Ankle sprains and fractures in adults.

The orthopaedic nurse will undoubtedly care for patients with ankle injuries. Ankle sprains and fractures are common injuries seen in orthopaedic practices in the United States. To provide comprehensive nursing care of these injuries, nurses should understand ankle biomechanics as well as anatomy. Knowledge of fracture classification schemes, pathology of injury, and treatment modalities is also important. Fracture classification schemes vary as do treatment modalities. Ankle sprains and fractures can be treated operatively or nonoperatively, and orthopaedic nurses play an important role in the care of patients with such ankle injuries.

Interventions to prevent adolescent motor vehicle crashes: a literature review.

Adolescent injury and death from motor vehicle crashes continues to be a pressing public health concern. The adolescent age group present a unique challenge in terms of prevention because of their age and thought processes. Over the years, many intervention strategies have emerged to target prevention of motor vehicle crashes in this age group. Some have been more successful than others. When implementing intervention programs for their own communities, nurses must be aware of information regarding adolescent injury prevention in the literature. Reality-based prevention programs appear to be a promising intervention strategy to target motor vehicle crash prevention in adolescents.

Generality of solvation effects on the hydrolysis rates of phosphate monoesters and their possible relevance to enzymatic catalysis.

Previous work by Kirby and co-workers revealed a significant acceleration of the rate of hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate by added dipolar solvents such as DMSO. Activation parameters and kinetic isotope effects have been measured to ascertain the origin of this effect. The generality of this phenomenon was examined with a series of esters with more basic leaving groups. Computational analyses of the effects of desolvation of dianionic phosphate monoesters were carried out, and the possible effect of the transfer from water to the active site of alkaline phosphatase was modeled. The results are consistent with a desolvation-induced weakening of the P-O ester bond in the ground state. Other aryl phosphate esters show similar rate accelerations at high fractions of DMSO, but phenyl and methyl phosphates do not, and their hydrolysis reactions are actually slowed by these conditions.