Ocular war injuries of the Iraqi Insurgency,January-September 2004.

Purpose: To document the types and causes of ocular and ocular adnexal injuries treated by United States Army ophthalmologists serving in Iraq during the Iraqi Insurgency.

Design: Prospective hospital-based observational analysis of injuries.

Participants: All coalition troops, enemy prisoners of war, and civilians with severe ocular and ocular adnexal injuries.

Utility of The Regina Risk Indicator Tool among case managed elderly clients.

The Regina Risk Indicator Tool (RRIT) is used to identify how at risk clients are for requiring admission to long-term care. This study examined the potential use of this tool by case managers of older community dwelling clients receiving home care. The RRIT exhibited moderate to good inter-rater reliability and good predictive validity as clients of varying degrees of risk differed in amount of case management and services used.

External quality assurance of DNA testing for thrombophilia mutations.

Because of the potential implications of results of genetic analyses of thrombophilic mutations, laboratories must undertake stringent internal quality control measures and participate in external quality assurance (QA) programs. A small number of external QA surveys of thrombophilic defects have been conducted across a large number of molecular laboratories and generally have indicated favorable levels of correct responses. The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia QA program has conducted external QA testing of factor V Leiden G1691 A, prothrombin G20210A, and MTHFR C677T gene mutations for the past 5 years, including 133 DNA samples in 10 multilaboratory surveys.

Does service-learning increase cultural competency, critical thinking, and civic engagement?

To prepare for community engagement and partnerships with diverse communities, nursing students must understand the principles of service-learning, as well as the essential skills needed to work within a democracy. The purposes of these two pilot tests were to develop a 15-hour service-learning intervention; refine the 15-hour service-learning intervention; and explore whether participation in the intervention made a difference in the critical thinking, cultural competence, and civic engagement of nursing student participants. Although the sample was small (n = 14), results of paired t tests found that, after the intervention, critical thinking scores measured by the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory were significantly lower (t = -2.

Nurturing nursing's future through nurse executive partnerships.

At a time when nurses are becoming an endangered species, nurse executives have a unique opportunity to respond by forging new and responsive relationships with graduate students who express interest in nursing administration and leadership as a preferred career choice. In this article, a case example demonstrates how a senior faculty member and a graduate student formed a partnership, conducted research, and nurtured an appreciation of the nurse educator role. Using this experience, senior nurse executives can too form partnerships with graduate students as a way to recruit into nursing leadership roles.

The patient-provider relationship and adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Four studies completed since 1995 have highlighted the importance of the relationship between the provider and the patient in enhancing adherence behavior. This study extends this work by comparing adherent and nonadherent clients in one high-volume HIV clinic in which the majority of care is provided by nursing staff. The sample comprised 130 clients (108 adherent and 22 nonadherent).

Introduction to the DAPPLE Air Pollution Project.

The Dispersion of Air Pollution and its Penetration into the Local Environment (DAPPLE) project brings together a multidisciplinary research group that is undertaking field measurements, wind tunnel modelling and computer simulations in order to provide better understanding of the physical processes affecting street and neighbourhood-scale flow of air, traffic and people, and their corresponding interactions with the dispersion of pollutants at street canyon intersections. The street canyon intersection is of interest as it provides the basic case study to demonstrate most of the factors that will apply in a wide range of urban situations. The aims of this paper are to introduce the background of the DAPPLE project, the study design and methodology for data collection, some preliminary results from the first field campaign in central London (28 April-24 May 2003) and the future for this work.

A practical approach to understanding risk of institutionalization in two Canadian cities: the Regina Risk Indicator Tool.

Appropriate utilization of long-term care resources is critical to sustainability. This article reports on the evaluation of the Regina Risk Indicator Tool conducted by the Calgary Health Region in 2000, including an overview of the tool evaluation and a summary of RRIT development within the Regina Health District. The RRIT has provided value to Calgary and Regina in matching client needs with appropriate community and facility-based services.

Loneliness, health and depression in older males.

