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This pilot study assessed the diagnostic accuracy and potential impact of a rapid PCR-based screening test for the detection of group B Streptococcus (GBS) at the onset of labour for the purpose of optimising intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP). Vaginal and rectal swabs from a convenience sample of 158 women were analysed by conventional broth-enriched culture and a rapid PCR test. Overall, GBS carriage was 18.98% by culture and 19.62% by PCR. PCR for the detection of GBS had a sensitivity of 93.1%, specificity of 96.67% and area under the curve (AUC) of 0.95. Only 19.3% GBS-positive women received IAP. Three-fourths of babies born to GBS-positive mothers did not receive surveillance for early-onset GBS disease. Of the women who received IAP, only 32.5% were GBS carriers. Seventy-four percent of the GBS-positive mothers delivered more than 5 h after recruitment, which gives adequate swab to delivery interval for appropriate antibiotic prophylaxis in labour. IMPACT STATEMENT • What is already known about this subject: Appropriate intra-partum treatment of colonized mothers reduces the risk of GBS transmission to neonates. Universal ante partum screening of pregnant women or IAP based on risk factors in labour for GBS prevention fail to accurately identify and treat the woman who actually harbors GBS in the birth canal in labour. A PCR based rapid test, allows for real-time assessment of GBS carriage in labour. • What this study adds: This study highlights the fact that a large number of GBS carriers in labour, who could potentially infect their babies, do not receive IAP, and most of their babies do not receive added surveillance in the neonatal period for EOGBS disease. It also confirms that PCR testing at onset of labour is a highly sensitive and reliable test that identifies the women who are GBS carriers in labour and hence need IAP. • What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research: Timely provision of IAP for the appropriate woman is possible by adopting universal GBS screening at the onset of labor using GBS-PCR. This would involve additional costs to health care facilities and added work to laboratory personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This pilot study assessed the diagnostic accuracy and potential impact of a rapid PCR-based screening test for the detection of group B Streptococcus (GBS) at the onset of labour for the purpose of optimising intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP). Vaginal and rectal swabs from a convenience sample of 158 women were analysed by conventional broth-enriched culture and a rapid PCR test. Overall, GBS carriage was 18.98% by culture and 19.62% by PCR. PCR for the detection of GBS had a sensitivity of 93.1%, specificity of 96.67% and area under the curve (AUC) of 0.95. Only 19.3% GBS-positive women received IAP. Three-fourths of babies born to GBS-positive mothers did not receive surveillance for early-onset GBS disease. Of the women who received IAP, only 32.5% were GBS carriers. Seventy-four percent of the GBS-positive mothers delivered more than 5 h after recruitment, which gives adequate swab to delivery interval for appropriate antibiotic prophylaxis in labour. Impact statement What is already known about this subject: Appropriate intra-partum treatment of colonized mothers reduces the risk of GBS transmission to neonates. Universal ante partum screening of pregnant women or IAP based on risk factors in labour for GBS prevention fail to accurately identify and treat the woman who actually harbors GBS in the birth canal in labour. A PCR based rapid test, allows for real-time assessment of GBS carriage in labour.What This Study Adds: This study highlights the fact that a large number of GBS carriers in labour, who could potentially infect their babies, do not receive IAP, and most of their babies do not receive added surveillance in the neonatal period for EOGBS disease. It also confirms that PCR testing at onset of labour is a highly sensitive and reliable test that identifies the women who are GBS carriers in labour and hence need IAP. What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research: Timely provision of IAP for the appropriate woman is possible by adopting universal GBS screening at the onset of labor using GBS-PCR. This would involve additional costs to health care facilities and added work to laboratory personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Biblical Psalms and the Bhakti poetry, focusing on the "Book of Psalms" and Hindu devotionalism. It talks about the commonalities and differences of Hindu and Jewish traditions. It states that the bhakti poems, also known as the divine poems, and the Psalms both share an intimate relationship with the divine. It is noted that devotion in Hindu religion depends on the mood or relationship one has with the divine. Several religious compositions are presented.

