Framework for advancing rigorous research.

There is a pressing need to increase the rigor of research in the life and biomedical sciences. To address this issue, we propose that communities of 'rigor champions' be established to campaign for reforms of the research culture that has led to shortcomings in rigor. These communities of rigor champions would also assist in the development and adoption of a comprehensive educational platform that would teach the principles of rigorous science to researchers at all career stages.

What we learned from creating one of the world's most popular MOOCs.

Learning How to Learn (LHTL) is currently one of the world's most popular massive open online course (MOOC), with nearly 2.5 million registered learners in its first 4 years. Here, we "reverse engineer" the design of the course's videos to show how creative application of well-known principles of multimedia learning in an MOOC context appear to have fueled the course's popularity. Gaps in knowledge of multimedia learning are also noted. There have been some 50 years of experience researching effective classroom teaching, but less there have been only 5 years since MOOCs became widespread. The success of LHTL may provide further insight into the importance of the principles of multimedia learning, and how those principles might be practically implemented to improve MOOC making and the general design of instructional videos.

Learning how we learn: in an unlikely confluence, bioengineers are finding fertile ground in research and teaching about learning.

"You know too much; it's time to kill you." In Russian, the phrase rhymes. The captain raised his glass, steering an inebriated wink my way.

Do higher dispositions for empathy predispose males toward careers in nursing? A descriptive correlational design.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to understand male nursing students' empathy traits compared with other university students using the systematizing quotient and empathizing quotient questionnaires. CONCLUSION: Female students have higher empathizing traits than male students. However, when male nursing students were compared with the general population of other male students, they revealed higher empathy traits 3.0 (p < .01) than other males. PRACTICE IMPLICATION: Empathy plays a significant role in attracting men to a nursing career. Male nurses are not only caring individuals but also have high problem-solving skills in complex environments, demonstrating their strong systemizing characteristics to organize, plan, and implement care.

Reducing hospital ICU noise: a behavior-based approach.

Noise in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) is gaining increasing attention as a significant source of stress and fatigue for nursing staff. Extensive research indicates that hospital noise also has negative impact on patients. The objective of this study was to analyze noise variations as experienced by both nursing staff and patients, to gain a better understanding of noise levels and frequencies observed in ICU settings over extended (week-long) durations, and to implement a low cost behavior modification program to reduce noise. The results of our study indicate that behavioral modification alone is not adequate to control excessive noise. There is a need for further research involving the supportive involvement by clinicians, ICU staff, along with effective medical device alarm management, and continuous process improvement methods.

Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism.

The profound benefits of altruism in modern society are self-evident. However, the potential hurtful aspects of altruism have gone largely unrecognized in scientific inquiry. This is despite the fact that virtually all forms of altruism are associated with tradeoffs--some of enormous importance and sensitivity--and notwithstanding that examples of pathologies of altruism abound. Presented here are the mechanistic bases and potential ramifications of pathological altruism, that is, altruism in which attempts to promote the welfare of others instead result in unanticipated harm. A basic conceptual approach toward the quantification of altruism bias is presented. Guardian systems and their over arching importance in the evolution of cooperation are also discussed. Concepts of pathological altruism, altruism bias, and guardian systems may help open many new, potentially useful lines of inquiry and provide a framework to begin moving toward a more mature, scientifically informed understanding of altruism and cooperative behavior.

Empathy as a determining factor for nursing career selection.

The ability to empathize with others is a highly desirable characteristic for the delivery of quality care by nurses. Little research is available that explores the empathy characteristics of students who are attracted to nursing. The purpose of this study is to explore whether empathizing and systemizing characteristics are important factors underlying students' self-selection into and continuing success in nursing programs and whether the importance of these characteristics tends to differ for men and women who choose nursing as a career. A descriptive correlative design was used for this study of 1,872 undergraduates enrolled in a variety of majors, including nursing, at a large midwestern U.S. research university. Findings supported that nursing students had significantly higher empathy characteristics than students in other disciplines.

Reducing hospital noise: a review of medical device alarm management.

Increasing noise in hospital environments, especially in intensive care units (ICUs) and operating rooms (ORs), has created a formidable challenge for both patients and hospital staff. A major contributing factor for the increasing noise levels in these environments is the number of false alarms generated by medical devices. This study focuses on discovering best practices for reducing the number of false clinical alarms in order to increase patient safety and provide a quiet environment for both work and healing. The researchers reviewed Pub Med, Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar sources to obtain original journal research and review articles published through January 2012. This review includes 27 critically important journal articles that address different aspects of medical device alarms management, including the audibility, identification, urgency mapping, and response time of nursing staff and different solutions to such problems. With current technology, the easiest and most direct method for reducing false alarms is to individualize alarm settings for each patient's condition. Promoting an institutional culture change that emphasizes the importance of individualization of alarms is therefore an important goal. Future research should also focus on the development of smart alarms.

