Spiritual Needs Assessment in Post-Secular Contexts: An Integrative Review of Questionnaires

Research across healthcare contexts has shown that, if provided appropriately, spiritual care can be of significant benefit to patients. It can be challenging, however, to incorporate spiritual care in daily practice, not least in post-secular, culturally entwined, and pluralist contexts. The aim of this integrative review was to locate, evaluate and discuss spiritual-needs questionnaires from the post-secular perspective in relation to their applicability in secular healthcare. Eleven questionnaires were evaluated and discussed with a focus on religious/spiritual (RS) wording, local culturally entwined and pluralist contexts, and on whether a consensual understanding between patient and healthcare professional could be expected through RS wording. By highlighting some factors involved in implementing a spiritual-needs questionnaire in diverse cultural and vernacular contexts, this article can assist by providing a general guideline. This article offers an approach to the international exchange and implementation of knowledge, experiences, and best practice in relation to the use of spiritual needs-assessment questionnaires in post-secular contexts.

Lessons Learnt From The 2020 COVID 19 Lockdown: A Students’ Online MS Team Project

This paper outlines an investigation of the impact of a programme Students Online, which was created in Microsoft (MS) Teams during New Zealand’s level 4 lockdown of March-May 2020. Students Online was set by the Learning Hub, the learning support centre, for a large tertiary institution in response to an international student’s request, asking for a way for students to meet and practise English. The study aimed to investigate the experiences of those who engaged with the MS Team and derive implications for possible future improvement. Offering focused learning support as well as sessions on life in New Zealand, the most significant benefit seen was the overall sense of connection when many aspects of life were disconnected. Other benefits highlighted by the study’s participants include improved communication between students and the Learning Hub, a “mental release” in the day, relationships being built and adding to the institute’s value of being supportive. The MS Team provided a sense of normality in a time when life was filled with abnormality. Participants were drawn from Learning Hub staff and students who interacted within the programme. This study found that the Students Online programme was considered generally useful and successful, modifications for future such programmes are suggested.

Disease Severity Determines Timing of Initiating Continuous Renal Replacement Therapies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Timing of initiating continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRTs) among the patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in intensive care units (ICU) has been discussed over decades, but the definition of early and late CRRT initiation is still unclear.Methods: The English language randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies were searched through MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library on July 19, 2019, by the two researchers independently. The study characteristics; early and late definitions; outcomes, such as all-cause, in-hospital, 28- or 30-, 60-, 90-day mortality; and renal recovery were extracted from the 18 eligible studies. Pooled relative risk ratios (RRs) and 95% CIs were estimated with the fixed effects model and random effects model as appropriate. This study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD 42020158653).Results: Eighteen studies including 3,914 patients showed benefit in earlier CRRT (n = 1,882) over later CRRT (n = 2,032) in all-cause mortality (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.66–0.92), in-hospital mortality (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.67–0.99), and 28- or 30-day mortality (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.74–0.88), but in 60- and 90-day mortalities, no significant benefit was observed. The subgroup analysis showed significant benefit in the disease-severity-based subgroups on early CRRT initiation in terms of in-hospital mortality and 28- or 30-day mortality rather than the time-based subgroups. Moreover, early CRRT was found to have beneficial effects on renal recovery after CRRT (RR 1.21, 95% CI 1.01–1.45).Conclusions: Overall, compared with late CRRT, early CRRT is beneficial for short-term survival and renal recovery, especially when the timing was defined based on the disease severity. CRRT initiation on Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) stage 1 or Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss of kidney function, and End-stage kidney disease (RIFLE)-Risk or less may lead to a better prognosis.

Heat-Inactivation of Fetal and Newborn Sera Did Not Impair the Expansion and Scaffold Engineering Potentials of Fibroblasts

Heat inactivation of bovine sera is routinely performed in cell culture laboratories. Nevertheless, it remains debatable whether it is still necessary due to the improvement of the production process of bovine sera. Do the benefits balance the loss of many proteins, such as hormones and growth factors, that are very useful for cell culture? This is even truer in the case of tissue engineering, the processes of which is often very demanding. This balance is examined here, from nine populations of fibroblasts originating from three different organs, by comparing the capacity of adhesion and proliferation of cells, their metabolism, and the capacity to produce the stroma; their histological appearance, thickness, and mechanical properties were also evaluated. Overall, serum inactivation does not appear to provide a significant benefit.