The adapted physical education (APE) program at Wildwood High School's class for children with developmental disabilities including autism, learning disabilities, Down syndrome, and other disabilities has participated in community-based recreation programs for many years. In the past two years, Wildwood High School's APE program has including an adapted boxing program at Schott's Boxing in Albany, NY. The paper describes the benefits of boxing for individuals with developmental disabilities, how the specific adapted boxing program at Schott's was created, and how the program is organized to accommodate the students from Wildwood High School. The paper will conclude with some final thoughts and keys to making the program successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An obituary for University of Toronto religious studies professor Joseph Thomas O’Connell is presented.

The article examines why theologian Thomas Merton appeared more interested in Zen Buddhism than in Hinduism as evident in his Asian voyage. It explores Buddhism's non-doctrinal aspects, contemplativeness and stress on spiritual experience and awareness and ability to transform monks into persons of holiness. It looks into the effort of Merton to understand the Hindu treatise on the stilling of the mind, karma yoga, and the stages of life. It analyzes his feelings for image worship and caste.

This case study describes the early phases of integrative, long-term psychotherapy undertaken with a child subjected to chronic domestic trauma including violence, alcohol abuse, neglect, abandonment, and bereavement resulting from HIV/AIDS, Recent statistics on the prevalence of violent trauma, domestic abuse and HIV/AIDS in South Africa are reviewed, as are principles of trauma intervention that have been established across a range of psychotherapeutic modalities. Following from integrative trauma work undertaken locally, this therapeutic process acknowledges both indigenous and western frameworks of meaning, the latter most heavily informed by principles of analytical psychology. Selected aspects of the therapy are discussed in light of both perspectives, with reference to the child's process of recovery. This paper seeks to add support to practised and published local work in which a range of possible healing practices, meanings, and experience are taken into account. It is proposed that such integrative efforts contribute towards an evolving African psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the issues surrounding the teaching in the United States of Hinduism by Westerners. Experience of second-generation East Indian Americans; Student reactions to depictions of the Hindu goddess Kali; Thinking of New Age Orientalists.

The COVID‐19 pandemic disrupted life across the world in multiple ways and those already minoritised and disenfranchised, like care‐experienced young people, bore the brunt of losses and mental health difficulties. This article reports on the findings of 'Feeling Well, Feeling Cared For' an innovative knowledge exchange project on care experience and mental health in Scotland that was seriously disrupted by the pandemic. The article explores how these disruptions created new opportunities for deepening and slowing down coproductive practices, allowing relationships between collaborators to become stronger. Three finding areas are presented and discussed through the lenses of coproduction and quiet activism. These include lessons developed through the process of carrying out this project during a pandemic, the findings from our discussions with young people about mental health, and our reflections on the meanings of activism in the context of a coproductive knowledge exchange process. The discussion highlights how learning from this project might benefit coproductive practices in the future, especially as global interest in coproduction continues to grow across a range of disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how to prepare for pericardiocentesis and outlines how to monitor the patient after the procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article "Traditional Versus Telenursing Outpatient Management of Patients With Cancer With New Ostomies," by Susan Kay Bohnenkamp, Pat McDonald, Ana Maria Lopez, Elizabeth Krupinski and Ann Blackett in a previous issue of "Oncology Nursing Forum."

Electrochemical DNA hybridisation assays allow the measurement of probe-target binding in a label free fashion for biosensor and healthcare detection, particularly when using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Typically in EIS assay development a short artificial oligonucleotide is used to test sensor performance and consideration is not given to binding real world samples which can contain DNA fragments of varying length. This paper investigates the effect of solution side DNA overhangs on the EIS signal. Firstly, by using a surface tethered 15 nucleotides (nt) PNA probe and a series of artificial DNA targets with increasingly long overhangs it was possible to measure differences in the EIS signal brought about by target length. It was found that an overhang of 1515 nt nt gave the most effective enhancement of signal. This enhancement was attributed to the overhang reducing the access of the redox couple to the electrode surface. Overhangs of 45 and 8515 nt nt caused a smaller enhancement of signal which can be attributed to the reduced hybridisation efficiency of longer strands. Secondly, EIS responses from fragmented Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterial genomic DNA (gDNA) were measured and it was found that in the case of the MRSA gDNA, progressive fragmentation of long DNA sequences (>1000 bp) to less than 100 bp coincided with enhancement of the EIS signal. From the results obtained with oligonucleotides it is inferred that the creation of shorter solution side overhangs in real world MRSA samples boosts the electrochemical signal observed upon DNA binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]