Reducing Diarrhea in Critically Ill Patients Receiving Enteral Nutrition Support: An Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Project.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea during enteral nutrition may induce various complications and increase the nursing workload. LOCAL PROBLEM: The diarrhea rate in our intensive care units (ICUs) was 37.14% from May to July 2021. Nurses reported a moderate to heavy burden regarding care for those with diarrhea. METHODS: A pre-post implementation design was used to evaluate the impact of evidence-based interventions for diarrhea screening and prevention. INTERVENTIONS: A diarrhea risk screening tool and countermeasures were developed through an extensive literature review. Tools were integrated into the electronic health record system. RESULTS: The rate of diarrhea decreased from 37.14% to 17.33% ( P = .000). Nurse's compliance with practice standards increased for diarrhea assessment, risk factor screening, agent choice, and countermeasures provision ( P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The evidence-based tools developed for this project helped decrease the diarrhea rate in our ICUs.

PET/MR Imaging: New Frontier in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia; a progressive neurodegenerative disease that currently lacks an effective treatment option. Early and accurate diagnosis, in addition to quick elimination of differential diagnosis, allows us to provide timely treatments that delay the progression of AD. Imaging plays an important role for the early diagnosis of AD. The newly emerging PET/MR imaging strategies integrate the advantages of PET and MR to diagnose and monitor AD. This review introduces the development of PET/MR imaging systems, technical considerations of PET/MR imaging, special considerations of PET/MR in AD, and the system's potential clinical applications and future perspectives in AD.

Cytotoxic effects and oxidative stress response of six PBDE metabolites on human L02 cells.

In the present study, the cytotoxic effects and toxicological mechanism of six polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) metabolites (3-OH-BDE47, 3-MeO-BDE47, 5-OH-BDE47, 5-MeO-BDE47, 6-OH-BDE85 and 6-MeO-BDE85) on L02 cells were explored by investigating the cell viability, apoptosis, lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, and oxidative stress response. The results showed that these metabolites could inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis, among which 6-OH-BDE85 had the highest efficiency. LDH leakage test also showed that 6-OH-BDE85 had the strongest ability to cause LDH release. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in 6-OH-BDE85- and 3-OH-BDE47-treated groups were significantly elevated in a dose-dependent manner. After treatment for 24 h, four BDE47 metabolites (3-OH-BDE47, 3-MeO-BDE47, 5-OH-BDE47, and 5-MeO-BDE47) induced an increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and decrease in glutathione (GSH) level, whereas 6-OH-BDE85 led to a decrease in both SOD activity and GSH level. These effects disappeared after continued culturing for another 24 h. In conclusion, these PBDE metabolites, especially 6-OH-BDE85, showed cytotoxicity on L02 cells, which was at least partially related to the oxidative stress level.