Teamwork in a coronary care unit: facilitating and hindering aspects

Abstract OBJECTIVE To identify, within a multidisciplinary team, the facilitating and hindering aspects for teamwork in a coronary care unit. METHOD A descriptive study, with qualitative and quantitative data, was carried out in the coronary care unit of a public hospital. The study population consisted of professionals working in the unit for at least one year. Those who were on leave or who were not located were excluded. The critical incident technique was used for data collection, by means of semi-structured interviews. For data analysis, content analysis and the critical incident technique were applied. RESULTS Participants were 45 professionals: 29 nursing professionals; 11 physicians; 4 physical therapists; and 1 psychologist. A total of 49 situations (77.6% with negative references); 385 behaviors (54.2% with positive references); and 182 consequences emerged (71.9% with negative references). Positive references facilitate teamwork, whereas negative references hinder it. A collaborative/communicative interprofessional relationship was evidenced as a facilitator; whereas poor collaboration among agents/inadequate management was a hindering aspect. CONCLUSION Despite the prevalence of negative situations and consequences, the emphasis on positive behaviors reveals the efforts the agents make in order to overcome obstacles and carry out teamwork

Carbon export from seaweed forests to deep ocean sinks

The coastal ocean represents an important global carbon sink and is a focus for interventions to mitigate climate change and meet the Paris Agreement targets while supporting biodiversity and other ecosystem functions. However, the fate of the flux of carbon exported from seaweed forests—the world’s largest coastal vegetated ecosystem—is a key unknown in marine carbon budgets. Here we provide national and global estimates for seaweed-derived particulate carbon export below 200 m depth, which totalled 3–4% of the ocean carbon sink capacity. We characterized export using models of seaweed forest extent, production and decomposition, as well as shelf–open ocean water exchange. On average, 15% of seaweed production is estimated to be exported across the continental shelf, which equates to 56 TgC yr−1 (range: 10–170 TgC yr−1). Using modelled sequestration timescales below 200 m depth, we estimated that each year, 4–44 Tg seaweed-derived carbon could be sequestered for 100 years. Determining the full extent of seaweed carbon sequestration remains challenging, but critical to guide efforts to conserve seaweed forests, which are in decline globally. Our estimate does not include shelf burial and dissolved and refractory carbon pathways; still it highlights a relevant potential contribution of seaweed to natural carbon sinks

Coinfection with Different Trypanosoma cruzi Strains Interferes with the Host Immune Response to Infection

A century after the discovery of Trypanosoma cruzi in a child living in Lassance, Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1909, many uncertainties remain with respect to factors determining the pathogenesis of Chagas disease (CD). Herein, we simultaneously investigate the contribution of both host and parasite factors during acute phase of infection in BALB/c mice infected with the JG and/or CL Brener T. cruzi strains. JG single infected mice presented reduced parasitemia and heart parasitism, no mortality, levels of pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, CCL2, IL-6 and IFN-γ) similar to those found among naïve animals and no clinical manifestations of disease. On the other hand, CL Brener single infected mice presented higher parasitemia and heart parasitism, as well as an increased systemic release of pro-inflammatory mediators and higher mortality probably due to a toxic shock-like systemic inflammatory response. Interestingly, coinfection with JG and CL Brener strains resulted in intermediate parasitemia, heart parasitism and mortality. This was accompanied by an increase in the systemic release of IL-10 with a parallel increase in the number of MAC-3+ and CD4+ T spleen cells expressing IL-10. Therefore, the endogenous production of IL-10 elicited by coinfection seems to be crucial to counterregulate the potentially lethal effects triggered by systemic release of pro-inflammatory mediators induced by CL Brener single infection. In conclusion, our results suggest that the composition of the infecting parasite population plays a role in the host response to T. cruzi in determining the severity of the disease in experimentally infected BALB/c mice. The combination of JG and CL Brener was able to trigger both protective inflammatory immunity and regulatory immune mechanisms that attenuate damage caused by inflammation and disease severity in BALB/c mice

Effects of biofertilizer containing N-fixer, P and K solubilizers and AM fungi on maize growth: A greenhouse trial.

An in vitro study was undertaken to evaluate the compatibility of indigenous plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with commonly used inorganic and organic sources of fertilizers in tea plantations. The nitrogenous, phosphatic and potash fertilizers used for this study were urea, rock phosphate and muriate of potash, respectively. The organic sources of fertilizers neem cake, composted coir pith and vermicompost were also used. PGPRs such as nitrogen fixer; Azospirillum lipoferum, Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB); Pseudomonas putida, Potassium Solubilizing Bacteria (KSB); Burkholderia cepacia and Pseudomonas putida were used for compatibility study. Results were indicated that PGPRs preferred the coir pith and they proved their higher colony establishment in the formulation except Azospirillum spp. that preferred vermicompost for their establishment. The optimum dose of neem cake powder