Identification of enteral nutrition errors in a single-center quality-improvement audit.

Background: Enteral nutrition (EN) therapy is a multistep process including evaluation, prescription, procurement, dispensing, labeling, administration, and monitoring. EN therapy is prone to human errors, but these are poorly defined in the literature. The purpose of this study was to audit EN administration practices to quantify errors of execution and identify which components of the EN order were labeled, administered, or documented incorrectly.

Maternal pre-pregnant body mass index, maternal weight change and offspring birthweight.

Objective: To estimate the association between maternal pre-pregnant body mass index (BMI) and maternal weight change during pregnancy and offspring birthweight using the BMI classification developed by World Health Organization (WHO) and adopted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2009.

Design: The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) is a population-based pregnancy cohort study conducted by The Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Setting: Women were recruited from all geographic areas of Norway.

Determinants for high maternal mortality in multiethnic populations in western China.

Our purpose of this study was to investigate determinants and patterns of associations with high maternal mortality in poor and multiethnic populations from the Xinjiang Uigur autonomous region of Western China. The researcher found that the maternal mortality ratio of Xinjiang was very high; almost half of the participants delivered at home without clean delivery, and nearly one-fifth of the participants had not received any medical treatment. Eighty-seven percent of maternal deaths were among ethnic minority groups.

Long-term pharmacological activation of PPARgamma does not prevent left ventricular remodeling in dogs with advanced heart failure.

Background: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) activators affect the myocardium through inhibition of inflammatory cytokines and metabolic modulation but their effect in the progression of heart failure is unclear. In the present study, we examined the effects of the PPARgamma activator, GW347845 (GW), on the progression of heart failure.

Methods And Results: Heart failure was produced in 21 dogs by intracoronary microembolizations to LV ejection fraction (EF) less than 30% and randomized to 3 months of therapy with high-dose GW (10 mg/Kg daily, n = 7), low-dose GW (3 mg/Kg daily, n = 7), or no therapy (control, n = 7).

Effects of the AT1-receptor antagonist eprosartan on the progression of left ventricular dysfunction in dogs with heart failure.

1. We examined the effects of eprosartan, an AT(1) receptor antagonist, on the progression of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and remodelling in dogs with heart failure (HF) produced by intracoronary microembolizations (LV ejection fraction, EF 30 to 40%). 2.

Ranolazine, a partial fatty acid oxidation (pFOX) inhibitor, improves left ventricular function in dogs with chronic heart failure.

Background: Abnormalities of energy metabolism are often cited as key elements in the progressive worsening of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction that characterizes the heart failure (HF) state. The present study tested the hypothesis that partial inhibition of fatty acids will ameliorate the hemodynamic abnormalities associated with HF.

Methods And Results: Chronic HF (LV ejection fraction 27 +/- 1%) was produced in 13 dogs by intracoronary microembolizations.

Effects of pre-existing left ventricular hypertrophy on ventricular dysfunction and remodeling following myocardial infarction in rats.

Background: Myocardial hypertrophy is a characteristic component of left ventricular (LV) remodeling that may, at least initially, have a beneficial effect on LV function following myocardial infarction (MI). In the present study, we examine the effects of pre-existing left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) on LV function and chamber enlargement following MI in inbred Lewis rats.

Methods: The one-kidney, one-clip model (1K1C) of hypertension was used to produce LVH.

Cardiac contractility modulation with the impulse dynamics signal: studies in dogs with chronic heart failure.

The intravenous use of positive inotropic agents, such as sympathomimetics and phosphodiesterase inhibitors, in heart failure is limited by pro-arrhythmic and positive chronotropic effects. Chronic use of these agents, while eliciting an improvement in the quality of life of patients with advanced heart failure, has been abandoned because of marked increase in mortality when compared to placebo. Nevertheless, patients with advanced heart failure can benefit from long-term positive inotropic support if the therapy can be delivered 'on demand' and in a manner that is both safe and effective.

Effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonists in rats with heart failure. Role of kinins and angiotensin II type 2 receptors.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) improve cardiac function and remodeling and prolong survival in patients with heart failure (HF). Blockade of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) with an angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist (AT1-ant) may have a similar beneficial effect. In addition to inhibition of the RAS, ACEi may also act by inhibiting kinin destruction, whereas AT1-ant may block the RAS at the level of the AT1 receptor and activate the angiotensin II type 2 (AT2) receptor.

Chronic heart failure induced by coronary artery ligation in Lewis inbred rats.

Rat models of heart failure (HF) secondary to myocardial infarction (MI) are useful in studying the progression of cardiac dysfunction and in testing therapeutic approaches. Sprague-Dawley rats are frequently used; however, this model is hampered by high mortality and a marked variability in infarct size and cardiac dysfunction, necessitating large numbers of rats and prolonged follow-up when studying the progression of dysfunction. In the present work, we developed a model of HF utilizing Lewis inbred rats.

In vitro studies of conjunctival cells from eyes with and without pseudoexfoliation.

The aim of the study was to examine for possible differences between cell cultures derived from eye with and without pseudoexfoliation. In both populations, scanning electron microscopy showed flattened epithelial cells and also spindleshaped fibroblast-like cells. The presence of these cell types was further confirmed by immunohistochemical demonstration of cytokeratin and vimentin in the cultured cells.

Outgrowth of cells from human conjunctival explants onto cornea in vitro.

The epithelium was removed from human corneas, and samples of conjunctival tissue were cultured as explants on the denuded corneal surface for 1 and 2 weeks. Cells migrating from the conjunctival explants onto the corneal surface produced a multilayer where cells on the surface generally showed a flattened appearance. The apical membrane of these cells demonstrated villi as well as microplicae.