The effects of nursing interventions on the level of anxiety and care burden of the caregivers of bedridden patients.

Background: Taking care of bedridden patients at home is a very difficult task for caregivers. In this care process, caregivers can be supported with the interventions given by the nurses at home. Aim: This study mainly aimed to compare the anxiety and care burden levels of caregivers of bedridden patients at home after nursing interventions which a personal care handbook, regular home visits, and telephone counseling. Subject and Methods: To proceed with this study, 51 caregivers have included in this study between January 1 and July 21, 2018. The Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living (BIADL) was used to measure levels of independence in patient's activities, State and Trait Anxiety Scale (SAI and TAI) was used to measure the anxiety levels, and Burden Interview (BI) care burden problems of caregivers who participated in the study. Also, Sociodemographic Characteristics Form was used for demographic data of patients and caregivers. Results: The analysis of the responses showed the proportions of the caregivers who had lower SAI- TAI and BI scores after taking nursing intervention at home. The state anxiety level of caregivers (pre-test: Mean; 54.06+-7.97; post-test: Mean; 38.43+-6.41) and the trait anxiety level of the caregivers (pre-test: Mean; 51.45+-5.94; post-test: Mean; 41.59+-7.05) and the burden level of caregivers (pre-test: Mean; 75.75+-11.41; post-test: Mean; 57.69+-13.39) was determined. The differences between the pre and post-test mean scores of SAI, TAI, and BI were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Our study highlights that the burden and anxiety levels of the caregivers had lower post-test levels than the pre-test levels.

Effect of antioxidant lycopene on human osteoblasts.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this in vitro study is to evaluate the effect of antioxidant lycopene on human osteoblasts. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The human osteoblast cell line (CRL-11372) was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC Manassas, Va) and grown in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS), penicillin (100 U/ml), and streptomycin (100 mg/ ml) at 37 °C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 and 95% air. The effective dose of lycopene was determined by MTT assay and a real-time cell analysis (RTCA) system. Proliferative effects were analyzed by in vitro wound healing model. Gene expressions of type 1 collagen (COL1A1), osteocalcin (OCN), and growth differentiation factor-5 (GDF-5) were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) at 72 h. Statistical differences between test groups were analyzed with a one-way ANOVA test. RESULTS: MTT assay showed that the doses between 10-5 and 1 µmol of lycopene had dose-dependent proliferative effects. The doses between 10-5 and 10-1 µmol were most effective at 72 h. Lycopene accelerates the healing rate by increasing osteoblast proliferation. CONCLUSION: Results suggested that lycopene had proliferative effects on human osteoblasts, which may help to increase bone regeneration, and thus, it can be useful in tissue engineering procedures. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: By the help of antioxidants like lycopene capacity, velocity and quality of new bone forming may be increased in periodontal and dental implant treatments.

Interventions by Hospital Nurses for the spiritual needs of patients in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey.

AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the spiritual care interventions of the nurses in hospitals. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Nurses employed in the 5 hospitals of Eastern Black Sea Region constitute the universe of the research that was planned to be descriptive. 1254 out of 1765 nurses were reached out between 1-30 May 2015 without a sample selection. The data were collected by the researchers is based on face-to-face survey techniques in which sociodemographic attributes built on literature and opinions on spiritual care were evaluated. Permission of the hospitals and nurses were obtained for the study. Number and percentage distributions and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: As the nurses' sociodemographic attributes were examined, 29.3% of them belonged to 30-35 age group, 26% of them worked as a nurse manager for 82-161 months, and 56.7% of them worked for 162-300 months. Ninety-one percent of them stated that they never practiced spiritual care-related nursing, 97.5% of them stated that they never received support from hospital clergymen, 93.2% of them stated that they did not talk about spiritual need with the patient since they did not find it necessary. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that there is very little or no interventions directed at the spiritual dimension during the patient's caring process.

Effect of polymer type on characteristics of buccal tablets using factorial design.

A two factor three level factorial design was used to investigate the effects of carbopol and cationic hydrophilic polymers which have a common use in buccal drug formulations. Statistical models with interaction terms were derived to evaluate influence of carbopol (X1) and chitosan (X2) on tablet disintegration (Y1) and dissolution (Y2), mechanical properties (Y3), swelling (Y4). Tablet disintegration studies were carried out using two different pH environments within buccal region pH limits and also two different commonly used dissolution methods for buccal tablets were also investigated to compare the effect of polymer type on dissolution. Polymer type and ratio affect the characteristics of the buccal tablets due to their different physicochemical behavior at buccal pH. Also significant variances between dissolution profiles for buccal tablets, using either USP Paddle or flow through cell methods were found. These results indicate that both polymer type and ratio as well as combination of them effects the drug behavior in different ways.

THYROID MALIGNANCY RISK OF INCIDENTAL THYROID NODULES IN PATIENTS WITH NON-THYROID CANCER.

