An investigation into the present status and influencing factors of nurse retention in grade-a tertiary general hospitals in Shanxi Province within the framework of the magnet hospital concept.

BACKGROUND: The attrition of nursing staff significantly contributes to the shortage of healthcare professionals. This study entailed an examination of the propensity of nurses to sustain employment within Grade-A tertiary general hospitals and the various influencing factors. METHODS: A total of 2,457 nurses from three grade-A tertiary general hospitals were surveyed. The survey instruments included a general information questionnaire, a scale measuring their willingness to continue working, and a Chinese version of the Magnet Hospital Factor scale. RESULTS: The scores of the willingness to continue working scale and the Magnet Hospital Factor scale were 21.53 ± 4.52 and 145.46 ± 25.82, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in the scores of willingness of nurses to continue working across various factors, including the department, age, marital status, family location, length of service as nurses, professional title, position, and employment type, upon comparison (P < 0.001). The correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the willingness of nurses to continue working and the magnet hospital factors, with a correlation coefficient of 0.523 (P < 0.01). Regression analysis showed that department, length of service as nurses, professional title, position, average monthly income, number of night shifts, medical care relationship, educational support, and nursing manager support among the magnet hospital factors were important predictors of willingness to continue working (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The willingness of nurses to continue working in grade-A tertiary general hospitals in Shanxi Province was determined to be at an upper-middle level. The magnet status of grade-A tertiary general hospitals needs to be improved, and there are many factors that influenced willingness of nurses to continue working. To cultivate a more favorable environment and bolster nurse recruitment and retention, all healthcare institutions should strive to establish a magnet nursing environment, thereby fostering the robust development of the nursing team.

Protective effect of isoliquiritigenin in amiodarone-induced damage of human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

OBJECTIVE: Amiodarone (AM) is a drug commonly used in patients with ventricular arrhythmias. It can damage vascular endothelial cells and easily cause phlebitis. At present, the prevention and treatment of phlebitis induced by the use of AM is not clear due to the lack of corresponding primary research. Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) has an anti-inflammatory effect, but until now, has not been explored much in the field of research in primary care nursing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of action of ISL in treating phlebitis induced by AM. METHODS: In our study, we used human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) that were divided into three groups: the NC group (normal), the AM group (AM 30 µmol/L for 24 h), and the ISL pretreatment group (isoliquiritigenin 10 µmol/L after 1 h of pretreatment with amiodarone for 24 h). We used CCK-8 to detect cell proliferation, cell scratch assay to detect the migration capability of cells, flow cytometry to measure apoptosis, angiogenesis assay to check the total length and total branches of angiogenesis, and PCR and WB to detect the expression of PCNA, casepase-3, and VEGFA. WB was used to detect NF-κBp65 and p-NF-κBp65 expression. RESULTS: Compared with the AM group, the ISL pretreatment promoted cell proliferation and migration, inhibited cell apoptosis, increased the total length and total branches of angiogenesis, and downregulated p-NF-κBp65 expression. CONCLUSION: ISL shows promise in the prevention and treatment of clinical phlebitis and can be used as a potential therapeutic drug to prevent phlebitis.

The reconstruction on the game networks with binary-state and multi-state dynamics.

Reconstruction of network is to infer the relationship among nodes using observation data, which is helpful to reveal properties and functions of complex systems. In view of the low reconstruction accuracy based on small data and the subjectivity of threshold to infer adjacency matrix, the paper proposes two models: the quadratic compressive sensing (QCS) and integer compressive sensing (ICS). Then a combined method (CCS) is given based on QCS and ICS, which can be used on binary-state and multi-state dynamics. It is found that CCS is usually a superior method comparing with compressive sensing, LASSO on several networks with different structures and scales. And it can infer larger node correctly than the other two methods. The paper is conducive to reveal the hidden relationship with small data so that to understand, predicate and control a vast intricate system.

Time to Occurrence of Phlebitis After Continuous Infusion of Total Nutrient Admixture Through Peripheral Veins: An Experimental Animal Study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the limit time of phlebitis caused by continuous infusion of KabivenTM Pl and TNA (KabivenTM Pl+ alanyl glutamine + potassium aspartate) through a peripheral vein, and to provide a reference for clinical formulation of preventive measures for phlebitis. METHODS: White rabbits (n = 72) were randomly divided into three groups: group A (Normal saline), group B (Kabiven™ Pl), and group C (TNA). Blood was collected from the ear margin vein before administration and after three hours, four hours, five hours, and six hours of administration. CRP and TNF-ɑ were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemical staining were performed on tissue samples taken from the insertion point of the indwelling needle, the tip of the indwelling needle, and 1 cm from the tip of the indwelling needle, closer to the heart, to analyze early pathological changes in blood vessels. RESULTS: (1) There were no visible inflammatory symptoms in groups A, B, or C within 6 hours. (2) Four hours after starting intravenous administration, the levels of inflammatory markers in groups B and C were higher than in group A, and (3) the degree of inflammatory cell infiltration in groups B and C was more severe than in group A. (4) In all groups, the inflammatory reaction at the tip of the indwelling needle was more severe than at the other two sites. CONCLUSION: When the emulsions TNA and Kabiven™ Pl are infused through a peripheral vein, (1) four hours may be considered as the maximum time for continuous intravenous infusion in the same vein before inflammatory changes become evident, and (2) systematic assessment of the tip of the indwelling needle should be considered for inclusion in the nursing plan for phlebitis monitorings.

