Who receives rehabilitation in canadian long-term care facilities? A cross-sectional study.

Purpose: To describe the proportion of residents receiving occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) and the factors associated with receiving PT in long-term care (LTC) facilities across five provinces and one territory in Canada.

Methods: Using a population-based, retrospective analysis of cross-sectional data, the proportion of LTC facility residents in each province or territory receiving three different amounts (time and frequency) of PT, OT, or both before July 1, 2013, was calculated according to the Resource Utilization Groups-III rehabilitation classifications. Twenty-three variables from the Resident Assessment Instrument 2.

Stress ulcer prophylaxis in the intensive care unit: an international survey of 97 units in 11 countries.

Background: Stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP) may decrease the incidence of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), but the risk of infection may be increased. In this study, we aimed to describe SUP practices in adult ICUs. We hypothesised that patient selection for SUP varies both within and between countries.

Effect of mild-to-moderate smoking on viral load, cytokines, oxidative stress, and cytochrome P450 enzymes in HIV-infected individuals.

Mild-to-moderate tobacco smoking is highly prevalent in HIV-infected individuals, and is known to exacerbate HIV pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to determine the specific effects of mild-to-moderate smoking on viral load, cytokine production, and oxidative stress and cytochrome P450 (CYP) pathways in HIV-infected individuals who have not yet received antiretroviral therapy (ART). Thirty-two human subjects were recruited and assigned to four different cohorts as follows: a) HIV negative non-smokers, b) HIV positive non-smokers, c) HIV negative mild-to-moderate smokers, and d) HIV positive mild-to-moderate smokers.

Prevalence and outcome of gastrointestinal bleeding and use of acid suppressants in acutely ill adult intensive care patients.

Purpose: To describe the prevalence of, risk factors for, and prognostic importance of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and use of acid suppressants in acutely ill adult intensive care patients.

Methods: We included adults without GI bleeding who were acutely admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) during a 7-day period. The primary outcome was clinically important GI bleeding in ICU, and the analyses included estimations of baseline risk factors and potential associations with 90-day mortality.

Overview of the study protocols and statistical analysis plan for the Saline versus Plasma-Lyte 148 for Intravenous Fluid Therapy (SPLIT) research program.

Background: 0.9% saline is the most commonly used intravenous (IV) fluid in the world but recent data raise the possibility that, compared with buffered crystalloid fluids such as Plasma-Lyte 148, the administration of 0.9% saline might increase the risk of developing acute kidney injury.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Australasian Survivors of H1N1 Influenza Undergoing Mechanical Ventilation. A Multicenter Cohort Study.

Rationale: Patients surviving acute respiratory distress syndrome suffer decrements in physical function and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL); however, it is unclear whether HR-QoL is disproportionately affected in those with H1N1 influenza.

Objectives: The objective was to compare the HR-QoL of patients with a diagnosis of H1N1 influenza who were mechanically ventilated, 12 months after intensive care unit (ICU) discharge with healthy population data and ICU survivor data.

Methods: A prospective, observational, binational, multicenter cohort study was conducted in 11 ICUs in Australia and New Zealand during June-September 2009.

A protocol for the 0.9% saline versus Plasma-Lyte 148 for intensive care fluid therapy (SPLIT) study.

Background: 0.9% saline is the most commonly used intravenous (IV) fluid in the world. However, recent data raise the possibility that, compared with buffered crystalloid fluids such as Plasma-Lyte 148, the administration of 0.

Personality affects the foraging response of a mammalian herbivore to the dual costs of food and fear.

Predators attack and plants defend, so herbivores face the dilemma of how to eat enough without being eaten. But do differences in the personality of herbivores affect the foraging choices of individuals? We explored the ecological impact of personality in a generalist herbivore, the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). After quantifying personality traits in wild individuals brought temporarily into captivity, we tested how these traits altered foraging by individuals when free-ranging in their natural habitat.

The dilemma of foraging herbivores: dealing with food and fear.