CONTEXT: Thyroid incidentaloma is a common disorder in endocrinology practice. Current literature regarding the risk of thyroid cancer in incidentalomas found in patients with non-thyroid cancer is limited. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency of thyroid malignancy in thyroid incidentalomas detected in patients with non-thyroid cancer. DESIGN: Case control study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The database of 287 thyroid nodules from 161 patients with a history of non-thyroid cancer followed between 2008 and 2014 were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: From 287 thyroid nodules, 69.7 % had a benign final cytology. Thyroid cancer detected in one nodule while follicular neoplasia detected in 4 nodules, atypia of unknown significance (AUS) detected in 10 nodules, Hurthle cell neoplasia detected in 5 nodules and suspicious for malignancy detected in 6 nodules according to fine needle aspiration biopsy results. Metastasis of the non-thyroid cancer to the thyroid gland was detected in 4 nodules. Twenty seven nodules from 15 patients were removed with surgery. There were 3 malignant nodules found after surgery (1 papillary, 1 follicular and 1 medullary cancer). In addition to these three thyroid cancers, two patients with benign nodules had co-incidental thyroid cancer detected after surgery. Finally, 11.1 % of thyroid nodules which underwent thyroid surgery had malignant histopathology except for co-incidental and metastatic cancers. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of thyroid malignancy seems not to be substantially increased in incidental thyroid nodules detected in patients with non-thyroid cancer when these patients were evaluated in nodule-based approach.

Towards simultaneous measurements of electronic and structural properties in ultra-fast x-ray free electron laser absorption spectroscopy experiments.

The rapidly growing ultrafast science with X-ray lasers unveils atomic scale processes with unprecedented time resolution bringing the so called "molecular movie" within reach. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is one of the most powerful x-ray techniques providing both local atomic order and electronic structure when coupled with ad-hoc theory. Collecting absorption spectra within few x-ray pulses is possible only in a dispersive setup. We demonstrate ultrafast time-resolved measurements of the LIII-edge x-ray absorption near-edge spectra of irreversibly laser excited Molybdenum using an average of only few x-ray pulses with a signal to noise ratio limited only by the saturation level of the detector. The simplicity of the experimental set-up makes this technique versatile and applicable for a wide range of pump-probe experiments, particularly in the case of non-reversible processes.

A quantitative x-ray detection system for gold nanoparticle tumour biomarkers.

X-ray fluorescence techniques have proven beneficial for identifying and quantifying trace elements in biological tissues. A novel approach is being developed that employs x-ray fluorescence with an aim to locate heavy nanoparticles, such as gold, which are embedded into tissues. Such nanoparticles can be functionalized to act as markers for tumour characteristics to map the disease state, with the future aim of imaging them to inform cancer therapy regimes. The uptake of functionalized nanoparticles by cancer cells will also enable detection of small clusters of infiltrating cancer cells which are currently missed by commonly used imaging modalities. The novel system, consisting of an energy-resolving silicon drift detector with high spectral resolution, shows potential in both quantification of and sensitivity to nanoparticle concentrations typically found in tumours. A series of synchrotron measurements are presented; a linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and gold nanoparticle (GNP) concentration was found down to 0.005 mgAu ml(-1), the detection limit of the system. Successful use of a bench-top source, suitable for possible future clinical use, is also demonstrated, and found not to degrade the detection limit or accuracy of the GNP concentration measurement. The achieved system sensitivity suggests possible future clinical usefulness in measuring tumour uptake in vivo, particularly in shallow tumour sites and small animals, in ex vivo tissue and in 3D in vitro research samples.

ERCC1 expression in triple negative breast cancer.

PURPOSE: Excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1), which is a component of nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway, removes platinum-induced DNA adducts. Overexpression of ERCC1 has been associated with resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian and lung cancers. Detecting ERCC1 overexpression is important in considering treatment options for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), and in conducting and interpreting trials that search to find specific chemotherapy regimens for TNBC. In this study we aimed to study ERCC1 overexpression in patients with TNBC. METHODS: A monoclonal antibody against ERCC1 was used for immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis of tumor samples. Tumor samples from 45 patients were evaluated by two experienced pathologists who were blinded to clinical data. A semi-quantitative H score (intensity staining scale ranging from no staining/0 to very intense staining/3+) was calculated by multiplying staining intensity with extent score. Tumors with H score ≥ 1 were classified as ERCC1-positive. RESULTS: ERCC1 expression was positive in 73.3% of the tumor samples with an H score ≥ 1 and 26.7% of the tumor samples stained negative with an H score lt; 1. Of the tumor samples 15.5% stained diffusely and intensively. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that about two thirds of the TNBC showed positive expression of ERCC1, which may be predictive of a poor response to platinum-based chemotherapy.

Electronic microarrays in DNA computing.

