A comparative cross-sectional questionnaire survey of the work of UK and US mental health nurses.

Background: Comparative inter-country research which identifies similarities and differences in the work of mental health nurses in different social and political contexts is an important means of determining how changes in health care systems could lead to better outcomes for patients.

Objective: This study sought to compare aspects of the work of nurses in US and UK mental health care settings. Nurses were invited to reflect on aspects of their role including identifying the most and least satisfying elements of their work and suggesting ways in which it could be improved.

The role of mutagenesis in defining genes in behaviour.

The study of human behavioural and psychiatric disorders benefits from the development of genetic models in mice and other organisms. Mouse mutants allow one to investigate the molecular basis of disease progression and to develop novel therapies. The number of potential mouse models is increasing dramatically through the implementation of mutagenesis screens for aberrant behavioural phenotypes.

Addressing the concerns of the trainee nurse prescriber.

Aim: To identify the specialties from which trainee prescribers come and to determine their pre-training and post-training concerns about prescribing and how they are utilising their prescribing skills.

Method: A self-report profile questionnaire including open and closed questions, some Likert-type scales and a 24-item, self-report follow-up questionnaire were used.

Results: Half of the nurses who took part in this study came from four disciplines--practice nursing, mental health nursing, district nursing and paediatric/neonatal nursing.

Nurse lecturers' observations on aspects of nurse prescribing training.

In the UK, nurse prescribing training is delivered within a Higher Education Institution (HEI). Although prescribing courses are regularly evaluated by individual HEIs and associated commissioning bodies, there has been little focus on the perspective of the lecturers who provide the training. The aim of this paper is to explore nurse lecturers' experiences of delivering nurse prescribing courses and their views on how well they prepare nurses for the prescribing role.

What to do until the music therapist arrives? Developing therapeutic activities using music.

Three clinical vignettes describe appropriate and inappropriate uses of music as therapy for hospitalized patients.

Pediatric bridge to heart transplantation: application of the Berlin Heart, Medos and Thoratec ventricular assist devices.

Background: Bridge to transplantation (BTT) is an accepted option when a donor heart is not available. Extensive clinical study has been done with BTT in the adult population, but comparatively fewer data are available in the pediatric population with regard to pulsatile devices.

Methods: Ten pediatric patients are presented, all of whom underwent BTT or recovery with pneumatic paracorporeal systems.

In conclusion: the promise of comprehensive cancer control.

THE PROMISE OF COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CONTROL: Operationally, comprehensive cancer control (CCC) brings together diverse experts and interested partners to review together the cancer experience of their community, to identify key areas in need of improvement, to develop collaborative approaches to address individual and system changes and strategies to meet the needs of the population, and to combine resources - fiscal, relational, and intellectual - to maximize positive outcomes. Specific positive outcomes related to CCC are as follows: Comprehensive cancer plans; A cadre of collaborating partners; Support for the continuum of cancer-related functions and needs; New opportunities to learn and build skills; Coordinated appeals for federal, state, and private resources; Combined strategies to address major system changes that individual programs could not hope to address on their own; and Greater impact than single programs or partners could accomplish alone. A NUMBER OF FACTORS CAN AT TIMES IMPEDE SUCCESS: Sustainability; Resources; and Competition.

Dissecting the genetic complexity of human 6p deletion syndromes by using a region-specific, phenotype-driven mouse screen.

Monosomy of the human chromosome 6p terminal region results in a variety of congenital malformations that include brain, craniofacial, and organogenesis abnormalities. To examine the genetic basis of these phenotypes, we have carried out an unbiased functional analysis of the syntenic region of the mouse genome (proximal Mmu13). A genetic screen for recessive mutations in this region recovered thirteen lines with phenotypes relevant to a variety of clinical conditions.

Superior laryngeal and hypoglossal afferents tonically influence upper airway motor excitability in anesthetized rats.

Upper airway (UA) muscle activity is stimulated by changes in UA transmural pressure and by asphyxia. These responses are reduced by muscle relaxation. We hypothesized that this is due to a change in afferent feedback in the ansa hypoglossi and/or superior laryngeal nerve (SLN).

Nurse prescribers: who are they and how do they perceive their role?

Aims: This paper reports a study to elicit background data from recently qualified nurse prescribers and explore aspects of their work.

Background: Nurse prescribing has been introduced quite recently in the United Kingdom. Although a certain amount of information is available about the characteristics of nurse prescribers, relatively little is known about their professional backgrounds, their reasons for choosing to become nurse prescribers and their perceptions of their emerging role.

Effects of topical anesthesia on upper airway resistance during wake-sleep transitions.

Deformation of the upper airway (UA) by negative transmural pressure alters the activity of UA mechanoreceptors, causing a reflex increase in UA muscle activity. Topical anesthesia of the UA mucosa, which greatly reduces this reflex response, causes an increase in UA resistance during stage 2 sleep. We hypothesized that topical anesthesia of the UA mucosa would predispose to UA instability at sleep onset and, therefore, examined the effect of UA anesthesia on pharyngeal resistance (Rph) in stage 1 sleep.

