The Paradoxical Immunomodulatory Effects of Chitosan in Biomedicine.

Chitosan is widely explored in the field of biomedicine due to its abundance and reported properties, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, mucoadhesion, and anti-microbial activity. Although our understanding of the immune response to chitosan has evolved, confusion remains regarding whether chitosan is a pro- or anti-inflammatory biomaterial. Tackling this knowledge gap is essential for the translation of chitosan-based biomaterials to clinical use.

Prioritized strategies to improve diagnosis and early management of cerebral palsy for both Māori and non-Māori families.

Aim: To identify prioritized strategies to support improvements in early health service delivery around the diagnosis and management of cerebral palsy (CP) for both Māori and non-Māori individuals.

Method: Using a participatory approach, health care professionals and the parents of children with CP attended co-design workshops on the topic of early diagnosis and management of CP. Health design researchers facilitated two 'discovery' (sharing experiences and ideas) and two 'prototyping' (solution-focused) workshops in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Patients' perspectives on digital health tools.

Objective: Digital technology has changed the way healthcare is delivered and accessed. However, the focus is mostly on technology and clinical aspects. This review aimed to integrate and critically analyse the available knowledge regarding patients' perspectives on digital health tools and identify facilitators and barriers to their uptake.

Effective Endotoxin Removal from Chitosan That Preserves Chemical Structure and Improves Compatibility with Immune Cells.

Chitosan is one of the most researched biopolymers for healthcare applications, however, being a naturally derived polymer, it is susceptible to endotoxin contamination, which elicits pro-inflammatory responses, skewing chitosan's performance and leading to inaccurate conclusions. It is therefore critical that endotoxins are quantified and removed for in vivo use. Here, heat and mild NaOH treatment are investigated as facile endotoxin removal methods from chitosan.

Do Degrees Matter? Rethinking Workforce Development for Youth with Intellectual Disabilities and Mental Health Challenges.

The global workforce crisis significantly impacts how evidence-based treatment is provided to youth with developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health conditions. Addressing the workforce crisis requires re-examining the long-standing methods of selecting individuals for employment based on academic degrees. This project offers an innovative workforce development option that provides specialized training to staff with advanced education degrees and staff with less education.

Evaluating contaminated dental aerosol and splatter in an open plan clinic environment: Implications for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: Identify splatter/aerosol distribution from dental procedures in an open plan clinic and explore aerosol settling time after dental procedures.

Methods: In two experimental designs using simulated dental procedures on a mannequin, fluorescein dye was introduced: (1) into the irrigation system of an air-turbine handpiece; (2) into the mannequin's mouth. Filter papers were placed in an open plan clinic to collect fluorescein.

Can virtual reality simulation prepare patients for an MRI experience?

Introduction: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examination is often described by patients as frightening and uncomfortable. To prepare patients for an MRI examination, this study explored the use of virtual reality (VR) simulation compared to a mock MRI scan (full-scale MRI machine replica, without internal magnets).

Methods: Twenty participants underwent a VR and a mock MRI scan.

Background soundscapes influence the perception of ice-cream as indexed by electrophysiological measures.

Listening to specific soundscapes can influence multisensory flavour perception. In the present study, changes in people's perception of the flavour of ice-cream were tracked over time as they listened to a café soundscape, and when this soundscape was overlaid with either bird, machine, or forest soundscapes. In addition, emotions and electrophysiological measures were recorded in order to help understand any changes in taste/flavour perception.

The use of a poster to reduce expectations to receive antibiotics for a common cold.

Many doctors prescribe antibiotics for a cold, to meet patient's expectations. As a result, patient's education about antibiotics and antibiotic resistance forms a major component of the WHO's Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. However, it is not known whether simple educational material can change a person's attitudes about antibiotic therapy.

Differing perspectives: Evaluation of a new IV pole by children and adults.

Involving children in the evaluation of hospital environments has been recognized as important. It is argued that this should extend to engaging children in the evaluation of medical products. A study was undertaken to evaluate how children, parents/caregivers and nurses viewed the design of a new intravenous (IV) pole compared to the existing IV pole currently used.