For foraging herbivores, both food quality and predation risk vary across the landscape. Animals should avoid low-quality food patches in favour of high-quality ones, and seek safe patches while avoiding risky ones. Herbivores often face the foraging dilemma, however, of choosing between high-quality food in risky places or low-quality food in safe places.

HyperOxic Therapy OR NormOxic Therapy after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (HOT OR NOT): a randomised controlled feasibility trial.

Aims: To investigate the feasibility of delivering titrated oxygen therapy to adults with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) caused by ventricular fibrillation (VF) or ventricular tachycardia (VT).

Methods: We used a multicentre, randomised, single blind, parallel groups design to compare titrated and standard oxygen therapy in adults resuscitated from VF/VT OHCA. The intervention commenced in the community following ROSC and was maintained in the emergency department and the Intensive Care Unit.

Drug resistance in non-B subtype HIV-1: impact of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes approximately 2.5 million new infections every year, and nearly 1.6 million patients succumb to HIV each year.

Daily protein intake and patient outcomes in severe acute kidney injury: findings of the randomized evaluation of normal versus augmented level of replacement therapy (RENAL) trial.

Background And Aims: We aimed to examine the association between daily protein intake (DPI) and outcomes in patients from the Randomized Evaluation of Normal versus Augmented Level (RENAL) trial.

Methods: We analyzed the association between DPI and clinical outcomes using multivariable logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards models and time-adjusted analysis.

Results: During ICU stay, mean DPI was 37.

A multicentre feasibility study evaluating stress ulcer prophylaxis using hospital-based registry data.

Background: It is unclear whether histamine-2 receptor blockers (H2RBs) or proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are preferred for stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP) in intensive care unit patients. Suitably powered comparative effectiveness trials are warranted.

Objective: To establish the feasibility of collecting process-of-care and outcome data relevant to a proposed interventional trial of SUP using existing databases.

Implementing hospital-based surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections caused by influenza and other respiratory pathogens in New Zealand.

Background: Recent experience with pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 highlighted the importance of global surveillance for severe respiratory disease to support pandemic preparedness and seasonal influenza control. Improved surveillance in the southern hemisphere is needed to provide critical data on influenza epidemiology, disease burden, circulating strains and effectiveness of influenza prevention and control measures. Hospital-based surveillance for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases was established in New Zealand on 30 April 2012.

Quantifying the response of free-ranging mammalian herbivores to the interplay between plant defense and nutrient concentrations.

While trying to achieve their nutritional requirements, foraging herbivores face the costs of plant defenses, such as toxins. Teasing apart the costs and benefits of various chemical constituents in plants is difficult because their chemical defenses and nutrient concentrations often co-vary. We used an approach derived from predator-prey studies to quantitatively compare the foraging response of a free-ranging mammalian herbivore, the swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor), through three feeding trials with artificial diets that differed in their concentrations of (1) the terpene 1,8-cineole, (2) primary constituents (including nitrogen and fiber), and (3) both the terpene and the primary constituents.

Multi-drug resistant oral Candida species isolated from HIV-positive patients in South Africa and Cameroon.

Candida species are a common cause of infection in immune-compromised HIV-positive individuals, who are usually treated with the antifungal drug, fluconazole, in public hospitals in Africa. However, information about the prevalence of drug resistance to fluconazole and other antifungal agents on Candida species is very limited. This study examined 128 Candida isolates from South Africa and 126 Cameroonian Candida isolates for determination of species prevalence and antifungal drug susceptibility.

Calorie intake and patient outcomes in severe acute kidney injury: findings from The Randomized Evaluation of Normal vs. Augmented Level of Replacement Therapy (RENAL) study trial.

Introduction: Current practice in the delivery of caloric intake (DCI) in patients with severe acute kidney injury (AKI) receiving renal replacement therapy (RRT) is unknown. We aimed to describe calorie administration in patients enrolled in the Randomized Evaluation of Normal vs. Augmented Level of Replacement Therapy (RENAL) study and to assess the association between DCI and clinical outcomes.

The relationship between hypophosphataemia and outcomes during low-intensity and high-intensity continuous renal replacement therapy.

