Striving for Resilience in Virginia\u27s Transportation Sector

To help address the need for increased resiliency in the Commonwealth’s transportation sector, and in furtherance of the goals set forth in the VDOT [Virginia Department of Transportation] Resilience Plan, this white paper highlights green infrastructure and natural and nature-based features as ways to increase resilience for transportation infrastructure and mitigating impacts from climate change. Additionally, this paper describes potential methods of incorporating resilient best practices with respect to Virginia’s transportation infrastructure and planning decisions. This abstract has been taken from the paper\u27s Section I, Background

Incidence of pregnancy among women accessing antiretroviral therapy in urban Malawi: a retrospective cohort study.

Although previous studies investigated pregnancy rates among women on antiretroviral therapy (ART), incidence of, and factors associated with pregnancy among these women remain poorly understood. We, therefore, conducted a retrospective cohort study at a large public HIV clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi, between July 2007 and December 2010. At each clinic visit, pregnancy status was assessed. Time to event analysis was conducted using Poisson regression. Among 4,738 women, 589 pregnancies were observed. Pregnancy incidence was 9.3/100 person-years. After 6 months on ART, women on ART had similar total fertility rates to women in the urban population. In multivariable analysis, increasing age and advanced WHO clinical stage were associated with decreased probability of becoming pregnant while higher body mass index and longer time on ART were associated with increased probability of becoming pregnant. We recommend that ART clinics integrate comprehensive family planning services to address reproductive health needs among women on ART

Differences in Evaluating Fall Risk by Primary Care Provider Type

This study assessed differences in clinical fall risk assessment of older adults (65+) and clinical resources used by primary care providers (PCP). We used Porter Novelli\u27s 2016 DocStyles survey to examine clinical behavior data from PCPs (n=1128). Compared to other practitioners, nurse practitioners (NP) reported a higher percentage of their patients were older adults. The majority of NPs reported screening for falls risk routinely, but most did not use standardized fall-risk assessments to assess risk factors. There were also differences in the types of clinical resources used by NPs and other PCPs to evaluate the safety profile of medications

Cyclosporin versus Tacrolimus for Liver Transplanted Patients

A systematic review of randomized clinical trials (RCT) was undertaken to evaluate the beneficial and harmful effects of immunosuppression with cyclosporin versus tacrolimus for liver transplanted patients. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central and Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Registers were searched. Using fixed and random effects model, relative risk (RR), values \u3c1 favoring\u3etacrolimus, with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Of 717 potentially relevant references, 16 RCTs were eligible for inclusion. Mortality and graft loss at 1 year were significantly reduced in tacrolimus-treated recipients (Death: RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.73-0.99; graft loss: RR 0.73, 95% CI 0.61-0.86). Tacrolimus reduced the number of recipients with acute rejection (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.75-0.88) and steroid-resistant rejection (RR 0.54, 95% CI 0.47-0.74) in the first year. Lymphoproliferative disorder or dialysis rates were not different but more de novo diabetes (RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.01-1.86) occurred with tacrolimus. More patients stopped cyclosporin than tacrolimus (RR 0.57, 95% CI 0.49-0.66). Treating 100 recipients with tacrolimus instead of cyclosporin would avoid rejection and steroid-resistant rejection in nine and seven patients respectively, graft loss and death in five and two patients respectively, but four additional patients would develop diabetes after liver transplantation

Up-beat UK: a programme of research into the relationship between coronary heart disease and depression in primary care patients.

Coronary heart disease and depression are both common health problems and by 2020 will be the two leading causes of disability worldwide. Depression has been found to be more common in patients with coronary heart disease but the nature of this relationship is uncertain. In the United Kingdom general practitioners are now being remunerated for case-finding for depression in patients with coronary heart disease, however it is unclear how general practitioners should manage these patients. We aim to explore the relationship between coronary heart disease and depression in a primary care population and to develop an intervention for patients with coronary heart disease and depression

Assignments and competencies of nursing managers: a descriptive exploratory research

INTRODUCTION The teaching hospitals (HE – from the Portuguese Hospitais de Ensino) are important institutions for the country that provide highly complex assistance, training of human resources in health, the development of clinical research and the evaluation of new technologies. The Teaching Hospitals Restructuring Program (PRHE – from the Portuguese Programa de Reestruturação de Hospitais de Ensino) was created in 2003 to certify these institutions in teaching, research, assistance and management (1). The achievement of quantitative and qualitative goals for HE(1) based on specific directives, were established by local managers of the Unified Health System (SUS – Sistema Único de Saúde), and included an increase in medium and high complexity procedures, urgency and emergency, and education and research network (2). In this research, we focus on the nursing manager who occupies the highest nursing position in the HE and is committed to developing his role in teaching, research, care and management. He has a voice and a seat in the upper levels of the HE, and he opines, discusses and influences the decisions of the hospital, considers human resources and different ways of conducting nursing care and materials used by the team, and acts as a mediator between nursing and other categories, all of which requires specific skills. After almost ten years of the PRHE, and in view of the small amount of literature on this subject, we expected to find out how these changes were absorbed by the nursing managers and to identify the attributes and competencies of HE nursing managers from the state of Paraná in relation to teaching, research, care and management.Aim: to identify the attributes and competencies of nursing managers in the teaching hospitals in the state of Paraná, in relation to their teaching, research, care and management. Method: a descriptive, exploratory, qualitative approach, carried out in 12 teaching hospitals in Paraná, through semi-structured interviews with 13 nurses who occupy the top position in nursing. The interviews included identification data of the participants, their positions and their attributes and competencies. Results: the attributes were; institutional representation, nursing care management, human resources management and teaching. The skills that stood out after content analysis were; conflict management, leadership, decision making and policy. Conclusions: although the research was carried out in teaching hospitals, the most frequent assignments and competencies of managers relate to the managerial dimension to the detriment of the teaching and research dimensions

Compliance with surgical care improvement project blood glucose--a marker for euglycemia, but does it put our patients at risk?

