Group learning contracts in healthcare education: A systematic review.

Introduction/background: Group work plays a crucial role in healthcare education by fostering collaboration, communication, and teamwork skills. However, students often face challenges such as unequal workload distribution, conflict, and anxiety. Group learning contracts have been introduced to improve group dynamics by setting clear expectations, enhancing accountability, and promoting effective collaboration.

A low-cost soft sensor for sewer flow monitoring - Learning from water level measurements in manholes.

Flow meters are commonly used in manholes to monitor the flow rate for sewer operation and management. However, the large-scale deployment of flow meters in a sewer system is cost-prohibitive due to their high costs and the need for frequent maintenance. This paper proposes a soft sensor that estimates flow rates based on water level measurements in a manhole.

Digitally transforming community mental healthcare: Real-world lessons from algorithmic workforce integration.

Community-based high intensity services for people living with severe and enduring mental illnesses face critical workforce shortages and workflow efficiency challenges. The expectation to monitor complex, dynamic patient data from ever-expanding electronic health records leads to information overload, a significant factor contributing to worker burnout and attrition. An algorithmic workforce, defined as a suite of algorithm-driven processes, can work alongside health professionals assisting with oversight tasks and augmenting human expertise.

Navigating the referral boundaries for organ and tissue donation: An interpretive description study.

Background: The gap between organ availability and the number of people waiting for a transplant remains a major healthcare issue. Most transplanted organs and tissue are received from donors who have died in intensive care units (ICUs). To increase the number of donors, national guidelines and professional bodies in Australia support routine consideration of organ and tissue donation at the end of life.

Intensive care unit nurses' redeployment experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study.

Background: The pandemic response required the large-scale redeployment of nurses to support the care of patients with COVID-19. Surveys of staff and analysis of staff feedback indicated that the frequent redeployment of intensive care unit (ICU) registered nurses (RNs) led to dissatisfaction and contributed to voluntary reductions in hours and increased intentions to resign. Whilst much is understood about the redeployment of non-ICU RNs into ICUs to support patient care during periods of high demand, less is known about ICU RNs' experiences of being redeployed to general wards.

Acceptability of implementing a communication board for mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units: A cross-sectional substudy of the intervention arm of a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Background: Communication boards are a low-technology tool used to facilitate interactions with mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Research on the acceptability of communication boards in resource-limited intensive care settings is lacking.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess patients' and nurses' experienced acceptability of implementing a communication board in Sri Lankan ICUs.

Prior influenza virus infection alleviates an arbovirus encephalitis by reducing viral titer, inflammation, and cellular infiltrates in the central nervous system.

Unlabelled: Respiratory and encephalitic virus infections represent a significant risk to public health globally. Detailed investigations of immunological responses and disease outcomes during sequential virus infections are rare. Here, we define the impact of influenza virus infection on a subsequent virus encephalitis.

Antagonisation of Prokineticin Receptor-2 Attenuates Preeclampsia Symptoms.

Preeclampsia (PE) is the most threatening pathology of human pregnancy. Placenta from PE patients releases harmful factors that contribute to the exacerbation of the disease. Among these factors is the prokineticin1 (PROK1) and its receptor, PROKR2 that we identified as a mediators of PE.

Experiences of Emergency Nurses Providing End-of-Life Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Aim: To explore the experiences of emergency nurses providing end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: A qualitative descriptive study.

Methods: Data were collected between May and August 2023.

BMP and STRA8 act collaboratively to ensure correct mitotic-to-meiotic transition in the fetal mouse ovary.

A successful mitosis-to-meiosis transition in germ cells is essential for fertility in sexually reproducing organisms. In mice and humans, it is established that expression of STRA8 is critical for meiotic onset in both sexes. Here we show that BMP signalling is also essential, not for STRA8 induction but for correct meiotic progression in female mouse fetal germ cells.

'Why Did They Migrate Here'?: A Qualitative Descriptive Study Exploring Nurses' Motivations for Migration and Regional Relocation.

Aim: To explore migrant nurses' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for migration and regional relocation.

Design: A qualitative descriptive study.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 17 migrant nurses working in a hospital in regional Australia.

A Simple and Efficient Stereoselective Synthesis of a 2,3-Difluorosialic acid-based influenza virus neuraminidase inhibitor.

3-Fluoroneuraminosyl fluorides are invaluable probes for studying the catalytic mechanism of sialidases (neuraminidases), and as sialidase inhibitors. Significantly, when a C-3 equatorial fluorine is installed on a C-4 functionalised N-acylneuraminic acid (Neu)-based template, the compounds are potent and selective inhibitors of both influenza and parainfluenza sialidases, and of virus replication. Typically, the reported syntheses of 3-fluoroneuraminosyl fluorides involve either an enzymatic or a chemical synthesis that have uncontrolled stereoselectivity in the introduction of fluorine at C-3 of Neu and consequently yield a mixture of C-3 ax and C-3 eq fluoro derivatives.