Aspects of the relationship between doctors and depressed patients that enhance satisfaction with primary care.

Depression will be the second most common threat to health by the end of the next decade. The incidence of depression in primary care is already high. This has serious implications for the types of services available, the range of personnel who deliver them and the extent to which patients are helped by the treatments provided.

Mutations in gasdermin 3 cause aberrant differentiation of the hair follicle and sebaceous gland.

Defolliculated (Dfl) is a spontaneous mouse mutant with a hair-loss phenotype that includes altered sebaceous gland differentiation, short hair shafts, aberrant catagen stage of the hair cycle, and eventual loss of the hair follicle. Recently a similar mutant, finnegan (Fgn), with an identical phenotype was discovered during a phenotypic screen for mutations induced by chemical mutagenesis. The gene underlying the phenotype of both finnegan and defolliculated has been mapped to chromosome 11 and here we show that both mice harbor mutations in gasdermin 3 (Gsdm3), a gene of unknown function.

Simultaneous recording of breathing and respiratory related neuronal activity in the brainstem of conscious rats.

One aim of integrative neurophysiology is to understand the relationship between neuronal activity and normal evolution of other physiological parameters. In this respect, anaesthetics or paralyzing agents, that have been shown to have a significant effect on several vital physiological processes, can be seen as a real problem for the interpretation of observations. Eletrophysiological recording in awake animals avoids this problem.

Correlates of victimisation amongst people with psychosis.

Background: While much attention has been given to the prediction of violent offending behaviour amongst people with psychotic disorders, less attention has been given to the fact that these same individuals are often the victims of violence. In this paper, we examine victimisation amongst participants in a prevalence study of psychosis, and describe demographic and clinical correlates of victimisation. METHOD The study was based on the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing--Low Prevalence (Psychotic) Disorders.

Effects of Mycoplasma gallisepticum on reproductive success in house finches.

Long known as a pathogen of poultry, Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) was first detected in house finches in 1994. The disease rapidly spread throughout the eastern United States and Canada and was associated with debilitating disease and high mortality in house finches. However, in the late 1990s, the proportion of infected finches dying as a result of infection with MG decreased, and asymptomatic infection was more common among wild birds than in the past.

Towards a mutant map of the mouse--new models of neurological, behavioural, deafness, bone, renal and blood disorders.

With the completion of the first draft of the human genome sequence, the next major challenge is assigning function to genes. One approach is genome-wide random chemical mutagenesis, followed by screening for mutant phenotypes of interest and subsequent mapping and identification of the mutated genes in question. We (a consortium made up of GlaxoSmithKline, the MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit and Mouse Genome Centre, Harwell, Imperial College, London, and the Royal London Hospital) have used ENU mutagenesis in the mouse for the rapid generation of novel mutant phenotypes for use as animal models of human disease and for gene function assignment (Nolan et al.

Public health response to bioterrorism with Bacillus anthracis: coordinating public health laboratory, communication, and law enforcement.

In October 2001, public health departments across the United States were part of an intensive response to a bioterrorism event using anthrax spores delivered by mail. It is useful to examine this experience as an unscripted exercise of bioterrorism response capacity, more realistic than scenarios of planned exercises. The event particularly challenged public health laboratory and communications capacity, but it also tested surveillance and training capacity.

A comparison of the work and values of community mental health nurses in two mental health NHS Trusts.

With the reconfiguration of health services in both the primary and secondary sectors, the role of community mental health nurses (CMHNs) has become a highly contested one within mental health care. There would be great variability in the skills that CMHNs possess, the contexts in which they work and the nature of the work they do. This study sought to explore aspects of the work of those nurses who provide services at the interface between policy and practice.

New semidominant mutations that affect mouse development.

Dominantly acting mutations that produce visible phenotypes are frequently recovered, either during routine maintenance of colonies or from mutagenesis experiments. We have studied 12 dominant mouse mutations that cause a tail dysmorphology, a coat spotting phenotype, or a combination of these. The majority of these mutations act in a semidominant manner with the homozygous state associated with embryonic lethality and a visible phenotype at or before midgestation.

Cardiac replacement with a total artificial heart as a bridge to transplantation.

Background: The CardioWest Total Artificial Heart orthotopically replaces both native cardiac ventricles and all cardiac valves, thus eliminating problems commonly seen in the bridge to transplantation with left ventricular and biventricular assist devices, such as right heart failure, valvular regurgitation, cardiac arrhythmias, ventricular clots, intraventricular communications, and low blood flows.

Methods: We conducted a nonrandomized, prospective study in five centers with the use of historical controls. The purpose was to assess the safety and efficacy of the CardioWest Total Artificial Heart in transplant-eligible patients at risk for imminent death from irreversible biventricular cardiac failure.

Supplementary nurse prescribing.

Aim: To explore the attitudes of multidisciplinary team members to nurse prescribing and to establish its perceived advantages and disadvantages.

Method: Five focus groups were conducted with a range of healthcare professionals in one trust. A total of 46 participants took part in the study A structured schedule was used during each discussion to elicit group members' views on supplementary nurse prescribing.