensively understand the full range of growth responses, representative datasets spanning extensive site and climatic gradients are essential. This study utilizes tree-ring data from 550 sites from the temperate forests of Czechia to assess growth trends of six dominant Central European tree species (European beech, Norway spruce, Scots pine, silver fir, sessile and pedunculate oak) over 1990-2014.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Region: The Morava River basin, Czech Republic, Danube Basin, Central Europe.
Study Focus: Hydrological summer extremes represent a prominent natural hazard in Central Europe. River low flows constrain transport and water supply for agriculture, industry and society, and flood events are known to cause material damage and human loss.
Variations in the growth of aboveground biomass compartments such as tree stem and foliage significantly influence the carbon cycle of forest ecosystems. Yet the patterns of climate-driven responses of stem and foliage and their modulating factors remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the climatic response of Norway spruce (Picea abies) at 138 sites covering wide spatial and site fertility gradients in temperate forests in Central Europe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe perform a systematic study of the α-particle excitation from its ground state 0_{1}^{+} to the 0_{2}^{+} resonance. The so-called monopole transition form factor is investigated via an electron scattering experiment in a broad Q^{2} range (from 0.5 to 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe forests of central Europe have undergone remarkable transitions in the past 40 years as air quality has improved dramatically. Retrospective analysis of Norway spruce (Picea abies) tree rings in the Czech Republic shows that air pollution (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is the preferred treatment option for severe aortic stenosis in the elderly and in patients with comorbidities. We sought to compare outcomes after TAVI and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in octogenarians.
Methods: In this retrospective cohort study conducted at our tertiary center, clinical data were gathered before and after TAVI and SAVR procedures performed from January 2013 to May 2019; follow-up completed in March 2021.
Background: The aim of this study was to compare short-term and mid-term outcomes in low-risk octogenarian population treated with transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (tf-TAVI) or minimally invasive aortic valve replacement (mini-AVR) for severe aortic stenosis.
Methods: In this single-center, retrospective cohort study we gathered data on low-risk (Society of Thoracic Surgeons [STS] score < 4%) octogenarians before and after tf-TAVI and mini-AVR performed between January 2013 and May 2019; follow-up was completed in May 2022. Short-term outcomes were hospital length of stay, in-hospital all-cause mortality and other major postoperative outcomes.
Tree rings provide valuable insight into past environmental changes. This study aimed to evaluate perturbations in tree ring width (TRW) and δN alongside soil acidity and nutrient availability gradients caused by the contrasting legacy of air pollution (nitrogen [N] and sulphur [S] deposition) and tree species (European beech, Silver fir and Norway spruce). We found consistent declines of tree ring δN, which were temporarily unrelated to the changes in the TRW.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and phosphorylated nanocellulose fibrils (PCNFs) were used as functional screen-print coatings on flame-retardant (FR) fabric, to improve its thermal resistance and thermophysiological comfort (wetting, water vapour and heat transmission) properties, while inducing it with electrical conductivity and UV protection. The effect of PCNF printing, followed by applying a hydrophobic polyacrylate (AP), on the same (back/B, turned outwards) or other (front/F, turned towards skin) side of the fabric, with and without the addition of 0.1-0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Conventional fluoroscopy guided catheter ablation (CA) is an established treatment option for ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). However, with the complex nature of most procedures, patients and staff bare an increased radiation exposure. Near-zero or zero-fluoroscopy CA is an alternative method which could substantially reduce or even eliminate the radiation dose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Health Organ Manag
November 2018
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether internet forums are an appropriate source for identification of causes of dissatisfaction of patients with non-medical aspects of healthcare services.
Design/methodology/approach: Based on the guidelines of netnography qualitative research the authors identify relevant posts or comments on selected online forums in which web users show their dissatisfaction with healthcare services. Five popular Slovenian forums representing different interest communities have been chosen and 42 forums' topics have been reviewed.
Though tree-ring chronologies are annually resolved, their dating has never been independently validated at the global scale. Moreover, it is unknown if atmospheric radiocarbon enrichment events of cosmogenic origin leave spatiotemporally consistent fingerprints. Here we measure the C content in 484 individual tree rings formed in the periods 770-780 and 990-1000 CE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report on the first Q^{2}-dependent measurement of the beam-normal single spin asymmetry A_{n} in the elastic scattering of 570 MeV vertically polarized electrons off ^{12}C. We cover the Q^{2} range between 0.02 and 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNorway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stands in certain areas of Central Europe have experienced substantial dieback since the 1970s.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article addresses the issue of falling response rates in telephone surveys. To better understand and maintain respondent goodwill, concepts of psychological contract and respondent expectations are introduced and explored. Results of the qualitative study show that respondent expectations are not only socially contingent but also ego-expressive, utilitarian, pleasurable, and epistemic by nature.
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