A Comparison of Fluorescence and ETR Between Malosma laurina and Rhus integrifolia

Malosma laurina and Rhus integrifolia are both native species to the Santa Monica Mountains and belong to the same family, Anacardiaceae. The two natives have lived alongside each other but in recent years M. laurina has been heavily affected by the prolonged drought. The Malosma laurina population in the Santa Monica Mountains has withstood wildfires and droughts, and has remained relatively stable and healthy up until recently. A recent Pepperdine graduate published her findings explaining the high levels of dieback in Malosma laurina and attributed it to the fungus, B. dothidea. We hypothesized that Rhus integrifolia would have higher fluorescence and ETR rates because there have been no recorded cases of Rhus integrifolia being infected by the fungus or that it would physiologically outperform M. laurina. We concluded that there was no significant difference in light and dark adapted fluorescence rates between both plants. However, Malosma laurina proved to have a significanty higher electron transport rate

How to make your research jump off the page: Co-creation to broaden public engagement in medical research.

Nina Finley and co-authors discuss public involvement in planning and reporting medical research

Resource discovery for distributed computing systems: A comprehensive survey

Large-scale distributed computing environments provide a vast amount of heterogeneous computing resources from different sources for resource sharing and distributed computing. Discovering appropriate resources in such environments is a challenge which involves several different subjects. In this paper, we provide an investigation on the current state of resource discovery protocols, mechanisms, and platforms for large-scale distributed environments, focusing on the design aspects. We classify all related aspects, general steps, and requirements to construct a novel resource discovery solution in three categories consisting of structures, methods, and issues. Accordingly, we review the literature, analyzing various aspects for each category

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Comparison of Photosynthesis among Three Chaparral Species in the Family Anacardiaceae

Recent argumentative data showed a lack of niche differentiation amongst three Banksia species in Australia conducted by Lamont and Bergl, and the Anacardiaceae family in the native chaparral of the Santa Monica Mountains are supposed to be significantly similar1. Because of this we wanted to test if there would be a significant difference between the stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, and water potential in samples of the Rhus ovata, Rhus integrifolia, and Malosma laurina (Rhus laurina) species. We tested this idea by collecting the stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rates of each plant species in the same general location with an LI-6400XT gas exchange machine and tested water potential before sun rise and during the largest amount of sun exposure with a water pressure chamber. We compared the data with and found that the only significant difference was the photosynthetic rates between the Malosma laurina and Rhus integrifolia. From our results we concluded that the species in the Anacardiaceae family were mostly homologous in there performances in the same general location