Preferences, Perceptions, and Risks Associated with Animal Bedding Materials.

Year 2001 shortages and price increase of wood animal bedding have prompted research in alternative materials. A 1995 NJ survey assessed the use of bedding materials, management practices, and paper as a bedding choice. The survey evaluated bedding use, housing, labor, costs, risks, and interest in and experience using paper. Of the 13% responding, 94% used bedding, but of them 67% never used paper. Much of the concerns with paper were dust related. The primary determinants of bedding material choice are absorbency and the ability to keep animals clean and dry. Respondents indicated that they consider paper bedding only if it is economical and available in a ready-to-use form

A Benefit of Context Reinstatement to Recognition Memory in Aging: The Role of Familiarity Processes

Reinstatement of encoding context facilitates memory for targets in young and older individuals (e.g., a word studied on a particular background scene is more likely to be remembered later if it is presented on the same rather than a different scene or no scene), yet older adults are typically inferior at recalling and recognizing target–context pairings. This study examined the mechanisms of the context effect in normal aging. Age differences in word recognition by context condition (original, switched, none, new), and the ability to explicitly remember target–context pairings were investigated using word–scene pairs (Experiment 1) and word–word pairs (Experiment 2). Both age groups benefited from context reinstatement in item recognition, although older adults were significantly worse than young adults at identifying original pairings and at discriminating between original and switched pairings. In Experiment 3, participants were given a three-alternative forced-choice recognition task that allowed older individuals to draw upon intact familiarity processes in selecting original pairings. Performance was age equivalent. Findings suggest that heightened familiarity associated with context reinstatement is useful for boosting recognition memory in aging

Subject Recruitment and Retention Against Quadruple Challenges in an Intervention Trial of End-of-Life Communication

Studies of end-of-life care face difficulties associated with enrollment and attrition. Information and exemplars can help end-of-life care researchers anticipate such difficulties and customize recruitment and retention strategies to achieve planned sample sizes. We analyzed data on recruitment and retention efforts used in a clinical trial of an end-of-life communication intervention that involved African American dialysis patients and their chosen surrogate decision makers. Despite the challenges the trial faced (e.g., recruiting a minority group of patients who were seriously ill, had a surrogate decision maker willing to join the study, and were willing to engage in end-of-life discussions), the planned sample size was met, and nearly 90% of the participants completed the study. Various strategies were used to sustain accrual during the study. Although a total of 16 contacts per dyad had been planned from enrollment to 3-months data collection, 27 contacts were actually needed. The strategies and procedures used in this study may be pertinent to other studies that involve African Americans with serious illness and require dyadic participation

Randomized controlled trial of SPIRIT: An effective approach to preparing African-American dialysis patients and families for end of life

This randomized controlled trial tested an intervention, Sharing Patients’ Illness Representations to Increase Trust (SPIRIT), designed to enhance communication regarding end-of-life care between African Americans with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and their chosen surrogate decision makers (N = 58 dyads). We used surveys and semi-structured interviews to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of SPIRIT on patient and surrogate outcomes at 1 week and 3 months post-intervention. We also evaluated patients’ deaths and surrogates’ end-of-life decision making to assess surrogates’ perceptions of benefits and limitations of the SPIRIT while facing end-of-life decisions. We found that SPIRIT promoted communication between patients and their surrogates and was effective and well received by the participants

A case study of a whole system approach to improvement in an acute hospital setting

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterChanges in healthcare tend to be project-based with whole system change, which acknowledges the interconnectedness of socio-technical factors, not the norm. This paper attempts to address the question of whole system change posed by the special issue and brings together other research presented in this special issue. A case study approach was adopted to understand the deployment of a whole system change in the acute hospital setting along four dimensions of a socio-technical systems framework: culture, system functioning, action, and sense-making. The case study demonstrates evidence of whole system improvement. The approach to change was co-designed by staff and management, projects involving staff from all specialities and levels of seniority were linked to each other and to the strategic objectives of the organisation, and learnings from first-generation projects have been passed to second and third-generation process improvements. The socio-technical systems framework was used retrospectively to assess the system change but could also be used prospectively to help healthcare organisations develop approaches to whole system improvement.19pubpub

Pharmacological characterisation of MDI-222, a novel AMPA receptor positive allosteric modulator with an improved safety profile

There is considerable interest in positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of the α-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate (AMPA) subtype of ionotropic glutamate receptors as therapeutic agents for a range of cognitive and mood disorders. However, the challenge is to increase AMPA receptor (AMPAR) function sufficient to enhance cognitive function but not to the extent that there are mechanism-related pro-convulsant or convulsant side effects. In this present study, we report the preclinical pharmacology data for MDI-222, an AMPAR PAM which enhances cognition but has a much reduced side-effect (i.e. convulsant) liability relative to other molecules of this mechanism

Liver-Targeting of Interferon-Alpha with Tissue-Specific Domain Antibodies

PMCID: PMC3581439This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Classification of Sharks in the Egyptian Mediterranean Waters Using Morphological and DNA Barcoding Approaches

The identification of species constitutes the first basic step in phylogenetic studies, biodiversity monitoring and conservation. DNA barcoding, i.e. the sequencing of a short standardized region of DNA, has been proposed as a new tool for animal species identification. The present study provides an update on the composition of shark in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters off Alexandria, since the latest study to date was performed 30 years ago, DNA barcoding was used in addition to classical taxonomical methodologies. Thus, 51 specimen were DNA barcoded for a 667 bp region of the mitochondrial COI gene. Although DNA barcoding aims at developing species identification systems, some phylogenetic signals were apparent in the data. In the neighbor-joining tree, 8 major clusters were apparent, each of them containing individuals belonging to the same species, and most with 100% bootstrap value. This study is the first to our knowledge to use DNA barcoding of the mitochondrial COI gene in order to confirm the presence of species Squalus acanthias, Oxynotus centrina, Squatina squatina, Scyliorhinus canicula, Scyliorhinus stellaris, Mustelus mustelus, Mustelus punctulatus and Carcharhinus altimus in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters. Finally, our study is the starting point of a new barcoding database concerning shark composition in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters (Barcoding of Egyptian Mediterranean Sharks [BEMS], http://www.boldsystems.org/views/projectlist.php?&#Barcoding%20Fish%20%28FishBOL%29)