Oxytocin Levels in Community-Collected Saliva Samples Transported by Dry Versus Wet Ice.

Oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide produced primarily in the hypothalamus, is associated with both critical physiological and psychological processes, particularly stress and feelings of affiliation. Increasingly, researchers are seeking ways to reliably incorporate OT as an outcome biomarker in clinical research. Previously, OT levels were measured in plasma or urine.

Feasibility of a Relaxation Guided Imagery Intervention to Reduce Maternal Stress in the NICU.

Objective: To test the feasibility of a relaxation guided imagery (RGI) intervention for mothers of hospitalized preterm infants and to explore the biobehavioral effects of RGI on their distress, responsiveness, and physiological stress.

Design: Single sample, pretest-posttest design.

Setting: A large Level III NICU in Southern California.

Detection of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Patients After Discharge From Intensive Care.

Background: Despite emphasis on identifying personal and clinical characteristics that place patients at higher risk for posttraumatic stress syndrome after intensive care, the extent of screening for the syndrome in intensive care patients is unknown.

Objectives: To examine the feasibility and acceptability of a screening tool to detect posttraumatic stress syndrome, screen for the syndrome soon after discharge from intensive care to identify patients at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder, and determine personal and clinical factors related to higher scores on the screening instrument.

Methods: A single-center, cross-sectional design was used.

Assessing Learning Styles of Graduate Entry Nursing Students as a Classroom Research Activity: A quantitative research study.

Background: A number of studies across different disciplines have investigated students' learning styles. Differences are known to exist between graduate and baccalaureate nursing students. However, few studies have investigated the learning styles of students in graduate entry nursing programs.

Depressive Symptoms and Social Support in Adolescents With Type 2 Diabetes.

Introduction: Disease management outcomes, depressive symptoms, and levels of social support may differ between early and middle adolescents. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between depressive symptomatology, perceived social support, body mass index, hemoglobin A1c (A1C), and months since diagnosis for adolescents with type 2 diabetes ages 13 to 17 years.

Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study surveyed adolescents at an endocrinology clinic regarding depressive symptoms and perceived social support.

Posttraumatic stress syndrome associated with stays in the intensive care unit: importance of nurses' involvement.

More patients in the intensive care unit are surviving their critical illnesses because of advances in medical care. This change in survival has led to an increased awareness of the emotional consequences of being critically ill. Posttraumatic stress disorder has been identified in approximately 9% to 27% of critically ill patients compared with 7% of the general US population.

Guided imagery: an innovative approach to improving maternal sleep quality.

Mothers of preterm infants are at risk for poor sleep quality, which may adversely affect their health, maternal-infant attachment, and infant caretaking activities. This study examined the relationship of an 8-week relaxation guided imagery intervention on sleep quality and the association between sleep quality and maternal distress (perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and state anxiety) in 20 mothers of hospitalized preterm infants. Mothers received a CD (compact disc) with three 20-minutes recordings and were asked to listen to at least 1 recording daily for 8 weeks.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PL 111-148): an analysis of maternal-child health home visitation.

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, setting in motion a historic and, for many, a long-awaited radical change to the current American health care system. Section 2951 of the PPACA addresses provision and funding of maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting programs. The purpose of this article is to acquaint the reader with the legislative odyssey of home visitation services to at-risk prenatal and postpartum women and children as delineated in the PPACA and to discuss the nursing practice and research implications of this landmark legislation.

Exploring biobehavioral outcomes in mothers of preterm infants.

Purpose: To evaluate physiologic measures of stress with self-reported perceived stress and depressive symptoms among mothers of preterm babies currently hospitalized in an NICU.

Study Design And Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, single-visit study of 20 mothers of hospitalized preterm infants. Data collected included self-report behavioral measures and a brief structured interview.

Integrated review of cytokines in maternal, cord, and newborn blood: part I--associations with preterm birth.

Preterm birth (PTB; spontaneous delivery prior to 37 weeks gestation) affects one out of eight infants born in the United States and is the most common cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Although the pathogenesis of PTB is multifactorial, a growing body of literature supports the hypothesis that one cause of PTB is inflammation in pregnancy. Investigators have implicated mediators of inflammation, most notably proinflammatory cytokines, as being associated with and perhaps a playing a causal role in the pathogenesis of preterm labor and adverse early fetal outcomes.

Integrated review of cytokines in maternal, cord, and newborn blood: part II-- associations with early infection and increased risk of neurologic damage in preterm infants.

A growing body of literature supports the relationship of maternal inflammation with preterm birth and adverse neonatal outcomes, including infection and central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. Mediators of inflammation, most notably proinflammatory cytokines, have been implicated as having an association with and perhaps playing a causal role in the pathogenesis, leading to adverse neonatal outcomes. Even though the association of cytokines with early adverse neonatal outcomes has been actively pursued as a line of research, there has been little integration of diverse findings across studies.

Impact of disclosure of HIV infection on health-related quality of life among children and adolescents with HIV infection.

Background: Little is known concerning the impact of HIV status disclosure on quality of life, leaving clinicians and families to rely on research of children with other terminal illnesses.

Objectives: The purpose of this work was to examine the impact of HIV disclosure on pediatric quality of life and to describe the distribution of age at disclosure in a perinatally infected pediatric population. METHODS.

The research advisory committee: an effective forum for developing a research dynamic environment.

This article describes the role of a committee in the Graduate School of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts, Worcester, that is referred to as the research advisory committee. It was developed to sustain the research mission, to facilitate faculty scholarship, and to provide a venue for presubmission grant review (hence called mock review) in a graduate school of nursing that is not considered "research intensive." We present its historical framework, the development of a mock review process, faculty accomplishments thus far, and our plans for the future.

Negative life events: risk to health-related quality of life in children and youth with HIV infection.

Children and youth with perinatally acquired HIV infection are living longer because of improved drug therapies, but they may be at risk for poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes because of nondisease factors. Families affected by HIV disease are more likely to experience major negative life events (NLEs). The effects of NLEs, shown to impact HRQOL in children with other chronic illnesses, have not been evaluated in children with HIV infection.

Strategies to manage the time demands of online teaching.

The time demands of online teaching may discourage nurse educators from developing distance learning courses. As consumer expectations for online education grow, it is essential that educators identify strategies that will enable efficient use of time to both develop and teach online courses. The authors review the distance learning literature from the perspective of time management strategies for online teaching.

Protease inhibitor combination therapy, severity of illness, and quality of life among children with perinatally acquired HIV-1 infection.

Objectives: This study examines quality of life (QOL) among school-aged children with perinatally acquired HIV infection and compares QOL outcomes between treatment groups that differ according to the use of protease inhibitor (PI) combination therapy (PI therapy). To gain insights into how PI therapy might influence QOL, associations between severity of illness and QOL were also investigated.

Methods: Cross-sectional data for 940 children, 5 to 18 years of age, who were enrolled in Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group Late Outcomes Protocol 219 were used to examine domains of caregiver-reported QOL, as assessed with the General Health Assessment for Children, during 1999.