bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Just‐in‐Time Evidence‐Based E‐mail “Reminders” in Home Health Care: Impact on Nurse Practices
Authors: Murtaugh Christopher M. , Pezzin Liliana E. , McDonald Margaret V. , Feldman Penny H. , Peng Timothy R. 
Published: May 2005

Objective. To test the effectiveness of two interventions designed to improve the adoption of evidence‐based practices by home health nurses caring for heart failure (HF) patients.Data Sources/Study Setting. Information on nurse practices was abstracted from the clinical records of patients admitted between June 2000 and November 2001 to the care of 354 study nurses at a large, urban, nonprofit home care agency.Study Design. The study employed a randomized design with nurses assigned to usual care or one of two intervention groups upon identification of an eligible patient. The basic intervention was a one‐time e‐mail reminder highlighting six HF‐specific clinical recommendations. The augmented intervention consisted of the initial e‐mail reminder supplemented by provider prompts, patient education material, and clinical nurse specialist outreach.Data Collection. At each home health visit provided by a study nurse to an eligible HF patient during the 45‐day follow‐up period, a structured chart abstraction tool was used to collect information on whether the nurse provided the care practices highlighted in the e‐mail reminder.Principal Findings. Both the basic and the augmented interventions greatly increased the practice of evidence‐based care, according to patient records, in the areas of patient assessment and instructions about HF disease management. While not all results were statistically significant at conventional levels, intervention effects were positive in virtually all cases and effect magnitudes frequently were large.Conclusions. The results of this randomized trial strongly support the efficacy of just‐in‐time evidence‐based reminders as a means of changing clinical practice among home health nurses who are geographically dispersed and spend much of their time in the field.
Just‐in‐Time Evidence‐Based E‐mail “Reminders” in Home Health Care: Impact on Patient Outcomes
Authors: Feldman Penny H. , Murtaugh Christopher M. , Pezzin Liliana E. , McDonald Margaret V. , Peng Timothy R. 
Published: May 2005

Objective. To assess the impact and cost‐effectiveness of two information‐based provider reminder interventions designed to improve self‐care management and outcomes of heart failure (HF) patients.Data Sources/Study Setting. Interview and agency administrative data on 628 home care patients with a primary diagnosis of HF.Study Design. Patients were treated by nurses randomly assigned to usual care or one of two intervention groups. The basic intervention was an e‐mail to the patient's nurse highlighting six HF‐specific clinical recommendations. The augmented intervention supplemented the initial nurse reminder with additional clinician and patient resources.Data Collection. Patient interviews were conducted 45 days post admission to measure self‐management behaviors, HF‐specific outcomes (Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire‐KCCQ), health‐related quality of life (EuroQoL), and service use.Principal Findings. Both interventions improved the mean KCCQ summary score (15.3 and 12.9 percent, respectively) relative to usual care (p≤.05). The basic intervention also yielded a higher EuroQoL score relative to usual care (p≤.05). In addition, the interventions had a positive impact on medication knowledge, diet, and weight monitoring. The basic intervention was more cost‐effective than the augmented intervention in improving clinical outcomes.Conclusions. This study demonstrates the positive impact of targeting evidence‐based computer reminders to home health nurses to improve patient self‐care behaviors, knowledge, and clinical outcomes. It also advances the field's limited understanding of the cost‐effectiveness of selected strategies for translating research into practice.
A Unique Set of Interactions: The MSU Sustained Partnership Model of Nurse Practitioner Primary Care
Authors: Dontje Katherine , Corser William , Kreulen Grace , Teitelman Anne 
Published: May 2005