Management of Myeloproliferative Neoplasms during Pregnancy: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) include essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). Pregnancy in the presence of MPN increases the risk of thrombosis, hemorrhagic events, pre-eclampsia, progression to myelofibrosis (MF) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) leading to poor fetal outcome. Methods: We conducted a literature search on PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Clinicaltrials.gov using MeSH terms and key words for MPN, PV, and ET from date of inception to January 2021. We excluded studies reporting less than 10 patients and those not in English language. Results: ET studies: How et al. (121 pregnancy (P)/52 women (W)) reported Aspirin (ASA) was protective and was used in 51.2% P (n=62/107) with OR (odd's ratio) of 0.304 (p=0.048; 90% CI 0.102-0.795). Similar benefit of ASA was also reported by Gangat e t al.(2009) (63P/36W ; P loss 21% in 24 patients receiving ASA vs 75% in 12 patients not receiving ASA), Niittyvuopio et al. (40P/16W; live births (LB) in all 13 P treated with ASA or ASA with prior cytoreduction therapy vs 67% complications and 56% loss of P in patients not treated with ASA), Randi et al. (1999) (16P/13W; 7/13 LB occurred on ASA, and only one P was lost on ASA), Bangerter et al.( 17P/9W; 100% P treated with ASA resulted in LB vs 45% LB in P without any treatment, p=0.04), and Pagliaro et al. (15P/9W; ASA monotherapy (n=3/15P) or ASA+ subcutaneous heparin (n=7/15P) resulted in nine LB). Cincotta e t al. (30P/12W) reported 79% LB with ASA or IFN-α vs 38% LB without any treatment (p=0.06). Among the treatment cohort, 5/7 patients on ASA had a LB, and all 4/4 patients on IFN-α had a LB. However, Beressi et al. (31P/18W) reported 4/8 untreated and 10/19 ASA treated P were lost with no statistically significant benefit. Palandri et al. reported 24P/13W treated with IFN-α (n=1), IFN-α + ASA (n=2) and ASA alone (n=9). The LB rate was not influenced significantly with treatment at conception (treated vs. untreated: 8/12 vs. 7/12, P=0.99). Melillo e t al. (122P/92W) reported no benefit with ASA. IFN-α had positive outcomes with 95% LB than patients not receiving IFN-α with 71.6% LB (OR 0.10 (95%CI: 0.013-0.846, p=0.034)). JAK2 mutation was associated with poorer outcomes (OR 6.19; 95%CI: 1.17-32.61; p=0.038). Wright et al. (43P/20W) reported no statistically significant difference between no treatment (n=16/43), ASA alone (n=24/43), ASA+cytoreduction (n=2/43), and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) (n=1/43) groups. Passamonti et al.( 96P/58W ) reported statistically significant worse outcomes in JAK2 negative patients, no statistically significant benefit in JAK2 positive patients (p=0.05) with ASA and higher complications with conception while on cytoreduction therapy (n=6/13 abortion, n=3/13 pre-eclampsia). ET + Other MPN studies: Gangat et al. (2020) reported (152W ET and 36W PV) that in 95P/55W with ET, 60% pregnancy loss occurred without ASA vs 27% with ASA (p=0.02). All 4/36W with PV who were treated with one or more of ASA, enoxaparin, and hydroxyurea delivered LB, and 50% developed venous thromboembolism. Sokolowska et al. reported 104P/60W with MPN (47 ET, 3 PV, and 10 PMF) treated with various combinations of cytoreduction therapy (IFN-α in 48P, apheresis in 1P and anticoagulation (LMWH+ASA in 10, LMWH alone in 19 and ASA alone in 24P) during the pregnancy with 72.1% LB. Lapoirie et al. stratified 27P/14W (ET 19P/9W, PV 8P/5W) with MPN into high risk (67%) and standard risk and found significant P loss in all high-risk P that did not receive ASA (n=2). Maternal complications occurred in 3 high-risk P that received ASA. 77% of P treated with ASA, LMWH, or both resulted in a LB. Alimam et al. (58W; ET 47, PV 5, PMF 5, MPN-unclassified 1) reported better than predicted outcomes in 88% of women receiving ASA during P, 38% receiving ASA + prophylactic LMWH and 3% receiving ASA + therapeutic LMWH resulting in 58 LB with a P loss rate of 1.7/100 (95% CI; 0.04-9.24). PV studies: Irene et al. (24P/15W) reported a 40% incidence of P loss without antithrombotic therapy vs 10.5 % P loss receiving ASA, LMWH, or both. Willie e t al. divided 32P/14W with PV into two groups (treatment group: 18 P, treated with ASA during P and LMWH for six weeks postpartum; non-treatment group: 14 P) with 72% vs 14% LB respectively. Conclusion: Use of ASA, LMWH and cytoreductive therapy is the existing practice for pregnancies with MPN. However, proper evidence via a RCT is an unmet need. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Anwer: Janssen pharmaceutical: Honoraria, Research Funding; BMS / Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding; Allogene Therapeutics: Research Funding; GlaxoSmithKline: Research Funding.

