670 research outputs found
Application of Lymphedema Education Toolkit for Nurse Coordinators
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
Muon spin rotation and relaxation (SR) 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 SR
(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
Incidence of WHO stage 3 and 4 conditions following initiation of Anti-Retroviral Therapy in resource limited settings
To determine the incidence of WHO clinical stage 3 and 4 conditions during early anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in resource limited settings (RLS)
Non-Fermi Liquids in the Extended Hubbard Model
I summarize recent work on non-Fermi liquids within certain generalized
Anderson impurity model as well as in the large dimensionality () 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
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 () and entropy () results, three different types of
phase diagrams are recognized: i) with the entropy involved into the ordered
phase () decreasing proportionally to the ordering temperature
(), ii) those showing a transference of degrees of freedom from the
ordered phase to a non-magnetic component, with their jump
() vanishing at finite temperature, and iii) those ending in a
critical point at finite temperature because their do not decrease
with producing an entropy accumulation at low temperature.
Only those systems belonging to the first case, i.e. with as
, can be regarded as candidates for quantum critical behavior.
Their magnetic phase boundaries deviate from the classical negative curvature
below \,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 discontinuity strongly
affected by magnetic field and showing an increasing remnant entropy at . Physical constraints arising from the third law at are discussed
and recognized from experimental results
muSR and NMR in f-electron non-Fermi liquid materials
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
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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A Qualitative Exploration of Patient and Clinician Views on Patient Reported Outcome Measures in Child Mental Health and Diabetes Services
Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are increasingly being recommended for use in both mental and physical health services. The present study is a qualitative exploration of the views of young people, mothers, and clinicians on PROMs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of n = 10 participants (6 young people, 4 clinicians) from mental health services and n = 14 participants (4 young people, 7 mothers, 3 clinicians) from a diabetes service. For different reasons, young people, mothers, and clinicians saw feedback from PROMs as having the potential to alter the scope of clinical discussions
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Author Correction: Towards an arthritis flare-responsive drug delivery system
In the original version of this Article, financial support was not fully acknowledged. The PDF and HTML versions of the Article have now been corrected to include support from the National Football League Players Association
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