Lived experiences of empowerment in parents of trans children and adolescents.

The construct of empowerment is associated with beneficial outcomes in numerous populations with well-being across multiple domains. Within families, empowerment has been found to be related to both parent and child well-being. As such, empowerment appears to be a promising concept to support parents of young (< 18 years) trans and gender diverse children and adolescents; however, what empowerment means for parents of trans children and adolescents is not known.

Photodynamic coatings kill bacteria on near-patient surfaces in intensive care units with low light intensities.

Background: Surfaces in close proximity to patients within hospitals may cause healthcare-associated infections. These surfaces are repositories for pathogens facilitating their transmission among staff and patients. Regular cleaning and disinfection of these surfaces provides only a temporary elimination of pathogens with inevitable recontamination.

Impact of Virtual Reality Simulation on New Nurses' Assessment of Pediatric Respiratory Distress.

Background: Children often experience respiratory illnesses requiring bedside nurses skilled in recognizing respiratory decompensation. Historically, recognizing respiratory distress has relied on teaching during direct patient care. Virtual reality simulation may accelerate such recognition among novice nurses.

[Clinical value of instrumental gait analysis].

Background: Instrumental gait analysis is becoming an established addition to conventional diagnostic methods for the clinical assessment of complex movement disorders. It can provide objective and high resolution motion data and contains information that is not observable with conventional clinical methods, such as muscle activation during gait.

Utilisation: Instrumental gait analysis can add observer independent parameters to the treatment planning of individuals as well as provide insights into pathomechanisms with clinical research studies.

Do we still need to screen our patients?-Orthopaedic scoring based on motion tracking.

Purpose: Orthopaedic scores are essential for the clinical assessment of movement disorders but require an experienced clinician for the manual scoring. Wearable systems are taking root in the medical field and offer a possibility for the convenient collection of motion tracking data. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of automated orthopaedic scorings based on motion tracking data using the Harris Hip Score and the Knee Society Score as examples.

Does the student-led osteopathy clinical learning environment prepare students for practice?

Background: For many allied health disciplines, pre-professional clinical education takes place in student-led, on-campus clinic environments. In these environments, pre-professional students undertake patient care under the supervision of qualified health professionals. Literature exploring the benefits of the student-led clinical learning environment is limited and little is known about the role student-led clinics play in preparing pre-professional osteopathy students for professional practice.

Evaluation of overall gait quality in Perthes disease. Are global gait indices of value for a local musculoskeletal disorder?

Background: Until now follow-up- and outcome evaluations in Perthes disease are analysing predominantly subjective results and clinical/radiological parameters. To enlarge the assessment by quantitative, functional aspects a summary measure for overall gait quality would be helpful. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate whether commonly used global gait indices are sensitive to detect gait deviations during the early stages of the Perthes disease.

A Novel Multiple-Cue Observational Clinical Scale for Functional Evaluation of Gait After Stroke - The Stroke Mobility Score (SMS).

BACKGROUND For future development of machine learning tools for gait impairment assessment after stroke, simple observational whole-body clinical scales are required. Current observational scales regard either only leg movement or discrete overall parameters, neglecting dysfunctions in the trunk and arms. The purpose of this study was to introduce a new multiple-cue observational scale, called the stroke mobility score (SMS).

The Future of Onboarding: Implementation of Immersive Virtual Reality for Nursing Clinical Assessment Training.

An immersive virtual reality curriculum was piloted with new nurse graduates that focused on improving clinical reasoning and situational awareness for pediatric respiratory distress and impending respiratory failure. Learnings from this pilot could inform strategies for development of standardized, efficient, and safe onboarding curricula to increase the likelihood of successful transition to practice.

Is it safe? Outpatient total joint arthroplasty with discharge to home at a freestanding ambulatory surgical center.

Background: Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) is trending toward shorter hospitalizations; as a result, there are many ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) starting to perform outpatient TJA. However, there are limited studies examining the safety of outpatient TJA in the freestanding ASC setting. This study aims to evaluate 30-day and 90-day complication rates in patients who underwent outpatient TJA at a freestanding, independent ASC with direct discharge to home.

The GeneOptimizer Algorithm: using a sliding window approach to cope with the vast sequence space in multiparameter DNA sequence optimization.

One of the main advantages of de novo gene synthesis is the fact that it frees the researcher from any limitations imposed by the use of natural templates. To make the most out of this opportunity, efficient algorithms are needed to calculate a coding sequence, combining different requirements, such as adapted codon usage or avoidance of restriction sites, in the best possible way. We present an algorithm where a "variation window" covering several amino acid positions slides along the coding sequence.

Risk, reasons for refusal, and impact of counseling on consent among ED patients declining HIV screening.

Screening for HIV in the emergency department (ED) is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The relative importance of efforts to increase consent among those who currently decline screening is not well understood. We compared the risk characteristics reported by patients who decline risk-targeted, opt-in ED screening with those who consent.

Comparison of emergency department HIV testing data with visit or patient as the unit of analysis.

