Engineering small-caliber vascular grafts from collagen filaments and nanofibers with comparable mechanical properties to native vessels.

At the present time, there is no successful synthetic, off-the-shelf small-caliber vascular graft (<6 mm) for the repair or bypass of the coronary or carotid arteries. This stimulates on-going investigations to fabricate an artificial vascular graft that has both sufficient mechanical properties as well as superior biological performance. Collagen has long been considered as a viable material to encourage cell recruitment, tissue regeneration, and revascularization, but its use has been limited by its inferior mechanical properties.

Enhanced hydrophilic and antibacterial efficiencies by the synergetic effect TiO nanofiber and graphene oxide in cellulose acetate nanofibers.

In this study, a novel nanofiber with improved antibacterial efficiencies was created by introducing TiO nanofibers and graphene oxide (GO) sheets into cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers using an efficient electrospinning process. The morphologies and chemical composition of above nanocomposite were fully measured by SEM, FTIR and XRD measurements. The results demonstrated that TiO nanofibers and GO sheets have a uniform distribution in the CA nanofibers and these two additives also could improve hydrophilicity.

One- and two-stage anaerobic co-digestion of cucumber waste and sewage sludge.

The demand for uniformly sized and shaped produce that are aesthetically pleasing results in significant food waste throughout the world. Cucumber waste is a major agricultural waste product in a number of countries, especially areas with high pickle production. Opportunity exists for wastewater treatment plants containing anaerobic digesters to utilize cucumber agricultural and industrial waste for biogas production.

Pick your Poison: Examining Adolescent Substance Use Through Opportunity Theory.

The present study examines substance use behaviors of middle and high school students, focusing on how varying influences of opportunity measures impact use of specific types of substances. The data used in the present study come from almost 4,000 students within 89 school contexts from students attending public school in a Southern state. HLM is used to explore the influence of various opportunities at both the student and school-level on the use of different types of substances.

Colostomy Care: A Guide for Home Care Clinicians.

Surgical creation of a colostomy can have significant physical, emotional, and social effects. Adapting to a new ostomy can be overwhelming and interventions aimed at decreasing barriers to self-care should be a priority for home care patients. Advances in surgical procedures, coupled with decreased length of hospital stays, require home care clinicians to have the skills and knowledge to care for this population through postoperative recovery and the initial phases of learning self-care.

Habitat structure changes the relationships between predator behavior, prey behavior, and prey survival rates.

The individual behavioral traits of predators and prey sometimes determine the outcome of their interactions. Here, we examine whether changes to habitat complexity alter the effects of predator and prey behavior on their survival rates. Specifically, we test whether behavioral traits (activity level, boldness, and perch height) measured in predators and prey or multivariate behavioral volumes best predict the survival rates of both trophic levels in staged mesocosms with contrasting structural complexity.

Civilian Nurses' Experiences Caring for Military Veterans: Qualitative Data From a Mixed-Methods Study.

Over nine million people living in the United States are military Veterans over the age of 65. Many utilize civilian care providers, creating a need for civilian providers to have an understanding of the unique healthcare issues of this population. This article describes the qualitative results of a mixed-methods study of nine home care nurses' experiences caring for Veterans.

Concentration and sources of fine particulate associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at two locations in the western coast of India.

PM particulate matter (PM) and their associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were studied at Urban and Sub-urban sites in the western coast of India. The concentration of PM ranged from 66.29 μg m to 182.

Civilian Nurses' Knowledge, Confidence, and Comfort Caring for Military Veterans: Survey Results of a Mixed-Methods Study.

More than 20 million Veterans currently live in the United States, representing World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan war eras, as well as many who served during peacetime. Little is known regarding what home care nurses know about the unique healthcare needs of this population. Using Purnell's Model for Cultural Competence, a mixed-methods study was designed to examine home care nurse's knowledge, comfort, and confidence in caring for active military, Veterans and their families.

Marine tardigrades of the Bahamas with the description of two new species and updated keys to the species of Anisonyches and Archechiniscus.

This is the first survey of subtidal marine tardigrades from the Bahamas, and we compare our results with earlier studies of Bahamian intertidal habitats. In 2011 and 2014 we collected 60 subtidal sand samples from Bimini, the Berry Islands, New Providence, Eleuthera, and the Exumas. We found 11 species only one of which, Dipodarctus subterraneus (Renaud-Debyser, 1959), had been found in the previous intertidal Bahamian collections.

Short-Term Effects of Titanium Dioxide Nanofiber on the Renal Function of Male Sprague Dawley Rats.

Titanium dioxide nanofiber (TDNF) is widely used in the manufacture of various household products, including cosmetics. As a result, the possibility exists for TDNFs to affect human health. Because the kidneys are responsible for filtering out waste from the blood, the goal of the present study was to investigate the short-term effects of TDNF on kidney function of male Sprague Dawley rats.

Three new black (, , ) from eastern North America with notes on selected European species.

We describe three new species of from eastern North America. Of the three, is the rarest, known only from North Carolina and South Carolina, and appears to associate primarily with ectomycorrhizal hardwoods but possibly also with conifers. is widely distributed but disjunct from Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina.

Adaptive population divergence and directional gene flow across steep elevational gradients in a climate-sensitive mammal.