Aim: To identify risk factors for development of hypophosphataemia in patients treated with two different intensities of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) and to assess the independent association of hypophosphataemia with major clinical outcomes.

Materials And Methods: We performed secondary analysis of data collected from 1441 patients during a large, multicentre randomised controlled trial of CRRT intensity. We allocated patients to two different intensities of CRRT (25mL/kg/hour vs 40 mL/kg/hour of effluent generation) and obtained daily measurement of serum phosphate levels.

Transgenic Anopheles gambiae expressing an antimalarial peptide suffer no significant fitness cost.

Mosquito-borne diseases present some of the greatest health challenges faced by the world today. In many cases, existing control measures are compromised by insecticide resistance, pathogen tolerance to drugs and the lack of effective vaccines. In light of these difficulties, new genetic tools for disease control programmes, based on the deployment of genetically modified mosquitoes, are seen as having great promise.

Posterior dislocation of long head of biceps tendon following traumatic anterior shoulder dislocation: imaging and intra-operative findings.

A case of posterior dislocation of the long head of biceps tendon, a rare occurrence following traumatic anterior glenohumeral dislocation, along with complete rotator cuff rupture and large haemarthrosis is presented with imaging and intra-operative findings. The interposed tendon prevented complete reduction. Appearances at MRI were diagnostic and directed the surgical approach.

Early detection of severe maternal morbidity: a retrospective assessment of the role of an Early Warning Score System.

Background: The Early Warning Scoring (EWS) surveillance system is used to identify deteriorating patients and enable appropriate staff to be called promptly. However, there is a lack of evidence that EWS surveillance systems lead to a reduction in severe morbidity.

Aims: To determine whether as EWS may have improved the detection of severe maternal morbidity or lessened the severity of illness among women with severe morbidity at a large tertiary maternity unit at Auckland City Hospital (ACH), New Zealand.

Enhanced nicotine metabolism in HIV-1-positive smokers compared with HIV-negative smokers: simultaneous determination of nicotine and its four metabolites in their plasma using a simple and sensitive electrospray ionization liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry technique.

Smoking is approximately three times more prevalent in HIV-1-positive than HIV-negative individuals in the United States. Nicotine, which is the major constituent of tobacco, is rapidly metabolized mainly by cytochrome P450 (CYP2A6) to many metabolites. In this study, we developed a simple, fast, and sensitive electrospray ionization liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method using a strong cation solid phase extraction, and determined the concentration of nicotine and its four major metabolites (cotinine, nornicotine, norcotinine, and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine) in the plasma of HIV-1-positive and HIV-negative smokers.

Statistical analysis plan for the HEAT trial: a multicentre randomised placebo-controlled trial of intravenous paracetamol in intensive care unit patients with fever and infection.

Background And Objective: We describe the statistical analysis plan (SAP) for the Permissive Hyperthermia through Avoidance of Paracetamol in Known or Suspected Infection in the Intensive Care Unit (HEAT) trial, a 700-patient, prospective, randomised, Phase 2b, multicentre, double-blind, parallel-groups, placebo-controlled trial of paracetamol administration for the treatment of fever in critically ill patients with known or suspected infection.

Methods: The data fields described are those outlined in the study protocol published previously. We describe the plan for the presentation and comparison of baseline characteristics, process measures and outcomes.

Roles of the volatile terpene, 1,8-cineole, in plant-herbivore interactions: a foraging odor cue as well as a toxin?

Olfaction is an important sense for many animals, yet its role in foraging by herbivores is poorly known. Many plants contain volatile compounds, such as terpenes, that are not only volatile but can be toxic if ingested. Volatile terpenes can be used by herbivores to assess leaf quality, but there is little evidence for whether they are also used as a searching cue.

Further development of the response scales of the Acquired Brain Injury Challenge Assessment (ABI-CA).

Primary Objective: To revise the scaling of the response sets of the Acquired Brain Injury Challenge Assessment (ABI-CA) through expert input and determination of empirically based cut-points.

Research Design: A measurement development study with a content validity focus.

Methods: Response option wording was revised through consultation with six physiotherapists with paediatric ABI expertise.