DNA Computing is a rapidly-developing interdisciplinary area which could benefit from more experimental results to solve practical problems with the current biological tools. In this study, we have integrated microelectronics and molecular biology techniques for the storage of information and basic arithmetic operations via DNA. Using 16 different complementary sequences of DNA, we stored 4 bits of information on an electronic microarray and read the data via the fluorescent signal strength coming from the microarray pads. We also showed the possibility of addition and subtraction of quantities of fluorescently tagged DNA determined via their fluorescent signal strength. We conclude that the hybrid technology we employed, based on a matured Si-CMOS platform, has the potential to strengthen the pursuit of DNA Computation as well as finding its own niche applications.

Data transmission performance of few layer graphene ribbon interconnects.

We present the digital data transmission performance of few-layer graphene ribbon interconnects grown by chemical vapor deposition which are potential candidates for interconnect applications, and serve as a replacement for problematic metal interconnects at small length scales and overcome their limitations in data transmission performance. Graphene ribbon interconnects having a mobility of 2,180 cm2V(-1) s(-1) can sustain data rates up to 90 megabits per second at 100 nm length. These interconnects behave as RLC lines, thus the bandwidth is inversely proportional to resistance caused by defects in the graphene layers and the inductance and capacitance of the interconnect lines. Improving the graphene mobility to highest measured values (approximately 200,000 cm2V(-1) s(-1)) and using structures with multiple coplanar transmission lines in parallel could carry the bandwidth beyond the terabits per second level.

Electronic microarrays in DNA computing.

DNA Computing is a rapidly-developing interdisciplinary area which could benefit from more experimental results to solve practical problems with the current biological tools. In this study, we have integrated microelectronics and molecular biology techniques for the storage of information and basic arithmetic operations via DNA. Using 16 different complementary sequences of DNA, we stored 4 bits of information on an electronic microarray and read the data via the fluorescent signal strength coming from the microarray pads. We also showed the possibility of addition and subtraction of quantities of fluorescently tagged DNA determined via their fluorescent signal strength. We conclude that the hybrid technology we employed, based on a matured Si-CMOS platform, has the potential to strengthen the pursuit of DNA computation as well as finding its own niche applications.

Assessment of the risk of perforation of the mandibular canal by implant drill using density and thickness parameters.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate whether the resistance of the bone surrounding the mandibular canal had sufficient density and thickness to avoid perforation by drills when preparing the bed of the implant. BACKGROUND: Damage to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) is more common than expected. This injury may lead to serious complications ranging from mild paresthesia to total anaesthesia of the lower jaw. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The CT images of 99 patients, whose ages ranged between 20 and 79years, and who applied for an implant application to the posterior aspect of the mandible were included in this study. RESULTS: The overall average bone thickness in the premolar and molar regions was 0.8717±0.1818 and 0.8556±0.1756mm, respectively, whereas the bone density in the premolar and molar regions was 649.18±241.42 and 584.44±222.73 Hounsfield Units (HU), respectively (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: It was determined that the average density and thickness of the bone that surrounds the mandibular canal was not sufficient to resist the implant drill. It can be concluded that the risk of injury to the IAN may be minimised by accurately determining the bone mass on the canal prior to the implant procedure, and avoiding excessive force when approaching the canal.

Electrical characterization of composition modulated In(1-x)Sb(x) nanowire field effect transistors by scanning gate microscopy.

In this work high quality crystalline In(1_x)Sb(x) nanowires (NWs) are synthesized via a template-based electrochemistry method. Energy dispersive spectroscopy studies show that composition modulated In(1-x)Sb(x) (x approximately 0.5 or 0.7) nanowires can be attained by selectively controlling the deposition potential during growth. Single In(1-x)Sb(x) nanowire field effect transistors (NW-FETs) are fabricated to study the electrical properties of as-grown NWs. Using scanning gate microscopy (SGM) as a local gate the I(ds)-V(ds) characteristics of the fabricated devices are modulated as a function of the applied gate voltage. Electrical transport measurements show n-type semiconducting behavior for the In0.5Sb0.5 NW-FET, while a p-type behavior is observed for the In0.3Sb0.7 NW-FET device. The ability to grow composition modulated In(1-x)Sb(x) NWs can provide new opportunities for utilizing InSb NWs as building blocks for low-power and high speed nanoscale electronics.

Massively parallel low-cost pick-and-place of optoelectronic devices by electrochemical fluidic processing.

We describe a novel electrochemical technique for the nonlithographic, fluidic pick-and-place assembly of optoelectronic devices by electrical and optical addressing. An electrochemical cell was developed that consists of indium tin oxide (ITO) and n -type silicon substrates as the two electrode materials and deionized water (R = 18 MOmega) as the electrolytic medium between the two electrodes. 0.8-20-microm-diameter negatively charged polystyrene beads, 50-100-microm-diameter SiO(2) pucks, and 50-microm LED's were successfully integrated upon a patterned silicon substrate by electrical addressing. In addition, 0.8-microm-diameter beads were integrated upon a homogeneous silicon substrate by optical addressing. This method can be applied to massively parallel assembly (>1000 x 1000 arrays) of multiple types of devices (of a wide size range) with very fast (a few seconds) and accurate positioning.