Support for human-to-human interactions over a network is still insufficient, particularly for professional virtual communities (PVC). Among other limitations, adaptation and learning-by-experience capabilities of humans are not taken into account in existing models for collaboration processes in PVC. This paper presents a model for adaptive human collaboration. A key element of this model is t...

Do materials sterilized using gamma rays become toxic when re-sterilized in ethylene oxide? This question guided the objective of this study, which was to investigate the potential cytotoxic effect of PVC sterilized by gamma radiation and re-sterilized with EO by the agar diffusion method in cell cultures. Nine PVC tubes were subjected to gamma radiation sterilization and were re-sterilized in ...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical characteristics and outcomes of peripheral vascular catheter-related bloodstream infections (PVC-BSIs) and determine the risk of severe complications or death. METHODS We performed a retrospective observational study from June 2010 to April 2015 at two regional university-affiliated hospitals in Tokyo. We studied the clinical m...

Background: There is no clear mortality benefit from premature ventricular beat (PVC) suppression in asymptomatic patients. In addition, It has been showed that evidence for structural heart disease consistent with non-ischemic scarring possibly due to inflammation in patients with PVCs. This situation suggests that the mechanisms by which PVCs can be also generated with include clinical and su...

Aims The aim of the present study was to estimate the accuracy of a novel non-invasive epicardial and endocardial electrophysiology system (NEEES) for mapping ectopic ventricular depolarizations. Methods and results The study enrolled 20 patients with monomorphic premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) or ventricular tachycardia (VT). All patients underwent pre-procedural computed tomograph...

BACKGROUND Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a deadly nosocomial infection caused by contaminated endotracheal tubes. It has been shown that polyvinyl chloride (PVC, the endotracheal tube substrate) coated with elemental selenium nanoparticles reduces bacterial adherence and proliferation on PVC by over 99%. However, it is not known if selenium nanoparticles elicit a cytotoxic effect in vitro....

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) endotracheal tubes (ETTs) nanoetched with a fungal lipase have been shown to reduce bacterial growth and biofilm formation and could be an inexpensive solution to the complex problem of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Although bacterial growth and colonization on these nanoetched materials have been well characterized, little is known about the mechanism by which...

BACKGROUND The use of peripheral vascular catheters (PVCs) is an extremely common and necessary clinical intervention, but inappropriate PVC care poses a major patient safety risk in terms of infection. Quality improvement initiatives have been proposed to reduce the likelihood of adverse events, but a lack of understanding about factors that influence behaviours of healthcare professionals lim...