What is the optimal management of thromboprophylaxis after liver transplantation regarding prevention of bleeding, hepatic artery, or portal vein thrombosis? A systematic review of the literature and expert panel recommendations.

Background: A key tenet of clinical management of patients post liver transplantation (LT) is the prevention of thrombotic and bleeding complications. This systematic review investigated the optimal management of thromboprophylaxis after LT regarding portal vein thrombosis (PVT) or hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) and prevention of bleeding.

Methods: Systematic review following PRISMA guidelines and recommendations using the GRADE approach derived from an international expert panel.

Lateral Flow Assays in Infectious Disease Diagnosis.

Background: Lateral flow immunoassays are widely used as diagnostic tests in many applications in human and other diagnostic areas. Assays for human applications have been commercially available since the 1980s and initially were primarily used to identify pregnancy by measuring human chorionic gonadotropin in urine and serum/plasma.

Content: The first infectious disease lateral flow assays were commercialized in the late 1980s identifying the presence of Group A Streptococcus pyogenes collected with throat swabs; innumerable other applications followed in the intervening decades.

Cyclopentane peptide nucleic acid: Gold nanoparticle conjugates for the detection of nucleic acids in a microfluidic format.

Routine patient testing for viral infections is critical to identify infected individuals for treatment and to prevent spreading of infections to others. Developing robust and reliable diagnostic tools to detect nucleic acids of viruses at the point-of-care could greatly assist the clinical management of viral infections. The remarkable stability and high binding affinity of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) to target nucleic acids could make PNA-based biosensors an excellent starting point to develop new nucleic acid detection technologies.

Rethinking Educational Space(s): Exploring the Impact of Co-Curricular Programming on Undergraduate Belonging, Career Exploration, and Interprofessional Education.

This mixed-methods study examined the impact of educational space on undergraduate belonging and learning by analyzing the post-event evaluations of 259 healthcare living-learning program (LLP) students who attended co-curricular programming designed to enhance belonging, career exploration, and interprofessional awareness. Students were broken into two groups based on program location. Post-event evaluations were analyzed using a Mann Whitney U-test and thematic analysis.

An Alternative Test of Tackling Ability in Rugby League Players.

This study investigated the relationship between 2 tests of tackling ability, muscle strength, and power in semiprofessional rugby league players. Thirty-one players, 19 first-grade and 12 second-grade, underwent tests of muscle strength (1-repetition-maximum bench press, chin-up, and squat) and power (plyometric push-up and countermovement jump). Tackling ability was assessed via video analysis of under-and over-the-ball tackle drills.

Impact of the introduction of a specialist critical care pharmacist on the level of pharmaceutical care provided to the critical care unit.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a dedicated specialist critical care pharmacist service on patient care at a UK critical care unit (CCU).

Methods: Pharmacist intervention data was collected in two phases. Phase 1 was with the provision of a non-specialist pharmacist chart review service and Phase 2 was after the introduction of a specialist dedicated pharmacy service.

Selection and phylogenetics of salmonid MHC class I: wild brown trout (Salmo trutta) differ from a non-native introduced strain.

We tested how variation at a gene of adaptive importance, MHC class I (UBA), in a wild, endemic Salmo trutta population compared to that in both a previously studied non-native S. trutta population and a co-habiting Salmo salar population (a sister species). High allelic diversity is observed and allelic divergence is much higher than that noted previously for co-habiting S.

Transforming microbial genotyping: a robotic pipeline for genotyping bacterial strains.

Microbial genotyping increasingly deals with large numbers of samples, and data are commonly evaluated by unstructured approaches, such as spread-sheets. The efficiency, reliability and throughput of genotyping would benefit from the automation of manual manipulations within the context of sophisticated data storage. We developed a medium- throughput genotyping pipeline for MultiLocus Sequence Typing (MLST) of bacterial pathogens.

Balancing selection on MHC class I in wild brown trout Salmo trutta.

Evidence is reported for balancing selection acting on variation at major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in wild populations of brown trout Salmo trutta. First, variation at an MHC class I (satr-uba)-linked microsatellite locus (mhc1) is retained in small S. trutta populations isolated above waterfalls although variation is lost at neutral microsatellite markers.

