Following Epidural PCA Use, Do Obstetric Patients Feel Satisfied With Their Pain Control

ABSTRACT Pain is a source of anxiety for many patients, and uncontrolled pain can have deleterious effects on patient outcomes (Patak et al., 2014). Pain associated with labor is a particular concern of obstetric patients. Epidural analgesia is currently the frontline treatment for pain associated with labor, with epidural patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) often being utilized (Braveman, Scavone, Blessing, & Wong, 2013). Little evidence exists that details what factors of epidural PCA that patients considered important (Patak et al., 2014). In this project, a randomized questionnaire was administered to obstetric patients to assess satisfaction levels with their epidural PCA. The questionnaire also asked patients if they felt a lighted demand button would make their PCA pump easier to use. Fourteen questionnaires were completed and analyzed. A 1 to 10 numerical scale was utilized in the survey. Patients reported a mean satisfaction score of 9.2 concerning each patient’s ability to control their pain. Ninety-three percent of patients felt they were able to adequately control their pain. A mean response of 8.6 was reported for overall satisfaction with the epidural PCA pump. Patients reported a mean response of 9.6 concerning the pumps’ ease of use. Seventy-nine and a half percent of patients stated they were aware when a dose was available. Of the respondents, 35.7% felt that a light would have made their PCA pump easier to use. Overall, respondents were satisfied with their pain control experience. Future studies may benefit by investigating the impact of PCA feedback features on the pain control experience of obstetric patients

Auxin-induced growth inhibition a natural consequence of two-point attachment

It is characteristic of a great number of biologically active substances that the responses which they elicit are twofold, low concentrations of the material promoting a particular activity, and higher concentrations inhibiting it. This is the case with the auxin-induced growth responses of plants. An active auxin such as indole acetic acid (IAA) brings about and is essential to growth in length of stems, hypocotyls and other plant organs including the Avena coleoptile

La stabilité des prix des ressources non renouvelables

One particular problem with the competitive solution to resource pricing is the potential for resource price instability. Using monthly data on prices for five different minerals the author examines, with the help of statistical techniques, the behaviour of prices over the years 1922-1974. He finds that fears of potential resource price instability have been overstated. Due either to the capitalization reactions of resource owners, or to the fact that resource markets are characterized by a monopolized industrial structure, real resource prices appear to show remarkable stability

La stabilité des prix des ressources non renouvelables

One particular problem with the competitive solution to resource pricing is the potential for resource price instability. Using monthly data on prices for five different minerals the author examines, with the help of statistical techniques, the behaviour of prices over the years 1922-1974. He finds that fears of potential resource price instability have been overstated. Due either to the capitalization reactions of resource owners, or to the fact that resource markets are characterized by a monopolized industrial structure, real resource prices appear to show remarkable stability.

Design Considerations of an FSAE Steering System

This report gives the information required to design a functioning steering system for a small, open-wheel racecar. Specifically, WashU Racing\u27s WUFR-19 steering system, which focuses on the drivability of the car. This goal is shared throughout the WashU Racing team for the 2019 design cycle. To achieve this focus on vehicle control, the WUFR-19 steering system implements two universal joints to transfer torque from the driver to the KazRack steering rack, another WashU Racing first. From the steering rack, the force is transmitted along the tie rods and into the rotation of the wheels by way of the steering arm. The steering arm geometry was designed with a goal with 75% Ackermann, or an inside wheel turn of 33° and an outside wheel turn of 25°. The final design is now fully functional on the WUFR-19

Semantic Integration Portal

The Semantic Integration Portal is a demonstration of the potential capabilities of Semantic Web applications in a knowledge-rich context. Source data is taken from different online terrorist incident aggregators and marked up according to ontologies specific to those domains. Unlike other semantic web techniques, which scrape the internet for raw data and then mark-up against a standard ontology, the approach here is to allow each data source to have its own domain-specific ontology. This allows the data producers the opportunity to mark up their data in their own way, producing RDF data according to their own ontologies without the need to conform to a standard. A variety of semantic integration techniques can then be applied to these ontologies, both automatic and interactive, allowing data from both sets to be viewed in a suitable application, in this case the mspace browser. Future iterations of the semantic integration portal aim to introduce more automated ontology-mapping techniques, aligning data from a variety of diverse sources with less need for human intervention

Response to Teladorsagia circumcincta infection in Scottish Blackface lambs with divergent phenotypes for nematode resistance

peer-reviewedThe objective of this study was to identify Scottish Blackface lambs that were at the extremes of the spectrum of resistance to gastrointestinal nematodes and characterise their response to an experimental nematode challenge. Lambs (n = 90) were monitored for faecal egg count (FEC) (2 samples from each of 2 independent natural infections). The most resistant (n = 10) and susceptible (n = 10) individuals were selected and challenged with 30,000 Teladorsagia circumcincta larvae (L3) at 9 months of age. Response to infection was monitored by measuring FEC, plasma pepsinogen, serum antibodies against nematode larval antigens and haematology profile, until necropsy at 71 days post infection. Worm burden, worm fecundity and the level of anti-nematode antibodies in abomasal mucosa were determined at necropsy. FEC was consistently higher in susceptible animals (P < 0.05), validating the selection method. Worm fecundity was significantly reduced in resistant animals (P = 0.03). There was also a significant correlation (r = 0.88; P < 0.001) between the number of adult worms and FEC at slaughter. There was no effect of phenotype (resistance/susceptibility) on plasma pepsinogen or on haematology profile. Phenotype had a significant effect on the level of anti-nematode IgA antibodies in serum (P < 0.01), reflecting a higher peak in resistant animals at day 7 post infection. It is concluded that significant variation in the response to gastrointestinal nematode challenge exists within the Scottish Blackface population with resistant animals displaying significantly lower FEC, lower worm fecundity and higher concentration of anti-nematode IgA antibodies in serum.Kathryn McRae was supported by a Teagasc Walsh fellowship and the Allan and Grace Kay Overseas Scholarship