PurposeTo present a unified conceptual model that identifies the integral processes of nurse practitioner (NP) care delivery and that integrates major structural influences and potential outcomes. The model is further characterized to delineate the unique and “value‐added” nature of NP primary care and to describe how this nature may be correlated with specific clinical outcomes.Data SourcesExtensive review of the literature, relevant conceptual models, clinical experiences of the authors, and two sets of qualitative data exploring differences between NP practice and other practices.ConclusionsThe basis of NP primary care is the unique provider‐client relationship that develops within the primary care setting. This relationship is oriented toward (a) helping clients become empowered to more appropriately manage their own care in a way that will best meet their needs, (b) encouraging mutual decision making, (c) ensuring clients’ continuity of care, and (d) providing a holistic approach to primary care. The major structural influences are NP role components, interdisciplinary practice relationships, budget resources and payer mix, and environmental characteristics. The potential outcomes are increased healthpromoting behaviors, improved utilization of care, higher client satisfaction levels, and improved health status.Implications for PracticeNPs can use this model to articulate the unique contribution of NP practice and its interrelationships within the broader primary care setting. Practicing NPs can use this framework to better understand the complexities of their current and future primary care practices. Faculty can utilize the concepts to help guide students’ understanding of their prospective roles as advanced practice nurses. Finally, this conceptual framework can inform research about specific NP processes and related outcomes. A clearly delineated model that accurately depicts structures, processes, and outcomes relevant to NP primary care can strengthen NP education, distinguish NP practice, and advance evidenced‐based research linking NP practice and outcomes.
Numerical Study on the Thawing Process of Biological Tissue Induced
by Laser Irradiation
Authors: Zhou Jianhua , Liu Jing , Yu Aibing 
Published: May 2005

Abstract
Most of the laser applications in medicine and biology involve thermal effects. The laser-tissue thermal interaction has therefore received more and more attentions in recent years. However, previous works were mainly focused on the case of laser heating on normal tissues (37 °C or above). To date, little is known on the mechanisms of laser heating on the frozen biological tissues. Several latest experimental investigations have demonstrated that lasers have great potentials in tissue cryopreservation. But the lack of theoretical interpretation limits its further application in this area. The present paper proposes a numerical model for the thawing of biological tissues caused by laser irradiation. The Monte Carlo approach and the effective heat capacity method are, respectively, employed to simulate the light propagation and solid-liquid phase change heat transfer. The proposed model has four important features: (1) the tissue is considered as a nonideal material, in which phase transition occurs over a wide temperature range; (2) the solid phase, transition phase, and the liquid phase have different thermophysical properties; (3) the variations in optical properties due to phase-change are also taken into consideration; and (4) the light distribution is changing continually with the advancement of the thawing fronts. To this end, 15 thawing-front geometric configurations are presented for the Monte Carlo simulation. The least-squares parabola fitting technique is applied to approximate the shape of the thawing front. And then, a detailed algorithm of calculating the photon reflection/refraction behaviors at the thawing front is described. Finally, we develop a coupled light/heat transport solution procedure for the laser-induced thawing of frozen tissues. The proposed model is compared with three test problems and good agreement is obtained. The calculated results show that the light reflectance/transmittance at the tissue surface are continually changing with the progression of the thawing fronts and that lasers provide a new heating method superior to conventional heating through surface conduction because it can achieve a uniform volumetric heating. Parametric studies are performed to test the influences of the optical properties of tissue on the thawing process. The proposed model is rather general in nature and therefore can be applied to other nonbiological problems as long as the materials are absorbing and scattering media.
Using an Extended Kalman Filter for Rigid Body Pose Estimation
Authors: Halvorsen Kjartan , Söderström Torsten , Stokes Virgil , Lanshammar Håkan 
Published: May 2005

Abstract
Rigid body pose is commonly represented as the rigid body transformation from one (often reference) pose to another. This is usually computed for each frame of data without any assumptions or restrictions on the temporal change of the pose. The most common algorithm was proposed by Söderkvist and Wedin (1993, “Determining the Movements of the Skeleton Using Well-configured Markers,” J. Biomech., 26, pp. 1473–1477), and implies the assumption that measurement errors are isotropic and homogenous. This paper describes an alternative method based on a state space formulation and the application of an extended Kalman filter (EKF). State space models are formulated, which describe the kinematics of the rigid body. The state vector consists of six generalized coordinates (corresponding to the 6 degrees of freedom), and their first time derivatives. The state space models have linear dynamics, while the measurement function is a nonlinear relation between the state vector and the observations (marker positions). An analytical expression for the linearized measurement function is derived. Tracking the rigid body motion using an EKF enables the use of a priori information on the measurement noise and type of motion to tune the filter. The EKF is time variant, which allows for a natural way of handling temporarily missing marker data. State updates are based on all the information available at each time step, even when data from fewer than three markers are available. Comparison with the method of Söderkvist and Wedin on simulated data showed a considerable improvement in accuracy with the proposed EKF method when marker data was temporarily missing. The proposed method offers an improvement in accuracy of rigid body pose estimation by incorporating knowledge of the characteristics of the movement and the measurement errors. Analytical expressions for the linearized system equations are provided, which eliminate the need for approximate discrete differentiation and which facilitate a fast implementation.
Role of Sialic Acid and Complex Carbohydrate Biosynthesis in Biofilm Formation by Nontypeable
Haemophilus influenzae
in the Chinchilla Middle Ear
Authors: Jurcisek Joseph , Greiner Laura , Watanabe Hiroshi , Zaleski Anthony , Apicella Michael A. , Bakaletz Lauren O. 
Published: May 2005

