Incorporating Bedside Reporting into Change‐of‐Shift Report

Communication failures during shift reports are a leading cause of sentinel events in the United States. Providing adequate information during change‐of‐shift reporting is essential to promoting patient safety. In addition, patients want to be more involved in decisions regarding their plan of care. The purpose of the article is to discuss how a stroke rehabilitation unit was able to implement bedside change‐of‐shift reporting to meet both of these goals.     

Endothelium‐dependent and endothelium‐independent effects of 1‐nitro‐2‐propylbenzene on rat aorta

A group of nitro compounds contains a benzene ring in a short aliphatic chain with the NO₂ group, property that supposedly favors its vasodilator profile. In this study, we evaluated in isolated rat aorta the effects of 1‐nitro‐2‐propylbenzene (NPB), a nitro compound containing the NO₂ in the aromatic ring. In aorta precontracted with KCl, NPB (1‐3000 μm ) induced full endothelium‐independent relaxation. In endothelium‐intact preparations, phenylephrine‐induced contractions were fully relaxed by NPB, effect unaltered by N(ω)‐nitro‐L‐arginine methyl ester (L‐NAME) or 1H‐[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3‐a]quinoxalin‐1‐one (ODQ). In the concentration range of 30–300 μm , NPB slightly but significantly potentiated the phenylephrine‐induced contraction. Such potentiation was unaltered by the thromboxane‐prostanoid receptor antagonist seratrodast, but was abolished by endothelium removal or by preincubation of endothelium‐intact preparations with L‐NAME, ODQ or by ruthenium red and HC‐030031, blockers of subtype 1 of ankyrin transient receptor potential (TRPA₁) channels. Verapamil exacerbated the potentiating effect of NPB. The potentiating effect was undetectable in preparations precontracted by 9,11‐dideoxy‐11α,9α‐epoxymethanoprostaglandin F2α (U‐46619). Relaxation was reduced by ruthenium red while it was enhanced by HC‐030031. In conclusion, NPB has vasodilator properties but with a mechanism of action distinct from its analogues. Contrary to other nitro compounds, its relaxing effects did not involve recruitment of the guanylyl cyclase pathway. NPB has also endothelium‐dependent potentiating properties on phenylephrine‐induced contractions, a phenomenon that putatively required a role of endothelial TRPA₁ channels. The present findings reinforce the notion that the functional group NO₂ in the aliphatic chain of these nitro compounds determines favorably their vasodilator properties.     

Long‐Term Care Quality‐of‐Life Scale utility in community home care

This study aimed to test the utility of the Long‐Term Care Quality‐of‐Life assessment scale within community home care contexts and to compare the scale against the World Health Organization Quality‐of‐Life scale in terms of reliability and validity. Both scales were administered concurrently to 109 older adults receiving home care. Analysis revealed the Long‐Term Care Quality‐of‐Life scale to have good test–retest reliability, modest but acceptable internal consistency, and pairwise comparison between the Long‐Term Care Quality‐of‐Life and World Health Organization Quality‐of‐Life scales' scores suggesting moderate‐to‐strong correlation of criterion validity and comparability between scales. The results showed that the assessment of individual perceptions of life quality within home care contexts can be monitored and recorded, and that Long‐Term Care Quality‐of‐Life scale monitoring in home and residential care can identify opportunities for quality‐of‐life support and care continuity, even with transitions between care services and systems. The implications of the present study lie in having access to a validated quality‐of‐life assessment scale that can be used across care contexts to support evidence‐based practice, continuity of care, and acknowledgement of individual circumstances in services and care planning.     

Profound Sinus Node Dysfunction in Anti‐N‐Methyl‐D‐Aspartate Receptor Limbic Encephalitis

A form of limbic encephalitis associated with antibodies against the N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor (NMDAR) was discovered in 2007. It is often a multistage illness that progresses from psychosis, memory deficits, seizures into a state of unresponsiveness with catatonic features, abnormal movements, autonomic, and respiratory instability. We present two cases of anti‐NMDAR encephalitis to highlight the cardiac complications and their management.     

