Allied health and the frail patient in hospital - a prospective cohort study.

ObjectivesFrailty is associated with significant mortality and morbidity in hospitalised patients. We describe physiotherapy and occupational therapy practices in hospitalised frail patients and examine the role of early intervention.MethodsWe performed a prospective, observational cohort study in a medical assessment unit in a tertiary care hospital.

Origin of / scaling of primary and secondary conductivity relaxation times in mixture of water with protic ionic liquid.

Murali [, 2024, 15, 3376-3382] made ambient and high pressure dielectric measurements of a supercooled aqueous mixture of an acidic ionic liquid to find the presence of the primary () conductivity relaxation together with the secondary () conductivity relaxation originating from the water clusters confined by the cations and anions with relaxation times and respectively. From the isothermal and isobaric conductivity relaxation data found on varying thermodynamic conditions ( and ) at constant are the invariance of (i) the frequency dispersion or the Kohlrausch function exponent (1 - ) of the primary conductivity relaxation, and (ii) the ratio of the primary and secondary conductivity times, /. This co-invariance of , , and (1 - ) at constant was observed before in non-aqueous ionic liquids, but it is found for the first time in aqueous ionic liquids.

Measuring concordance and discordance between selected individual characteristics and corresponding neighborhood-level social determinants of health.

Background: Individuals reside within communities influenced by various social determinants impacting health, which may harmonize or conflict at individual and neighborhood levels. While some experience concordant circumstances, discordance is prevalent, yet poorly understood due to the lack of a universally accepted method for quantifying it. This paper proposes a methodology to address this gap.

Regulating Surface-Passivator Binding Priority for Efficient Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes.

Suppressing trap-assisted nonradiative losses through passivators is a prerequisite for efficient perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). However, the complex bonding between passivators and perovskites severely suppresses the passivation process, which still lacks comprehensive understanding. Herein, the number, category, and degree of bonds between different functional groups and the perovskite are quantitatively assessed to study the passivation dynamics.

Charge Injection and Auger Recombination Modulation for Efficient and Stable Quasi-2D Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes.

The inefficient charge transport and large exciton binding energy of quasi-2D perovskites pose challenges to the emission efficiency and roll-off issues for perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) despite excellent stability compared to 3D counterparts. Herein, alkyldiammonium cations with different molecular sizes, namely 1,4-butanediamine (BDA), 1,6-hexanediamine (HDA) and 1,8-octanediamine (ODA), are employed into quasi-2D perovskites, to simultaneously modulate the injection efficiency and recombination dynamics. The size increase of the bulky cation leads to increased excitonic recombination and also larger Auger recombination rate.

Detection of Bacteria-Induced Early-Stage Dental Caries Using Three-Dimensional Mid-Infrared Thermophotonic Imaging.

Tooth decay, or dental caries, is a widespread and costly disease that is reversible when detected early in its formation. Current dental caries diagnostic methods including X-ray imaging and intraoral examination lack the sensitivity and specificity required to routinely detect caries early in its formation. Thermophotonic imaging presents itself as a highly sensitive and non-ionizing solution, making it suitable for the frequent monitoring of caries progression.

Identification of Metabolite Markers Associated with Kidney Function.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem. Identifying new biomarkers that can be used to calculate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) would greatly improve the diagnosis and understanding of CKD at the molecular level. A metabolomics study of blood samples derived from patients with widely divergent glomerular filtration rates could potentially discover small molecule metabolites associated with varying kidney function.

Arriving at the most plausible interpretation of the dielectric spectra of glycerol with help from quasielastic γ-ray scattering time-domain interferometry.

Glycerol is one of the glass-forming liquids selected by Robert H. Cole in 1950 to start his study of molecular dynamics by dielectric spectroscopy. Seventy-one years have gone by and remarkably no consensus has been reached on the nature and identity of the relaxation processes observed in the dielectric spectra.

Provider-Referred Versus Self-Referred Emergency Department Visit After Urgent Care Center Visit.

Background: Urgent care centers (UCCs) provide an alternative to emergency departments (EDs) for low-acuity acute care, as they are convenient with shorter wait time, but little is known about the quality of care at UCCs.

Objective: We described and determined the differences in characteristics of patients who were sent to the ED by UCC physicians (provider-referred) with those of patients who went to the ED on their own (self-referred) within 72 h of discharge after a UCC visit. Our primary objective was to investigate whether observation unit use or hospital admission rates were different between the two groups.

Comparison of Long-Wave and Mid-Wave Infrared Imaging Modalities for Photothermal Coherence Tomography of Human Teeth.

The ability to detect dental caries at early stages lies at the heart of minimal intervention dentistry, enabling the curing or arresting of carious lesions before they advance to the cavity stage. Enhanced truncated-correlation photothermal coherence tomography (eTC-PCT) using mid-wave infrared (MWIR) cameras has recently been shown to offer tomographic visualization of early caries. The tomographic slicing ability of such systems, however, is believed to be limited by direct radiative thermal emission through the translucent dental enamel in the 3-5 µm MWIR spectral range.

Improving Patient Race and Ethnicity Data Capture to Address Health Disparities: A Case Study From a Large Urban Health System.

