Optimising Low Temperature Pyrolysis of Mesoporous Alginate-Derived Starbon® for Selective Heavy Metal Adsorption.

In response to the ever increasing need to develop more efficient and sustainable methods for removing heavy metal contaminants from aqueous systems, the following article reports on the design of highly mesoporous alginate-derived materials (Starbon) and their application to the adsorption of heavy metals. Using the Starbon process to expand, dry and pyrolyse an inherently porous polysaccharide precursor, it was possible to produce mesoporous materials (BJH mesopore volumes 0.81-0.

Catching Those Who Fall Through the Cracks: Integrating a Follow-Up Process for Emergency Department Patients with Incidental Radiologic Findings.

Study Objective: Abnormal findings unrelated to the indication for testing are identified on emergency department (ED) imaging studies. We report the design and implementation of an electronic health record-based interdisciplinary referral system and our experience from the first 13 months of ensuring that patients with incidental radiology findings were connected with the appropriate outpatient surveillance.

Methods: Our informatics team standardized the contemporaneous reporting of critical radiology alerts using our ED trackboard and created a companion follow-up request form for the treating ED clinicians to complete.

The Impact of Hospital and Health System Leadership Development Practices on Bond Ratings.

Shifts in healthcare policy, patient consumerism, and organizational consolidation are driving the need for hospitals and health systems to adapt if they are to achieve sustainability. Prior research has suggested that businesses with strong leadership development practices also demonstrate greater financial success and competitive performance. However, few studies have examined the impact of leadership development on organization-level outcomes, generally, or in the healthcare industry, specifically.