The UPUPB with WOC nurse rounds resulted in a statistically significant and clinically relevant reduction in the incidence of pressure ulcers.

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of death throughout the world. Telemedicine has been utilized for many diseases and its prevalence is increasing in the United States. Telemonitoring of patients with COPD has the potential to help patients manage disease and predict exacerbations. Objective The objective of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of telemonitoring to manage COPD. Researchers want to determine how telemonitoring has been used to observe COPD and we are hoping this will lead to more research in telemonitoring of this disease. Methods This review was conducted in accordance with the Assessment for Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Authors performed a systematic review of the PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases to obtain relevant articles. Articles were then accepted or rejected by group consensus. Each article was read and authors identified barriers and facilitators to effectiveness of telemonitoring of COPD. Results Results indicate that conflicting information exists for the effectiveness of telemonitoring of patients with COPD. Primarily, 13 out of 29 (45%) articles stated that patient outcomes were improved overall with telemonitoring, while 11 of 29 (38%) indicated no improvement. Authors identified the following facilitators: reduced need for in-person visits, better disease management, and bolstered patient-provider relationship. Important barriers included low-quality data, increased workload for providers, and cost. Conclusions The high variability between the articles and the ways they provided telemonitoring services created conflicting results from the literature review. Future research should emphasize standardization of telemonitoring services and predictability of exacerbations.

No abstract

It has become increasingly clear that agents that disrupt calcium homeostasis may also be toxic to developing neurons. Using isolated primary neurons, we sought to understand the neurotoxicity of agents such as MK801 (which blocks ligand-gated calcium entry), BAPTA (which chelates intracellular calcium), and thapsigargin (TG; which inhibits the endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ -ATPase pump). Thus, E18 at cotical neuons wee grown for 1 day in vitro (DIV) and then exposed to vehicle (0.1% DMSO), MK801 (0.01-20 μM), BAPTA (0.1-20 μM), or TG (0.001-1 μM) for 24 h. We found that all three agents could profoundly influence early neuronal maturation (growth cone expansion, neurite length, neurite complexity), with the order of potency being MK801 < BAPTA < TG. We next asked if cultures exposed to these agents were able to re-establish their developmental program once the agent was removed. When we examined network maturity at 4 and 7 DIV, the order of recovery was MK801 > BAPTA > TG. Thus, mechanistically distinct ways of disrupting calcium homeostasis differentially influenced both short-term and long-term neuronal maturation. These observations suggest that agents that act by altering intracellular calcium and are used in obstetrics or neonatology may be quite harmful to the still-developing human brain.