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Background: Although religion and spirituality are important to adults with cancer and their family caregivers, few studies have tested spiritual care interventions in the outpatient setting. Aim: To determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of chaplain-delivered, semi-structured spiritual care to adult outpatients with advanced cancer and their caregivers. Design: In this pre/post pilot intervention study, board-certified chaplains utilized the Spiritual Care Assessment and Intervention (SCAI) framework during 4 individual sessions. Surveys at baseline and at 1, 6, and 12 weeks post-intervention assessed spiritual well-being, quality of life, depression, anxiety, and religious coping. Setting/Participants: We enrolled U.S. adult outpatients with or without an eligible family caregiver. Eligible patients were at least 18 years old and at least 2 weeks post-diagnosis of incurable and advanced-stage lung or gastrointestinal (GI) cancer. Results: Of 82 eligible patients, 24 enrolled (29.3%); of 22 eligible caregivers, 18 enrolled (81.8%). Four planned chaplain visits were completed by 87.5% of patients and 77.8% of caregivers. All enrolled participants completed baseline surveys, and more than 75% completed follow-up surveys at 2 of 3 time points. More than 80% of patients and caregivers reported they would recommend the sessions to a friend or family member. Patients' spiritual well-being improved significantly at all timepoints compared to baseline: 1-week post (p <.006), 6-weeks post (p <.001), and 12-weeks post (p <.004). Conclusions: Spiritual care through SCAI is feasible, acceptable, and shows promise in improving spiritual well-being and other important outcomes in advanced-stage cancer patients and family caregivers. Further investigation is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the variant of the shortest path problem in which a given set of paths is forbidden to occur as a subpath in an optimal path. We establish that the most-efficient algorithm for its solution, a dynamic programming algorithm, has polynomial time complexity; it had previously been conjectured that the algorithm has pseudo-polynomial time complexity. Furthermore, we show that this algorithm can be extended, without increasing its time complexity, to handle non elementary forbidden paths. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 63(3), 239-242 2014 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) response at birth in immature lambs. Absence of sympathoexcitation after premature delivery; Exogenous corticosteroids maturational effect on the sympathetic response at birth; Role of maternal steroid in improving postnatal cardiovascular homeostasis.

Examines the role of angiotensin II (ANG II) in the glucocorticoid modulation of cardiovascular and autonomic nervous function in preterm lambs. Speculation that augmented cardiovascular function in glucocorticoid-treated premature lambs is dependent, in part, on a generalized sympathoexcitatory response and is mediated by central mechanisms.