Evidence-based Practice in Action: Ensuring Quality of Pediatric Assessment Frequency.

Unlabelled: Optimal frequency of head-to-toe assessment in hospitalized pediatric patients is unknown. An alteration in head-to-toe assessment frequency was proposed at a Midwestern regional hospital. The purpose of this descriptive study was to evaluate patient safety and staff satisfaction following a change in head-to-toe assessment frequency.

Rotational Dynamics and Heating of Trapped Nanovaterite Particles.

We synthesize, optically trap, and rotate individual nanovaterite crystals with a mean particle radius of 423 nm. Rotation rates of up to 4.9 kHz in heavy water are recorded.

The heterocyst regulatory protein HetP and its homologs modulate heterocyst commitment in sp. strain PCC 7120.

The commitment of differentiating cells to a specialized fate is fundamental to the correct assembly of tissues within a multicellular organism. Because commitment is often irreversible, entry into and progression through this phase of development must be tightly regulated. Under nitrogen-limiting conditions, the multicellular cyanobacterium sp.

Nicotine Dependence and Alcohol Problems from Adolescence to Young Adulthood.

Background: Despite the highly replicated relationship between symptoms associated with both alcohol and nicotine, little is known about this association across time and exposure to both drinking and smoking. In the present study, we evaluate if problems associated with alcohol use are related to emerging nicotine dependence symptoms and whether this relationship varies from adolescence to young adulthood, after accounting for both alcohol and nicotine exposure.

Methods: The sample was drawn from the Social and Emotional Contexts of Adolescent Smoking Patterns Study which measured smoking, nicotine dependence, alcohol use and alcohol related problems over 6 assessment waves spanning 6 years.

Perfluorinated alkyl acids in plasma of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) from Florida and South Carolina.

The present study aimed to quantitate 15 perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in 125 adult American alligators at 12 sites across the southeastern United States. Of those 15 PFAAs, 9 were detected in 65% to 100% of samples: perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid, perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnA), perfluorododecanoic acid, perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTriA), perfluorotetradecanoic acid, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). Males (across all sites) showed significantly higher concentrations of 4 PFAAs: PFOS (p = 0.

A 30-Year Retrospective: Degrees of Difficulty in Decreasing LOS.

Purpose: In an attempt to avoid future revisionist history, the author offers a 30-year retrospective (1986-2016) on the evolution of strategies to reduce length of stay (LOS). She and her colleagues have been involved from the onset by developing tools such as critical paths, roles such as clinical case management, and operational systems for managing measureable outcome-driven care from the bedside to the boardroom.

Primary Practice Setting: Acute care hospitals.

Probing Resilience: Daily Environmental Mastery, Self-Esteem, and Stress Appraisal.

Objectives: The current study explores one way the process of resilience arises by investigating the underlying process of stress appraisal. In particular, the analyses examine how resilience resources function each day to attenuate the extent to which life experiences are perceived as threatening, and how trait-like resilience resources shape the appraisal process.

Method: Daily diary and questionnaire data from 96 participants of Successful Aging in Context: The Macroenvironment and Daily Lived Experience (SAIC; MAge = 67 years, SDAge = 4.

Early-Emerging Nicotine Dependence Has Lasting and Time-Varying Effects on Adolescent Smoking Behavior.

Novice and light adolescent smokers can develop symptoms of nicotine dependence, which predicts smoking behavior several years into the future. However, little is known about how the association between these early - emerging symptoms and later smoker behaviors may change across time from early adolescence into young adulthood. Data were drawn from a 7-year longitudinal study of experimental (<100 cigarettes/lifetime; N = 594) and light (100+ cigarettes/lifetime, but ≤5 cigarettes/day; N = 152) adolescent smokers.

Symptoms Suggestive of Acute Coronary Syndrome: When Is Sex Important?

Background: Studies have identified sex differences in symptoms of acute coronary syndrome (ACS); however, retrospective designs, abstraction of symptoms from medical records, and variations in assessment forms make it difficult to determine the clinical significance of sex differences.

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the influence of sex on the occurrence and distress of 13 symptoms for patients presenting to the emergency department for symptoms suggestive of ACS.

Methods: A total of 1064 patients admitted to 5 emergency departments with symptoms triggering a cardiac evaluation were enrolled.

Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources.

The invariance of the speed of light is one of the foundational pillars of our current understanding of the universe. It implies a series of consequences related to our perception of simultaneity and, ultimately, of time itself. Whereas these consequences are experimentally well studied in the case of subluminal motion, the kinematics of superluminal motion lack direct evidence or even a clear experimental approach.

Methylation polymorphism influences practice effects in children during attention tasks.

