The Impact of Boost Methodology on Nurse Knowledge Retention: A Longitudinal, Quasi-Experimental Sepsis Simulation Pilot Study.

Boost methods for reinforcing educational content have been found to train the brain to designate information as important. A longitudinal, quasi-experimental study design evaluated the effect of an interprofessional simulated patient sepsis video with educational boosts on knowledge retention among acute care nurses at a large academic health system using linear mixed-effects modeling. Findings suggest that boost methods may impact nurse knowledge retention, potentially eliminating the need to repeat costly, traditional educational efforts.

Characterizing salt permeability in polyamide desalination membranes using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Improving the performance of desalination membranes requires better measurements of salt permeability in the polyamide separating layer to elucidate the thermodynamic and kinetic components of membrane permselectivity. In this work, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is introduced as a technique to measure the salt permeability and estimate the salt partition coefficient in thin polyamide films created using molecular layer-by-layer deposition. The impedance of supported polyamide films ranging in thickness from 3.5 nm to 28.5 nm were measured in different electrolyte solutions. Impedance spectra were modeled with equivalent circuits containing resistive and capacitive elements associated with the EIS measurement system as well as characteristic low-frequency parallel resistive and capacitive elements that are associated with the polyamide film. The characteristic polyamide membrane resistance increases with film thickness, decreases with solution concentration, and is an order of magnitude greater for a divalent cationic solution than for a monovalent cationic solution. For each polyamide film, salt permeability is calculated from the membrane resistance, and a salt partition coefficient is estimated. At the highest solution concentration measured, which is representative of brackish water desalination conditions, the calculated salt permeabilities range from P s = 1.3 × 10-16 m s-1 to 3.9 × 10-16 m s-1, and the estimated salt partition coefficients range from K s = 0.008 to 0.016. These measurements demonstrate that EIS is a powerful tool for studying membrane permselectivity through the measurement of salt permeability in thin polyamide films.

Quantifying Carboxylic Acid Concentration in Model Polyamide Desalination Membranes via Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

Carboxylic acid groups impart hydrophilicity and ionizable moieties to polyamide membranes for desalination, hence influencing water and ion transport through the material. Model polyamide films were synthesized via molecular layer-by-layer deposition on planar substrates to study the formation process of these materials and overcome the chemical and topological inhomogeneity inherent to conventional interfacially polymerized polyamide membranes. The carboxylic acid content in these model films was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy by quantifying the C=O band at 1718 cm-1. The concentration of carboxylic acid groups decreased as the thickness of the membrane increased, suggestive of an increase in crosslink density as the polyamide network develops. For the thinnest molecular layer-by-layer (mLbL) samples, the carboxylic acid concentration for films on gold was 0.35 mmol g-1, whereas analogous films on silicon had an acid content of 0.56 mmol g-1, indicating a clear influence of the substrate on the initial network formation. As the thickness of the membrane increased, the influence of the substrate and initial layer growth became less significant as the carboxylic acid concentration on both substrates reached a value of 0.12 mmol g-1. We demonstrate that FTIR spectroscopy is a practical and accessible way to quantify the carboxylic acid content in these types of extremely thin polyamide membranes to help quantify network formation in these materials.

Functional Conducting Polymers via Thiol-ene Chemistry.

We demonstrate here that thiol-ene chemistry can be used to provide side-chain functionalized monomers based on 3,4-propylenedioxythiophene (ProDOT) containing ionic, neutral, hydrophobic, and hydrophilic side chains. All reactions gave high yields and purification could generally be accomplished through precipitation. These monomers were polymerized either chemically or electro-chemically to give soluble materials or conductive films, respectively. This strategy provides for facile tuning of the solubility, film surface chemistry, and film morphology of this class of conducting polymers.

Direct local polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) in rat cortex.

Glial scar encapsulation is thought to be one of the major reasons for the failure of chronic brain-machine interfaces. Many strategies, including modification of the probe surface chemistry, delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs, and changes of probe geometry, have been employed to reduce glial scar formation. We have proposed that a possible means to establish long-term, reliable communication across the scar is the in situ polymerization of conjugated polymers such as PEDOT in neural tissue. Previously, we exposed entire brain slices to the EDOT monomer. Here, we demonstrate that PEDOT can be polymerized by the direct delivery of EDOT monomer to the reaction site. The monomer was delivered into rat cortex via microcannula and simultaneously electrochemically polymerized within the tissue using a microwire electrode. We found that the resulting PEDOT polymer cloud grew out from the working electrode tip and extended far out into the brain tissue, spanning distances more than 1mm. We also examined the morphology of resulting polymer cloud by optical microscopy.