Additive manufacturing of poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐(R)‐3‐hydroxyhexanoate] scaffolds for engineered bone development

A wide range of poly(hydroxyalkanoate)s (PHAs), a class of biodegradable polyesters produced by various bacteria grown under unbalanced conditions, have been proposed for the fabrication of tissue‐engineering scaffolds. In this study, the manufacture of poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐(R)‐3‐hydroxyhexanoate] (or PHBHHx) scaffolds, by means of an additive manufacturing technique based on a computer‐controlled wet‐spinning system, was investigated. By optimizing the processing parameters, three‐dimensional scaffolds with different internal architectures were fabricated, based on a layer‐by‐layer approach. The resulting scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, which showed good control over the fibre alignment and a fully interconnected porous network, with porosity in the range 79–88%, fibre diameter 47–76 µm and pore size 123–789 µm. Moreover, the resulting fibres presented an internal porosity connected to the external fibre surface as a consequence of the phase‐inversion process governing the solidification of the polymer solution. Scaffold compressive modulus and yield stress and strain could be varied in a certain range by changing the architectural parameters. Cell‐culture experiments employing the MC3T3‐E1 murine pre‐osteoblast cell line showed good cell proliferation after 21 days of culture. The PHBHHx scaffolds demonstrated promising results in terms of cell differentiation towards an osteoblast phenotype. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

First ex‐vivo MRI co‐localization of two LIPOCEST agents

One of the major advantages of the CEST methodology deals with the possibility of visualizing more probes in the same MR image voxels. This is a unique property within the contrast media that act on the ¹H‐NMR signal of water protons, and it might considerably improve the potential of the technique. In addition to displaying sufficiently different resonance frequencies of their mobile protons, it is also important that the CEST agents designed for this application are highly sensitive. LIPOCEST agents represent the most sensitive class of CEST systems developed so far. On this basis, two LIPOCEST samples, a spherical one and an osmotically shrunken nonspherical one, endowed with markedly different resonance frequencies of their intraliposomal water protons, 3 ppm and 15 ppm, respectively, were prepared and tested both in vitro and in ex‐vivo on a bovine muscle used as tissue‐surrogate. The response of the two agents did not interfere each other, thus allowing the multiple visualization of the two agents present at nanomolar concentrations in the same image voxels. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

18F‐Fluorine‐18‐l‐dihydroxyphenylalanine (18F‐DOPA) positive isolated peritoneal carcinomatosis from a MENII‐related medullary thyroid carcinoma. About an atypical metastatic site and utility of 18F‐FDOPA

A patient, operated for a medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) with a positive RET mutation, showed several peritoneal nodes on a computed tomography (CT), with increased Thyrocalcitonine. A ¹⁸F‐Fluorine‐18‐l ‐dihydroxyphenylalanine (18‐F‐FDOPA) positron emission tomography (PET/CT) showed isolated tracer uptake on the nodes. A biopsy confirmed that it was from the MTC, with the same RET mutation as in blood.     

Evaluation of a new 1H/31P dual‐tuned birdcage coil for 31P spectroscopy

We introduce a new dual‐tuned hydrogen/phosphorus (¹H/³¹P) birdcage coil, referred to as split birdcage coil, and evaluate its performance using both simulations and magnetic resonance (MR) experiments on a 3 T MR scanner. The proposed coil simplifies the practical matters of tuning and matching, which makes the coil easily reproducible. Simulations were run with the finite difference in time domain method to evaluate the sensitivity and homogeneity of the magnetic field generated by the proposed ¹H coils. Following simulations, MR experiments were conducted using both a phantom and human thigh to compare the proposed design with a currently available commercial dual‐tuned flexible surface coil, referred to as flex surface coil, for signal to noise ratio (SNR) as well as homogeneity for the ³¹P coil. At regions deep within the human thigh, the split birdcage coil was able to acquire spectroscopic signal with a higher average SNR than the flex surface coil. For all regions except those close to the flex surface coil, the split birdcage coil matched or exceeded the performance of the flex surface coil. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part B (Magn Reson Engineering) 43B: 90‐99, 2013