While research and efforts to promote health equity abound, the persistence of disparities by race and ethnicity underscores the limitations of fragmented interventions and the need for systematic, multipronged approaches to health equity. The foundational step towards reducing health disparities is the establishment of the basic information needed to identify and measure those differences, i.e.

Differences in antibiotic prescribing rates for telemedicine encounters for acute respiratory infections.

Introduction: Health systems are increasingly implementing direct-to-consumer telemedicine for unscheduled acute care, however quality of care may be variable. Acute respiratory infection antibiotic prescribing rates in telemedicine visits performed by emergency physicians affiliated with medical centers has not been compared to care by unaffiliated, vendor-supplied physicians (a heterogeneous group). We hypothesized that, in virtual visits for acute respiratory infection, affiliated physicians would prescribe antibiotics at a lower rate than unaffiliated physicians.

Isochronal superpositioning of the caged dynamics, the α, and the Johari-Goldstein β relaxations in metallic glasses.

The superposition of the frequency dispersions of the structural α relaxation determined at different combinations of temperature T and pressure P while maintaining its relaxation time τ(T, P) constant (i.e., isochronal superpositioning) has been well established in molecular and polymeric glass-formers.

Comparative analysis of dielectric, shear mechanical and light scattering response functions in polar supercooled liquids.

The studies of molecular dynamics in the vicinity of liquid-glass transition are an essential part of condensed matter physics. Various experimental techniques are usually applied to understand different aspects of molecular motions, i.e.

Microscopic understanding of the Johari-Goldstein β relaxation gained from nuclear γ-resonance time-domain-interferometry experiments.

Traditionally the study of dynamics of glass-forming materials has been focused on the structural α relaxation. However, in recent years experimental evidence has revealed that a secondary β relaxation belonging to a special class, called the Johari-Goldstein (JG) β relaxation, has properties strongly linked to the primary α relaxation. By invoking the principle of causality, the relation implies the JG β relaxation is fundamental and indispensable for generating the α relaxation, and the properties of the latter are inherited from the former.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound on Management of Cellulitis Versus Local Angioedema in the Pediatric Emergency Department.

Objectives: To evaluate whether ultrasound can differentiate between cellulitis and angioedema from insect bites in pediatric patients.

Methods: A prospective, pre-post study in an urban pediatric emergency department of patients younger than 21 years with soft tissue swelling from insect bites without abscesses were enrolled. Treating physician's pretest opinions regarding the diagnosis and need for antibiotics were determined.

The origin of the faster mechanism of partial enthalpy recovery deep in the glassy state of polymers.

A novel finding made by Cangialosi and coworkers in the physical aging of several polymers way below the glass transition temperature Tg is that equilibrium recovery occurs by reaching a plateau in the enthalpy with partial enthalpy recovery. This observation points to the existence of a much faster mechanism capable of partial equilibrium recovery deep in the glassy state. A similar phenomenon was found in different glassy materials.

Why the Brillouin Light Scattering Relaxation Times of Molten Zinc Chloride Are Shorter and Weaker in Temperature Dependence than the Structural Relaxation Times from Depolarized Light and Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy.

A longstanding problem in the Brillouin light scattering (BLS) study of polymers is the relaxation times τ() being more than an order of magnitude shorter than the α-relaxation times τ() determined by dielectric, depolarized light scattering (DLS), and molecular dynamics simulations. In tackling the problem, τ() was identified with the relaxation time τ() of the primitive relaxation in the coupling model, which can be calculated from τ() and the stretch exponent β of the Kohlrausch correlation function for the α-relaxation..

The Dynamics of Hydrated Proteins Are the Same as Those of Highly Asymmetric Mixtures of Two Glass-Formers.

Customarily, the studies of dynamics of hydrated proteins are focused on the fast hydration water ν-relaxation, the slow structural α-relaxation responsible for a single glass transition, and the protein dynamic transition (PDT). Guided by the analogy with the dynamics of highly asymmetric mixtures of molecular glass-formers, we explore the possibility that the dynamics of hydrated proteins are richer than presently known. By providing neutron scattering, dielectric relaxation, calorimetry, and deuteron NMR data in two hydrated globular proteins, myoglobin and BSA, and the fibrous elastin, we show the presence of two structural α-relaxations, α1 and α2, and the hydration water ν-relaxation, all coupled together with interconnecting properties.

Broadband Dielectric Study of Sizable Molecular Glass Formers: Relationship Between Local Structure and Dynamics.

In this Letter we report significant differences in the dielectric behavior of four nonpolymeric and sizable glass-forming molecules with related chemical structures. They belong to the recently constituted class of sizable glass-formers [Jedrzejowska et al. 2020, 101, 010603], for which the pattern of change in dielectric properties with structure has not yet been fully discovered.

Green perovskite light-emitting diodes with simultaneous high luminance and quantum efficiency through charge injection engineering.

Metal halide perovskite light emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have recently experienced rapid development due to the tunable emission wavelengths, narrow emission linewidth and low material cost. To achieve state-of-the-art performance, the high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of the active emission layer, the balanced charge injection, and the optimized optical extraction should be considered simultaneously. Multiple chemical passivation strategies have been provided as controllable and efficient methods to improve the PLQY of the perovskite layer.