Carrying capacity-based benchmarks for Belgian residential buildings.

Environmental benchmarks are a means to stimulate lowering environmental impacts of buildings. These benchmarks may be based on a bottom-up or top-down approach. While bottom-up benchmarks are derived from the analysis of reference buildings and represent current building practice, staying within the Earth's carrying capacity requires top-down benchmarks representing long-term environmental goals.

Open IPOMs for medium/large incisional ventral hernia repairs in the French Hernia Registry: factors associated with their use and mesh-related outcomes.

Purpose: The use of open intra-peritoneal onlay mesh repairs (O-IPOMs) for treating medium/large incisional ventral hernias has come into question due to the development of minimally invasive and sublay procedures. This study aimed to identify factors that are associated with the use of O-IPOMs in France.

Methods: We analysed prospectively collected data from the French Hernia Registry on incisional ventral hernia repairs (IVHR) for hernias ≥ 4 cm in width.

No evidence for cognitive decline or neurodegeneration in strain-matched Grin3a knockout mice.

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor (NMDAR) dysregulation is thought to contribute to impaired cognition and neurodegeneration in a variety of brain disorders. In a recent article, Zhong et al. proposed that deficiency of the NMDAR subunit GluN3A may be a primary pathogenic factor in sporadic Alzheimer´s disease (AD) based on evidence for degenerative excitotoxicity and cognitive impairment in aging mice lacking GluN3A.

Body mass index and occupational accidents among health care workers in a large university hospital.

Introduction: Obesity is associated with a number of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancers. The association of obesity with occupational accidents has been suggested although the evidence is less convincing. The objective of the study is to analyse the relationship between BMI values and ergonomic accidents in a large University Hospital.

Shifting Nursing Care Models as a Solution for the Increasing Demand on Intensive Care Unit Beds During a Pandemic: A Case Study.

Aim: An option appraisal of different nursing care delivery models was presented, which were made in between the first and second COVID-19 waves. The authors wanted to inform colleagues on involving nursing care delivery models in the problem-solving process during a pandemic.

Local Problem: In the pre-COVID-19 hospital practice, the nursing care delivery model of primary nursing was applied in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Analysis of ergonomic occupational accidents and near misses in a large Belgian university hospital.

Introduction: Health-care organizations are facing a high burden of ergonomic occupational accidents, and prevention is a continuous point of interest. In this manuscript, we describe the characteristics of ergonomic accidents in a large Belgian university hospital and discuss the value of near misses.

Methods: Combining databases, we identified the frequency [number of accidents × 10 hours worked per year], severity (number of days off work × 10 hours worked per year), and profile of the victims of occupational ergonomic accidents (with absence from work) or incidents or near-misses (without absence from work).

Are internship experiences during a pandemic related to students' commitment to nursing education? A cross-sectional study.

Background: The predominate role of internships on the retention of nursing students highlights the need to monitor internship experiences during a healthcare crisis like CoViD-19.

Objectives: To explore the relation between internships experiences during a pandemic and student nurses' commitment or intention-to-leave the nursing program; as well as the relation between internship experiences and commitment or intention-to-leave the nursing program.

Design, Setting And Participants: A cross-sectional study using a sample of 1.

Maternal stress programs a demasculinization of glutamatergic transmission in stress-related brain regions of aged rats.

Brain aging may be programmed by early-life stress. Aging affects males and females differently, but how perinatal stress (PRS) affects brain aging between sexes is unknown. We showed behavioral and neurobiological sex differences in non-stressed control rats that were strongly reduced or inverted in PRS rats.

Developmental up-regulation of NMDA receptors in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of mGlu5 receptor knock-out mice.

mGlu5 metabotropic glutamate receptors are highly expressed and functional in the early postnatal life, and are known to positively modulate NMDA receptor function. Here, we examined the expression of NMDA receptor subunits and interneuron-related genes in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of mGlu5 mice and wild-type littermates at three developmental time points (PND9, - 21, and - 75). We were surprised to find that expression of all NMDA receptor subunits was greatly enhanced in mGlu5 mice at PND21.

Unanticipated admission after ambulatory surgery in the pediatric population: a single-center retrospective analysis.

Introduction: The incidence of adverse events in day surgery is an important quality indicator. This retrospective study investigated factors independently associated with unanticipated admission of pediatric patients after ambulatory surgery.

Patients And Methods: Ambulatory pediatric patients requiring unanticipated admission between January 2016 and December 2018 were compared to ambulatory pediatric patients who were discharged home after a planned surgery.

Maternal stress programs accelerated aging of the basal ganglia motor system in offspring.

