Global forecasts in reservoir computers.

A reservoir computer is a machine learning model that can be used to predict the future state(s) of time-dependent processes, e.g., dynamical systems.

Assessment of microbial bioburden on portable medical equipment in a hospital setting.

Objectives: Although routine disinfection of portable medical equipment is required in most hospitals, frontline staff may not be able to disinfect portable medical equipment at a rate that adequately maintains low bioburden on high-use equipment. This study quantified bioburden over an extended time period for two types of portable medical equipment, workstations on wheels and vitals machines, across three hospital wards.

Methods: Bioburden was quantified via press plate samples taken from high touch surfaces on 10 workstations on wheels and 5 vitals machines on each of 3 medical surgical units.

Development and implementation of a pharmacist-led telehealth medication management program for veterans receiving oral antineoplastic therapies through the MISSION Act.

Purpose: Veterans prescribed oral antineoplastic therapies (OATs) by community providers outside the Veterans Health Administration (VA) may lack access to comprehensive medication management. To address this, our multidisciplinary team developed and implemented a pharmacist-led telehealth medication management program for veterans prescribed OATs by community providers.

Summary: The program exclusively uses telehealth to connect veterans with a dedicated board-certified clinical oncology pharmacist who provides comprehensive medication management.

Effect of a "feedback prompt" from a disinfection tracking system on portable medical equipment disinfection.

Background: Portable medical equipment (PME) may contribute to transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms without proper disinfection. We studied whether a Disinfection Tracking System (DTS) with feedback prompt, attached to PME, can increase the frequency of PME disinfection.

Methods: DTS devices were placed on 10 workstations-on-wheels (WOWs) and 5 vitals machine (VM).

Frontline Nurse Feedback During the Development of a System to Track Cleaning of Portable Medical Equipment.

As part of the development and testing of an innovative technology for tracking disinfection of portable medical equipment, end-user feedback was obtained during an initial trial on two acute care hospital units. The disinfection tracking device was installed on the computers-on-wheels and vital signs machines. Each device had the capability of detecting a cleaning event, reporting the event to an online database, and displaying the time since last cleaning event on a visual display.

Capturing portable medical equipment disinfection data via an automated novel disinfection tracking system.

Background: Portable Medical Equipment (PME) such as workstations-on-wheels (WOWs) and vital signs machines (VMs) have been linked to healthcare-associated infections. Routine visual monitoring of PME disinfection is difficult. An automated Disinfection Tracking System (DTS) was used to record and report the number of disinfection events of PME in a hospital setting.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation entrains alpha oscillations by preferential phase synchronization of fast-spiking cortical neurons to stimulation waveform.

Computational modeling and human studies suggest that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) modulates alpha oscillations by entrainment. Yet, a direct examination of how tACS interacts with neuronal spiking activity that gives rise to the alpha oscillation in the thalamo-cortical system has been lacking. Here, we demonstrate how tACS entrains endogenous alpha oscillations in head-fixed awake ferrets.

Treatment Patterns and Outcomes in a Nationwide Cohort of Older and Younger Veterans with Waldenström Macroglobulinemia, 2006-2019.

Little is known about real-world treatment patterns and outcomes in Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) following the recent introduction of newer treatments, especially among older adults. We describe patterns of first-line (1 L) WM treatment in early (2006-2012) and modern (2013-2019) eras and report outcomes (overall response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and adverse event (AE)-related discontinuation) in younger (≤70 years) and older (>70 years) populations. We followed 166 younger and 152 older WM patients who received 1 L treatment between January 2006 and April 2019 in the Veterans Health Administration.

Development and Pilot Test of an Online Training to Engage Managers to Support Workplace Wellness.

Objective: To contribute to a broader understanding of effective implementation strategies to help managers engage employees in workplace wellness.

Methods: We beta-tested an online training at four Washington state agencies (two test, two control). We administered a post-training evaluation, re-administered an online manager survey and conducted additional interviews with wellness leads.

Pharmacist-led collaborative medication management programs for oral antineoplastic therapies: A systematic literature review.

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the structure, process, and outcomes of pharmacist-led collaborative medication management programs for oral antineoplastic therapies (OATs).

Methods: Included studies were peer-reviewed journal articles published in English, between January 2000 to May 2020, and reporting on pharmacist-led collaborative medication management programs for patients on OATs. To be included, studies had to report on the pharmacy practice model, pharmacist interventions, and outcomes of the medication management program.

The Workplace Support for Health Scale: Reliability and Validity of a Brief Scale to Measure Employee Perceptions of Wellness.

Purpose: To examine the reliability and validity of a brief measure (the Workplace Support for Health [WSH] scale) to assess employees' perceived support for a healthy lifestyle.

Design: Repeated cross-sectional surveys.

Setting: We collected employer- and employee-level survey data from small, low-wage workplaces in King County, WA enrolled in a randomized controlled trial.

Germicidal irradiation of portable medical equipment: Mitigating microbes and improving the margin of safety using a novel, point of care, germicidal disinfection pod.

Portable medical equipment (PME) can be an important reservoir of pathogens causing health care-associated infections. To address this, a novel, portable ultraviolet disinfection pod (UVDP) that allows for full 360-degree disinfection was developed. This investigation examined efficacy of the UVDP against microorganisms on clean, patient-ready PME.

Efficacy of pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light for disinfection of high-touch surfaces in an Ecuadorian hospital.

