Reimagining Supportive Approaches at the Intersection of Mandatory Reporting Policies for the Mother-Infant Dyad Affected by Substance Use.

Background: As rates of substance use during pregnancy persist, the health and optimal development of infants with prenatal substance exposure remain a key priority. Nurses are tasked with identifying and reporting suspected cases of child maltreatment, including abuse and neglect, which is often assumed to be synonymous with substance use during pregnancy. While policies aimed at protecting infants from child abuse and neglect are well intentioned, literature regarding the short- and long-term social and legal implications of mandatory reporting policies is emerging.

Feasibility and acceptability of studying full-time nurse faculty salaries.

Background: The nursing shortage is driven, in part, by the critical shortage of nursing faculty. Consequently, qualified potential nursing students are being turned away from nursing schools each year. The preeminent issue influencing the United States nurse faculty workforce shortage is salary; financial compensation is higher in clinical and private-sector settings than educational settings.

Immunology of Physical Exercise: Is an Appropriate Animal Model for Human Athletes?

Domestic horses routinely participate in vigorous and various athletic activities. This enables the horse to serve as a model for studying athletic physiology and immunology in other species, including humans. For instance, as a model of physical efforts, such as endurance rides (long-distance running/aerobic exercise) and races (anaerobic exercise), the horse can be useful in evaluating post-exercise response.

Application of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Framework to the NICU.

Background: Infants and families requiring neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care often experience significant stress and trauma during the earliest period of the infant's life, leading to increased risks for poorer infant and family outcomes. There is a need for frameworks to guide clinical care and research that account for the complex interactions of generational stress, pain, toxic stress, parental separation, and lifelong health and developmental outcomes for infants and families.

Purpose: Apply the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) framework in the context of the NICU as a usable structure to guide clinical practice and research focused on infant neurodevelopment outcomes and parental attachment.

Feasibility of Stress Research in Premature Infant-Maternal Dyads During and After Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Hospitalization.

Background: Stress from preterm infant admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is associated with infant and maternal physiologic changes, including endocrine and epigenetic alterations. Little is known about the mechanisms connecting NICU stress to biologic changes, and whether preterm infant and maternal stress are reciprocal. As a preliminary step, feasibility and acceptability of measuring indicators of stress are required.

Exercise-related changes in the anabolic index (testosterone to cortisol ratio) and serum amyloid A concentration in endurance and racehorses at different fitness levels.

Increased training loads in both human and equine athletes are generally implemented to improve their physical performance. These loads are tolerated only within appropriate training periodization with regard to recovery time. Otherwise, training overload causes failure in the systemic adaptation, which at first leads to overreaching, and progressively to overtraining syndrome (OTS).

C-Reactive Protein as a Diagnostic Marker in Dogs: A Review.

Acute phase response is a nonspecific reaction to disturbances in homeostasis during which the production of some Acute Phase Proteins (APPs) is stimulated; they are sensitive but nonspecific markers of systemic inflammatory processes. The major positive APP in dogs is the C-reactive protein (CRP). The dynamic of its concentration changes fast, rising and decreasing rapidly with the onset and removal of the inflammatory stimulus.

Uncertainty and perinatal post-traumatic stress disorder in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Parents of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are at increased risk of developing perinatal post-traumatic stress disorder (PPTSD), a mental health condition known to interfere with healthy parental and infant attachment. Feelings of uncertainty about illness have been theorized as an antecedent to post-traumatic stress, however the relationship has not been explored in parents of infants requiring care in the NICU. The purpose of this prospective study was to explore parental uncertainty during and after NICU discharge and the relationship between uncertainty and PPTSD.

The many problems of somatic cell nuclear transfer in reproductive cloning of mammals.

In 1996, when Dolly the sheep was born, a new, utopian era was expected to begin. Science fiction and popular culture instantly threatened the public with shortly upcoming human clones, portraying it as a very easy and instant procedure. Practice has proven otherwise; it exposed how little is known about the early development of mammals and epigenetic reprogramming.

Parent Health-Related Quality of Life for Infants with Congenital Anomalies Receiving Neonatal Intensive Care.

Objective: To examine factors associated with parent quality of life during and after neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge among parents of infants with congenital anomalies admitted to the NICU.

Study Design: This secondary analysis of 2 prospective cohort studies between 2016 and 2020 at a level IV NICU included parents of infants with major congenital anomalies receiving NICU care. The primary outcomes were parent health-related quality of life (HRQL) during the NICU stay and at 3 months post-NICU discharge.

Parents' pandemic NICU experience in the United States: a qualitative study.

Background: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents of infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) frequently reported high levels of stress, uncertainty, and decreased parenting confidence. Early research has demonstrated that parents have had less access to their infants in the hospital due to restrictions on parental presence secondary to the pandemic. It is unknown how parents have perceived their experiences in the NICU since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impacts of Neonatal Hospitalization on Families during the 2019 Coronavirus Pandemic.

Objective: Limited data are available regarding family and financial well-being among parents whose infants were hospitalized during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The study objective was to evaluate the family and financial well-being of parents whose infants were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during COVID-19.

Study Design: Parents were recruited for this online, cross-sectional survey via support groups on social media.