Objectives: Outcomes in an episodic care setting like an emergency department (ED) are traditionally evaluated in comparison with the number of visits as opposed to the number of unique patients, although patients commonly present to the ED multiple times. We examined the differences in HIV screening programme outcomes that would occur if the analysis were conducted at the patient-level, rather than the traditional visit-level. We hypothesized that while our ED-based HIV screening programme does test some patients repeatedly, the primary programme outcome of percent positive is not substantially altered by the unit of analysis.

Contributions to early HIV diagnosis among patients linked to care vary by testing venue.

Objective: Early HIV diagnosis reduces transmission and improves health outcomes; screening in non-traditional settings is increasingly advocated. We compared test venues by the number of new diagnoses successfully linked to the regional HIV treatment center and disease stage at diagnosis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using structured chart review of newly diagnosed HIV patients successfully referred to the region's only HIV treatment center from 1998 to 2003.

A novel emergency department based prevention intervention program for people living with HIV: evaluation of early experiences.

Background: HIV prevention is increasingly focused on people living with HIV (PLWH) and the role of healthcare settings in prevention. Emergency Departments (EDs) frequently care for PLWH, but do not typically endorse a prevention mission. We conducted a pilot exploratory evaluation of the first reported ED program to address the prevention needs of PLWH.

Treatment of chronic endometritis in dairy cows with an intrauterine application of enzymes. A field trial.

The use of proteolytic enzymes has been established in the non-antibiotic treatment of mastitis in dairy cattle. The objective of this study was to evaluate, if enzymes are efficacious in the treatment of chronic endometritis. In a controlled field trial, cows with vaginal discharge 21-27 days in milk (DIM) were randomly assigned to two treatment groups.

Tic reduction with pergolide in a randomized controlled trial in children.

Objective: To determine whether pergolide, a mixed D1/D2/D3 dopamine agonist, is efficacious and safe in the treatment of children with chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome.

Background: Neuroleptics, which block dopamine transmission, are currently used to treat children with severe tics, but major side effects and limited efficacy reduce clinical utility. Prior open-label and crossover studies of pergolide suggest potential benefit.

An alternative to synthetic aortic grafts using jejunum.

Synthetic materials currently used for arterial grafts can provoke serious complications such as infection, rejection, and incomplete reendothelialization. Porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS) allografts (homografts) may not share these disadvantages yet still may provide an effective graft alternative. This study was designed to provide additional information concerning the performance of this material when used as an allo-patch graft.

Precision and comparability of Abuscreen OnLine assays for drugs of abuse screening in urine on Hitachi 917 with other immunochemical tests and with GC/MS.

Abuscreen OnLine assays for drugs of abuse screening in urine have recently been developed for use on Hitachi 917 analyzers (Roche Diagnostics GmbH). The assays are based on the kinetic interaction of microparticles as measured by changes in light transmission. Drug in a sample inhibits the formation of particle aggregates and diminishes absorbance change increases.

Lunate and perilunate dislocations in professional football players. A five-year retrospective analysis.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to review the treatment and prognosis of lunate and perilunate carpal dislocations in professional football players in the National Football League over a 5-year period. There were 7 lunate and 3 perilunate dislocations in 10 players. The mechanism of injury was hyperextension in 9 of 10 players.

Comparison of arthroscopic and open reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament. Early results.

The purpose of this study was to determine in a prospective, randomized, blinded design whether arthroscopically assisted anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction offered any significant immediate or short-term advantages over traditional open reconstruction through a limited arthrotomy. Patients with a diagnosis of deficiency of the anterior cruciate ligament were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: the open group (limited open reconstruction) or the arthroscopic group (fully arthroscopic reconstruction). Postoperatively, both groups were treated identically.

Does weight-bearing exercise affect non-weight-bearing bone?

It was previously reported that weight-bearing exercise increases femur periosteal formation in 3-year-old, 230 kg cross-bred sows. To determine if this weight-bearing exercise also stimulated non-weight-bearing bone, bone formation in the seventh rib from these same sows was measured histomorphometrically on the periosteal, endocortical, and osteonal envelopes. The sows were randomly assigned by body weight to basal (B, n = 6), control (C, n = 7), or trained (T, n = 7) groups.

Effect of ovariectomy on bone response to in vivo external loading.

This study was undertaken to find whether the bone response to increased external loading (EL) of the tibia in rats is affected by estrogen depletion. Female Sprague-Dawley rats 6 months were randomly assigned to four groups of 10 each: sham ovariectomy without loading (Shm-XL), ovariectomy without loading (OVX-XL), sham ovariectomy with external loading (Shm-EL), and ovariectomy with external loading (OVX-EL). In vivo external loading by a four-point bending device was initiated 4 weeks after surgery.

Musculoskeletal recovery following hindlimb immobilization in adult female rats.

Bone loss during immobilization is well known. Common medical treatments of aged individuals that involve temporary immobilization may create an iatrogenic medical problem, a permanently increased risk of fracture. The goal of this article is to understand recovery of musculoskeletal tissues from temporary immobilization.