Effective communication: Core to promoting respectful maternity care for disabled women.

Objective: Previous research highlights that disabled women have less choice, control and respect of their dignity during pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. The experience of dignity and respect during pregnancy and childbirth for those with physical and sensory disability in the UK and Ireland is explored.

Design, Setting And Participants: Narrative, semi-structured telephone and Skype interviews were conducted with ten disabled women in the UK and Ireland.

The Resilience Scale in Portuguese Adults under Assisted Reproductive Techniques.

Assessing resilience response to an adverse event such as infertility requires measuring the same construct adequately and accurately by nurses. The objective of this study was to explore the validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of the Resilience Scale for adults. A cross-sectional and methodological design was used, and factor analyses were performed.

Technology-enabled remote management of diabetes foot disease and potential for reduction in associated health costs: a pilot study.

Diabetes-related foot disease, particularly when associated with amputation, affects quality of life and has a significant impact on health care costs. A pilot study using enhanced technology to facilitate remote access and video conferencing from rural locations to the diabetes MDT through a new service pathway confirmed high levels of patient satisfaction with 89% of foot ulcers improved or stable and only two minor amputations. A health economic analysis suggested potential for significant cost savings if this was scaled up regionally.

Saturation transfer difference NMR on the integral trimeric membrane transport protein GltPh determines cooperative substrate binding.

Saturation-transfer difference (STD) NMR spectroscopy is a fast and versatile method which can be applied for drug-screening purposes, allowing the determination of essential ligand binding affinities (K). Although widely employed to study soluble proteins, its use remains negligible for membrane proteins. Here the use of STD NMR for K determination is demonstrated for two competing substrates with very different binding affinities (low nanomolar to millimolar) for an integral membrane transport protein in both detergent-solubilised micelles and reconstituted proteoliposomes.

The cation diffusion facilitator protein MamM's cytoplasmic domain exhibits metal-type dependent binding modes and discriminates against Mn.

Cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) proteins are a conserved family of divalent transition metal cation transporters. CDF proteins are usually composed of two domains: the transmembrane domain, in which the metal cations are transported through, and a regulatory cytoplasmic C-terminal domain (CTD). Each CDF protein transports either one specific metal or multiple metals from the cytoplasm, and it is not known whether the CTD takes an active regulatory role in metal recognition and discrimination during cation transport.

Systematic review of Group B Streptococcal capsular types, sequence types and surface proteins as potential vaccine candidates.

Background: 21 million pregnant women worldwide (18%) are estimated to carry Group B Streptococcus (GBS), which is a risk for invasive disease in newborns, pregnant women, and stillbirths. Adults ≥ 60 years or with underlying health conditions are also vulnerable to invasive GBS disease. We undertook systematic reviews on GBS organism characteristics including: capsular polysaccharide (serotype), sequence type (multi-locus sequence types (MLST)), and virulence proteins.

Spirituality and childbirth: An international virtual co-operative inquiry.

Problem: Medicalised maternity systems do not address spirituality as an aspect of childbirth and its practices of care. Neglecting the spiritual nature of childbirth may negatively affect psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing.

Background: While there is growing interest in the spiritual side of childbirth there is a paucity of literature on the topic, and hence a lack of understanding generally about how to attend to women's needs for emotional and spiritual support in childbirth.

Association of psychosocial-spiritual experiences around childbirth and subsequent perinatal mental health outcomes: an integrated review.

: Perinatal mental health is a concern for women, families, communities and maternity care providers internationally. However, there is little understanding of poor perinatal maternal mental health and association with women's experiences of childbirth. Further understanding of psychosocial-spiritual experiences in childbirth and subsequent perinatal mental health is required.

Diabetes, Care Homes, and the Influence of Technology on Practice and Care Delivery in Care Homes: Systematic Review and Qualitative Synthesis.

Background: Diabetes is increasing in prevalence and complexity in the care home setting, affecting up to a quarter of care home residents. Health outcomes for these residents are impacted by management of the disease, health care professionals (HCPs)' decision-making skills within the care home setting, and access to specialist services. The use of technology has the potential to recognize opportunities for early intervention that enables efficient responsive care, taking a fundamental role in linking the care home community to wider multidisciplinary teams for support.

Metal binding to the dynamic cytoplasmic domain of the cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) protein MamM induces a 'locked-in' configuration.

Cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) proteins are a conserved family of transmembrane transporters that ensure cellular homeostasis of divalent transition metal cations. Metal cations bind to CDF protein's cytoplasmic C-terminal domain (CTD), leading to closure from its apo open V-shaped dimer to a tighter packed structure, followed by a conformational change of the transmembrane domain, thus enabling transport of the metal cation. By implementing a comprehensive range of biochemical and biophysical methods, we studied the molecular mechanism of metal binding to the magnetotactic bacterial CDF protein MamM CTD.

