Burden of self-care in seriously ill patients: Impact on adjustment.

Perceived, but not actual, control over treatment has been consistently related to better adjustment in chronic illness. This study examined the relationship between actual control over treatment and severity of illness and their influence on depression in a chronically ill population of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. The authors hypothesized that as severity of illness increases, the burden of control over treatment would increase depression. Severity of illness and depression was assessed for 98 ESRD patients. Control over treatment was represented by whether dialysis patients were self-administering treatment (high control) or were receiving treatment from the medical staff (low control). Results indicated that for the most severely ill patients, high control over treatment resulted in poorer adjustment. Furthermore, this effect was due in part to how illness interferes with social relationships in seriously ill, self-care patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The principles of augmenting the cardiac output in adults

Augmentation of the patient's cardiac output to optimize tissue oxygenation is a primary role of intensive and cardiac care nurses. This involves three approaches: the use of intravenous colloids and occasionally crystalloids, creating a passive stretching of the myocardium to increase cardiac output, the use of inotropic agents which directly stimulate the heart and finally and less commonly the use of cardiac assist devices, notably the intra aortic balloon pump. The choice of method will be dictated by the presenting clinical data and the perceived benefits to the patient of each approach. The role of nurses as part of the health care team is to practice safe, informed care, through an understanding of both the advantages and disadvantages of each approach to the clinical scenario encountered. This paper contains exploration of each of the three principles with a case study approach, allowing the reader to consider a variety of presenting clinical data and appropriate haemodynamic manipulation.     

The Potential of Fast Ignition and Related Experiments with a Petawatt Laser Facility

A model of energy gain induced by fast ignition of thermonuclear burn in compressed deuterium-tritium fuel, is used to show the potential for 300× gain with a driver energy of 1 MJ, if the National Ignition Facility (NIF) were to be adapted for fast ignition. The physics of fast ignition has been studied using a petawatt laser facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Laser plasma interaction in a preformed plasma on a solid target leads to relativistic self-focusing evidenced by x-ray images. Absorption of the laser radiation transfers energy to an intense source of relativistic electrons. Good conversion efficiency into a wide angular distribution is reported. Heating by the electrons in solid density CD₂ produces 0.5 to 1 keV temperature, inferred from the D-D thermo-nuclear neutron yield.     

The electrochemical reduction of PdCl4 and PdCl6 in polyaniline: Influence of Pd deposit morphology on methanol oxidation in alkaline solution

The controlled uptake and electrochemical reduction of metal precursors PdCl₄²⁻ and PdCl₆²⁻ in polyaniline (PANI) is demonstrated. The formation of PANI/Pd composites is achieved with a reduction in proton doping and an increase in the oxidation of the polymer with Pd deposits physically blocking the nitrogen groups. High surface area filaments (PdCl₄²⁻) or a rough encapsulation (PdCl₆²⁻) of Pd metal on PANI are obtained. The structural differences highlight the influence of the metal precursor oxidation state on the morphology of the Pd deposits in PANI. Thermal gravimetric analysis provides an estimate of the Pd content for each composite of ∼40%. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and X-ray-excited Auger Electron Spectroscopy analyses confirm the deposition of Pd metal. The catalytic oxidation of methanol was demonstrated for both PANI/Pd composites in alkaline solutions that prohibit proton doping of the polymer. The data indicates that Pd metal acts as a solid-state dopant that may delocalize the charge on the polymer backbone to maintain conductivity. Methanol oxidation at PANI/Pd composites produced using PdCl₄²⁻ was enhanced relative to the composite produced using PdCl₆²⁻ and a planar Pd electrode. Comparison of PANI/Pd composite produced using PdCl₄²⁻ with other Pd catalysts from the literature indicates surface poisoning is reduced when Pd is coupled with the polymer. The composite is robust and stable in alkaline solution with the charge density decreasing by 5% on the positive scan and 13% on the negative scan after 200 voltammetric cycles. The data also indicates that the reductive desorption of surface contaminants is possible, minimizing the catalytic loss due to surface poisoning.     

Comparison of Four Operational Definitions of Premature Termination.