ABSTRACT

Nontypeable
Haemophilus influenzae
(NTHI) is an important pathogen in respiratory tract infections, including otitis media (OM). NTHI forms biofilms in vitro as well as in the chinchilla middle ear, suggesting that biofilm formation in vivo might play an important role in the pathogenesis and chronicity of OM. We've previously shown that SiaA, SiaB, and WecA are involved in biofilm production by NTHI in vitro. To investigate whether these gene products were also involved in biofilm production in vivo, NTHI strain 2019 and five isogenic mutants with deletions in genes involved in carbohydrate biosynthesis were inoculated into the middle ears of chinchillas. The wild-type strain formed a large, well-organized, and viable biofilm; however, the
wecA
,
lsgB
,
siaA
,
pgm
, and
siaB
mutants were either unable to form biofilms or formed biofilms of markedly reduced mass, organization, and viability. Despite their compromised ability to form a biofilm in vivo,
wecA
,
lsgB
, and
siaA
mutants survived in the chinchilla, inducing culture-positive middle ear effusions, whereas
pgm
and
siaB
mutants were extremely sensitive to the bactericidal activity of chinchilla serum and thus did not survive. Lectin analysis indicated that sialic acid was an important component of the NTHI 2019 biofilm produced in vivo. Our data suggested that genes involved in carbohydrate biosynthesis and assembly play an important role in the ability of NTHI to form a biofilm in vivo. Collectively, we found that when modeled in a mammalian host, whereas biofilm formation was not essential for survivability of NTHI in vivo, lipooligosaccharide sialylation was indispensable.
Salmonella entericaSerovar Typhimurium Pathogenicity Island 2 Is Necessary for Complete Virulence in a Mouse Model of Infectious Enterocolitis
Authors: Coburn Bryan , Li Yuling , Owen David , Vallance Bruce A. , Finlay B. Brett 
Published: May 2005

ABSTRACTSalmonellaspecies cause a wide range of disease in multiple hosts.Salmonella entericaserovar Typhimurium causes self-limited intestinal disease in humans and systemic typhoid-like illness in susceptible mice. The prevailing dogma in murineS. entericaserovar Typhimurium pathogenesis is that distinct virulence mechanisms—Salmonellapathogenicity islands 1 and 2 (SPI1 and SPI2)—perform distinct roles in pathogenesis, the former being important for invasion and intestinal disease and the latter important for intracellular survival and systemic persistence and disease. Although evidence from bovine infections has suggested that SPI2 has a role in ileal disease, there is no evidence that SPI2 is important for inflammation in a disease that more closely recapitulates human colitis. UsingS. entericaserovar Typhimurium strains that lack functional type III secretion systems, we demonstrate that SPI2 is essential for complete virulence in murine infectious enterocolitis. Using a recently characterized murine model (M. Barthel,S. Hapfelmeier, L. Quintanilla-Martinez, M. Kremer, M. Rohde, M. Hogardt, K. Pfeffer, H. Russmann, and W. D. Hardt, Infect. Immun.71:2839-2858, 2003), we demonstrate that SPI1 mutants are unable to cause intestinal disease 48 h after infection and that SPI2-deficient bacteria also cause significantly attenuated typhlitis. We show that at the peak of inflammation in the cecum, SPI2 mutants induce diminished intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression and neutrophil recruitment but that wild-type and mutantSalmonellaare similarly distributed in the lumen of the infected organ. Finally, we demonstrate that attenuation of intestinal inflammation is accompanied by resolution of typhlitis in the mutant, but not wild-type, infections. Collectively, these results indicate that SPI2 is needed for enterocolitis, as well as for systemic disease.
Comparison of
Salmonella
enterica
Serovar Typhimurium Colitis in Germfree Mice and Mice Pretreated with Streptomycin
Authors: Stecher Bärbel , Macpherson Andrew J. , Hapfelmeier Siegfried , Kremer Marcus , Stallmach Thomas , Hardt Wolf-Dietrich 
Published: May 2005