Modelling of Parametric Resonance for Heaving Buoys with Position-Varying Waterplane Area

Exploiting parametric resonance may enable increased performance for wave energy converters (WECs). By designing the geometry of a heaving WEC, it is possible to introduce a heave-to-heave Mathieu instability that can trigger parametric resonance. To evaluate the potential of such a WEC, a mathematical model is introduced in this paper for a heaving buoy with a non-constant waterplane area in monochromatic waves. The efficacy of the model in capturing parametric resonance is verified by a comparison against the results from a nonlinear Froude–Krylov force model, which numerically calculates the forces on the buoy based on the evolving wetted surface area. The introduced model is more than 1000 times faster than the nonlinear Froude–Krylov force model and also provides the significant benefit of enabling analytical investigation techniques to be utilised.

Stocktake of Australasian Psychiatry’s training resources

Objective: To identify all past publications from Australasian Psychiatry with subject matter particularly relevant for trainees. The results of such a search could then be collated into an easily accessible resource available to trainees and their supervisors. Method: An electronic search of the journal’s back catalogue was conducted. Results: Eighty-seven articles published on subjects particularly relevant for trainees were discovered from within Australasian Psychiatry. In particular, multiple useful resources were identified on the topics of the scholarly project and formulation skills. Conclusions: Australasian Psychiatry has published a wealth of literature that is likely to be of significant benefit for trainees as they work their way through the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists training programme.

272 Effectiveness of Intraoperative Botulinum Toxin Injection on Gastric Emptying During Oesophagectomy: A Systematic Review

Introduction Oesophagectomy is the standard of care for resectable oesophageal carcinoma and remains pivotal for curative treatment. Pull-up with gastric conduit remains the most common reconstruction. Delayed gastric emptying (DGE) is a recognised complication and may lead to delayed postoperative recovery and prolonged hospital stay. Botulinum Toxin BTA has been used to relax the hypertonic pylorus intraoperatively and improve DGE. The aim of this review was to assess the efficacy of intraoperative BTA on gastric emptying and the need for postoperative endoscopic pyloric intervention (EPI). Method Systematic review of literature was conducted using electronic database searched up to October 2020 including Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase and Goggle Scholars to identify relevant studies. Data was extracted and critically appraised by two independent authors. Results Eleven studies were included for systematic review with 1800 patients assigned to either BTA, pyloroplasty, pyloromyotomy, or no-intervention. Ten were observational studies and one was a randomised experimental study. Only one study reported a statistically significant benefit of BTA on early DGE (Day 4, 59%, P < 0.001). Three studies reported higher rates of postoperative EPI when chemical pyloroplasty was used. Length of Hospital stay was higher for patients who had BTA compared to other techniques in three studies. Conclusions This systematic review did not demonstrate any significant benefit of intraoperative BTA on gastric emptying on the long term. The rate of endoscopic pyloric intervention was higher in these patients as reported by some studies. Further studies are required to investigate the outcome of chemical pyloroplasty during esophagectomy.

Defining Satisfactory Methods of Treatment in Rare Diseases When Evaluating Significant Benefit–The EU Regulator's Perspective

Since the implementation of the EU Orphan Regulation in 2000, the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products at the European Medicines Agency has been evaluating the benefits of proposed orphan medicines vs. satisfactory treatment methods. This type of evaluation is foreseen in the Orphan Regulation as the orphan designation criterion called the “significant benefit.” In this article, based on 20 years of experience, we provide a commentary explaining what is considered a satisfactory method of treatment in the context of the EU Orphan Regulation and for the purpose of the assessment of significant benefit. We discuss the challenges posed by continuously changing clinical practise, which is associated with the increasing number of treatment options, evolving nature of medicinal therapeutic indications and our understanding of them.