This investigation directly compared 4 methods for classifying clients as premature terminators: therapist judgment, failure to attend the last scheduled appointment, median-split procedure, and failure to return to therapy after the intake appointment. Premature termination rates ranged from 17.6% to 53.1% across the 4 definitions. Only 2 of the definitions (therapist judgment and missed last appointment) demonstrated adequate agreement in classifying participants as premature terminators. Overall, these findings provide empirical support for the assertion that different definitions of premature termination measure distinct constructs and cannot be used interchangeably. The authors review the advantages and disadvantages associated with each definition and present a new method for evaluating premature termination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal expectations, social support, and adjustment to chronic illness.

Chronic illness places considerable burdens on patients and their interpersonal relations with families. In this study, patients' perceptions of family and medical staff expectations regarding responsibility for care and routine functions were examined. The authors hypothesized that a patient's perceived inability to meet others' expectations about coping with illness would lead to poorer adjustment. Forty-two chronically ill patients were assessed prospectively for perceptions of others' expectations, social support, and psychological adjustment. Findings confirmed that expectations predicted subsequent decreases in psychological adjustment over a 3-month period, even when social support was controlled. A test of the reverse hypothesis showed that poorly adjusted patients did not misperceive others' expectations. Theoretical interpretations of the findings and their relation to social support research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protective behavioral strategies and the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences among college students.

Approximately 40% of college students reported engaging in heavy episodic or "binge" drinking in the 2 weeks prior to being surveyed. Research indicates that college students suffering from depression are more likely to report experiencing negative consequences related to their drinking than other students are. The reasons for this relationship have not been well-studied. Hence, the purpose of this study was to determine whether use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS), defined as cognitive-behavioral strategies an individual can use when drinking alcohol that limit both consumption and alcohol-related problems, mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences among college students. Data were obtained from 686 participants from a large, public university who were referred to an alcohol intervention as a result of violating on-campus alcohol policies. Results from structural equation modeling analyses indicated that use of PBS partially mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences. Implications for clinicians treating college students who report experiencing depressive symptoms or consuming alcohol are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ExpandNet: A Deep Convolutional Neural Network for High Dynamic Range Expansion from Low Dynamic Range Content

High dynamic range (HDR) imaging provides the capability of handling real world lighting as opposed to the traditional low dynamic range (LDR) which struggles to accurately represent images with higher dynamic range. However, most imaging content is still available only in LDR. This paper presents a method for generating HDR content from LDR content based on deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) termed ExpandNet. ExpandNet accepts LDR images as input and generates images with an expanded range in an end‐to‐end fashion. The model attempts to reconstruct missing information that was lost from the original signal due to quantization, clipping, tone mapping or gamma correction. The added information is reconstructed from learned features, as the network is trained in a supervised fashion using a dataset of HDR images. The approach is fully automatic and data driven; it does not require any heuristics or human expertise. ExpandNet uses a multiscale architecture which avoids the use of upsampling layers to improve image quality. The method performs well compared to expansion/inverse tone mapping operators quantitatively on multiple metrics, even for badly exposed inputs.     

Electrochemical Deposition of Hydrosulfide and Ethanethiolate Adlayers on Silver(111). Voltammetric Measurement of Structural Phase Transitions During Adlayer Formation

Reversible, oxidative adsorption of hydrosulfide (HS⁻) and ethanethiolate (CH₃CH₂S⁻) on highly-ordered, Ag(111) electrodes in aqueous 0.5 M NaOH solutions is reported. Oxidation of HS⁻ and CH₃CH₂S⁻ results in adlayer formation, as determined by voltammetry, coulometry, and in-situ electrochemical quartz-crystal measurements. The voltammetric response of Ag(111) in HS⁻ solutions displays three characteristic waves. Two waves correspond to the reversible 1-e⁻ oxidative adsorption of HS”, resulting in the formation of a Ag-SH adlayer. The third wave corresponds to the kinetically-slow 1-e⁻ oxidation of the Ag-SH adlayer, yielding an underpotential deposited monolayer of Ag₂S. The voltammetric response observed in CH₃CH₂S⁻ solutions is qualitatively similar to that of HS⁻, displaying two well-resolved waves corresponding to oxidative adsorption. The observation of two voltammetric waves is suggestive of a mechanism of CH₃CH₂S⁻ adlayer formation involving at least two distinct structural phases. However, unlike the situation for HS”, the resulting Ag-SCH₂CH₃ adlayer is unable to undergo a second oxidative transition. The free energies of adsorption of HS” and CH₃CH₂S⁻ on Ag(111) are measured to be ca. −23 kcal/mol.