A disciplined approach to capital: today's healthcare imperative.

BJC HealthCare's experience exemplifies several basic principles of a finance-based approach to capital. Organizations that adopt this approach look to improve processes first, remove costs second, and spend capital last. Multiyear planning is required to quantitatively identify the profitability and liquidity requirements of strategic initiatives and address essential funding and financing issues.

Reconciling low- and high-salt solution behavior of sulfobetaine polyzwitterions.

We investigate the water-solubility upon salt additions, of homogeneous families of sulfobetaine-based polyzwitterions. These polymers bear both positive ammonium, and negative sulfonate charges on each monomer and as a result present an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in the 0-100 degrees C temperature range. Two chemistries are investigated, with either a carboxylate-carrying function (SPE) or an amido-carrying one (SPP).

Evidence for the extrapulmonary localization of inhaled nitric oxide.

Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as a promising pulmonary vasodilator to treat pulmonary hypertension associated with heart disease and ventilation/perfusion mismatching. However, the pharmacokinetics of inhaled NO still remains obscure and its cardiopulmonary selectivity appears to be increasingly under debate. In the present study measured NO content and levels of cyclic guanosine 3',5'monophosphate (cGMP), a mediator of NO-induced vasodilation, in a variety of organs from rats subjected to NO inhalation.