MHC-mediated spatial distribution in brown trout (Salmo trutta) fry.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-linked microsatellite data and parental assignment data for a group of wild brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) provide evidence of closer spatial aggregation among fry sharing greater numbers of MHC class I alleles under natural conditions. This result confirms predictions from laboratory experiments demonstrating a hierarchical preference for association of fry sharing MHC alleles.

Mefloquine in the treatment of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.

Mefloquine, an antimalarial medication with efficacy against JC virus, was used to treat progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. A 54-year-old woman with sarcoidosis presented with a progressive cerebellar syndrome. MRI showed lesions affecting the right cerebellum that progressed over time to the brainstem.

Implementation of the Canadian Neurological Scale on an acute care neuroscience unit: a program evaluation.

The Canadian Neurological Scale (CNS), a validated stroke assessment tool, was implemented for the neurological assessment of patients with stroke. The purpose of this study was to explore nurses' values and perceptions of best-practice guidelines (BPGs) and the CNS assessment, to evaluate the effect of a workshop and implementation process on nurses' self-efficacy for CNS use, to determine whether the workshop and implementation process met the needs of the nurses, and to evaluate the accuracy and appropriateness of CNS assessment documentation. Nurses reported moderate-to-strong awareness and use of BPGs and expressed the belief that BPGs were valuable; however, they had some difficulty accessing BPGs.

Evaluation of an advanced health assessment course for acute care nurse practitioners.

The Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) role is being implemented in many centres in Canada. Administrators need to be aware there are very few universities in Canada that prepare ACNPs for advanced health assessment. Therefore, a need may exist for continuing education in the work environment.

Evaluation of portable bladder ultrasound: accuracy and effect on nursing practice in an acute care neuroscience unit.

The purpose of this evaluation was to determine the accuracy of a portable ultrasound instrument in assessing bladder volume in an acute care neuroscience population and the effect of ultrasound assessment on nursing practice in an acute care neuroscience unit. In a 6-week prospective evaluation, 105 paired ultrasound measurements were performed by 45 nurses on 30 patients suspected to be retaining urine. Sixty-seven catheterizations were performed, and volumes were compared with corresponding ultrasound readings.

Hepatitis A in urban Ireland.

Aims: To determine the prevalence of immunity to hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in urban Ireland and to categorize the region into low, intermediate or high HAV endemicity, and to analyse the significance of certain commonly associated risk factors.

Methods: Two hundred and thirty three volunteers were recruited from 6 general practices in Dublin, Ireland. There were 44 volunteers in the 10 to 19 yr age group, 40 in the 20 to 29, 42 in the 30 to 39, 43 in the 40 to 49 and 64 in the over 50 age groups.

The continuum of care: the process and development of a nursing model for stroke education.

A recent focus in health care is to develop a seamless transition for patients between the variety of health care agencies with whom they interact. The continuum of care for patients with stroke is complex and many levels of care are required, from acute intervention through to rehabilitation and reintegration into the community. A group of nurses from a variety of agencies in Southwestern Ontario received funding from the Ontario province Wide Nursing Project to effect a desirable change in the way nurses care for the stroke patient.

The reliability of saliva as a sample for the detection of hepatitis A immunoglobulins under various sampling conditions.

Background: Saliva is increasingly being investigated as an alternative to serum for diagnostic and epidemiological testing even though antibody levels are substantially lower in buccal cavity fluids. However, there has been little study on whether buccal cavity activity and/or the timing of saliva sampling affects the diagnostic outcome, particularly in seropositive subjects. The absence of influence by these factors may be critical to the use of saliva for pre-vaccination screening for example.

Two year old hepatitis A vaccine is as good as new.

This was a randomized, controlled, double-blind study assessing the reactogenicity and immunogenicity of newly produced vs 2 year old hepatitis A vaccine. Overall 215 non-immune volunteers, 18-39 years old were divided into four groups and administered vaccine at months 0, 1 and 6. Three groups each received a different vaccine lot which had been stored at 4 degrees C for 2 years, and one group received recently produced vaccine as control.