Assessing and upgrading the cleanliness of the emergency department brief title: upgrading the emergency room's cleanliness.

Objective: To upgrade cleaning and disinfection of patient rooms in a crowded emergency department (ED).

Setting: Tertiary referral hospital.

Design: Prospective, 3-component, before-and-after intervention study.

Magnetic resonance imaging for acute appendicitis in pregnancy: can clinical scores predict when imaging is needed?

Purpose: Advanced imaging may augment the diagnostic milieux for presumed acute appendicitis (AA) during pregnancy, however it is not clear when such imaging modalities are indicated. The aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of clinical scoring systems with the findings on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of AA in pregnant patients.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study between 2019 and 2021 was performed in two tertiary level centers.

Varenicline for Gradual Versus Abrupt Smoking Cessation in Poorly Motivated Smokers With COPD: A Prematurely Terminated Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Although smoking is the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), many patients with COPD smoke, highlighting the need for effective smoking cessation interventions in this population. This study examined the efficacy and safety of varenicline in increasing smoking cessation rates through "gradual" versus "abrupt" cessation in COPD patients with low motivation to quit smoking.

Methods: A randomized, open label, 30-week, controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.

Association of post-transplantation anellovirus viral load with kidney transplant rejection in children.

Background: Post-transplantation immunosuppressive therapy reduces the risk of graft rejection but raises the risk of infection and malignancy. A biomarker of the level of immunosuppression can be helpful in monitoring immunosuppressive therapy. Inverse correlation between Torque teno virus (TTV) from the Anelloviridae (AV) family load and immune competence was described in previous studies.

Early Detection of COPD: An Opportunistic Case Finding Study in Smokers and Ex-Smokers Visiting a Medical Centre.

Background: Different case finding approaches have been used to identify early COPD. The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility and the yield of opportunistic early COPD case finding in visitors to a large medical centre.

Patients And Methods: From May 2014 to June 2017, we consecutively recruited adults aged ≥ 18 years visiting the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, in Jerusalem.

Extending varenicline preloading to 6 weeks facilitates smoking cessation: A single-site, randomised controlled trial.

Background: Initiating varenicline use 4 weeks before the target quit date (TQD) reduces smoking in the run-in phase and increases end-treatment cessation rates; however, the lack of a smoke intake plateau suggests longer preloading periods are required. This study assessed whether varenicline preloading for 6 weeks reduced pre-quit smoke intake and enhanced 6-month abstinence outcomes compared with the standard 1-week preloading.

Methods: In this randomised single-centre controlled trial, (ClinicalTrials.

Uric Acid Level as a Predictor of Long-Term Mortality in Advanced Age Population.

Background: Hyperuricemia is associated with the development, progression and outcome of several diseases. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the serum uric acid (UA) levels as a predictor of long-term mortality in an older population (age 60 years and above).

Materials And Methods: Patients older than 60 years who were hospitalized in the departments of geriatrics and internal medicine in Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem during a period of 4 months (March-June 2014) were included in this observational study.

Histopathological Study of Meshed Versus Solid Sheet Acellular Dermal Matrices in a Porcine Model.

Background: Acellular dermal matrices (ADMs) are commonly used to support implant-based breast reconstruction. However, there is little comparative data on the incorporation process of different ADMs, and the value of meshing or fenestration versus solid sheet has not been established, although early clinical data suggest seroma rates may be reduced. This was a preclinical assessment of the incorporation process at optimal conditions in a pig model.

Mortality associated with bevacizumab intravitreal injections in age-related macular degeneration patients after acute myocardial infarct: a retrospective population-based survival analysis.

Background: Intraocular injections of antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents are currently the main therapy in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The safety of bevacizumab, an anti-VEGF compound frequently delivered off label, is debated, particularly for high-group risks. We aim to analyze the mortality associated with intravitreal injections of bevacizumab for AMD in patients previously diagnosed with acute myocardial infarct (MI).

Association of toll-like receptors polymorphism and intrauterine transmission of cytomegalovirus.

Background: Congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a very common intrauterine infection which can cause severe developmental disabilities. Transmission of the virus to the fetus occurs in only 40% of primarily infected women. The probability of intrauterine transmission is higher when infection occurs during the second trimester of pregnancy than in the first trimester.