ABSTRACT

Salmonella enterica
subspecies 1 serovar Typhimurium is a common cause of bacterial enterocolitis. Mice are generally protected from
Salmonella
serovar Typhimurium colonization and enterocolitis by their resident intestinal microflora. This phenomenon is called “colonization resistance” (CR). Two murine
Salmonella
serovar Typhimurium infection models are based on the neutralization of CR: (i) in specific-pathogen-free mice pretreated with streptomycin (StrSPF mice) antibiotics disrupt the intestinal microflora; and (ii) germfree (GF) mice are raised without any intestinal microflora, but their intestines show distinct physiologic and immunologic characteristics. It has been unclear whether the same pathogenetic mechanisms trigger
Salmonella
serovar Typhimurium colitis in GF and StrSPF mice. In this study, we compared the two colitis models. In both of the models
Salmonella
serovar Typhimurium efficiently colonized the large intestine and triggered cecum and colon inflammation starting 8 h postinfection. The type III secretion system encoded in
Salmonella
pathogenicity island 1 was essential in both disease models. Thus,
Salmonella
serovar Typhimurium colitis is triggered by similar pathogenetic mechanisms in StrSPF and GF mice. This is remarkable considering the distinct physiological properties of the GF mouse gut. One obvious difference was more pronounced damage and reduced regenerative response of the cecal epithelium in GF mice. Overall, StrSPF mice and GF mice provide similar but not identical models for
Salmonella
serovar Typhimurium colitis.
β2 Integrins Control the Severity of Murine Lyme Carditis
Authors: Guerau-de-Arellano Mireia , Alroy Joseph , Huber Brigitte T. 
Published: May 2005

ABSTRACTInfection of C57BL/6 (B6) mice with the Lyme disease spirocheteBorrelia burgdorferican result in development of arthritis and carditis.B. burgdorferiinduces expression of β2/CD18 integrins, adhesion molecules that mediate the firm adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelium necessary for cellular extravasation during inflammation. The important role of β2/CD18 integrins during extravasation suggests that these molecules play a role in the development of Lyme arthritis and carditis. The dependency of these inflammatory processes on the β2 integrins was investigated in CD18 hypomorph mice, which express low levels of CD18. The results indicate that CD18 deficiency did not abrogate development of Lyme arthritis or carditis. Moreover, it resulted in increased severity of Lyme carditis.B. burgdorferi-infected CD18 hypomorph mice showed an increased macrophage infiltration of the heart, while they produced lower levels of borreliacidal anti-B. burgdorferiantibodies compared to wild-type mice. In accordance with these results, we demonstrate that dendritic cells from CD18 hypomorph mice secrete higher levels of monocyte/macrophage chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1/CCL2) in response toB. burgdorferi. Similarly, we show by real-time PCR thatB. burgdorferi-infected hearts from CD18 hypomorph mice express increased levels of MCP-1 RNA compared to wild-type mice. Overall, our results indicate that β2 integrin deficiency does not abrogateB. burgdorferi-induced inflammation; rather, it results in increased recruitment of macrophages into theB. burgdorferi-infected heart, likely due to the increased expression of MCP-1 in this tissue. Thus, β2 integrins may play a regulatory role inB. burgdorferi-induced inflammation beyond mediating adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelium.
Changes in Lipopolysaccharide O Antigen Distinguish Acute versus Chronic
Leptospira interrogans
Infections
Authors: Nally Jarlath E. , Chow Emilie , Fishbein Michael C. , Blanco David R. , Lovett Michael A. 
Published: May 2005

