Increasing Light Exposure for the Prevention of Delirium: A Systematic Review.

Background: Delirium is a neurological disorder with correlations to increased hospital length of stays and higher morbidity and mortality rates, particularly in the growing elderly population, making prevention strategies key in improving patient outcomes and health care systems.

Objectives: Does increased exposure to light, by artificial or natural means, decrease the incidence of delirium?

Methods: A systematic review was conducted of 4 revered databases, CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus, for articles related to key words "delirium" and "lighting" or "daylight" or "natural light" or "bright light" or "sunlight." Results were narrowed to adult inpatients, defined as age older than 18 years.

An anisotropic, hyperelastic model for skin: experimental measurements, finite element modelling and identification of parameters for human and murine skin.

The mechanical characteristics of skin are extremely complex and have not been satisfactorily simulated by conventional engineering models. The ability to predict human skin behaviour and to evaluate changes in the mechanical properties of the tissue would inform engineering design and would prove valuable in a diversity of disciplines, for example the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, which currently rely upon experiments performed in animal models. The aim of this study was to develop a predictive anisotropic, hyperelastic constitutive model of human skin and to validate this model using laboratory data.

Phase I: The development and content analysis of the Pediatric Sedation Agitation Scale.

No "gold standard" currently exists for the objective assessment of sedation depth in critically ill pediatric patients requiring mechanical ventilation. The risks for these patients due to both over-sedation and under-sedation include poorer outcomes, reduced patient and family satisfaction, and increased costs to the institutions. Available tools were unsatisfactory for the authors' patient population and practice model.