Registration of randomized controlled trials in nursing journals.

Background: Trial registration helps minimize publication and reporting bias. In leading medical journals, 96% of published trials are registered. The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of randomized controlled trials published in key nursing journals that met criteria for timely registration.

Racial and Socioeconomic Differences in the Use of High-Volume Commission on Cancer-Accredited Hospitals for Cancer Surgery in the United States.

Background: Although major cancer surgery at a high-volume hospital is associated with lower postoperative mortality, the use of such hospitals may not be equally distributed.

Objective: Our aim was to study socioeconomic and racial differences in cancer surgery at Commission on Cancer (CoC)-accredited high-volume hospitals.

Methods: The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was used to identify patients undergoing surgery for colon, esophageal, liver, and pancreatic cancer from 2003 to 2012.

Choosing wisely after publication of level I evidence in breast cancer radiotherapy.

Background: Recent trials in early-stage breast cancer support hypofractionated whole-breast radiotherapy (WBRT) as part of breast-conserving therapy (BCT). Evidence also suggests that radiotherapy (RT) omission may be reasonable for some patients over 70 years. Among radiation-delivery techniques, intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) is more expensive than 3-dimensional conformal RT (3DCRT).

Retraction of publications in nursing and midwifery research: A systematic review.

Background: Rates of manuscript retraction in academic journals are increasing. Papers are retracted because of scientific misconduct or serious error. To date there have been no studies that have examined rates of retraction in nursing and midwifery journals.

The role of conductivity discontinuities in design of cardiac defibrillation.

Fibrillation is an erratic electrical state of the heart, of rapid twitching rather than organized contractions. Ventricular fibrillation is fatal if not treated promptly. The standard treatment, defibrillation, is a strong electrical shock to reinitialize the electrical dynamics and allow a normal heart beat.

The association between mental health nursing and hospital admissions for people with serious mental illness: a protocol for a systematic review.

Background: Relapse in individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) is a frequent occurrence and can add considerably to the burden of disease. As such, relapse prevention is an essential therapeutic outcome for people with SMI. Mental health nurses (MHNs) are well placed to support individuals with SMI and to prevent relapse; notwithstanding, there has been no synthesis of the evidence to date to determine whether MHNs prevent relapse in this population.

Can we ave the rectum by watchful waiting or ransnal microsurgery following (chemo) adiotherapy versus otal mesorectal excision for early ctal ancer (STAR-TREC study)?: protocol for a multicentre, randomised feasibility study.

Introduction: Total mesorectal excision (TME) is the highly effective standard treatment for rectal cancer but is associated with significant morbidity and may be overtreatment for low-risk cancers. This study is designed to determine the feasibility of international recruitment in a study comparing organ-saving approaches versus standard TME surgery.

Methods And Analysis: STAR-TREC trial is a multicentre international randomised, three-arm parallel, phase II feasibility study in patients with biopsy-proven adenocarcinoma of the rectum.

Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories for PTSD: A randomized controlled trial of 74 male veterans.

A randomized waitlist-controlled design ( = 74) examined the efficacy of Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM) among male veterans with current-month flashbacks and nightmares. Volunteers were randomly assigned to immediate treatment (three 120-minute sessions of RTM), or to a 3-week waiting condition before receiving the RTM treatment. Blinded psychometricians evaluated the symptoms at intake, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks post.

Establishing and characterizing patient-derived xenografts using pre-chemotherapy percutaneous biopsy and post-chemotherapy surgical samples from a prospective neoadjuvant breast cancer study.

Background: Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are increasingly used in cancer research as a tool to inform cancer biology and drug response. Most available breast cancer PDXs have been generated in the metastatic setting. However, in the setting of operable breast cancer, PDX models both sensitive and resistant to chemotherapy are needed for drug development and prospective data are lacking regarding the clinical and molecular characteristics associated with PDX take rate in this setting.

20-Year Risks of Breast-Cancer Recurrence after Stopping Endocrine Therapy at 5 Years.