ABSTRACT

Leptospirosis is the most geographically widespread zoonotic disease in the world. A severe pulmonary form of leptospirosis (SPFL) is being recognized with increased frequency. We have reported that human SPFL isolates of
Leptospira
cause acute lethal infection with prominent pulmonary hemorrhage in guinea pigs. We have found that the same SPFL strains cause asymptomatic infection and chronic renal shedding in rats, where infection is restricted to the renal tubules. To address the antigenic composition of host tissue-derived
Leptospira
(HTL), motile leptospires were purified from guinea pig liver by centrifugation on Percoll density gradients and compared to Percoll-purified in vitro-cultivated
Leptospira
(IVCL). The lipopolysaccharide O antigen (Oag) content of guinea pig liver-derived HTL was markedly reduced compared to that of IVCL, as demonstrated both by immunoblotting with a monoclonal antibody that was serovar specific for Oag and by periodate-silver staining. Confocal microscopy of HTL in guinea pig liver and kidney with the Oag-specific monoclonal antibody provided further evidence that diminution of the Oag content occurred in situ during lethal infection. In contrast, the Oag content of HTL in chronically infected rat renal tubules was indistinguishable from that of IVCL. These findings suggest that there may be regulation of Oag synthesis by
Leptospira
specific to the animal host infected. The hypothesis that the Oag content is related to whether lethal infection or chronic renal tubular colonization occurs remains to be tested.
Glucosyltransferases of Viridans Streptococci Are Modulins of Interleukin-6 Induction in Infective Endocarditis
Authors: Shun Chia-Tung , Lu Shih-Yu , Yeh Chiou-Yueh , Chiang Chung-Pin , Chia Jean-San , Chen Jen-Yang 
Published: May 2005

ABSTRACT

The glucosyltransferases (GTFs) of viridans streptococci, common pathogens of infective endocarditis, are extracellular proteins that convert sucrose into exopolysaccharides and glucans. GTFs B, C, and D of
Streptococcus mutans
are modulins that induce, in vitro and in vivo, the production of cytokines, in particular interleukin-6 (IL-6), from monocytes. The roles of
S. mutans
GTFs in infectivity and inflammation in situ were tested in a rat experimental model of endocarditis. No significant differences in infectivity, in terms of 95% infective dose and densities of bacteria inside vegetations, were observed between laboratory strain GS-5 and two clinical isolates or isogenic mutant NHS1DD, defective in the expression of GTFs. In aortic valves and surrounding tissues, IL-6 was detected by Western blots and immunostaining 24 h after GS-5 infection, was maintained over 72 h, and was followed by production of tumor necrosis factor alpha but not IL-1β. Animals infected with NHS1DD showed markedly lower levels of IL-6 (less than 5% of that of parental GS-5-infected rats), while tumor necrosis factor alpha was unaffected. In contrast, animals infected with NHR1DD, another isogenic mutant expressing only GtfB, showed a much smaller reduction (down to 56%). These results suggest that GTFs are specific modulins that act during acute inflammation, inducing IL-6 from endothelial cells surrounding the infected valves without affecting bacterial colonization in vegetations, and that IL-6 might persist in chronic inflammation in endocarditis.
Direct Activation of Human Endothelial Cells by
Plasmodium falciparum
-Infected Erythrocytes
Authors: Viebig Nicola K. , Wulbrand Ulrich , Förster Reinhold , Andrews Katherine T. , Lanzer Michael , Knolle Percy A. 
Published: May 2005

ABSTRACT

Cytoadherence of
Plasmodium falciparum
-infected erythrocytes (PRBC) to endothelial cells causes severe clinical disease, presumably as a of result perfusion failure and tissue hypoxia. Cytoadherence to endothelial cells is increased by endothelial cell activation, which is believed to occur in a paracrine fashion by mediators such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) released from macrophages that initially recognize PRBC. Here we provide evidence that PRBC directly stimulate human endothelial cells in the absence of macrophages, leading to increased expression of adhesion-promoting molecules, such as intercellular adhesion molecule 1. Endothelial cell stimulation by PRBC required direct physical contact for a short time (30 to 60 min) and was correlated with parasitemia. Gene expression profiling of endothelial cells stimulated by PRBC revealed increased expression levels of chemokine and adhesion molecule genes. PRBC-stimulated endothelial cells especially showed increased expression of molecules involved in parasite adhesion but failed to express molecules promoting leukocyte adhesion, such as E-selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, even after challenge with TNF-α. Collectively, our data suggest that stimulation of endothelial cells by PRBC may have two effects: prevention of parasite clearance through increased cytoadherence and attenuation of leukocyte binding to endothelial cells, thereby preventing deleterious immune reactivity.