The discursive construction of the role of the nurse in medication administration: an exploration of the literature.

This paper draws on postmodern thought to interrogate the literature relating to nurses and medications. An examination of the representation of a specific nursing activity in the literature-the administration of medications-reveals much about the way in which the role of the nurse is discursively constructed. This is particularly evident from an analysis of the procedures shaping that role.

Critical aspects of nursing in aged and extended care.

An ageing Australian population and improving medical retrieval technology have led to an increasing need for nurses to manage complex and acute health issues of ageing and chronic disability. In a study of aged and extended care involving nurses, residents, allied health professionals and family members, investigators used semi-structured interviews to identify critical aspects of nursing. The aim of the study was to begin to identify and illustrate a theoretical framework of "critical' nursing activities for aged and extended care.

Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) from basal surface of temporal lobe recorded from chronic subdural electrodes.

BAEPs were recorded from the basal surface of the temporal lobe by subdural electrodes chronically implanted in 6 patients who were evaluated for surgical management of intractable partial seizures. Near-field recordings were obtained by recording between the subdural electrode closest and most distant to the brain-stem. Far-field recordings were obtained by recording between the subdural electrodes and an indifferent electrode over the spinal process of the seventh cervical vertebrae.

Nurses, nursing and representation: an exploration of the effect of viewing positions on the textual portrayal of nursing.

Textual portrayals of nursing can be 'read' from a number of possible viewing positions, which play a very real part in the way that our reality is constructed and understood. The image depends on which viewing position is chosen by or constructed for the viewer, and how the viewer interacts with that position. Thus without the viewer the image is incomplete.

Neutrophils enhance removal of ozone-injured alveolar epithelial cells in vitro.

After acute exposure to oxidant gases in vivo, migration and accumulation of inflammatory cells in pulmonary epithelium coincides with epithelial cell necrosis. The present study was designed to test quantitatively the hypothesis that quiescent neutrophils enhance the removal of oxidant-injured pulmonary epithelial cells after exposure to ozone in vitro. Primary isolated rat alveolar type II cells were cultured as monolayers, using serum-free medium.

Mumps outbreak in a highly vaccinated school population. Evidence for large-scale vaccination failure.

Objectives: To describe an outbreak and to identify risk factors for mumps occurring in a highly vaccinated high school population. (Note: Highly vaccinated means a population in which more than 95% have been vaccinated.)

Design And Participants: Survey and cohort study of 307 (97%) of 318 students.

Stereotactic breast biopsy as an alternative to open excisional biopsy.

Background: Health care cost continues to play a dominant role in our society. Technological advances are expensive, with the possible exception of stereotactic breast biopsy. We must learn other alternatives that give the same diagnostic accuracy at lower cost.

Elevated midtrimester serum methylmalonic acid levels as a risk factor for neural tube defects.

The role of folic acid in the primary prevention of neural tube defects (NTDs) is well established. However, questions related to the protective mechanism remain unanswered. To help answer these questions, we designed a case-control study to assess the role of folate- and cobalamin-related metabolites in the pathogenesis of NTDs.

A case-control study of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome during an outbreak in the southwestern United States.

In May 1993, an outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) occurred in the southwestern United States. A case-control study determined risk factors for HPS. Seventeen case-patients were compared with 3 groups of controls: members of case-patient households (household controls), members of neighboring households (near controls), and members of randomly selected households > or = 24 km away (far controls).

The panopticon re-visited?: an exploration of the social and political dimensions of contemporary health care and nursing practice.

Insights from critical and postmodern perspectives are used to explore some of the aspects of contemporary nursing practice and health care which are taken for granted. Such an exploration begins to deconstruct the power relations implicit within the socio-political context of the health care arena in which nursing operates. In particular, the work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault is used to explore the discourses of the various health care "experts".

Nursing as textually mediated reality.

Nursing and nursing practice both construct and are in turn constructed by the context in which they operate. Texts plays a central part in that construction. As such, nursing and nursing practice can be considered to represent a reality that is textually mediated.

Been there, done that? Consciousness raising, critical theory and nurses.

The concept of consciousness raising has become somewhat tired and jaded in nursing literature. Indeed the notion of consciousness raising and its associated catchcry of 'making the personal political', is almost so hackneyed as to be somewhat unfashionable and clichéd in the 1990s. This is due, at least in part, to the fact that consciousness raising emanated from the women's movement of the 1960s and was originally directed at linking the personal and the political, but in nursing emphasis has often been given to the personal with little recourse to the political.

Ozone injury to alveolar epithelium in vitro does not reflect loss of antioxidant defenses.

