Epidural Analgesia for End-of-Life Pain.

While epidural anesthesia is an established technique for labor and perioperative pain, its use in the hospice setting remains limited, resulting in a reliance on oral opioids. We describe patients with intractable pain who pursued hospice enrollment with tunneled epidural analgesia for pain management. All patients who received a tunneled epidural prior to hospice enrollment between January 1, 2017, and September 20, 2023, were included.

Mode of delivery according to Robson classification and perinatal outcomes in restricted and small for gestational age fetuses.

Objective: To evaluate the mode of delivery according to Robson classification (RC) and the perinatal outcomes in fetal growth restriction (FGR) and small for gestational age (SGA) fetuses.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study by analyzing medical records of singleton pregnancies from two consecutive years (2018 and 2019). FGR was defined according to Delphi Consensus.

Effect of Loratadine for Pegfilgrastim-Induced Bone Pain.

Aims: Breast cancer patients on chemotherapy who receive pegfilgrastim to prevent neutropenia may experience severe bone pain as a side effect. Traditional treatment recommendations include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen, opioids, and/or antihistamine use. However, little research was found comparing these interventions.

Modeling resilience to sleep disruption to study resistance to Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative condition with unknown etiology and no cure. Therefore, it is imperative to learn more about the underlying risk factors. Since AD is an age-related disease, one approach is to look at factors associated with aging.

Prediction of Lung Maturity in Fetuses with Growth Restriction through Quantitative Ultrasound Analysis.

The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of QuantusFLM software, which performs quantitative analysis of lung tissue texture through ultrasound images, in predicting lung maturity in fetal growth restriction (FGR). We included patients with singleton gestations between 34 and 38 6/7 wk and divided them into two groups: FGR and control (appropriate for gestational age [AGA]). The images were captured by ultrasound according to a specific protocol up to 48 h before delivery and analyzed with QuantusFLM software.

Understanding the Correlates between Care-Recipient Age and Caregiver Burden, Work-family Conflict, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intentions.

Although the caregiver literature has explored a wide array of different variables, there is a gap in research on how demographics of the care recipient affect their caregiver. Using data from a diverse sample of 1,007 unpaid caregivers, individuals were separated into four groups based on care recipient age; childcare, adultcare, eldercare, and those with care recipients from multiple age categories. Then, following previous literature, childcare was split into four groups based on the age of the youngest child cared for (0-2 years; 3-5 years; 6-12 years; and 13-17 years).

Application of the Cre/lox System to Construct Auxotrophic Markers for Quantitative Genetic Analyses in Fusarium graminearum.

The bacteriophage P1 Cre/lox system has been utilized in diverse fungi for marker recycling and exchange, generation of targeted chromosome translocations, and targeted deletion of interstitial chromosome segments. Here we show the application of this tool in the wheat and maize pathogen, Fusarium graminearum. We explored three different ways to introduce Cre into strains with floxed genes, namely transformation with an episomal or integrative plasmid (pLC28), fusion of protoplasts of strains carrying floxed genes with strains expressing Cre by forcing heterokaryons, and crosses between strains with floxed genes and strains expressing Cre to isolate progeny in which the target genes had been deleted during the cross.

A Fresh Look at Socio-demographics in Work-Family Conflict: A Cluster Analysis Approach.

An important gap in work-family literature is the understanding of how socio-demographic variables, such as sex, age, hours worked, age of youngest child, and household income may relate to work-family conflict. Using data from 667 individuals and longitudinal data from 1,007 caregivers, separate exploratory cluster analysis by gender provided a three cluster solution for caregiving men, non-caregiving men, and caregiving women and a four cluster solution for non-caregiving women. Differences in work interfering with family were found in the caregiving men, caregiving women, and non-caregiving women clusters.

Fetal growth restriction: current knowledge.

Background: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is a condition that affects 5-10% of pregnancies and is the second most common cause of perinatal mortality. This review presents the most recent knowledge on FGR and focuses on the etiology, classification, prediction, diagnosis, and management of the condition, as well as on its neurological complications.

Methods: The Pubmed, SCOPUS, and Embase databases were searched using the term "fetal growth restriction".

Is work keeping us from acting healthy? How workplace barriers and facilitators impact nutrition and exercise behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to identify common barriers and facilitators to healthy nutrition and exercise behaviors in the workplace and examine their relationships to those actual daily health behaviors. We utilized a concurrent embedded mixed methods approach to collect data from 93 participants over the span of four days. Participants reported 2.

Electrosurgery and ultrasonics on patients with implantable cardiac devices: Evidence of side effects in the dental practice.

Objective: Implantable cardiac pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) have been introduced in the care of patients with cardiac dysrhythmias. Most dental practitioners demonstrate extreme caution when treating patients with ICDs. This paper presents a review of the available literature on these devices and how they interact with dental electrosurgery and ultrasonic device use.