Noise in hospital intensive care units--a critical review of a critical topic.

PURPOSE: The aims of the study were to examine the studies related to hospital noise in intensive care units (ICUs) to understand the sources and effects of noise and to describe best practices and common problems in the varying methods commonly applied to reduce the noise level. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The ISI Web of Knowledge and PubMed were used to search original research articles to obtain articles related to hospital ICU noise analysis. RESULT: This review article analyzes the 29 extant studies related to noise in ICUs. CONCLUSION: Significant opportunities exist to improve methodologies to study noise levels to reduce noise in hospital ICUs. Many previous studies have used inconsistent methodologies with poorly defined parameters that make it difficult to compare results. Our work points out common pitfalls in the recording and sharing of hospital acoustic parameters and also points to the paucity of important economic considerations in extant studies. These results can be helpful for future research in this area. Many past salutary interventions--including educational noise reduction programs, behavioral modification using sound detection equipment, and low- as well as high-cost environmental alterations--do not generally appear to be adequate to minimize noise to levels for hospital rooms specified by international agencies. But a potentially important clue for future work involves the finding that as the number of patients and staff of the ICU increases, noise levels appear to also increase.

Electroporation-induced cell lysis in SWLA-2 hybridomas.

This paper describes experimental results involving the percentage cell lysis in SWLA-2 murine hybridomas produced by square wave electric field pulses of 100, 200, and 300 V across a 1 mm gap width in a standard cuvette. Pulse lengths were of 0.2 and 0.6 ms duration; 1, 2, or 3 pulses were applied with 100 ms time interval between pulses. Cells were cultured and separate samples examined at 48 hours to determine cell mortality. Nearly 90% cell mortality was produced by applying 3 pulses at of 0.6 ms duration at 300 V.

Preliminary results related to the principle and application of drug galvano-acupuncture.

Drug galvano-acupuncture is a new medical therapy that has been developed and refined over thirty-one years of research and clinical practice. It uses a combination of modern technology, traditional acupuncture, herbal medicine, and massage therapy techniques. The therapy works by inducing an electric field at the surface of the skin that allows various medications to penetrate the skin's surface. The interacting combination of medication, along with electrical and mechanical stimulation, appears to quickly produce healing effects with no side effects. This method has been broadly used with what appear to be positive effects on a number of different conditions, including neuralgia, asthma, and stroke.

Introduction to IEEE-EMBS -- What Can the Society Do for You?

IEEE-EMBS is the largest bioengineering society in the world. This paper introduces material about the Society and its benefits, including the EMBS mission, types of EMBS membership, and direct membership benefits such as the EMB Magazine. EMBS governance is also explained, including the new worldwide representational organization for AdCom (Administrative Committee), and recent changes in the Executive Committee. EMBS delegates to other societies are described, as well as the infrastructure of the main office and duties of key personnel there. Infostructure efforts related to the website and web-based conference registration and manuscript submission are also briefly discussed. Publications sponsored and co-sponsored by EMBS are reviewed. Plans for future national conferences are put forth. The various EMBS awards are outlined. Context is provided for the relationship between IEEE and EMBS, and a brief description is provided of IEEE organization and benefits.

Detection of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus using a Capacitive Immunosensor.

This paper describes the detection of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus using a novel capacitive immunosensor technology, whereby the respective antibodies for the antigens were used as a means for chemical detection on separate sensors. Devices were fabricated using standard etching and metal plating techniques, followed by immobilization of antibodies. Detection of antigen was performed by measuring voltage change due to changes in capacitance as antigen bound to the antibody surface. Capacitance changes were detected upon binding of specific antigen to the surface. This rugged, prototype device detected VSV down to the 2 pg/ml range.

Cell Lysis in SWLA-2 Hybridomas due to 1 kHz AC Electric Fields.

This paper describes results involving the percentage cell lysis of SWLA-2 murine hybridomas produced by AC electric field pulses at 1 kHz with pulse widths ranging from 1 ms to 1 second. Cells that had been exposed to the electric fields were cultured and replicate samples were examined at 48 hours to determine the number of viable cells.

Four-point electrode measurement of impedance in the vicinity of bovine aorta for quasi-static frequencies.

Results are presented here of experimental measurements using a four-point electrode technique to measure the complex impedance of bovine aorta submerged in Ringer's solution. Impedance measurements were taken at 250 microm intervals, ranging from 0 (the electrode directly on the surface of the tissue) to 10 mm. Frequencies ranged from 1 kHz to 10 MHz. Throughout this range, the measured impedance changed by an average of 400% when the electrode was 10 mm from the tissue as compared to when the electrode was in direct contact with the tissue. The change in impedance made it possible to determine when the electrode made contact with the arterial wall.