The objective of this study was to characterize an in vitro model of oxidant gas toxicity, using primary cultures of alveolar type II cells maintained in serum-free medium, by evaluating (1) epithelial barrier function, (2) the stability of cellular antioxidant defenses, and (3) the response of alveolar epithelial barrier properties to ozone exposure. Antioxidant enzyme activities and glutathione levels were measured in rat type II cells that were freshly isolated, cultured for 1 day in serum-supplemented medium, and subsequently grown in serum-free nutrient medium. After measurement of peak bioelectric properties on Day 4 in primary culture, alveolar epithelial monolayers were exposed to ozone at various concentrations and lengths of exposure.

New horizons in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer using magnetic resonance imaging.

A new nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, Rotating Delivery of Excitation Off-resonance (RODEO), has been developed to assist surgeons in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. A nonrandomized, prospective study of 100 patients with a high suspicion of breast cancer was conducted; these patients were examined by RODEO and conventional breast imaging, including mammography. Forty-one breasts were removed by mastectomy; each pathologic specimen was examined by sectional analysis.

Posterior fossa intraoperative monitoring.

Monitoring of brainstem structures is requested of the neurophysiologist for both intra-axial and extra-axial surgeries of the posterior fossa. A variety of techniques to include upper extremities somatosensory evoked potentials, short latency auditory evoked potentials, spontaneous and evoked electromyographic activity, and recordings from the cochlea and the eighth nerve are available. The indication, implementation, and interpretation of each of these modalities are delineated.

Clinical recognition and management of depression in node negative breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen.

Depression is not an uncommon complaint of women with breast cancer and is usually assumed to be related to the cancer diagnosis itself or its treatment. As part of a prospective clinical trial of adjuvant therapy of node negative breast cancer, 301 patients treated and assessed by one oncologist (SEJ) were serially questioned for symptoms of depression in the first 6-12 months after completing initial treatment (surgery, radiation therapy, and/or chemotherapy). Two hundred and fifty-seven patients were evaluable for assessment of depression; 155 were receiving tamoxifen and 102 were not.

Holism, care and nursing: points of reflection during the evolution of a philosophy of nursing statement.

An exploration of the diversity and complexity of perspectives from which holism and care can legitimately be constructed. The preparation of a document for accreditation of a proposed pre-registration Bachelor of Nursing award was the impetus for this exploration. School members deemed holism and care to be central to our philosophy of nursing statement, however, difficulty arose in determining a shared understanding of these notions.

Fat-suppressed three-dimensional MR imaging of the breast.

Rotating delivery of excitation off-resonance (RODEO) is a new magnetic resonance (MR) imaging pulse sequence that uses a jump return sine excitation on fat resonance to produce fat-suppressed, T1-weighted images. New three-dimensional MR imaging techniques were used to examine 57 women with abnormalities suspicious for breast cancer. MR imaging findings were compared with those of mammography in all cases and with those of other imaging techniques when appropriate.

Tumor hormone receptor status and recurrences in premenopausal patients with node-negative breast carcinoma.

To ascertain the prognostic significance of tumor hormone receptor status in premenopausal patients with node-negative breast cancer, a retrospective review of 199 patients who met these criteria was conducted. Of these 199 patients, estrogen receptor (ER) data were available for 147. One hundred four patients (71%) had ER-negative disease and 22 (21%) exhibited local or distant recurrence with a median follow-up time of 85.

Breast cancer in women under 35 years of age.

A review was undertaken of 226 patients with primary breast carcinoma who were 35 years of age, or younger, from 1960 to 1987. Comparisons to other studies of young and older women were made for clinical, pathologic, and survival characteristics. Young patients with breast cancer share many of the same disease characteristics of tumor type, location, size, and nodal involvement as their older counterparts.

Contribution of active Na+ and Cl- fluxes to net ion transport by alveolar epithelium.

Changes in bioelectric properties of alveolar epithelial cell monolayers due to pharmacological agents such as beta-agonists, amiloride and ouabain have recently been reported. In order to determine specifically which ionic species contribute to these changes, fluxes of Na+ and Cl- across primary cultured monolayers of rat type II pneumocytes were directly measured. Monolayers were mounted in modified flux chambers and short-circuited.

Hemorrhagic cardioembolic stroke: is anticoagulation absolutely contraindicated?

Hemorrhagic cerebral embolism should not be considered an absolute contraindication to immediate low-dose systemic anticoagulation. Low levels of anticoagulation may give some protection from recurrent embolism while minimizing the risks of intracranial bleeding. Until further studies are available, these decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis, supported by limited scientific information.