A study to demonstrate communication of the nursing assistant with the patient and the nursing team as a measure of the identification and satisfaction of patient needs.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

United States Reexamination Procedures: Recent Trends, Strategies and Impact on Patent Practice, 8 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 381 (2009)

Reexamination is playing a significant role in the patent landscape. The United States Patent and Trademark Office is reexamining and invalidating more patent claims than ever before. Potential infringers, aware of this trend, can benefit from reexamination proceedings initiated before, during, and after litigation. Moreover, a prevalent reexamination system benefits both the public and industry. Efficient reexamination enables parties to challenge overly broad patents at a reasonable cost which reduces transaction costs, promoting innovation. Patent holders have responded by crafting narrow claims which fair well before the patent office and in court. The current reexamination trend, if continued, will have a strong and positive effect on innovation in the United States

Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometric Determination of Molecular Weight Distributions of Low Polydispersity Poly(Dimethyl Siloxane) with Polyatomic Primary Ions

This work reports a comparison of oligomer and fragment ion intensities resulting from primary ion bombardment with several primary ion sources (Bin+, C60+, and Cs+) at various energies in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Although the use of polyatomic primary ions are of great interest due to increased secondary ion efficiency and yield, we demonstrate that monatomic primary ions result in increased oligomer ion yield for polymers prepared as submonolayer films on silver substrates. The enhancement of oligomer secondary ion yield with monatomic ions is evidence that monatomic primary ions have a shallower sampling depth than polyatomic ions, resulting from a collision cascade that is less energetic at the sample surface. The results are also consistent with a lower degree of fragmentation of the resultant secondary ions, which is observed when evaluating the fragmentation data and the spectral data

THE INTERSECTIONALITY OF CLIMATE CHANGE: AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN BRAZIL

Globally, climate change is having significant effects on ecosystems and its services. In this context, food security is topping the list of concerns. For a country like Brazil, a leading agriculture producer, sustainability is key to ensure long-term prosperity. As the primary home of one of the world’s most important ecosystems, the Amazon, Brazil has struggled to balance the economic benefits of agriculture development with the environmental impacts – namely deforestation. For many years, Brazil was viewed as an environmental steward when it successfully slashed deforestation rates through command- and-control environmental policy; however, as of late this trend is reversing. As climate action and discourse grows globally, it is important to take stock of how environmental policy has evolved in Brazil, how it has affected deforestation and the influence agriculture development has had. This policy study will combine time series analysis of agriculture production, trade and deforestation with the evolution of Brazilian environmental policy to illustrate the fragility of policy and the influence competing interests can have on its enforcement and effectiveness. The case study of Brazil will demonstrate that despite having strong environmental protection policies in place, their enforcement and success is dependent on leadership and coordination amongst with key economic sectors and stakeholders

Linking Community Service, Learning, and Enviromental Analytical Chemistry

In 1994, during a tour of the then-new natural sciences building- a $43 million teaching and research complex fully equipped with the latest in technology and instrumentation for chemistry and geology courses-a member of the Buffalo Public Schools Board of Education asked, How can the community [that paid for it] have access to this teaching and research equipment? That question triggered the effort reported here - a program to better link teaching and research to community service

Catalog of selected heavy duty transport energy management models

A catalog of energy management models for heavy duty transport systems powered by diesel engines is presented. The catalog results from a literature survey, supplemented by telephone interviews and mailed questionnaires to discover the major computer models currently used in the transportation industry in the following categories: heavy duty transport systems, which consist of highway (vehicle simulation), marine (ship simulation), rail (locomotive simulation), and pipeline (pumping station simulation); and heavy duty diesel engines, which involve models that match the intake/exhaust system to the engine, fuel efficiency, emissions, combustion chamber shape, fuel injection system, heat transfer, intake/exhaust system, operating performance, and waste heat utilization devices, i.e., turbocharger, bottoming cycle

Sexual Health Dysfunction After Radiotherapy for Gynecological Cancer: Role of Physical Rehabilitation Including Pelvic Floor Muscle Training

Introduction: The present study aims to describe: 1. How the side effects of radiotherapy (RT) could impact sexual health in women; 2. The effectiveness of physical rehabilitation including pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) in the management of sexual dysfunction after RT. Materials and Methods: Search keys on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, PEDro, and Cochrane were used to identify studies on women treated with radical or adjuvant RT and/or brachytherapy for gynecological cancers with an emphasis on vulvo-vaginal toxicities and PFMT studies on sexual dysfunction for this group of women. Results: Regarding the first key question, we analyzed 19 studies including a total of 2,739 women who reported vaginal dryness, stenosis, and pain as the most common side effects. Reports of dosimetric risk factors and dose-effect data for vaginal and vulvar post-RT toxicities are scant. Only five studies, including three randomized controlled trials (RCTs), were found to report the effect of PFMT alone or in combination with other treatments. The results showed some evidence for the effect of training modalities including PFMT, but to date, there is insufficient evidence from high-quality studies to draw any conclusion of a possible effect. Conclusions: Gynecological toxicities after RT are common, and their management is challenging. The few data available for a rehabilitative approach on post-actinic vulvo-vaginal side effects are encouraging. Large and well-designed RCTs with the long-term follow-up that investigate the effect of PFMT on vulvo-vaginal tissues and pelvic floor muscle function are needed to provide further guidance for clinical management

Cysteine oxidation targets peroxiredoxins 1 and 2 for exosomal release through a novel mechanism of redox-dependent secretion

Non-classical protein secretion is of major importance as a number of cytokines and inflammatory mediators are secreted via this route. Current evidence indicates that there are several mechanistically distinct methods of non-classical secretion. We have recently shown that peroxiredoxin (Prdx) 1 and Prdx2 are released by various cells upon exposure to inflammatory stimuli such as LPS or TNF-α. The released Prdx then acts to induce production of inflammatory cytokines. However, Prdx1 and 2 do not have signal peptides and therefore must be secreted by alternative mechanisms as has been postulated for the inflammatory mediators IL-1β and HMGB1. We show here that circulating Prdx1 and 2 are present exclusively as disulphide-linked homodimers. Inflammatory stimuli also induce in vitro release of Prdx1 and 2 as disulfide-linked homodimers. Mutation of cysteines Cys51 or Cys172 (but not Cys70) in Prdx2, and Cys52 or Cys173 (but not Cys71 or Cys83) in Prdx1 prevented dimer formation and this was associated with inhibition of their TNF-α-induced release. Thus, the presence and oxidation of key cysteine residues in these proteins are a prerequisite for their secretion in response to TNF-α and this release can be induced with an oxidant. In contrast, the secretion of the nuclear-associated danger signal HMGB1 is independent of cysteine oxidation, as shown by experiments with a cysteine-free HMGB1 mutant. Release of Prdx1 and 2 is not prevented by inhibitors of the classical secretory pathway; instead, both Prdx1 and 2 are released in exosomes from both HEK cells and monocytic cells. Serum Prdx1 and 2 are also associated with the exosomes. These results describe a novel pathway of protein secretion mediated by cysteine oxidation that underlines the importance of redox-dependent signalling mechanisms in inflammation