What should men living with haemophilia need to know? The perspectives of Canadian men with haemophilia.

Haemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder affecting approximately 3000 Canadian men (Walker 2012). To manage their disease effectively individuals must be knowledgeable about the disease, bleed prevention strategies, treatment approaches, and complications. Data on individuals' knowledge levels are scarce.

The effect of a helmet on cognitive performance is, at worst, marginal: a controlled laboratory study.

The present study looked at the effect of a helmet on cognitive performance under demanding conditions, so that small effects would become more detectible. Nineteen participants underwent 30 min of continuous visual vigilance, tracking, and auditory vigilance (VTT + AVT), while seated in a warm environment (27.2 (±0.

On-road and wind-tunnel measurement of motorcycle helmet noise.

The noise source mechanisms involved in motorcycling include various aerodynamic sources and engine noise. The problem of noise source identification requires extensive data acquisition of a type and level that have not previously been applied. Data acquisition on track and on road are problematic due to rider safety constraints and the portability of appropriate instrumentation.

Assessing climate change beliefs: Response effects of question wording and response alternatives.

To date, there is no 'gold standard' on how to best measure public climate change beliefs. We report a study (N = 897) testing four measures of climate change causation beliefs, drawn from four sources: the CSIRO, Griffith University, the Gallup poll, and the Newspoll. We found that question wording influences the outcome of beliefs reported.

Examination of overbed tables: healthcare provider and user preferences.

Objective: This exploratory study examined the preferences of healthcare providers and patients with respect to overbed table features and functions, as well as how the devices tend to be used.

Background: In order to improve the design of overbed tables, it is important to understand which features and functions of existing models are valued by healthcare providers and patients.

Methods: A sample of overbed table models was presented to volunteers, who were asked to choose which models' implementation of specific features and functions they preferred.

Heat waves and climate change: applying the health belief model to identify predictors of risk perception and adaptive behaviours in adelaide, australia.

Heat waves are considered a health risk and they are likely to increase in frequency, intensity and duration as a consequence of climate change. The effects of heat waves on human health could be reduced if individuals recognise the risks and adopt healthy behaviours during a heat wave. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of risk perception using a heat wave scenario and identify the constructs of the health belief model that could predict adaptive behaviours during a heat wave.

What should men living with severe haemophilia need to know? The perspectives of Canadian haemophilia health care providers.

Haemophilia is a complex disease to manage. Home-based management of haemophilia has placed greater responsibility for disease management on individuals with haemophilia, heightening the individual's need for knowledge, particularly among individuals with severe haemophilia. The aim of this study was to identify and understand the knowledge needs and gaps of Canadian men with severe haemophilia from the perspectives of health care providers.

The Transfusion Alternatives Preoperatively in Sickle Cell Disease (TAPS) study: a randomised, controlled, multicentre clinical trial.

Background: No consensus exists on whether preoperative blood transfusions are beneficial in patients with sickle-cell disease. We assessed whether perioperative complication rates would be altered by preoperative transfusion.

Methods: We did a multicentre, randomised trial.

Awareness of and attitudes towards heat waves within the context of climate change among a cohort of residents in Adelaide, Australia.

Heat waves are a public health concern in Australia and unprecedented heat waves have been recorded in Adelaide over recent years. The aim of this study was to examine the perception and attitudes towards heat waves in the context of climate change among a group of residents in Adelaide, an Australian city with a temperate climate. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the summer of 2012 among a sample of 267 residents.

Group differences in preferences for a novel nightstand.

Objective: Multiple user groups (patients and employees at a rehabilitation facility, community-dwelling seniors, and university students) participated in a study that examined their preferences for the features and functions of three novel nightstand prototypes.

Background: It is valuable to get input from different user groups in order to improve furniture usefulness and usability, especially furniture prevalent in clinical settings where users of all age groups are found.

Methods: Feedback was obtained from different user groups in both clinical (rehabilitation facility) and nonclinical (university) settings.

Investigation of a prolonged APTT. Different approaches taken by laboratories to achieve the same diagnosis.

Introduction: The APTT is widely employed as part of a coagulation screening panel, used as a pre-operative assessment of bleeding risk, to detect hereditary and acquired haemostatic defects and to monitor anticoagulant therapy. External quality assessment (EQA) exercises assess laboratory performance of individual tests, but rarely assess the approach to investigation of an abnormal result.

