Australian inpatient cancer rehabilitation as seen by patients receiving care pre and post intervention: Insights into unmet needs in the cancer and rehabilitation journey.

Objective: The objective of this study is to explore both the negative and positive lived experiences of cancer survivors during specialist inpatient rehabilitation programmes.

Methods: This phenomenological study explored the negative and positive perspectives of cancer survivors with residual disability, during their inpatient rehabilitation. Semi-structured interviews conducted with 22 inpatients on admission and discharge were analysed using the protocols of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Dementia families: Relinquishing home care to aged care services: Guilt, traumatic loss and growth.

Background And Objectives: Few studies explore both negative and positive perspectives of family members who relinquish home care of a family member with dementia for systemic aged care.

Research Design And Methods: This phenomenological study sought the 'lived' experience of relinquishing the role of home carer for a family member with mild to severe dementia to others within care home settings, by seeking to understand the impact of aged care on family members' psychological well-being. Using semi-structured interviews, positive and negative subjective interpretations from 17 families (27 individuals) provided data for analysis, following the protocols of interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Multidisciplinary healthcare providers' experience of working in an inpatient cancer rehabilitation unit in Sydney, Australia.

Objective: Scant research explores health professionals' experiences of providing inpatient cancer rehabilitation services, either from the negative or positive perspectives.

Method: This report explores the lived experiences of 14 multidisciplinary health professionals providing cancer rehabilitation services within an inpatient setting. Their interpretations provide a distinctive evaluation of an inpatient, cancer rehabilitation service, both negative and positive, and the impacts of their experiences on them and their patients.

Australian inpatient cancer rehabilitation, as seen by patients receiving care, pre- and post-intervention.

Objective: Rehabilitation is increasingly recognised as effective in addressing impairment and functional disability after cancer treatment. Few studies have investigated the lived positive and negative experiences of cancer patients receiving rehabilitation.

Method: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 inpatient volunteers, at their admission and discharge from a subacute hospital rehabilitation unit.

Moderate dementia: relational social engagement (RSE) during family visits.

Objective: This qualitative study seeks evidence of retained social awareness in individuals with moderate dementia residing in care-homes, when engaged in interactive family visits.

Method: Speech/non-speech data collected from 10/15-minute video-recorded family interactions of five family groups (12 individuals; 2 sessions per family group) were coded using thematic analysis.

Results: Interactional patterns embedded in familiar bonds provided the context for the superordinate theme: relational social engagement (RSE).

Stigma, the medical model and dementia care: Psychological growth in senior health professionals through moral and professional integrity.

Minimal research explores the impact of a career in dementia care on senior health professionals. This study sought positive and negative subjective interpretations from seven senior health professionals regarding their experiences in dementia care. Data from semi-structured interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

Shame, hope, intimacy and growth: Dementia distress and growth in families from the perspective of senior aged care professionals.

Minimal research explores the impact of dementia and a dementia diagnosis on families from the unique vantage of senior health professionals. The participants of this study, eight senior aged care professionals, provided unique interpretative insights into family dynamics and sense-making on the journey with dementia, and their own role in that journey. Both positive and negative perspectives were sought.

Severe dementia: relational social engagement (RSE) during family visits.

Objective: Few studies have utilised observation to investigate retained awareness when individuals with severe dementia interact with family members. Seeking evidence of retained awareness in those with severe dementia, interactive family visits in care homes were observed and analysed.

Method: Five family groups (14 individuals) completed 10/15-minute video recorded family interactions.

Holding on while letting go: trauma and growth on the pathway of dementia care in families.

Objectives: Limited research explores the medical model of residential care in dementia from the family caregiver's perspectives.

Method: This study sought subjective interpretations of nine family caregivers who experienced relinquishing their status as primary caregiver to a medical model, dementia care residential setting. Following semi-structured interviews and transcription data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

The dance of communication: retaining family membership despite severe non-speech dementia.

There is minimal research investigating non-speech communication as a result of living with severe dementia. This phenomenological study explores retained awareness expressed through non-speech patterns of communication in a family member living with severe dementia. Further, it describes reciprocal efforts used by all family members to engage in alternative patterns of communication.

Modulation of dendritic synaptic processing in the lateral superior olive by hyperpolarization-activated currents.

We have previously shown that mice lateral superior olive (LSO) neurons exhibit a large hyperpolarization-activated current (I(h) ), and that hyperpolarization-activated cyclic-nucleotide-gated type 1 channels are present in both the soma and dendrites of these cells. Here we show that the dendritic I(h) in LSO neurons modulates the integration of multiple synaptic inputs. We tested the LSO neuron's ability to integrate synaptic inputs by evoking excitatory post-synaptic potentials (EPSPs) in conjunction with brief depolarizing current pulses (to simulate a second excitatory input) at different time delays.

Lateral superior olive function in congenital deafness.

The development of cochlear implants for the treatment of patients with profound hearing loss has advanced considerably in the last few decades, particularly in the field of speech comprehension. However, attempts to provide not only sound decoding but also spatial hearing are limited by our understanding of circuit adaptations in the absence of auditory input. Here we investigate the lateral superior olive (LSO), a nucleus involved in interaural level difference (ILD) processing in the auditory brainstem using a mouse model of congenital deafness (the dn/dn mouse).

Sound stimulation modulates high-threshold K(+) currents in mouse auditory brainstem neurons.

The auditory system provides a valuable experimental model to investigate the role of sensory activity in regulating neuronal membrane properties. In this study, we have investigated the role of activity directly by measuring changes in medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) neurons in normal hearing mice subjected to 1-h sound stimulation. Broadband (4-12 kHz) chirps were used to activate MNTB neurons tonotopically restricted to the lateral MNTB, as confirmed by c-Fos-immunoreactivity.

