A Randomized Controlled Trial on Primigravid Women of Text Messaging Intervention Offering Pregnancy and Childbirth Support.

This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a text messaging intervention that offered pregnancy and childbirth support. Participants included 39 primigravid women who were less than 12 weeks pregnant. Text messages were sent twice weekly to the intervention group from week 13 of pregnancy until childbirth. Outcome measures were anxiety levels, lifestyle in the month before birth, pre-birth weight, pregnancy complications, delivery complications, birth weight, thoughts regarding the text messages, and the frequency of viewing of the text messages. For the item "I engage in body stretching," the average value in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group. For the item "I have regular bowel movements," the average value in the intervention group was significantly lower. Most participants reported that the intervention was at least somewhat useful. This study indicates that text messaging intervention is practical and can be used to support numerous pregnant women simultaneously at a relatively low cost. Since this is a study pilot trial, large-scale studies are necessary to improve the method and allow for the generalization of the results.

Utility of electronic hand hygiene counting devices for measuring physicians' hand hygiene adherence applied to outpatient settings.

BACKGROUND: Our objectives were to evaluate the utility of electronic hand hygiene counting devices in outpatient settings and the impact of results feedback on physicians' hand hygiene behaviors. METHODS: We installed 130 electronic hand hygiene counting devices in our redesigned outpatient department. We remotely monitored physicians' hand hygiene practices during outpatient examinations and calculated the adherence rate as follows: number of hand hygiene counts divided by the number of outpatients examined multiplied by 100. Physician individual adherence rates were also classified into 4 categories. RESULTS: Two hundred and eighty physicians from 28 clinical departments were monitored for 3 months. The overall hand hygiene adherence rate was 10.7% at baseline, which improved significantly after feedback to 18.2% in the third month. Of the clinical departments, 78.6% demonstrated significant improvement in hand hygiene compliance. The change in the percentage of physicians in each category before and after feedback were as follows: very low (84.3% to 72.1%), low (8.6% to 14.3%), moderate (2.9% to 8.9%), and high (4.3% to 4.6%), from the first to third month, respectively. Based on category assessment, 17.1% of physicians were classified as responders. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians' adherence to hand hygiene practices during outpatient examinations was successfully monitored remotely using electronic counting devices. Audit and feedback of adherence data may have a positive impact on physicians' hand hygiene compliance.

Efficient synthesis of N-methoxyindoles via alkylative cycloaddition of nitrosoarenes with alkynes.

[reaction: see text] N-Methoxyindoles are produced in moderate to excellent yields from the reaction between nitrosoarenes and alkynes in the presence of K2CO3/(CH3)2SO4. Terminal alkynes with conjugating substituents afford 3-substituted N-methoxyindoles exclusively. The analogous reactions with methyl propiolate provide a one-step preparation of phytoalexin analogues from Wasabi.