Dignity and respect during pregnancy and childbirth: a survey of the experience of disabled women.

Background: Despite the increasing number of women with disability globally becoming pregnant, there is currently limited research about their experiences. A national survey of women's experience of dignity and respect during pregnancy and childbirth raised concerns about the possibility of women with disability having unequal care with overall less choice and control. To address this further we conducted a study to explore the experiences of dignity and respect in childbirth of women with disability.

Nursing and midwifery students' perceptions of spirituality, spiritual care, and spiritual care competency: A prospective, longitudinal, correlational European study.

Background: Nurses and midwives care for people at some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, so it is essential that they have the skills to give care which is compassionate, dignified, holistic and person-centred. Holistic care includes spiritual care which is concerned with helping people whose beliefs, values and sense of meaning, purpose and connection is challenged by birth, illness or death. Spiritual care is expected of nurses/midwives but they feel least prepared for this part of their role.

Service user preferences for diabetes education in remote and rural areas of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Introduction: Diabetes prevalence in Scotland is 5.3%, with type 2 diabetes accounting for 86.7% of all cases in the National Health Service Highlands health board area and 85.

Estimates of the Burden of Group B Streptococcal Disease Worldwide for Pregnant Women, Stillbirths, and Children.

Background: We aimed to provide the first comprehensive estimates of the burden of group B Streptococcus (GBS), including invasive disease in pregnant and postpartum women, fetal infection/stillbirth, and infants. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis is the current mainstay of prevention, reducing early-onset infant disease in high-income contexts. Maternal GBS vaccines are in development.

Educating student midwives around dignity and respect.

Focus: There is currently limited information available on how midwifery students learn to provide care that promotes dignity and respect.

Background: In recent years the importance of dignity in healthcare and treating people with respect has received considerable emphasis in both a national and international context.

Aim: The aim of this discussion paper is to describe an educational workshop that enables learning to promote dignity and respect in maternity care.

Spiritual aspects of living with infertility: A synthesis of qualitative studies.

Aims And Objectives: To identify the spiritual aspects of patients experiencing infertility and seek a deeper and broader meaning of the involuntary childlessness experience.

Background: Infertility can be the cause for a spiritual crisis among some couples. Those who endure this involuntary childlessness condition frequently experience contradictory feelings and needs.

A cross-sectional survey of the access of older people in the Scottish Highlands to general medical practices, community pharmacies and prescription medicines.

Background: Access to medicines and healthcare is more problematic in remote and rural areas.

Objectives: To quantify issues of access to general practitioners (GPs), community pharmacies and prescribed medicines in older people resident in the Scottish Highlands.

Methods: Anonymized questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 2000 older people (≥60 years) resident in the Scottish Highlands.

Dignity and respect in midwifery education in the UK: A survey of Lead Midwives of Education.

In the UK respect, dignity and compassion are the underpinning values which must determine service user care in the National Health Service (NHS). In midwifery education it is unclear how students are being taught these values. We created a study that aimed to explore how learning about dignity and respect is facilitated and assessed within pre-registration midwifery curricula.

Membrane transporters studied by EPR spectroscopy: structure determination and elucidation of functional dynamics.

During their mechanistic cycles membrane transporters often undergo extensive conformational changes, sampling a range of orientations, in order to complete their function. Such membrane transporters present somewhat of a challenge to conventional structural studies; indeed, crystallization of membrane-associated proteins sometimes require conditions that vary vastly from their native environments. Moreover, this technique currently only allows for visualization of single selected conformations during any one experiment.

The journal editor: Friend or foe?

The role of the journal editor may not be well known by authors. The purpose of this article is to explain the role in order to encourage future participation in reviewing and publication. Illustration is provided of the publishing process.

Electronic data capture in a rural African setting: evaluating experiences with different systems in Malawi.

Background: As hardware for electronic data capture (EDC), such as smartphones or tablets, becomes cheaper and more widely available, the potential for using such hardware as data capture tools in routine healthcare and research is increasing.

Objective: We aim to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of four EDC systems being used simultaneously in rural Malawi: two for Android devices (CommCare and ODK Collect), one for PALM and Windows OS (Pendragon), and a custom-built application for Android (Mobile InterVA--MIVA).

Design: We report on the personal field and development experience of fieldworkers, project managers, and EDC system developers.

Maternal Experiences of Their Unborn Child's Spiritual Care: Patterns of Abstinence in Iran.

Preparing for pregnancy and childbirth has significant association with spirituality. Review of the literature shows that the spirituality of the "unborn child" has not yet attracted much critical attention. This study was conducted with the aim of exploration of maternal behaviors associated with the spiritual health of the unborn child.