Optimization of droplet digital PCR assays for the type-specific detection and quantification of five HPV genotypes, including additional data on viral loads of nine different HPV genotypes in cervical carcinomas.

The droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) system enables high-sensitivity detection of nucleic acids and direct absolute quantification of the targets. The aim of this research was to evaluate this system for viral load (VL) analysis of the human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes HPV31, 35, 39, 51 and 56 measured in number of viral particles per cell. The sample types used for the optimization of the ddPCR assay were formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues and cervical liquid cytology samples.

Actual and Potential Impact of a Home Nasogastric Tube Feeding Program for Infants Whose Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge Is Affected by Delayed Oral Feedings.

Objective: To compare healthcare use and parent health-related quality of life (HRQL) in 3 groups of infants whose neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge was delayed by oral feedings.

Study Design: This was a prospective, single-center cohort of infants in the NICU from September 2018 to March 2020. After enrollment, weekly chart review determined eligibility for home nasogastric (NG) feeds based on predetermined criteria.

Quality Improvement Approach to Reducing Admission Hypothermia Among Preterm and Term Infants.

Background: Newborns, particularly premature newborns, are susceptible to hypothermia when transitioning from birth to admission to the NICU, potentially leading to increased mortality and morbidity. Despite attention to this issue, our rate of admission hypothermia was 39.8%.

Evolving the Preconception Health Framework: A Call for Reproductive and Sexual Health Equity.

Over the past decade, increasing attention has been paid to intervening in individuals' health in the "preconception" period as an approach to optimizing pregnancy outcomes. Increasing attention to the structural and social determinants of health and to the need to prioritize reproductive autonomy has underscored the need to evolve the preconception health framework to center race equity and to engage with the historical and social context in which reproduction and reproductive health care occur. In this commentary, we describe the results of a meeting with a multidisciplinary group of maternal and child health experts, reproductive health researchers and practitioners, and Reproductive Justice leaders to define a new approach for clinical and public health systems to engage with the health of nonpregnant people.

Infant illness severity and perinatal post-traumatic stress disorder after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit.

Background: Risk factors for perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among parents of an infant in the NICU have varied in previous literature. The relationships between perception of illness severity and objective measures of illness severity with PTSD are not well understood.

Aims: To determine if PTSD among parents after an infant NICU discharge can be predicted by 1) objective measures of infant illness severity or 2) perceptions of infant illness severity.

A Concept Analysis of Parental Uncertainty in Illness of an Infant.

Background: The concept of uncertainty in illness has been well described and applied to many different areas of nursing and other disciplines. Specifically, parental uncertainty in illness of an infant is a meaningful concept that has specific attributes and implications. A current concept analysis that considers the changing healthcare setting, historical conceptual inconsistencies, and a lack of information concerning parents of infants is needed.

Rumination modulates stress and other psychological processes in fibromyalgia.

Objective: Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by widespread pain and high levels of sleep disturbance, fatigue, and altered cognition. Psychological stress can modulate these features. In this study, we examined the thinking style of rumination in women with FM to assess the effect of rumination on stress levels and other psychological variables in FM.

Psychological factors mediate key symptoms of fibromyalgia through their influence on stress.

The clinical features of fibromyalgia are associated with various psychological factors, including stress. We examined the hypothesis that the path that psychological factors follow in influencing fibromyalgia symptoms is through their direct effect on stress. Ninety-eight females with ACR 1990 classified fibromyalgia completed the following questionnaires: The Big 5 Personality Inventory, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, Profile of Mood States, Mastery Scale, and Perceived Control of Internal States Scale.

Investigation into Possible Differences in Salmonella Prevalence in the Peripheral Lymph Nodes of Cattle Derived from Distinct Production Systems and of Different Breed Types.

Previous research demonstrated significant variation in the prevalence of Salmonella in peripheral lymph nodes (LNs) of feedlot cattle and cull cows, with greater prevalence in feedlot cattle. Therefore, we performed experiments to investigate whether these differences in Salmonella prevalence in subiliac LNs are due to, or influenced by, breed, which in many respects is a proxy for the production system in which the animal is derived. Holstein steers are a by-product of dairy systems, and beef steers are an intended product of commercial beef operations.

Stress modulates key psychological processes and characteristic symptoms in females with fibromyalgia.

Objectives: To examine how stress interacts with psychological processes and key phenotypic symptom characteristics in females with fibromyalgia.

Methods: Ninety-eight women with fibromyalgia, diagnosed according to ACR 1990 criteria, and 35 female healthy controls without pain were studied. Applied questionnaires included the following: Perceived Stress scale [PSS], Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire [FIQ], Perceived Control of Internal States (PCOIS), Mastery scale and the Profile of Mood States scale (POMS).

Psychological control is a key modulator of fibromyalgia symptoms and comorbidities.

Objective: We hypothesized that fibromyalgia (FM) patients would report lower levels of psychological control mechanisms and that higher levels of control would moderate key symptoms associated with FM, such as pain, fatigue, perceived stress, and mood disturbance.

Methods: Ninety-eight women with FM diagnosed according to American College of Rheumatology criteria and 35 matched pain-free women were identified. Applied questionnaires included the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Profile of Mood States, Perceived Control of Internal States Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Mastery Scale.