Weight Loss Intervention Efficacy Among Black Women

Obesity is a complex disease state that has challenged the health of Americans and has become a main concentration in health care. The highest rates of obesity are observed among black women. The purpose of this evidence-based review was to find evidence that specifically examined black women to determine if participation in weight loss interventions led to successful weight loss compared with usual care and control groups. Twelve experimental studies and 4 systematic reviews revealed that interventions contributed to successful weight loss among black women with obesity. However, maintenance of weight loss is an ongoing challenge

Evaluation of a Primary Care Weight Loss Program

Nurse practitioners at a primary care clinic established a weight loss program to address high obesity rates among their African American patients. Interviews and a retrospective chart review were used to evaluate the weight loss program. Number of appointments was the only significant predictor of weight loss, and there was a strong positive correlation between total number of appointments and weight loss. The overall view of the program was positive. This description and evaluation of the program may be useful to nurse practitioners seeking to develop an individualized effective weight loss intervention for African Americans within a primary care setting

Calcium carbonate-calcium phosphate mixed cement compositions for bone reconstruction

The feasibility of making calcium carbonate-calcium phosphate (CaCO3-CaP) mixed cements, comprising at least 40 % (w/w) CaCO3 in the dry powder ingredients, has been demonstrated. Several original cement compositions were obtained by mixing metastable crystalline calcium carbonate phases with metastable amorphous or crystalline calcium phosphate powders in aqueous medium. The cements set within at most 1 hour at 37°C in atmosphere saturated with water. The hardened cement is microporous and exhibits weak compressive strength. The setting reaction appeared to be essentially related to the formation of a highly carbonated nanocrystalline apatite phase by reaction of the mestastable CaP phase with part or almost all of the metastable CaCO3 phase. The recrystallization of metastable CaP varieties led to a final cement consisting of a highly carbonated poorly crystalline apatite (PCA) analogous to bone mineral associated with various amounts of vaterite and/or aragonite. The presence of controlled amounts of CaCO3 with a higher solubility than the apatite formed in the well-developed calcium phosphate cements might be of interest to increase resorption rates in biomedical cement and favor its replacement by bone tissue. Cytotoxicity testing revealed excellent cytocompatibility of CaCO3-CaP mixed cement compositions

Preparation, physical-chemical characterisation and cytocompatibility of calcium carbonate cements

The feasibility of calcium carbonate cements involving the recrystallisation of metastable calcium carbonate varieties has been demonstrated. Calcium carbonate cement compositions presented in this paper can be prepared straightforwardly by simply mixing water (liquid phase) with two calcium carbonate phases (solid phase) which can be easily obtained by precipitation. An original cement composition was obtained by mixing amorphous calcium carbonate and vaterite with an aqueous medium. The cement set and hardened within 2 hours at 37°C in an atmosphere saturated with water and the final composition of the cement consisted mostly of aragonite. The hardened cement was microporous and showed poor mechanical properties. Cytotoxicity tests revealed excellent cytocompatibility of calcium carbonate cement compositions. Calcium carbonates with a higher solubility than the marketed calcium phosphate cements might be of interest to increase biomedical cement resorption rates and to favour its replacement by bone tissue

Novel naturally derived whey protein isolate and aragonite biocomposite hydrogels have potential for bone regeneration

This work explores novel biocomposite hydrogels fabricated using 40% (wt/vol) solution of whey protein isolate (WPI, from the food industry) mixed with increasing concentrations of synthetic aragonite rod-like powder of 0, 100, 200 and 300 mg/ml (named WPI0, WPI100, WPI200 and WPI300). FTIR results showed that aragonite was successfully incorporated into the WPI hydrogel network. SEM and micro-CT investigations revealed that aragonite was mainly concentrated near the edges of the composite samples, except in WPI300, which had homogeneous aragonite distribution. The pore diameters ranged from 18 to 778 μm while averaged pore size was the lowest for WPI0 at 30 μm and highest for WPI200 at 103 μm. The mean compression modulus was highest for WPI300 at 3.16 MPa. After 28 days in physiological conditions WPI300 had maximum mean swelling of 4.3% and there was the highest degradation rate for WPI200 and WPI300 and lowest for WPI100 and WPI0. The osteoblast-like MG63 cell metabolic and alkaline phosphatase activities in direct contact experiments with composites increased with increasing aragonite content over 3 weeks. Moreover, the degradation products of these composites were non-cytotoxic and led to mineral-like deposits in extracellular matrix. These WPI-aragonite biocomposite hydrogels are potent candidates for bone repair applications

Patient Evaluation, Data Collection, And Communication: A Pocket Guide for Nurses

Patient Evaluation, Data Collection, and Communication: A Pocket Guide for Nurses is an essential resource for students and novice nurses to help develop communication and critical thinking skills in clinical situations. It serves as a guide from initial assessment of a clinical sign or symptom to having an effective dialogue with a physician by using the ISBARR (Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendations, Read Back) communication tool. Designed as an easy-to-use quick reference, this pocket guide provides a systematic review of common signs and symptoms, key assessments for quick documentation, questions to ask the patient or family, and examples of ISBARR conversations that can be utilized in clinical practice