Cardiovascular Supportive Therapies for Neonates With Asphyxia — A Literature Review of Pre-clinical and Clinical Studies

Asphyxiated neonates often have hypotension, shock, and poor tissue perfusion. Various “inotropic” medications are used to provide cardiovascular support to improve the blood pressure and to treat shock. However, there is incomplete literature on the examination of hemodynamic effects of these medications in asphyxiated neonates, especially in the realm of clinical studies (mostly in late preterm or term populations). Although the extrapolation of findings from animal studies and other clinical populations such as children and adults require caution, it seems appropriate that findings from carefully conducted pre-clinical studies are important in answering some of the fundamental knowledge gaps. Based on a literature search, this review discusses the current available information, from both clinical studies and animal models of neonatal asphyxia, on common medications used to provide hemodynamic support including dopamine, dobutamine, epinephrine, milrinone, norepinephrine, vasopressin, levosimendan, and hydrocortisone

A Linguistic Analysis of Group Support Systems Interactions for Uncovering Social Realities of Organizations

Language represents the medium through which we encounter reality and can be viewed as a human social action (Holtgraves 2002). In this study, we apply speech act theory to analyze the data collected in a study by Trauth and Jessup (2000) and demonstrate that GSS can be an effective tool for diagnosing the social life of an organization. Our linguistic analysis confirms previous research findings that both the topic and the group size influence the pattern of discussion, especially when issues are threatening. In addition, when GSS is applied to such an issue, linguistic analysis helps to uncover hidden defensive speech routines. Identifying the speech acts of GSS discussions may therefore complement positivist and interpretive analysis by examining if participants’ engagement is superficial or profound, if consensus is reached or blocked, and if certain speech acts lead to dysfunctional organizational learning. Taken together with Trauth and Jessup (2000)’s study, we show that social realities revealed in GSS discussions are multi-dimensional and that, by adopting a different research stance to better understand the role of GSS, a variety of research benefits may be derived

Electro-Optic Modulation of Single Photons

We use the Stokes photon of a biphoton pair to set the time origin for electro-optic modulation of the wave function of the anti-Stokes photon thereby allowing arbitrary phase and amplitude modulation. We demonstrate conditional single-photon wave functions composed of several pulses, or instead, having gaussian or exponential shapes

Neonatal resuscitation workshop for trainees in standardized medical residency training—a pilot practice in Shenzhen, China

BackgroundNeonatal resuscitation is an important skillset for clinicians attending deliveries. Accredited neonatal resuscitation training is not obligatory in most training centers of standardized medical residency programs before 2022 in China. We investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of neonatal resuscitation simulation training (neo-RST) in residents in Shenzhen, China.MethodsFour two-day neo-RST workshops were conducted in the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital and Shenzhen Health Capacity Building and Continuing Education Center in 2020–2021. The workshops had Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP)® update, skill stations and simulation practice with debriefing. Each participant had the integrated skill station assessment (ISSA) at the end of workshop. Participants of workshops included residents of different disciplines and health care providers (HCPs) of neonatal and obstetrical departments. We compared demographic characteristics, neonatal resuscitation knowledge before training, ISSA overall and categorical scores on skill sets between residents and HCPs.ResultsIn 2020–2021, 4 neo-RST workshops were conducted with 48 residents and 48 HCPs. The residents group had less working experience, less prior experience in neo-RST and lower neonatal resuscitation knowledge scores than those of HCPs group. After the workshop, residents had higher overall ISSA score than that of HCPs group (90.2 ± 5.9 vs. 86.3 ± 6.6%, P = 0.003, respectively). There was no significant difference in the numbers of participants scored <80% in residents and HCPs group (3 [6.3%] vs. 7 [14.6%], respectively). Regarding the categorical scores, residents scored significantly higher in preparation, ventilation, crisis resource management and behavioral skills but lower in appropriate oxygen use, when compared with the HCPs.ConclusionNeo-RST for residents is feasible with promising short-term educational outcomes. Neo-RST could be implemented in standardized medical residency programs in China