Early-life stress involved in the programming of stress-related illnesses can have a toxic influence on the functioning of the nigrostriatal motor system during aging. We examined the effects of perinatal stress (PRS) on the neurochemical, electrophysiological, histological, neuroimaging, and behavioral correlates of striatal motor function in adult (4 months of age) and old (21 months of age) male rats. Adult PRS offspring rats showed reduced dopamine (DA) release in the striatum associated with reductions in tyrosine hydroxylase-positive (TH) cells and DA transporter (DAT) levels, with no loss of striatal dopaminergic terminals as assessed by positron emission tomography analysis with fluorine-18-l-dihydroxyphenylalanine.

Hepcidin Status at 2 Months in Infants Fed Breast Milk Compared with Formula.

Introduction: The basis for the superior absorption of iron from breast milk compared with infant formulas is unclear. The hormone hepcidin downregulates dietary iron absorption. Hepcidin production increases with increased body iron status (reflected in serum ferritin levels).

Developmental abnormalities in cortical GABAergic system in mice lacking mGlu3 metabotropic glutamate receptors.

Polymorphic variants of the gene encoding for metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 (mGlu3) are linked to schizophrenia. Because abnormalities of cortical GABAergic interneurons lie at the core of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, we examined whether mGlu3 receptors influence the developmental trajectory of cortical GABAergic transmission in the postnatal life. mGlu3 mice showed robust changes in the expression of interneuron-related genes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), including large reductions in the expression of parvalbumin (PV) and the GluN1 subunit of NMDA receptors.

Communication satisfaction and job satisfaction among critical care nurses and their impact on burnout and intention to leave: A questionnaire study.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between communication and job satisfaction and their association with intention to leave and burnout among intensive care unit nurses.

Research Methodology/design: A multicentre questionnaire study.

Setting/participants: Intensive care nurses (n = 303) from three Flemish hospitals.

Patient perspectives on electronic health record accessibility and patient participation: a questionnaire survey.

Objectives To explore patient perceptions on personal comfort with participation in their own care process and on support of this patient participation through electronic health record (EHR) accessibility. Methods Explorative quantitative questionnaire study in ambulatory patients visiting the departments of General Internal Medicine or Head, Neck and Maxillo-Facial Surgery of a Belgian tertiary referral center. Results Patients were recruited by convenience sampling of 438 out of the total of 1270 patients visiting either one of these departments within a time period of two weeks.

Intraorganizational Communication and Job Satisfaction Among Flemish Hospital Nurses: An Exploratory Multicenter Study.

Intraorganizational communication affects job satisfaction and turnover. The goal of this study was to explore relationships between communication and job satisfaction, intention to leave, and burnout among Flemish hospital nurses. A multicenter questionnaire study was conducted in three hospitals using the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Turnover Intention subscale of the Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of Work, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

The patient perspective on the effects of medical record accessibility: a systematic review.

Background: Health care is shifting from a paternalistic to a participatory model, with increasing patient involvement. Medical record accessibility to patients may contribute significantly to patient comanagement.

Objectives: To systematically review the literature on the patient perspective of effects of personal medical record accessibility on the individual patient, patient-physician relationship and quality of medical care.

The effectiveness of an e-learning course on medication calculation in nursing students: a clustered quasi-experimental study.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of an e-learning course compared with a face-to-face lecture on medication calculation.

Background: The current knowledge on medication calculation of nursing students and nurses is insufficient to provide safe care.

Design: A stratified-clustered quasi-experimental study.

Comparative results of gastric banding in adolescents and young adults.

Background/purpose: Obesity has become a major public health priority. Because of disappointing results obtained with dietary and medical programs, bariatric surgery has been offered to adolescents, although this practice remains controversial. Our aim was to evaluate laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) in adolescents at 2-year follow-up.

Communication in healthcare: a narrative review of the literature and practical recommendations.

Objectives: Effective and efficient communication is crucial in healthcare. Written communication remains the most prevalent form of communication between specialised and primary care. We aimed at reviewing the literature on the quality of written communication, the impact of communication inefficiencies and recommendations to improve written communication in healthcare.

Gastric bypass increases postprandial insulin and GLP-1 in nonobese minipigs.

Background: Gastric bypass in obese patients induces a dramatic increase of postprandial insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion, independently of weight loss. We explored postprandial insulin and GLP-1 secretion in nonobese minipigs before and after RYGB.

Methods: Lean adult Göttingen minipigs (n = 7) were submitted to an open gastric bypass surgery mimicking the clinical procedure in humans (30-cm(3) gastric pouch/150-cm alimentary limb/70-cm biliary limb).

Catheter-directed thrombolysis with microplasmin for acute peripheral arterial occlusion (PAO): an exploratory study.

Aim: We performed an open-label, dose-ascending, single-centre, Phase IIa study to explore the safety and efficacy of catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) with microplasmin for infrainguinal arterial or bypass occlusions.

Methods: Patients who presented with acute occlusions were subsequently treated with an intrathrombus infusion of five ascending doses of microplasmin: 0.3 mg/kg/h for 4 hours; 0.