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Objectives This project aimed to determine where health technology can support best-practice perioperative care for patients waiting for surgery.Methods An exploratory codesign process used personas and journey mapping in three interprofessional workshops to identify key challenges in perioperative care across four health districts in Sydney, Australia. Through participatory methodology, the research inquiry directly involved perioperative clinicians. In three facilitated workshops, clinician and patient participants codesigned potential digital interventions to support perioperative pathways. Workshop output was coded and thematically analysed, using design principles.Results Codesign workshops, involving 51 participants, were conducted October to November 2022. Participants designed seven patient personas, with consumer representatives confirming acceptability and diversity. Interprofessional team members and consumers mapped key clinical moments, feelings and barriers for each persona during a hypothetical perioperative journey. Six key themes were identified: ‘preventative care’, ‘personalised care’, ‘integrated communication’, ‘shared decision-making’, ‘care transitions’ and ‘partnership’. Twenty potential solutions were proposed, with top priorities a digital dashboard and virtual care coordination.Discussion Our findings emphasise the importance of interprofessional collaboration, patient and family engagement and supporting health technology infrastructure. Through user-based codesign, participants identified potential opportunities where health technology could improve system efficiencies and enhance care quality for patients waiting for surgical procedures. The codesign approach embedded users in the development of locally-driven, contextually oriented policies to address current perioperative service challenges, such as prolonged waiting times and care fragmentation.Conclusion Health technology innovation provides opportunities to improve perioperative care and integrate clinical information. Future research will prototype priority solutions for further implementation and evaluation.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of short duration electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings extracted from ambulatory continuous ECG (Holter) to assess 24-hour mean heart rate in dogs with atrial fibrillation. In this retrospective study, Holter recordings obtained from 20 dogs with atrial fibrillation were selected for analysis. Ten out of 20 dogs were receiving drugs to control heart rate at the time of Holter evaluation. From the Holter recordings, heart rate averages were calculated for various sample durations (five-minutes, 30 minutes, one-hour, two-hours, and three-hours) for each dog. Percentage of these shorter duration ECG obtained HR averages that fell within ±10%, ±15% and ± 20% of 24-hour mean heart rate was determined for each sample duration and for each dog. Seventy five percent of heart rate averages obtained from three-hour ECG recordings fell within ±10% of 24-hour mean HR. All the heart rate averages obtained from two-hour ECG recordings fell within ±20% of 24-hour mean heart rate. Based on the results of this study it can be concluded that the duration of the ECG recording affects the prediction accuracy for 24-hour Holter mean HR. Only two and three hours of Holter recordings provided all heart rate averages within ±20% of 24-hour mean heart rate. No significant differences were noted in the prediction accuracy of shorter duration ECG recordings based on rate control therapy status. Further prospective studies are needed to assess the accuracy of HR obtained at home using various ECG recording devices to predict 24-hour mean heart rate in dogs with atrial fibrillation.

Por milenios los agricultores han mejorado sus cultivos utilizando la variación genética y seleccionando las mejores variedades. Hoy nos enfrentamos a un reto sin precedentes: alimentar la creciente población mundial. Así, aumentar los rendimientos de cultivos de importancia global, como la yuca, es crucial para la seguridad alimentaria.. Esta raíz tropical alimenta aproximadamente 1.000 millones de personas en alrededor de 105 países en el mundo y sus productos son la tercera fuente de calorías más importante para los países del trópico. Esta planta es altamente dependiente de la asociación con hongos formadores de micorrizas arbusculares (HFMA). Estos hongos ayudan a la planta a obtener fósforo del suelo, un nutriente limitante principalmente en los suelos del trópico. Recientemente, nuestro grupo de investigación colombo-suizo, mostró que la inoculación de cultivos de yuca con Rhizophagus irregularis incrementó los rendimientos en dos localidades diferentes de Colombia. Más aún, conseguimos enormes diferencias en la productividad de la yuca, utilizando diferentes líneas genéticamente mejoradas del hongo R. irregularis, en condiciones de campo. Es improbable observar cambios tan dramáticos, en campo, en la producción de yuca, con un ciclo de mejoramiento de la planta. Así, combinando la agronomía con la biología y la genética, proponemos un cambio en el paradigma del mejoramiento vegetal, que pueda contribuir a resolver el problema de hambruna en el mundo.

MAAP4 is a computer code that can simulate the response of a light water reactor power plant during severe accident sequences, including actions taken as part of accident management. The code quantitatively predicts the evolution of a severe accident starting from full power conditions given a set of system faults and initiating events through events such as core melt, reactor vessel failure, and containment failure. Furthermore, models are included in the code to represent the actions that could mitigate the accident by in-vessel cooling, external cooling of the reactor pressure vessel, or cooling the debris in containment. A key element tied to using a code like MAAP4 is an uncertainty analysis. The purpose of this paper is to present a MAAP4 based analysis to examine the sensitivity of a key parameter, in this case hydrogen production, to a set of model parameters that are related to a Level 2 PRA analysis. The Level 2 analysis examines those sequences that result in core melting and subsequent reactor pressure vessel failure and its impact on the containment. This paper identifies individual contributors and MAAP4 model parameters that statistically influence hydrogen production. Hydrogen generation was chosen because of its direct relationship to oxidation. With greater oxidation, more heat is added to the core region and relocation (core slump) should occur faster. This, in theory, would lead to shorter failure times and subsequent “hotter” debris pool on the containment floor.

A 3-day-old alpaca cria presented for progressive weakness and dyspnea since birth. Complete bloodwork, thoracic radiographs, and endoscopic examination of the nasal passages and distal trachea revealed no significant findings. Echocardiogram and contrast study revealed a single artery overriding a large ventricular septal defect (VSD). A small atrial septal defect or patent foramen ovale was also noted. Color flow Doppler and an agitated saline contrast study revealed bidirectional but primarily right to left flow through the VSD and bidirectional shunting through the atrial defect. Differential diagnosis based on echocardiographic findings included common arterial trunk, Tetralogy of Fallot, and pulmonary atresia with a VSD. Postmortem examination revealed a large common arterial trunk with a quadricuspid valve overriding a VSD. Additionally, defect in the atrial septum was determined to be a patent foramen ovale. A single pulmonary trunk arose from the common arterial trunk and bifurcated to the left and right pulmonary artery, consistent with a Collet and Edwards’ type I common arterial trunk with aortic predominance. Although uncommon, congenital cardiac defects should be considered in animals presenting with clinical signs of hypoxemia, dyspnea, or failure to thrive.