A novel role for MNTB neuron dendrites in regulating action potential amplitude and cell excitability during repetitive firing.

Principal cells of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) are simple round neurons that receive a large excitatory synapse (the calyx of Held) and many small inhibitory synapses on the soma. Strangely, these neurons also possess one or two short tufted dendrites, whose function is unknown. Here we assess the role of these MNTB cell dendrites using patch-clamp recordings, imaging and immunohistochemistry techniques.

Maturation of auditory brainstem projections and calyces in the congenitally deaf (dn/dn) mouse.

The deaf dn/dn mouse is a valuable model of human congenital deafness. In this study we used the lipophylic dye DiA to trace auditory nerve and cochlear nucleus projections in the dn/dn mouse. In both normal and deaf mice, the ipsilateral projections from the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) to the lateral superior olive (LSO), and the contralateral projections from the AVCN to the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) were intact.

Altered sodium currents in auditory neurons of congenitally deaf mice.

Sodium currents are essential for action potential generation and propagation in most excitable cells. Appropriate tuning of these currents can be modulated both developmentally and in response to activity. Here we use a mouse model of congenital deafness (dn/dn- asymptomatic deafness associated with hair cell degeneration) to investigate the effect of lack of activity in the expression of Na(+) currents in neurons from the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB).

Hyperpolarization-activated currents are differentially expressed in mice brainstem auditory nuclei.

The hyperpolarization-activated cation current (I(h)) may influence precise auditory processing by modulating resting membrane potential and cell excitability. We used electrophysiology and immunohistochemistry to investigate the properties of I(h) in three auditory brainstem nuclei in mice: the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN), the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) and the lateral superior olive (LSO). I(h) amplitude varied considerably between these cell types, with the order of magnitude LSO > AVCN > MNTB.

Activity-dependent regulation of synaptic strength and neuronal excitability in central auditory pathways.

Neural activity plays an important role in regulating synaptic strength and neuronal membrane properties. Attempts to establish guiding rules for activity-dependent neuronal changes have led to such concepts as homeostasis of cellular activity and Hebbian reinforcement of synaptic strength. However, it is clear that there are diverse effects resulting from activity changes, and that these changes depend on the experimental preparation, and the developmental stage of the neural circuits under study.

Topographic organization in the auditory brainstem of juvenile mice is disrupted in congenital deafness.

There is an orderly topographic arrangement of neurones within auditory brainstem nuclei based on sound frequency. Previous immunolabelling studies in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) have suggested that there may be gradients of voltage-gated currents underlying this tonotopic arrangement. Here, our electrophysiological and immunolabelling results demonstrate that underlying the tonotopic organization of the MNTB is a combination of medio-lateral gradients of low-and high-threshold potassium currents and hyperpolarization-activated cation currents.

Non-random nature of spontaneous mIPSCs in mouse auditory brainstem neurons revealed by recurrence quantification analysis.

A change in the spontaneous release of neurotransmitter is a useful indicator of processes occurring within presynaptic terminals. Linear techniques (e.g.

Hyperpolarization-activated (I) currents in auditory brainstem neurons of normal and congenitally deaf mice.

We have investigated the membrane properties of brainstem auditory neurons in a mouse model of congenital deafness (dn/dn). Whole-cell recordings were made from visualized neurons in slices of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) and anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN). We have recently demonstrated that MNTB neurons in deaf mice are more excitable than in normal mice, due in part to a reduced expression of low-threshold potassium currents.

Reduced low-voltage activated K+ conductances and enhanced central excitability in a congenitally deaf (dn/dn) mouse.

We have investigated changes in the neuronal excitability of the auditory brainstem in a congenitally deaf mouse (deafness dn/dn). Whole cell patch recordings from principal neurones of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) showed strikingly enhanced excitability in the deaf mice when compared to control CBA mice at 12-14 days postnatal. MNTB neurones in normal CBA mice showed the phenotypic single action potential response on depolarization in current clamp; however, recordings from CBA mice carrying the homozygous deafness mutation fired trains of action potentials on depolarization.

Differences in glycinergic mIPSCs in the auditory brain stem of normal and congenitally deaf neonatal mice.

We have investigated the fundamental properties of central auditory glycinergic synapses in early postnatal development in normal and congenitally deaf (dn/dn) mice. Glycinergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) were recorded using patch-clamp methods in neurons from a brain slice preparation of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB), at 12-14 days postnatal age. Our results show a number of significant differences between normal and deaf mice.

Glycinergic mIPSCs in mouse and rat brainstem auditory nuclei: modulation by ruthenium red and the role of calcium stores.

Spontaneous miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) recorded in central neurons are usually highly variable in amplitude due to many factors such as intrinsic postsynaptic channel fluctuations at each release site, site-to-site variability between release sites, electrotonic attenuation due to variable dendritic locations of synapses, and the possibility of synchronous multivesicular release. A detailed knowledge of these factors is essential for the interpretation of mIPSC amplitude distributions and mean quantal size. We have studied glycinergic mIPSCs in two auditory brainstem nuclei, the rat anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) and the mouse medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB).

Synaptic transmission in the auditory brainstem of normal and congenitally deaf mice.

The deafness (dn/dn) mutant mouse provides a valuable model of human congenital deafness. We investigated the properties of synaptic transmission in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) of normal and congenitally deaf dn/dn mice. Excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) were evoked by focal stimulation of single auditory nerve fibres, and measured by whole-cell recordings from neurones in AVCN slices (mean postnatal age = P13).