Non-uniform Evolving Hypergraphs and Weighted Evolving Hypergraphs.

Firstly, this paper proposes a non-uniform evolving hypergraph model with nonlinear preferential attachment and an attractiveness. This model allows nodes to arrive in batches according to a Poisson process and to form hyperedges with existing batches of nodes. Both the number of arriving nodes and that of chosen existing nodes are random variables so that the size of each hyperedge is non-uniform. This paper establishes the characteristic equation of hyperdegrees, calculates changes in the hyperdegree of each node, and obtains the stationary average hyperdegree distribution of the model by employing the Poisson process theory and the characteristic equation. Secondly, this paper constructs a model for weighted evolving hypergraphs that couples the establishment of new hyperedges, nodes and the dynamical evolution of the weights. Furthermore, what is obtained are respectively the stationary average hyperdegree and hyperstrength distributions by using the hyperdegree distribution of the established unweighted model above so that the weighted evolving hypergraph exhibits a scale-free behavior for both hyperdegree and hyperstrength distributions.

The Evolution of Hyperedge Cardinalities and Bose-Einstein Condensation in Hypernetworks.

To depict the complex relationship among nodes and the evolving process of a complex system, a Bose-Einstein hypernetwork is proposed in this paper. Based on two basic evolutionary mechanisms, growth and preference jumping, the distribution of hyperedge cardinalities is studied. The Poisson process theory is used to describe the arrival process of new node batches. And, by using the Poisson process theory and a continuity technique, the hypernetwork is analyzed and the characteristic equation of hyperedge cardinalities is obtained. Additionally, an analytical expression for the stationary average hyperedge cardinality distribution is derived by employing the characteristic equation, from which Bose-Einstein condensation in the hypernetwork is obtained. The theoretical analyses in this paper agree with the conducted numerical simulations. This is the first study on the hyperedge cardinality in hypernetworks, where Bose-Einstein condensation can be regarded as a special case of hypernetworks. Moreover, a condensation degree is also discussed with which Bose-Einstein condensation can be classified.

Brand effect versus competitiveness in hypernetworks.

A few of evolving models in hypernetworks have been proposed based on uniform growth. In order to better depict the growth mechanism and competitive aspect of real hypernetworks, we propose a model in term of the non-uniform growth. Besides hyperdegrees, the other two important factors are introduced to underlie preferential attachment. One dimension is the brand effect and the other is the competitiveness. Our model can accurately describe the evolution of real hypernetworks. The paper analyzes the model and calculates the stationary average hyperdegree distribution of the hypernetwork by using Poisson process theory and a continuous technique. We also address the limit in which this model has a condensation. The theoretical analyses agree with numerical simulations. Our model is universal, in that the standard preferential attachment, the fitness model in complex networks and scale-free model in hypernetworks can all be seen as degenerate cases of the model.

[Relations between alcoholism and osteoporosis or femoral head necrosis].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship of alcoholism between osteoporosis or femoral head necrosis. METHODS: In this case-control study, we selected 95 eligible patients with femoral head necrosis and another 67 cases of osteoporosis as case group, together with 342 patients of fractures from the Second Hospital affiliated to Shanxi Medical College, from February to December 2010, as the control group. Questionnaire was used to collect general information of the patients. Through comparative analysis, related factors of femoral head, osteoporosis were defined. 18 patients with alcoholic femoral head necrosis, 11 patients with alcoholic osteoporosis and 20 patients with fractures were selected from the above said three groups and going through the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as well as the Alcohol Use Disorders Scale(ADS). Using SPSS 13.0 conducted one-way ANOVA(analysis of variance), chi-square test, categorical logistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Results from logistic regression analysis showed that the adjusted odds ratio of those subjects who liked drinking alcohol had an incidence of femoral head necrosis or osteoporosis as 7.70 (95% CI:1.84, 32.30) and 8.44 (95% CI:1.70, 41.90), respectively. The risks of using hormone for treating femoral head necrosis or osteoporosis were 78.43 (95%CI:11.20, 149.05) and 22.75 (95%CI:2.59, 100.27) times than those without. Data from the AUDIT showed that:over-dose of alcohol drinking habit existed 100% in the femoral head necrosis group while 54.45% in the osteoporosis group, while 75 percent patients in the fractures group had normal alcohol drinking habit. Statistically significant differences appeared in the three groups (P < 0.01). RESULTS: from the ADS showed that there were statistically significant differences between the ADS scores of the three groups(F = 3.68, P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Alcohol intake did seem to be highly correlated with the incidence rates of femoral head necrosis or osteoporosis. Alcohol-related necrosis could be viewed as alcohol-dependent diseases while alcohol-related and osteoporosis could partially be recognized as alcohol-dependent disease.