The ecological effects of climate change have been shown in most major taxonomic groups; however, the evolutionary consequences are less well-documented. Adaptation to new climatic conditions offers a potential long-term mechanism for species to maintain viability in rapidly changing environments, but mammalian examples remain scarce. The American pika (Ochotona princeps) has been impacted by recent climate-associated extirpations and range-wide reductions in population sizes, establishing it as a sentinel mammalian species for climate change.

Does manual therapy improve pain and function in patients with plantar fasciitis? A systematic review.

Objective: To assess if manual therapy (MT) in the treatment of plantar fasciitis (PF) patients improves pain and function more effectively than other interventions.

Methods: A systematic review of all randomized control trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of MT in the treatment of human patients with PF, plantar fasciosis, and heel pain published in English on PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases was conducted. Research quality was appraised utilizing the PEDro scale.

Short-term evaluation of hepatic toxicity of titanium dioxide nanofiber (TDNF).

Various in vitro and in vivo studies have shown titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TDNPs) increase the production of reactive oxygen species and change the expression of genes and proteins involved in the inflammatory response and cell division. Although, the cytotoxicity of TDNPs has been shown to be largely dependent on the characteristics of the particles including shape and surface area. This present study investigates the effects of titanium dioxide nanofibers (TDNFs) with a diameter of 300-800 nm, on the histopathology of liver tissue, changes in feed efficiency and liver weights, changes in hepatic gene expression, and serum biochemical parameters in male Sprague-Dawley rats.

Selling violent video game solutions: A look inside the APA's internal notes leading to the creation of the APA's 2005 resolution on violence in video games and interactive media.

For decades politicians, parent groups, researchers, media outlets, professionals in various fields, and laymen have debated the effects playing violent video games have on children and adolescents. In academia, there also exists a divide as to whether violent video games cause children and adolescents to be aggressive, violent, and even engage in criminal behavior. Given inconsistencies in the data, it may be important to understand the ways and the reasons why professional organizations take a stance on the violent video game effects debate which may reflect greater expressed certitude than data can support.

Guest Back-Folding: A Molecular Design Strategy That Produces a Deep-Red Fluorescent Host/Guest Pair with Picomolar Affinity in Water.

One of the major goals of modern supramolecular chemistry, with important practical relevance in many technical fields, is the development of synthetic host/guest partners with ultrahigh affinity and selectivity in water. Currently, most association pairs exhibit micromolar affinity or weaker, and there are very few host/guest systems with K > 10 M, apparently due to a barrier imposed by enthalpy/entropy compensation. This present study investigated the threading of a water-soluble tetralactam cyclophane by a deep-red fluorescent squaraine guest with flanking polyethylene glycol chains, an association process that is dominated by a highly favorable enthalpic driving force.

Could seasonally deteriorating environments favour the evolution of autogamous selfing and a drought escape physiology through indirect selection? A test of the time limitation hypothesis using artificial selection in Clarkia.

Background And Aims: The evolution of selfing from outcrossing may be the most common transition in plant reproductive systems and is associated with a variety of ecological circumstances and life history strategies. The most widely discussed explanation for these associations is the reproductive assurance hypothesis - the proposition that selfing is favoured because it increases female fitness when outcross pollen receipt is limited. Here an alternative explanation, the time limitation hypothesis, is addressed, one scenario of which proposes that selfing may evolve as a correlated response to selection for a faster life cycle in seasonally deteriorating environments.

A Resource Guide to Improve Nursing Care and Transition to Self-Care for Patients With Ostomies.

Clinical management of patients with an ostomy can be complex and stressful. With only 10% of Wound Ostomy Incontinence Nurses working in home health, home healthcare nurses need to be knowledgeable about care of patients with new ostomies. This article provides an overview of the resources available to guide nurses caring for ostomy patients.

For Video Games, Bad News Is Good News: News Reporting of Violent Video Game Studies.

News coverage of video game violence studies has been critiqued for focusing mainly on studies supporting negative effects and failing to report studies that did not find evidence for such effects. These concerns were tested in a sample of 68 published studies using child and adolescent samples. Contrary to our hypotheses, study effect size was not a predictor of either newspaper coverage or publication in journals with a high-impact factor.

A Hypothesis for the Composition of the Tardigrade Brain and its Implications for Panarthropod Brain Evolution.

Incredibly disparate brain types are found in Metazoa, which raises the question of how this disparity evolved. Ecdysozoa includes representatives that exhibit ring-like brains-the Cycloneuralia-and representatives that exhibit ganglionic brains-the Panarthropoda (Euarthropoda, Onychophora, and Tardigrada). The evolutionary steps leading to these distinct brain types are unclear.

End-of-Life Care for WW II, Korea, and Vietnam-Era Veterans.

Military Veterans have made many sacrifices for our country and deserve high-quality care at end of life. The purpose of this article is to discuss the WW II, Korean and Vietnam Veteran population, and common concerns at the end of life. Areas of focus include spiritual and emotional needs, posttraumatic stress disorder, and pain management.

Individual-based analysis of hair corticosterone reveals factors influencing chronic stress in the American pika.

Glucocorticoids are often measured in wildlife to assess physiological responses to environmental or ecological stress. Hair, blood, saliva, or fecal samples are generally used depending on the timescale of the stress response being investigated and species-specific considerations. Here, we report the first use of hair samples to measure long-term corticosterone levels in the climate-sensitive American pika ().