Prevalence of Torque teno virus in healthy donors of Paraná State, southern Brazil.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of the Torque teno virus in healthy donors in the northern and northwestern regions of the state of Paraná, southern Brazil.

Methods: The Torque teno virus was detected by a nested polymerase chain reaction using a set of oligoprimers for the N22 region.

Results: The prevalence of the virus was 69% in 551 healthy blood donors in southern Brazil.

A qualitative study of stress in individuals self-employed in solo businesses.

This qualitative study involved 54 individuals who were self-employed in a variety of solo businesses. All participants were administered a semistructured interview that inquired into various aspects of their work experience with the data subject to reliability and validity checks. The study identified stressful incidents, coping strategies, and emotional strains arising from those stressful incidents.

Blood discard rate and the prevalence of infectious and contagious diseases in blood donors from provincial towns of the state of Paraná, Brazil.

Background: So that an improvement in the selection of donors can be achieved and the risk to the recipient of transfused blood can be reduced, prospective donors are submitted to clinical and serological screening.

Objective: This study investigated the blood discard rate and the rate of infectious and contagious diseases in blood donors from provincial towns of the state of Paraná, Brazil.

Methods: This study was an exploratory cross-sectional descriptive investigation with a quantitative approach of donations between January and December 2011.

Neurofunctional evaluation of young male offspring of rat dams with diabetes induced by streptozotocin.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex disease, being one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide. As a consequence, pregnancy-associated diabetes is increasingly common. Given the numerous studies about the influence of diabetes on offspring of diabetic rat dams, the neurological outcome is of outmost importance.

What qualitative research has taught us about occupational stress.

While many reviews of job stress and the stressor–strain relationship have been conducted, such reviews typically focus exclusively on quantitative data. In the current paper, we review qualitative studies on occupational stress that met two criteria: (1) the studies employed qualitative methods; (2) the stressors, strains and/or coping strategies were grouped into identifiable, higher-order categories. Results indicated that the nature of the stressors experienced varied by (a) occupation, (b) country, (c) seniority and (d) gender.

Relationships among self-report assessments of craving in binge-drinking university students.

To assess the relationships among self-report craving questionnaires, and between craving and alcohol consumption, we administered four previously published measures of craving (Alcohol Urge Questionnaire, Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale, Penn Alcohol Craving Scale, Temptation-Restraint Inventory), five single-item Visual Analog Scales (need, urge, craving, desire, compulsion), and measures of alcohol consumption and drinking consequences to 112 university students attending a large, public state university who reported at least two binge-drinking episodes (5+ drinks in a row by men; 4+ drinks in a row by women) in the previous 30 days. The associations among the multi-item self-report measures of craving were often larger for men than women, but the coefficients were typically statistically significant and meaningful regardless of gender, indicating good convergent validity despite differences in phrasing of items, response formats, and time periods over which craving was assessed. Generally smaller correlations among the VAS items indicated that these five terms were not inter-changeable among themselves (nor were they inter-changeable with scores on the multi-item questionnaires).

A randomized, placebo-controlled study of oxcarbazepine in painful diabetic neuropathy.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of oxcarbazepine (1200 mg/day) in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy in a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 16-week study.

Methods: A total of 141 patients were randomized to oxcarbazepine (1200 mg/day) (n = 71) or placebo (n = 70). The primary efficacy variable was the change in mean visual analogue scale (VAS) score from baseline to the last week the patient participated in the study.

Altered mental status from olanzapine overdose treated with physostigmine.

Background: Olanzapine is commonly prescribed to patients with schizophrenia. One retrospective study demonstrates the efficacy of physostigmine in reversing mental status changes induced by olanzapine. We report two patients with delirium due to confirmed olanzapine overdose treated with physostigmine.

Oxcarbazepine in painful diabetic neuropathy: a randomized, placebo-controlled study.

In this multicentre, placebo-controlled, 16-week trial, the efficacy and safety of oxcarbazepine monotherapy in patients with neuropathic pain of diabetic origin was evaluated. Eligible patients had a 6-month to 5-year history of neuropathic pain symptoms of diabetic origin and a pain rating of > or =50 units on the visual analogue scale (VAS). Oxcarbazepine was initiated at a dose of 300 mg/day and titrated to a maximum dose of 1800 mg/day.

The role of antiplatelet therapy in the management of acute coronary syndromes.

The benefit of aspirin use in the emergent care of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) has been well-established. Recent studies have further demonstrated the importance of antiplatelet therapy in the acute setting, primarily with the use of intravenous glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitors. Aspirin and the thienopyridines (ticlopidine and clopidogrel) are oral antiplatelet agents that interfere with platelet activation in complementary, but separate pathways.