The identification of plants used to make tapa artefacts: development of a reference DNA database and trial of non-destructive DNA extraction methods.

Tapa (barkcloth) is a non-woven textile made from the inner bark of some plant species. Tapa manufacture was once widespread throughout the Pacific and tapa from the eighteenth and nineteenth century form part of Pacific collections in many museums. Here we examined the feasibility of DNA identification of the plants used to make tapa artefacts by developing and testing a DNA reference database of chloroplast L intron P6 loop sequences from many of the plant species used to make tapa, as well as other New Zealand textile plants.

The Wound Trend Scale: A Retrospective Review of Utility and Predictive Value in the Assessment and Documentation of Lower Leg Ulcers.

Wound assessment is essential to manage wound care. The Wound Trend Scale (WTS) is a paper-and-pen instrument comprised of 14 parameters designed to guide assessment of findings relevant to lower leg ulcer management and includes an infection screen and cues for physician consultation. To determine its clinical utility, predictive value, and reliability, data were retrospectively analyzed from a random sampling of medical records of patients seen at a Foot and Leg Clinic between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008.

A Retrospective Quality Improvement Study Comparing Use Versus Nonuse of a Padded Heel Dressing to Offload Heel Ulcers of Different Etiologies.

Offloading heel ulcers is a challenging task because strategies deemed to be most optimal from a medical perspective may be unacceptable to patients. Observed adverse dressing events and problems with offloading devices led to a pilot study and subsequent change in practice at the authors' Foot and Leg Ulcer Clinic. Starting in 2004, patients requiring offloading received a nonremovable padded heel dressing (PHD) that was changed twice a week by the visiting nurse.

A retrospective, quality improvement review of maggot debridement therapy outcomes in a foot and leg ulcer clinic.

Maggot debridement is the deliberate use of larvae known to consume only necrotic tissue. A retrospective quality improvement analysis of maggot debridement therapy (MDT) was conducted among patients with devitalized tissue or gangrene attending a Canadian foot and leg ulcer clinic who received MDT between January 2001 and June 2006. MDT was applied every 48 hours until >90% of necrotic tissue was debrided.

'Researching ourselves back to life': new ways of conducting Aboriginal alcohol research.

This paper highlights the importance--and provides an example--of Aboriginal control over research. It describes how Aboriginal people from Tangentyere Council conducted a survey of the attitudes of people who reside in Town Camps to a trial of liquor licensing restrictions in Alice Springs; how the results of the survey were used; and how the project led to the establishment of a permanent 'Research Hub' within Tangentyere Council. The paper provides a model of conducting research for other Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and can inform non-Aboriginal researchers about ways of working with Aboriginal community organisations to address substance misuse and other health problems.

A multicenter evaluation of utility of chest computed tomography and bone scans in liver transplant candidates with stages I and II hepatoma.

Objective: To determine utility of practice of chest computed tomography (CCT) and bone scan (BS) in patients with early-stage hepatoma evaluated for transplantation (LT).

Summary Background Data: Consensus-based policy mandates routine CCT and BS in LT candidates with hepatoma. No data exist either to support or refute this policy.