Methods: A multicentre exercise was carried out to investigate the ability of laboratories to identify the cause of a prolonged APTT.

Point of Care INR testing devices: performance of the Roche CoaguChek XS and XS Plus in the UK NEQAS BC external quality assessment programme for healthcare professionals: four years' experience.

Background: Vitamin K antagonists have been used for many decades and have been traditionally monitored by the measurement of the International Normalised Ratio (INR) in the laboratory. Introduction of Point of Care (POC) testing devices to measure INR has resulted in many tests being undertaken in primary care. External Quality Assessment (EQA) of these POC devices is recommended to ensure accuracy and reliability of INR results outside a laboratory setting.

Implementing checklists in the operating room.

Checklists have established themselves as a key safety process in the operating room environment. This paper describes the background and context of how checklists have evolved in medicine. It also highlights ongoing challenges with particular attention to the importance of nontechnical skills or human factors training with relation to checklist design, testing and implementation and ongoing coaching.

Safe perioperative pediatric care around the world.

Pediatric anesthesia is no longer a small subspecialty, but an important sector where developments in the new century have brought effective and safe management to children in the perioperative period. Unfortunately, what is common daily practice in the high-income countries with all the guidelines, checklists, instruments, and dedicated pediatric anesthesiologists is often only a dream in the low- and middle-income countries where the basic anesthesia services for improving the high rate of morbidity and mortality still are lacking. Anesthesia given by nonphysicians, with no monitoring, lack of elementary supplies, poor control of infections and hemorrhage, and no water or electricity are very often the 'usual' conditions.

Genetics of haemostasis.

Congenital defects of platelets or plasma proteins involved in blood coagulation generally lead to bleeding disorders. In some of these disorders, patients with a severe phenotype are prone to spontaneous bleeds with critical consequences. This situation occurs more commonly in haemophilia A and haemophilia B and to a certain extent in severe forms (type 3) of von Willebrand disease.

Drug experience epigenetically primes Fosb gene inducibility in rat nucleus accumbens.

ΔFosB, a Fosb gene product, is induced in nucleus accumbens (NAc) and caudate-putamen (CPu) by repeated exposure to drugs of abuse such as cocaine. This induction contributes to aberrant patterns of gene expression and behavioral abnormalities seen with repeated drug exposure. Here, we assessed whether a remote history of cocaine exposure in rats might alter inducibility of the Fosb gene elicited by subsequent drug exposure.

Substrate-induced conformational change and isomerase activity of dienelactone hydrolase and its site-specific mutants.

Studies of the interactions of dienelactone hydrolase (DLH) and its mutants with both E and Z dienelactone substrates show that the enzyme exhibits two different conformational responses specific for hydrolysis of each of its substrate isomers. DLH facilitates hydrolysis of the Z dienelactone through an unusual charge-relay system that is initiated by interaction between the substrate carboxylate and an enzyme arginine residue that activates an otherwise non-nucleophilic cysteine. The E dienelactone does not display this substrate-arginine binding interaction, but instead induces an alternate conformational response that promotes hydrolysis.

A mixed methods investigation of dropout among talented young dancers: findings from the UK Centres for Advanced Training.

The aim of this study was to understand reasons for dropout from a dance-talent program in the UK, using a mixed methods design. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten dropout students to explore the influencing factors in their decision to leave the program. In order to triangulate these findings, reasons for dropout were then examined from descriptive records of 147 young dancers who had withdrawn from the talent program over a four-year period.

Surgical safety checklists: do they improve outcomes?

The concept of using a checklist in surgical and anaesthetic practice was energized by publication of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist in 2008. It was believed that by routinely checking common safety issues, and by better team communication and dynamics, perioperative morbidity and mortality could be improved. The magnitude of improvement demonstrated by the WHO pilot studies was surprising.

Checking anaesthetic equipment 2012: association of anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

A pre-use check to ensure the correct functioning of anaesthetic equipment is essential to patient safety. The anaesthetist has a primary responsibility to understand the function of the anaesthetic equipment and to check it before use. Anaesthetists must not use equipment unless they have been trained to use it and are competent to do so.