Background: Hospital environment in patient care has been linked on healthcare-associated infections (HAI). No touch disinfection technologies that utilize pulsed xenon ultraviolet light has been recognized to prevent infection in contaminated environments. The purpose of this study was: 1) to evaluate the effectiveness of pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light (PX-UV) disinfection for the reduction of bacteria on environmental surfaces of Hospital General Enrique Garcés, and 2) to evaluate the in-vitro efficacy against multi-drug resistance microorganisms.

Environmental effectiveness of pulsed-xenon light in the operating room.

Background: Manual cleaning and disinfection of the operating room (OR) environment may be inadequate due to human error. No-touch technologies, such as pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light (PX-UV), can be used as an adjunct to manual cleaning processes to reduce surface contamination in the OR. This article reports the cumulative results from 23 hospitals across the United States that performed microbiologic validation of PX-UV disinfection after manual cleaning.

Managers' Support for Employee Wellness Programs: An Integrative Review.

Objective: The aim of this integrative literature review is to synthesize the existing evidence regarding managers' support for employee wellness programs.

Data Source: The search utilized multiple electronic databases and libraries.

Study Inclusion And Exclusion Criteria: Inclusion criteria comprised peer-reviewed research published in English, between 1990 and 2016, and examining managers' support in the context of a worksite intervention.

The Role of Managers in Employee Wellness Programs: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate managers' barriers and facilitators to supporting employee participation in the Washington State Wellness program.

Design: Exploratory sequential mixed methods.

Setting: Four Washington State agencies located in Olympia and Tumwater, Washington.

Factors Associated With Truck Crashes in a Large Cross Section of Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers.

Objective: This large, cross-sectional study calculated prevalence of disorders and assessed factors associated with self-reported lifetime crashes.

Methods: Truck drivers (n = 797) completed computerized questionnaires reporting crashes, demographics, psychosocial factors, and other elements, as well as had taken measurements (eg, height, weight, serum, and blood pressure).

Results: Most drivers were male (n = 685, 85.

A Clinical Trial on Weight Loss among Truck Drivers.

Background: The high prevalence of obesity among commercial truck drivers may be related to sedentary nature of the job, lack of healthy eating choices, and lack of exercise. There may be a link between obesity and crash risk, therefore an intervention to reduce obesity in this population is needed.

Objective: To assess feasibility of a 12-week weight loss intervention for truck drivers with a weight loss goal of 10% of initial body weight.

ACOEM practice guidelines: elbow disorders.

Objective: The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has updated the treatment guidelines in its Elbow Disorders chapter through revision processes begun in 2006. This abbreviated version of that chapter highlights some of the evidence and recommendations developed.

Methods: Comprehensive systematic literature reviews were accomplished with article abstraction, critiquing, grading, evidence table compilation, and guideline finalization by a multidisciplinary expert panel and extensive peer-review to develop evidence-based guidance.

Microtubules modulate melatonin receptors involved in phase-shifting circadian activity rhythms: in vitro and in vivo evidence.

MT1 melatonin receptors expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells remain sensitive to a melatonin re-challenge even following chronic melatonin exposure when microtubules are depolymerized in the cell, an exposure that normally results in MT1 receptor desensitization. We extended our findings to MT2 melatonin receptors using both in vitro and in vivo approaches. Using CHO cells expressing human MT2 melatonin receptors, microtubule depolymerization prevents the loss in the number of high potency states of the receptor when compared to melatonin-treated cells.

Modulation of melatonin receptors and G-protein function by microtubules.

Chronic melatonin exposure produces microtubule rearrangements in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing the human MT1 melatonin receptor while at the same time desensitizing MT1 receptors. Because microtubule rearrangements parallel MT1 receptor desensitization, we tested whether microtubules modulate receptor responsiveness. We determined whether depolymerization of microtubules by Colcemid, which prevents melatonin-induced outgrowths in MT1-expressing CHO cells, also prevents MT1 receptor desensitization by affecting G(alpha)-GTP exchange on G-proteins.

A population threshold for functional polymorphisms.

We sequenced 114 genes (for DNA repair, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and detoxification)in a mixed human population and observed a sudden increase in the number of functional polymorphisms below a minor allele frequency of approximately 6%. Functionality is assessed by considering the ratio in the number of nonsynonymous single nucletide polymorphisms (SNPs)to the number of synonymous or intron SNPs. This ratio is steady from below 1% in frequency-that regime traditionally associated with rare Mendelian diseases-all the way up to about 6% in frequency, after which it falls precipitously.

Minimal introns are not "junk".

Intron-size distributions for most multicellular (and some unicellular) eukaryotes have a sharp peak at their "minimal intron" size. Across the human population, these minimal introns exhibit an abundance of insertion-deletion polymorphisms, the effect of which is to maintain their optimal size. We argue that minimal introns affect function by enhancing the rate at which mRNA is exported from the cell nucleus.

Compositional gradients in Gramineae genes.

In this study, we describe a property of Gramineae genes, and perhaps all monocot genes, that is not observed in eudicot genes. Along the direction of transcription, beginning at the junction of the 5'-UTR and the coding region, there are gradients in GC content, codon usage, and amino-acid usage. The magnitudes of these gradients are large enough to hinder the annotation of the rice genome and to confound the detection of protein homologies across the monocot-eudicot divide.