To improve outcomes in open heart surgery (OHS) patients, the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) requires 6 am postoperative day (POD) 1 and 2 blood glucose (BG) to be ≤200mg/dL. This study examined risk factors for SCIP noncompliance when using an insulin infusion protocol (IIP) and evaluated this SCIP metric as a surrogate for glycemic control. The authors divided 99 consecutive OHS patients, all subjected to 1 uniform IIP, into 2 groups: Group 1-SCIP compliant (n=79) and Group 2-SCIP noncompliant (n=20). They determined mean BG for the first 48 postoperative hours, percent of total time with hyperglycemia (% time BG \u3e200mg/dL) for each group, and assessed risk of SCIP noncompliance as relates to multiple risk factors including intensity of IIP application, and switching to subcutaneous (SQ) insulin prior to 6 am on POD 2. Group 1 had lower mean BG than Group 2 and percent of total time with hyperglycemia,

Comparison of transcutaneous electrical tibial nerve stimulation for the treatment of overactive bladder: a multi-arm randomized controlled trial with blinded assessment

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of tibial nerve transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for an overactive bladder, considering the sites of application and frequency of attendance. METHODS: This multi-arm randomized controlled trial enrolled 137 adult women (61.0±9.0 years) with overactive bladder from a university hospital. They underwent 12 sessions of 30-min TENS application and were assigned to five groups: one leg, once a week (n=26); one leg, twice a week (n=27); two legs, once a week (n=26); two legs, twice a week (n=28); and placebo (n=30). Symptoms of overactive bladder and its impact on quality of life were evaluated before and after 6 or 12 weeks of treatment using the Overactive Bladder Questionnaire-V8 and voiding diary. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01912885. RESULTS: The use of one leg, once a week TENS application reduced the frequency of urgency episodes compared with the placebo (1.0±1.6 vs. 1.4±1.9; p=0.046) and frequency of incontinence episodes compared with the placebo (0.7±1.4 vs.1.4±2.2; p<0.0001). The one-leg, twice a week protocol decreased the urinary frequency compared with the two legs, once a week protocol (8.2±3.5 vs. 9.0±5.1; p=0.026) and placebo (8.2±3.5 vs. 7.9±2.7; p=0.02). Nocturia improved using the two legs, once a week protocol (1.5±1.8) when compared with the one leg, twice a week protocol (1.9±2.0) and placebo (1.7±1.6) (p=0.005 and p=0.027, respectively). Nocturia also improved using the two legs, twice a week protocol when compared with the one leg, twice a week protocol (1.3±1.2 vs.1.9±2.0; p=0.011). CONCLUSION: One-leg stimulation improved the daily urinary frequency, urgency, and incontinence, and the two-leg stimulation once and twice weekly improved nocturia

A pilot randomised controlled trial of personalised care for depressed patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease in South London general practices: the UPBEAT-UK RCT protocol and recruitment.

ABSTRACT: Background: Community studies reveal people with coronary heart disease (CHD) are twice as likely to be depressed as the general population and that this co-morbidity negatively affects the course and outcome of both conditions. There is evidence for the efficacy of collaborative care and case management for depression treatment, and whilst NICE guidelines recommend these approaches only where depression has not responded to psychological, pharmacological, or combined treatments, these care approaches may be particularly relevant to the needs of people with CHD and depression in the earlier stages of stepped care in primary care settings. Methods: This pilot randomised controlled trial will evaluate whether a simple intervention involving a personalised care plan, elements of case management and regular telephone review is a feasible and acceptable intervention that leads to better mental and physical health outcomes for these patients. The comparator group will be usual general practitioner (GP) care. 81 participants have been recruited from CHD registers of 15 South London general practices. Eligible participants have probable major depression identified by a score of ≥8 on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale (HADS-D) together with symptomatic CHD identified using the Modified Rose Angina Questionnaire. Consenting participants are randomly allocated to usual care or the personalised care intervention which involves a comprehensive assessment of each participant’s physical and mental health needs which are documented in a care plan, followed by regular telephone reviews by the case manager over a 6-month period. At each review, the intervention participant’s mood, function and identified problems are reviewed and the case manager uses evidence based behaviour change techniques to facilitate achievement of goals specified by the patient with the aim of increasing the patient’s self efficacy to solve their problems. Depressive symptoms measured by HADS score will be collected at baseline and 1, 6- and 12 months post randomisation. Other outcomes include CHD symptoms, quality of life, wellbeing and health service utilisation. Discussion: This practical and patient-focused intervention is potentially an effective and accessible approach to the health and social care needs of people with depression and CHD in primary care. Trial registration: ISRCTN21615909