670 research outputs found

    Application of Lymphedema Education Toolkit for Nurse Coordinators

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    Problem: There is approximately one in five breast cancer survivors affected by breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL), a potentially debilitating condition affecting the physical, emotional, social, and financial well-being of individuals. Context: This Quality Improvement (QI) project was conducted at an outpatient facility of Hospital X’s Women’s Cancer Center. Within this microsystem, there are 24 permanent clinical nurse coordinators and advanced practice providers, with 15 nurse coordinators dedicated to care for patients with breast cancer or gynecological conditions. Intervention: The intervention aims to evaluate if a standardized educational tool improves early interventions for patients with lymphedema and knowledge among healthcare providers on the comprehension of lymphedema stages, diagnostic modalities, risk reduction, and treatments. By implementing this toolkit for nurse coordinators, intervention helps assist patients make informed decisions about their care. Measures: Data collection gathered evidence-based research to improve early lymphedema interventions compared to current methods. The application of a pre-and post-survey assesses stakeholder’s efficacy of the education toolkit. Results: A pre-assessment survey evaluating the effectiveness of an education toolkit achieved an 81% response rate, and the post-assessment survey had an average score of 93%. To institute early interventions for patients the average response rate improved by 12% after implementing a standardized education tool for nurse coordinators. Conclusion: In the transition of the change process of this microsystem, an increase in knowledge following the implementation of a standardized toolkit enhanced early interventions for patients and clinical nurse coordinators at Hospital X Women’s Cancer Center

    Disorder, inhomogeneity and spin dynamics in f-electron non-Fermi liquid systems

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    Muon spin rotation and relaxation (μ\muSR) experiments have yielded evidence that structural disorder is an important factor in many f-electron-based non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) systems. Disorder-driven mechanisms for NFL behaviour are suggested by the observed broad and strongly temperature-dependent μ\muSR (and NMR) linewidths in several NFL compounds and alloys. Local disorder-driven theories (Kondo disorder, Griffiths-McCoy singularity) are, however, not capable of describing the time-field scaling seen in muon spin relaxation experiments, which suggest cooperative and critical spin fluctuations rather than a distribution of local fluctuation rates. A strong empirical correlation is established between electronic disorder and slow spin fluctuations in NFL materialsComment: 24 pages, 15 figures, submitted to J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

    Non-Fermi Liquids in the Extended Hubbard Model

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    I summarize recent work on non-Fermi liquids within certain generalized Anderson impurity model as well as in the large dimensionality (DD) limit of the two-band extended Hubbard model. The competition between local charge and spin fluctuations leads either to a Fermi liquid with renormalized quasiparticle excitations, or to non-Fermi liquids with spin-charge separation. These results provide new insights into the phenomenological similarities and differences between different correlated metals. While presenting these results, I outline a general strategy of local approach to non-Fermi liquids in correlated electron systems.Comment: 30 pages, REVTEX, 14 figures included. To appear in ``Non Fermi Liquid Physics'', J. Phys: Cond. Matt. (1997

    Thermodynamic analysis of the Quantum Critical behavior of Ce-lattice compounds

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    A systematic analysis of low temperature magnetic phase diagrams of Ce compounds is performed in order to recognize the thermodynamic conditions to be fulfilled by those systems to reach a quantum critical regime and, alternatively, to identify other kinds of low temperature behaviors. Based on specific heat (CmC_m) and entropy (SmS_m) results, three different types of phase diagrams are recognized: i) with the entropy involved into the ordered phase (SMOS_{MO}) decreasing proportionally to the ordering temperature (TMOT_{MO}), ii) those showing a transference of degrees of freedom from the ordered phase to a non-magnetic component, with their Cm(TMO)C_m(T_{MO}) jump (ΔCm\Delta C_m) vanishing at finite temperature, and iii) those ending in a critical point at finite temperature because their ΔCm\Delta C_m do not decrease with TMOT_{MO} producing an entropy accumulation at low temperature. Only those systems belonging to the first case, i.e. with SMO0S_{MO}\to 0 as TMO0T_{MO}\to 0, can be regarded as candidates for quantum critical behavior. Their magnetic phase boundaries deviate from the classical negative curvature below T2.5T\approx 2.5\,K, denouncing frequent misleading extrapolations down to T=0. Different characteristic concentrations are recognized and analyzed for Ce-ligand alloyed systems. Particularly, a pre-critical region is identified, where the nature of the magnetic transition undergoes significant modifications, with its Cm/T\partial C_m/\partial T discontinuity strongly affected by magnetic field and showing an increasing remnant entropy at T0T\to 0. Physical constraints arising from the third law at T0T\to 0 are discussed and recognized from experimental results

    muSR and NMR in f-electron non-Fermi liquid materials

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    Magnetic resonance (muSR and NMR) studies of f-electron non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) materials give clear evidence that structural disorder is a major factor in NFL behavior. Longitudinal-field muSR relaxation measurements at low fields reveal a wide distribution of muon relaxation rates and divergences in the frequency dependence of spin correlation functions in the NFL systems UCu_{5-x}Pd_x and CePtSi_{1-x}Ge_x. These divergences seem to be due to slow dynamics associated with quantum spin-glass behavior, rather than quantum criticality as in a uniform system, for two reasons: the observed strong inhomogeneity in the muon relaxation rate, and the strong and frequency-dependent low-frequency fluctuation observed in U(Cu,Pd)_5 and CePt(Si,Ge). In the NFL materials CeCu_{5.9}Au_{0.1}, Ce(Ru_{0.5}Rh_{0.5})_2Si_2, CeNi_2Ge_2, and YbRh_2Si_2 the low-frequency weight of the spin fluctuation spectrum is much weaker than in the disordered NFL systems.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. To be published in proceedings of muSR2002 (Physica B

    Atherogenic Lipoprotein(a) Increases Vascular Glycolysis, Thereby Facilitating Inflammation and Leukocyte Extravasation

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    Rationale: Patients with elevated levels of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] are hallmarked by increased metabolic activity in the arterial wall on positron emission tomography/computed tomography, indicative of a proinflammatory state. Objective: We hypothesized that Lp(a) induces endothelial cell inflammation by rewiring endothelial metabolism. Methods and Results: We evaluated the impact of Lp(a) on the endothelium and describe that Lp(a), through its oxidized phospholipid content, activates arterial endothelial cells, facilitating increased transendothelial migration of monocytes. Transcriptome analysis of Lp(a)-stimulated human arterial endothelial cells revealed upregulation of inflammatory pathways comprising monocyte adhesion and migration, coinciding with increased 6-phophofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-biphosphatase (PFKFB)-3-mediated glycolysis. ICAM (intercellular adhesion molecule)-1 and PFKFB3 were also found to be upregulated in carotid plaques of patients with elevated levels of Lp(a). Inhibition of PFKFB3 abolished the inflammatory signature with concomitant attenuation of transendothelial migration. Conclusions: Collectively, our findings show that Lp(a) activates the endothelium by enhancing PFKFB3-mediated glycolysis, leading to a proadhesive state, which can be reversed by inhibition of glycolysis. These findings pave the way for therapeutic agents targeting metabolism aimed at reducing inflammation in patients with cardiovascular disease
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