Ethical and practical challenges of conducting art-based research with children/young people in the public space of a children's outpatient department.

This article examines the ethical and practical challenges of undertaking a study using art-based methods with children/young people. It is argued that an important component of qualitative research and research with children/young people is researcher reflexivity and flexibility, particularly when the anticipated and actual implemented methods of a study differ. We draw on a study with 175 children/young people aged 5-16 years in a children's outpatients department where 'draw-and-tell' and 'letter writing' were used to elicit children/young people's perceptions of the outpatient environment.

Making space work: Staff socio-spatial practices in a paediatric outpatient department.

Studies of the characteristics of therapeutic landscapes have become common in medical geography. However, there is limited analysis of how therapeutic landscapes are produced. Based upon the qualitative theoretical thematic analysis of focus group data, this study examined the spatial work carried out by healthcare practitioners in a paediatric outpatients' department, turning unsatisfactory space into a therapeutic place.

Visual representation of medical information: the importance of considering the end-user in the design of medical illustrations.

This practice led research project explored visual representation through illustrations designed to communicate often complex medical information for different users within Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand. Media and tools were manipulated to affect varying degrees of naturalism or abstraction from reality in the creation of illustrations for a variety of real-life clinical projects, and user feedback on illustration preference gathered from both medical professionals and patients. While all users preferred the most realistic representations of medical information from the illustrations presented, patients often favoured illustrations that depicted a greater amount of information than professionals suggested was necessary.

A Systematic Review of Patient and Caregiver Experiences with a Tracheostomy.

Background: A tracheostomy is a surgically created opening through the anterior neck tissues and the trachea, into which a tube is inserted. Despite its influence on basic human needs such as respiration, communication and nutrition, little is known about the impact of tracheostomy on patients and their caregivers or what could be done to enable better care and quality of life (QoL) for these individuals.

Objective: The aim of this review was to better understand the current knowledge related to the experience and QoL of adults living with a tracheostomy and their caregivers so as to be able to improve these experiences.

Designing Situated Learning Experiences: Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Design Education in Healthcare.

This paper describes how the DHW Lab facilitates third mission activities, as well as advancing undergraduate pedagogy and post-graduate research. It suggests there are challenges and opportunities involved in creating a hybrid of two very different organizations, that need to be addressed to advance transdisciplinary education in the 'transformative university'.

Designing for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): A Design Anthropological Perspective.

This paper will present a design anthropological perspective on an ongoing project called 'Living Well with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)'. The project explores how people with MCI (and their families) manage and respond to changes in their memory and thinking. One of the primary aims of this project is to design an online resource that will support people to 'Live Well' within the context of possible cognitive decline.

Training community matrons in basic cognitive behavioural therapy-based techniques for patients with COPD.

People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience anxiety and depression with a higher prevalence than the general population. Despite this, they are under-represented in mental health services on a national scale, but do regularly have contact with health-care professionals such as community matrons. We aimed to explore the process of CBT-based skills supervision and the practical implications for community matrons using CBT-based techniques with COPD clients as part of their standard practice.

Association of entomopathogenic fungi with exotic bark beetles in New Zealand pine plantations.

Hylastes ater and Hylurgus ligniperda are introduced pests of re-established Pinus radiata in New Zealand. Both species breed under the bark of stumps in recently harvested areas. Adult maturation feeding on pine seedlings planted in adjacent areas can significantly impact seedling growth, and in severe cases seedlings will die.

Beauveria caledonica is a naturally occurring pathogen of forest beetles.

In New Zealand, two introduced scolytid beetles, Hylastes ater and Hylurgus ligniperda (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are pests in pine plantations. Investigation of the naturally occurring pathogens of these exotic pests revealed that both are attacked by Beauveria caledonica, a species originally isolated and described from soil in Scotland. The isolates in New Zealand were identical in morphology and conserved DNA region (rDNA, elongation factor alpha) sequence to isolates held in the USDA-ARS insect pathogens culture collection.