Mortality in patients treated with intravitreal bevacizumab for age-related macular degeneration.

Background: The aim of this study is to analyze mortality in patients treated with bevacizumab for wet AMD.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study between patients who received intravitreal injections of bevacizumab as the sole treatment for exudative AMD between September 2008 and October 2014 (n = 5385) and age and gender matched controls (n = 10,756). All individuals included in the study were reviewed for sociodemographic data and comorbidities.

Nicotine Addiction and Withdrawal among Orthodox Jews: the Effect of Sabbath Abstinence.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a widespread problem around the world. In Israel, the prevalence of smoking is 23%. Smokers who are Orthodox abstain from smoking during the Sabbath, i.

Functional and Existential Tasks of Family Caregiving for End-of-Life, Hospitalized Older Adults.

The current study examined how functional and existential coping factors are related to the sense of self-benefit among end-of-life (EOL) family caregivers caring for hospitalized older adults. A convenience sample of 92 family caregivers was interviewed in two Israeli hospitals using a structured questionnaire based on Pearlin's stress process model. Findings show that engagement in EOL existential tasks and motivations, such as life review, spirituality, multigenerational family relationships, and preparation for death, acted as a coping resource and was positively related with caregivers' sense of self-benefit.

Social values as an independent factor affecting end of life medical decision making.

Research shows that the physician's personal attributes and social characteristics have a strong association with their end-of-life (EOL) decision making. Despite efforts to increase patient, family and surrogate input into EOL decision making, research shows the physician's input to be dominant. Our research finds that physician's social values, independent of religiosity, have a significant association with physician's tendency to withhold or withdraw life sustaining, EOL treatments.

A validated questionnaire to assess the knowledge of psychiatric aspects of alcohol use disorder.

Background: To the best of our knowledge, there is no validated instrument for measuring knowledge of psychiatric aspects of alcohol use disorder (AUD) amongst medical students. Our aim was to develop an instrument for this purpose and to describe the instrument's psychometric properties. We also investigated whether the instrument could demonstrate a significant change in scores following an educational intervention consisting of a 60-minute PowerPoint lecture on AUD, associated handouts, and role-plays.

Communication between residents and attending doctors on call after hours.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Off-hours medical care in hospitals is provided by residents, while attendings on call are available for assistance. This study evaluated the gap between residents' expectations and professional guidelines' requirements of attendings on call and what actually occurs during night shifts, while comparing surgical and medical specialties.

Methods: Two questionnaires based on professional guidelines were filled by residents.

The clinical significance of isolation of two different organisms from the urine of patients with an indwelling catheter.

Background: We evaluated the clinical significance of urine cultures from patients with an indwelling urinary catheter (UC) from which 2 different pathogens were isolated.

Methods: Urine cultures from patients with a UC from which 2 different organisms were isolated were randomly divided into a control group (culture results were reported as usual) and a study group (culture results were reported as "mixed growth"). Endpoints included change in antibiotic treatment, use of broad spectrum agents, time for clinical improvement, and duration of admission.

Reasons for choosing a career and workplace among occupational therapists and speech language pathologists.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was first to determine internal consistency reliability of the Ono Decision Making Career and Workplace (ODMCW) questionnaire. Next, a comparison of the reasons for a professional career and workplace choices of occupational therapists (OTs) and speech and language pathologists (SLPs) was evaluated.

Participants: Participants consisted of 174 women (89 [51%] OTs and 85 [49%] SLPs).

The relationship of sleep disturbance and symptom severity, symptom interference, and hospitalization among Israeli inpatients with cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To examine the relationship of sleep disturbance and symptom severity, symptom interference, and hospitalization among inpatients with cancer.

Design: A descriptive, correlational, comparative design.

Setting: The oncology inpatient unit of a teaching hospital.

Pain severity, satisfaction with pain management, and patient-related barriers to pain management in patients with cancer in Israel.

Purpose/objectives: To examine pain severity, satisfaction with pain management, and patient-related barriers to pain management among patients with cancer in oncology units at a teaching hospital in Israel.

Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational design.

Setting: Oncology, hematology, and bone marrow trans-plantation (BMT) departments; oncology, hematology, and BMT daycare units; and a radiation department in an Israeli hospital.