On the Measurement of Episodic Empowerment.

This article reports the development and validation of the Episodic Empowerment Scale (EES): A manipulation check designed to measure a momentary psychological state. In Study 1, participants (n = 125) completed a selection of candidate items after being exposed to a low- or high-power manipulation. Exploratory factor analysis was used to reduce the number of items to a brief five-item measure.

Exploring the Interface Between Planetary Boundaries and Palaeoecology.

The concepts of planetary boundaries are influential in the sustainability literature and assist in delineating the 'safe operating spaces' beyond which critical Earth system processes could collapse. Moving away from our current trajectory towards 'hothouse Earth' will require knowledge of how Earth systems have varied throughout the Holocene, and whether and how far we have deviated from past ranges of variability. Such information can inform decisions about where change could be resisted, accepted or where adaptation is inevitable.

Assessing the Likelihood of Procedural Intubation During Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background: Preprocedural fasting is widely used before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, the incidence of procedural intubation during PCI is unknown. This study aims to identify the incidence and predictors for procedural intubation during PCI.

The iMab antibody selectively binds to intramolecular and intermolecular i-motif structures.

i-Motifs (iMs) are quadruplex nucleic acid conformations that form in cytosine-rich regions. Because of their acidic pH dependence, iMs were thought to form only in vitro. The recent development of an iM-selective antibody, iMab, has allowed iM detection in cells, which revealed their presence at gene promoters and their cell cycle dependence.

Comprehensive care processes for substance use disorders in adult mental health services: A systematic review.

Background And Objectives: Assessment and care of substance use disorder within mental health services are essential due to the high prevalence and harms associated with comorbidity. Substance use disorder assessment and care are routinely recommended in clinical guidelines; however, processes are not agreed. This systematic review of routine clinical practice in relation to substance use disorders in adult mental health service aims to identify routine assessment and diagnosis processes, the proportion of patients and service episodes in which they occur and their outputs.

A Homozygous ATP2A2 Variant Alters Sarcoendoplasmic Reticulum Ca-ATPase 2 Function in Skeletal Muscle and Causes a Novel Vacuolar Myopathy.

Aims: Sarcoendoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase 2 (SERCA2), encoded by ATP2A2, is a key protein involved in intracellular Ca homeostasis. The SERCA2a isoform is predominantly expressed in cardiomyocytes and type I myofibres. Variants in this gene are related to Darier disease, an autosomal dominant dermatologic disorder, but have never been linked to myopathy.

The Association Between Serum Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase and Gastrointestinal Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) has been shown to have associations with several diseases including cancers. Previous studies have investigated the effect of GGT levels on the gastrointestinal (GI) cancer incidence. We aim to systematically investigate these studies to provide better insights into the interrelationship between GGT and GI cancers.

Testing hypotheses of skull function with comparative finite element analysis: three methods reveal contrasting results.

Comparative finite element analysis involves standardising aspects of models to test equivalent loading scenarios across species. However, regarding feeding biomechanics of the vertebrate skull, what is considered "equivalent" can depend on the hypothesis. Using 13 diversely-shaped skulls of marsupial bettongs and potoroos (Potoroidae), we demonstrate that scaling muscle forces to standardise specific aspects of biting mechanics can produce clearly opposing comparisons of stress or strain that are differentially suited to address specific kinds of hypotheses.

The influence of continuous improvement and clinical practice on emergency department (ED) operational performance.

Purpose: The study tests the relationships between continuous improvement (CI) and clinical practices (CP) with perceived operational performance in Australian and New Zealand (NZ) emergency departments.

Design/methodology/approach: A survey instrument was designed to collect data from Australian and NZ Emergency Department physicians to test a model developed from the literature, the continuous improvement and clinical practice (CICP) model. Hypotheses were developed and tested using bivariate correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis.

Patient signalment and aetiology of hypercortisolism in Australian dogs with Cushing's syndrome.

Objective: Patient characteristics of Cushing's syndrome differ between countries and have not been assessed in the Australian dog population. This study describes signalment and distribution of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent hypercortisolism (ADH) and ACTH-independent hypercortisolism (AIH) in Australian dogs.

Animals: Two-hundred client-owned dogs that had endogenous ACTH concentrations measured by radioimmunoassay.

Efficacy and safety of daprodustat in patients on peritoneal dialysis in the ASCEND-D trial.

Background And Hypothesis: Daprodustat, an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor, is approved for treatment of anemia in dialysis patients with CKD in some parts of the world. This subgroup analysis examined the efficacy and safety of daprodustat versus darbepoetin alfa in patients with anemia of CKD undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Methods: ASCEND-D (NCT02879305) was an open-label, Phase 3 trial; patients with CKD were randomized to daprodustat daily and epoetin alfa (HD patients) or darbepoetin alfa (PD patients).