Background: The administration of endocrine therapy for 5 years substantially reduces recurrence rates during and after treatment in women with early-stage, estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. Extending such therapy beyond 5 years offers further protection but has additional side effects. Obtaining data on the absolute risk of subsequent distant recurrence if therapy stops at 5 years could help determine whether to extend treatment.

Simultaneous Quantification of Spatially Discordant Alternans in Voltage and Intracellular Calcium in Langendorff-Perfused Rabbit Hearts and Inconsistencies with Models of Cardiac Action Potentials and Ca Transients.

Discordant alternans, a phenomenon in which the action potential duration (APDs) and/or intracellular calcium transient durations (CaDs) in different spatial regions of cardiac tissue are out of phase, present a dynamical instability for complex spatial dispersion that can be associated with long-QT syndrome (LQTS) and the initiation of reentrant arrhythmias. Because the use of numerical simulations to investigate arrhythmic effects, such as acquired LQTS by drugs is beginning to be studied by the FDA, it is crucial to validate mathematical models that may be used during this process. In this study, we characterized with high spatio-temporal resolution the development of discordant alternans patterns in transmembrane voltage (V) and intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca]) as a function of pacing period in rabbit hearts.

A Dynamic Clamp on Every Rig.

The dynamic clamp should be a standard part of every cellular electrophysiologist's toolbox. That it is not, even 25 years after its introduction, comes down to three issues: money, the disruption that adding dynamic clamp to an existing electrophysiology rig entails, and the technical prowess required of experimenters. These have been valid and limiting issues in the past, but no longer.

Randomised controlled trial of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a peer-delivered self-management intervention to prevent relapse in crisis resolution team users: study protocol.

Introduction: Crisis resolution teams (CRTs) provide assessment and intensive home treatment in a crisis, aiming to offer an alternative for people who would otherwise require a psychiatric inpatient admission. They are available in most areas in England. Despite some evidence for their clinical and cost-effectiveness, recurrent concerns are expressed regarding discontinuity with other services and lack of focus on preventing future relapse and readmission to acute care.

Effect of nephrectomy for retroperitoneal sarcoma on post-operative renal function.

Background And Objectives: Surgical resection of retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS) often involves removal of the ipsilateral kidney. We evaluated the long-term post-operative renal function in patients who underwent a nephrectomy as part of their en-bloc resection of RPS.

Methods: Retrospective review of an institutional database identified RPS patients who underwent nephrectomy for curative intent from 1990 to 2014.

Effect of Routine Low-Dose Oxygen Supplementation on Death and Disability in Adults With Acute Stroke: The Stroke Oxygen Study Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Hypoxia is common in the first few days after acute stroke, is frequently intermittent, and is often undetected. Oxygen supplementation could prevent hypoxia and secondary neurological deterioration and thus has the potential to improve recovery.

Objective: To assess whether routine prophylactic low-dose oxygen therapy was more effective than control oxygen administration in reducing death and disability at 90 days, and if so, whether oxygen given at night only, when hypoxia is most frequent, and oxygen administration is least likely to interfere with rehabilitation, was more effective than continuous supplementation.

Getting it right when budgets are tight: Using optimal expansion pathways to prioritize responses to concentrated and mixed HIV epidemics.

Background: Prioritizing investments across health interventions is complicated by the nonlinear relationship between intervention coverage and epidemiological outcomes. It can be difficult for countries to know which interventions to prioritize for greatest epidemiological impact, particularly when budgets are uncertain.

Methods: We examined four case studies of HIV epidemics in diverse settings, each with different characteristics.

Modeling bipolar stimulation of cardiac tissue.

Unipolar stimulation of cardiac tissue is often used in the design of cardiac pacemakers because of the low current required to depolarize the surrounding tissue at rest. However, the advantages of unipolar over bipolar stimulation are not obvious at shorter coupling intervals when the tissue near the pacing electrode is relatively refractory. Therefore, this paper analyzes bipolar stimulation of cardiac tissue.

Estimating the number of people who inject drugs in Australia.

Background: Injecting drug use is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Estimates of the size of the population of people who inject drugs are critical to inform service planning and estimate disease burden due to injecting drug use. We aimed to estimate the size of the population of people who inject drugs in Australia.