Loneliness and social isolation, particularly in the older adult, have been shown to influence psychosocial well-being. Loneliness has been related to chronic illness and self-rated health in older adults, and researchers suggest there is an important relationship between loneliness and psychological well-being in older adults particularly in the area of depression. This study investigated relationships between loneliness, health, and depression in 217 older men (> 65 years).

Stress, social support and psychological well-being in older men.

Along with an increase in the older population comes a concomitant increase in the number of people for whom issues relating to well-being, for example, stress and social relationships become more salient. In this study, relationships between stress, social support and psychological well-being in men over the age of 65 years were investigated. A convenience sample of 217 men over the age of 65 years, living in a small New Zealand city took part in the study.

Hox gene expression in adult tissues with particular reference to the adrenal gland.

In comparison to the embryo, very little work has been carried out on the expression and role of Hox genes in the adult animal. An expression profile of all 39 vertebrate Hox genes on a select panel of adult human tissues reveals that in fact these genes are widely expressed throughout the adult human and a colinear pattern of expression is displayed similar to that of the developing embryo. Of particular interest is the abundance of Hox genes that are expressed within the adult adrenal gland.

Unusual Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium isolate producing CMY-7, SHV-9 and OXA-30 beta-lactamases.

Beta-lactam resistance in Salmonella isolates is increasing. This paper describes the combination of three different beta-lactamases, OXA-30, SHV-9 and CMY-7, expressed by an isolate of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium. This is the first report of an isolate of Salmonella having both an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase and an AmpC beta-lactamase.

Health assessment and its relationship to nursing practice in New Zealand.

Health assessment has been an integral component of nursing education in Australia for over a decade. New Zealand has only recently embarked down this path and might benefit from the Australian experience. This article will discuss health assessment in the context of three issues currently topical in nursing in New Zealand.

Evaluation of the MRSA-Screen Test in detecting oxacillin resistance in community and hospital isolates of Staphylococcus aureus.

The MRSA-Screen Test (Denka Seiken Co., Japan), a latex agglutination test to detect penicillin-binding protein 2a, was compared with PCR for the detection of oxacillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. A total of 77 oxacillin-sensitive and 269 oxacillin-resistant (ORSA) isolates were evaluated.

Non-multiresistant and multiresistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in community-acquired infections.

Objective: To survey Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from patients presenting from the community, comparing clinical features and antibiotic sensitivity profiles between multiresistant and non-multiresistant methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive isolates.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Participants And Setting: Patients who presented to emergency or dermatology departments in hospitals served by the South Western Sydney Area Health Service between 1 May 1998 and 30 April 1999.

Community-acquired, non-multiresistant oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (NORSA) in South Western Sydney.

Community-acquired oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA) infections are an emerging problem in the 1990s in Sydney, Australia. Laboratory data pertaining to all specimens that grew S. aureus between 1/1/1990 and 31/12/1999 were analysed.

Factors influencing health and well-being in the older adult.

Both in New Zealand and internationally there are increasing numbers of people living well into their senior years. Not only are more individuals reaching late adulthood, more are living beyond this stage. Because of corresponding increases in illness and/or disability this phenomenon has implications for the provision of health care to communities.

Antimicrobial resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae: a decade of results from south-western Sydney.

We report the emerging drug-resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae seen by the South Western Area Pathology Service (SWAPS) from 1 January 1990 to 31 July 2000. SWAPS performs all the pathology testing for the public hospitals in the South Western Sydney Area Health Service, which serves a population of 700,000; 120,000 separations occur at these hospitals annually. In all, 2,265 patients submitted specimens yielding S.

A cluster of meningococcal disease in western Sydney, Australia initially associated with a nightclub.

Fourteen cases of meningococcal disease (MD) occurred in August September 1996 in western Sydney, Australia. Seven of the 10 young adults affected had a direct or indirect link with a local nightclub. Ten of 11 systemic meningococcal isolates had the phenotype C:2a:P1.

Peritonitis associated with a CDC group EO-3 organism.

A 63-year-old female with chronic renal failure on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis developed chronic peritonitis. A CDC group EO-3 organism was isolated from the peritoneal dialysis fluid on five occasions over a period of 4 months. This is the first reported isolation of this organism in which it is associated with a patient on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.