Publications by authors named "Michael Blomquist"

Unlicensed patient care assistants (PCAs) are often tasked with providing constant observation (CO) of patients with complex health behaviors. The unique demands of CO are poorly understood, making it challenging to design effective training. Four-component instructional design theory suggests the tasks associated with CO feature non-recurrent challenges, such that effective, simulation-based deliberate practice must reflect real-life variability.

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Rho-kinase has been implicated in the development of hypertension in preclinical studies and may contribute to age-related blood pressure elevation. This study tested the hypothesis that Rho-kinase contributes to elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) in healthy older adults. Young (18-30 years, 6F/6M) and older (60-80 years, 7F/6M) adults were enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study using intravenous fasudil infusion to inhibit Rho-kinase.

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Case Presentation: A 92-year-old female with past medical history of hypertension presented to the emergency department with pain in her right shoulder, right flank, and right upper quadrant of her abdomen. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and computed tomography imaging showed concerns for multiple large hepatic abscesses. Percutaneous drainage removed 240 millileters of purulent fluid that identified Fusobacterium nucleatum, a rare cause of pyogenic liver abscess.

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Aim: A scoping study was conducted to identify and synthesise literature about nurse coping strategies during and after cardiopulmonary resuscitations (CPRs).

Background: Nurses frequently engage in CPR events that often lead to patient deaths thereby negatively impacting nurses' mental and physical health compromising patient safety. Little research has been conducted to explore coping strategies nurses use during and after a CPR event.

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Around 95% of cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy experience cutaneous side effects, and some develop radiation wounds or fibrosis. Currently, there is no effective treatment for these indications. We show here that plasminogen administration enhanced the healing of radiation wounds via pleiotropic effects on gene expression.

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Introduction: A key question in simulation-based education is how to maximize learning within time and resource limits, including how best to balance hands-on practice versus reflective debriefing. Several instructional design frameworks suggest setting the balance according to the type of learning objective(s); however, broad professional activities such as team-based cardiopulmonary resuscitation include several interrelated component skills. This study experimentally manipulated hands-on practice versus reflective debriefing for cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills, hypothesizing that the former best supports learning taskwork (eg, compression quality), whereas the latter best supports learning teamwork.

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Skin damage caused by radiation therapy (radiodermatitis) is a severe side effect of radiotherapy in cancer patients, and there is currently a lack of effective strategies to prevent or treat such skin damage. In this work, we show with several lines of evidence that plasminogen, a pro-inflammatory factor, is key for the development of radiodermatitis. After skin irradiation in wild-type (plg+/+) mice, the plasminogen level increased in the irradiated area, leading to severe skin damage such as ulcer formation.

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Aims: The purpose of this investigation was to assess the obliteration rate and complications following different radiation schedules of hypofractionated conformal stereotactic radiotherapy for cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).

Methods: Twenty-five patients were treated with 35 Gy in 5 fractions, whereas 31 patients were treated with 30-32.5 Gy (mean: 31.

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The aim of this study was to explore the possibilities of using multileaf-collimated electron beams for advanced radiation therapy with conventional scattering foil flattened beams. Monte Carlo simulations were performed with the aim to improve electron beam characteristics and enable isocentric multileaf collimation. The scattering foil positions, monitor chamber thickness, the MLC location and the amount of He in the treatment head were optimized for three common commercial accelerators.

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Radiation therapy in the thoracic region is difficult due to the presence of many dose-limiting structures and the large density differences that affect the dose distribution. Conventional irradiation techniques use low-energy photon beams to avoid build-up effects superficially in the tumour and increased lateral scattering of the beams. For deep-seated tumours higher beam energies could have lung-sparing properties that would enable dose escalation.

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