Epigenetic mechanisms mediate the influence of experience on gene expression. Methylation is a principal method for inducing epigenetic effects on DNA. In this paper, we examine alleles of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene that vary enzyme activity, altering the availability of the methyl donor and thus changing the efficiency of methylation.

Progression of nicotine dependence, mood level, and mood variability in adolescent smokers.

Mood processes are theorized to play a role in the initiation and progression of smoking behavior. Available work using real-time assessments in samples of young smokers, including several reports from the Social and Emotional Contexts of Adolescent Smoking Patterns (SECASP) study, has indicated that smoking events acutely improve mood and that escalating smoking frequency may stabilize mood. However, prior analyses have not specifically evaluated within-person change in nicotine dependence, which is conceptually distinguishable from frequent smoking and may be associated with unique mood consequences.

Threshold Evolution as an Analysis of the Different Pulse Frequencies in Rechargeable Systems for Spinal Cord Stimulation.

Introduction: Pulse frequency (Fc) is one of the most important parameters in neurostimulation, with Pulse Amplitude (Pw) and Amplitude (I). Up to certain Fc, increasing the number of pulses will generate action potentials in neighboring neural structures and may facilitate deeper penetration of the electromagnetic fields. In addition, changes in frequency modify the patient's sensation with stimulation.

Long-term deficits of the paretic limb follow post-stroke compensatory limb use in C57BL/6 mice.

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability that most often results in impairment of a single limb, contralateral to the injury (paretic limb). While stroke survivors often receive some type of rehabilitative training, chronic deficits persist. It has been suggested that compensatory use of the nonparetic limb immediately after injury may underlie these long-term consequences.

Mutation of the murC and murB Genes Impairs Heterocyst Differentiation in Anabaena sp. Strain PCC 7120.

Unlabelled: To stabilize cellular integrity in the face of environmental perturbations, most bacteria, including cyanobacteria, synthesize and maintain a strong, flexible, three-dimensional peptidoglycan lattice. Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is a filamentous cyanobacterium capable of differentiating morphologically distinct nitrogen-fixing heterocyst cells in a periodic pattern.

Embryogenesis and tadpole description of Hyperolius castaneus Ahl, 1931 and H. jackie Dehling, 2012 (Anura, Hyperoliidae) from montane bog pools.

Tadpoles of Hyperolius castaneus and Hyperolius jackie were found in the Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda and adjacent areas. Tadpoles of both species were identified by DNA-barcoding. At the shore of a bog pool three clutches of Hyperolius castaneus of apparently different age, all laid on moss pads (Polytrichum commune, Isotachis aubertii) or grass tussocks (Andropogon shirensis) 2-5 cm above the water level, were found.

Nonurgent Emergency Department Visits by Insured and Uninsured Adults.

Objective: To compare nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits by insured and uninsured adults in a Midwest community.

Design And Sample: Records for this secondary data analysis included 84,877 nonurgent visits to a Midwest ED from September 2004 to January 2012. Insured versus uninsured visits were analyzed using t tests for continuous variables and chi-squared tests for categorical variables.

On the estimators and tests for the semiparametric hazards regression model.

In the accelerated hazards regression model with censored data, estimation of the covariance matrices of the regression parameters is difficult, since it involves the unknown baseline hazard function and its derivative. This paper provides simple but reliable procedures that yield asymptotically normal estimators whose covariance matrices can be easily estimated. A class of weight functions are introduced to result in the estimators whose asymptotic covariance matrices do not involve the derivative of the unknown hazard function.

Characteristics of Illinois School Districts That Employ School Nurses.

Research indicates that school nursing services are cost-effective, but the National Association of School Nurses estimates that 25% of schools do not have a school nurse (SN). The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of Illinois school districts that employed SNs. This was a secondary data analysis of Illinois School Report Card system data as well as data obtained from district websites regarding SNs.

Comparative Effects of Vigorous-Intensity and Low-Intensity Blood Flow Restricted Cycle Training and Detraining on Muscle Mass, Strength, and Aerobic Capacity.

Traditional high-intensity aerobic training has been shown to improve muscle protein synthesis and aerobic capacity; however, recent research indicates that low-intensity aerobic training with blood flow restriction (BFR) may have similar effects. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of vigorous-intensity (VI) cycling vs. low-intensity cycling with BFR (LI-BFR) on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic capacity after training and subsequent detraining.

Preference of methadone maintenance patients for the integrative and decentralized service delivery models in Vietnam.

Background: Integrating and decentralizing services are essential to increase the accessibility and provide comprehensive care for methadone patients. Moreover, they assure the sustainability of a HIV/AIDS prevention program by reducing the implementation cost. This study aimed to measure the preference of patients enrolling in a MMT program for integrated and decentralized MMT clinics and then further examine related factors.