American Indians Have a Higher Risk of Sjögren's Syndrome and More Disease Activity Than European Americans and African Americans.

Objective: To describe the clinical and serologic manifestations of Sjögren's syndrome (SS) in ethnic groups of the US.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 648 patients with primary SS: 20 African American (AA), 164 American Indian (AI), 426 European American (EA), and 38 patients of other races evaluated in a multidisciplinary Sjögren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance research clinic.

Results: AA subjects comprised 3.

The use of an online pictorial Epworth Sleepiness Scale in the assessment of age and gender specific differences in excessive daytime sleepiness.

Background: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a non-specific but highly prevalent cardinal symptom of sleep disorders. We hypothesized that with modern media and an online pictorial Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) age and gender specific differences of EDS could be identified on a large scale. This could be helpful in the screening of patients with sleep disorders.

Evaluation of usage of virtual microscopy for the study of histology in the medical, dental, and veterinary undergraduate programs of a UK University.

This article describes the introduction of a virtual microscope (VM) that has allowed preclinical histology teaching to be fashioned to better suit the needs of approximately 900 undergraduate students per year studying medicine, dentistry, or veterinary science at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Features of the VM implementation include: (1) the facility for students and teachers to make annotations on the digital slides; (2) in-house development of VM-based quizzes that are used for both formative and summative assessments; (3) archiving of teaching materials generated each year, enabling students to access their personalized learning resources throughout their programs; and (4) retention of light microscopy capability alongside the VM. Student feedback on the VM is particularly positive about its ease of use, the value of the annotation tool, the quizzes, and the accessibility of all components off-campus.

Predicted relative prevalence estimates for obstructive sleep apnoea and the associated healthcare provision across the UK.

We surveyed the UK distribution of five factors commonly associated with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) to produce an overall risk map that could be used to predict relative prevalence estimates. The weighting and mapping of selected risk factors associated with OSA highlighted significant regional variation in predicted prevalence estimates. These data provide the first attempt to systematically map the UK for OSA and identify areas where the condition is likely to be more prevalent.

Establishing measurement invariance: English and Spanish Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire.

Background: Registered nurses and nurse researchers often use questionnaires to measure patient outcomes. When questionnaires or other multiple-item instruments have been developed using a relatively homogeneous sample, the suitability of even a psychometrically well-developed instrument for the new population comes into question. Bias or lack of equivalence can be introduced into instruments through differences in perceptions of the meaning of the measured items, constructs, or both in the two groups.

Peer assessment in large undergraduate classes: an evaluation of a procedure for marking laboratory reports and a review of related practices.

This study provides evidence that peer marking can be a reliable tool for assessing laboratory reports in large cohorts. It was conducted over a 4-yr period with first-year undergraduates (∼180 students/cohort) taking a mammalian physiology course, but the procedure adopted would be applicable to any other laboratory-based discipline. The process was found to be efficient in staff time, enabling a summative practical report to be marked in <1 h (<5% of the time that had previously been required for staff marking), facilitating rapid feedback to students on their performance.

Putting knowledge to work: a new approach.

Approaches to the longstanding challenges of 'integrating' subject-based and work-based knowledge have typically focused on questions of how learning can be 'transferred' from one setting to another, relating the assumed 'abstract' nature of theory to the assumed 'real' nature of practice. This is often seen as a single movement as encapsulated in the term 'from theory to practice'. The authors have developed a fresh approach that concentrates on different forms of knowledge and the ways in which these are contextualised and 're-contextualised' in movements between different sites of learning in colleges and workplaces.

An examination of interventions to reduce respiratory health and injury hazards in homes of low-income families.

We evaluated whether combining asthma trigger reduction with housing structural repairs, device disbursement and education in low-income households with children would improve self-reported respiratory health and reduce housing-related respiratory health and injury hazards (convenience sample of n=67 homes with 63 asthmatic and 121 non-asthmatic children). At baseline, a visual assessment of the home environment and a structured occupant interview were used to examine 29 potential injury hazards and 7 potential respiratory health hazards. A home-specific intervention was designed to provide the children's parents or caretakers with the knowledge, skills, motivation, supplies, equipment, and minimum housing conditions necessary for a healthy and safe home.

Optimizing triage consistency in Australian emergency departments: the Emergency Triage Education Kit.

Objective: The Emergency Triage Education Kit was designed to optimize consistency of triage using the Australasian Triage Scale. The present study was conducted to determine the interrater reliability of a set of scenarios for inclusion in the programme.

Methods: A postal survey of 237 paper-based triage scenarios was utilized.

The development of a tool to assess levels of stress and burnout.

Objective: To pilot test the reliability and validity of a newly developed tool measuring nursing and midwifery staff stress and burnout.

Design: Descriptive survey.

Setting: Public hospital, aged care facility and university.

Psychometric evaluation of selected pain intensity scales for use with cognitively impaired and cognitively intact older adults.

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of selected pain intensity scales such as the Faces Pain Scale (FPS), the Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS), the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), and the Iowa Pain Thermometer (IPT) to assess pain in cognitively impaired older adults. A descriptive correlational design was used, and a convenience sample of 66 volunteers age 60 and older residing in assisted living facilities in the South was recruited for this study. The sample included 22 (33%) men and 44 (67%) women, with a mean age of 76.

Quantitative inoculation of willow rust Melampsora larici-epitea with the mycoparasite Sphaerellopsis filum (teleomorph Eudarluca caricis).

The mycoparasite Sphaerellopsis filum (teleomorph Eudarluca caricis) was applied simultaneously with Melampsora larici-epitea on to willow leaf discs using eight concentrations of conidia. Inoculum densities were quantified and the numbers of uredinia of the rust, pycnidia and conidia of S. filum and rust spores produced per leaf disc were measured 13 d after inoculation (first assessment).