Examining arts-based practice in midwifery education: An integrative review.

Aims: The aim of this integrative review is to synthesise the literature on creative teaching methods in midwifery education. The review question seeks to investigate the experiences of student midwives and midwifery educators of using creative methods as a learning approach.

Background: The benefits of creative teaching methods are widely acknowledged but the ways in which this may impact midwifery students' learning processes, or how this relates to their developing professional development, is not well understood.

How do informal information sources influence women's decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.

Background: Women approach birth using various methods of preparation drawing from conventional healthcare providers alongside informal information sources (IIS) outside the professional healthcare context. An investigation of the forms in which these informal information sources are accessed and negotiated by women, and how these disconnected and often conflicting elements influence women's decision-making process for birth have yet to be evaluated. The level of antenatal preparedness women feel can have significant and long lasting implications on their birth experience and transition into motherhood and beyond.

Effects of low-level light therapy on streptozotocin-induced diabetic kidney.

Hyperglycemia causes oxidative damage in tissues prone to complications in diabetes. Low-level light therapy (LLLT) in the red to near infrared range (630-1000nm) has been shown to accelerate diabetic wound healing. To test the hypothesis that LLLT would attenuate oxidative renal damage in Type I diabetic rats, male Wistar rats were made diabetic with streptozotocin (50mg/kg, ip), and then exposed to 670nm light at a dose of 9J/cm(2) once per day for 14weeks.

Effects of low-level light therapy on hepatic antioxidant defense in acute and chronic diabetic rats.

Diabetes causes oxidative stress in the liver and other tissues prone to complications. Photobiomodulation by near infrared light (670 nm) has been shown to accelerate diabetic wound healing, improve recovery from oxidative injury in the kidney, and attenuate degeneration in retina and optic nerve. The present study tested the hypothesis that 670 nm photobiomodulation, a low-level light therapy, would attenuate oxidative stress and enhance the antioxidant protection system in the liver of a model of type I diabetes.

Attenuation of TCDD-induced oxidative stress by 670 nm photobiomodulation in developmental chicken kidney.

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), a potent developmental teratogen inducing oxidative stress and sublethal changes in multiple organs, provokes developmental renal injuries. In this study, we investigated TCDD-induced biochemical changes and the therapeutic efficacy of photobiomodulation (670 nm; 4 J/cm(2)) on oxidative stress in chicken kidneys during development. Eggs were injected once prior to incubation with TCDD (2 pg/g or 200 pg/g) or sunflower oil vehicle control.

Melatonin as a principal component of red light therapy.

Melatonin is well recognized for its role as a potent antioxidant and is directly implicated in the free radical theory of aging [1] [Reiter RJ, Pablos MI, Agapito TT, Guerrero JM. Melatonin in the context of the free radical theory of aging. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1996;786:362-78].

670 nanometer light treatment attenuates dioxin toxicity in the developing chick embryo.

2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is an acutely toxic anthropogenic chemical. Treatment with a red to near-infrared (630-1000 nm) light-emitting diode (LED) attenuates the toxicant-induced oxidative stress and energy deficit in neuronal cell culture. For this study, fertile chicken (Gallus gallus) eggs were injected once at the start of incubation with sunflower oil vehicle or 200 pg TCDD/g egg (200 parts per trillion), an environmentally relevant dose.

Effects of low-carbohydrate diet and Pycnogenol treatment on retinal antioxidant enzymes in normal and diabetic rats.

Because chronic hyperglycemia of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus may lead to increased reactive oxygen species and decreased enzymatic antioxidant defenses responsible for pathological processes in diabetic retinopathy, this study examined the hypothesis that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, either alone or in combination with Pinus maritima can reduce hyperglycemia, restoring a more balanced, oxidative condition. Normal and streptozotocininduced diabetic rats were fed either a regular or low-carbohydrate diet for 30 or 90 d. In addition, normal and diabetic rats on the chronic (90-d) low-carbohydrate diet were treated with daily intraperitoneal Pinus maritima doses (10 mg/kg) for 14 consecutive days.

Effects of antioxidant treatment on normal and diabetic rat retinal enzyme activities.

Diabetes mellitus is characterized by hyperglycemia and, in chronic disease, by microvascular pathologies, especially in the kidney, peripheral nerve, and eye. Although hyperglycemia can be controlled with insulin and/or antihyperglycemic medications, diabetic retinopathy continues to be the leading cause of blindness in the United States. Because increased oxidative stress may be a cause of retinopathy, this study examined the hypothesis that administration of exogenous antioxidants can restore a more balanced oxidative condition.

Oxidative stress in rats after 60 days of hypergalactosemia or hyperglycemia.

Two of the models used in current diabetes research include the hypergalactosemic rat and the hyperglucosemic, streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat. Few studies, however, have examined the concurrence of these two models regarding the effects of elevated hexoses on biomarkers of oxidative stress. This study compared the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase and the concentrations of glutathione, glutathione disulfide, and thiobarbituric acid reactants (as a measure of lipid peroxidation) in liver, kidney, and heart of Sprague-Dawley rats after 60 days of either a 50% galactose diet or insulin deficiency caused by streptozotocin injection.

Effects of beta-carotene on oxidative stress in normal and diabetic rats.

Increasing interest in the role of oxidative stress and beta-carotene in disease and prevention led us to examine the results of beta-carotene's administration in diabetic rats, a model for high-oxidative stress. In this experiment, amounts of lipid peroxidation, glutathione, and glutathione disulfide, and activity levels of catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were measured in the liver, kidney, and heart of Sprague-Dawley rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes, and after treatment with 10 mg/kg/day of beta-carotene for 14 days. Beta-carotene treatment resulted in the reversal of the diabetes-induced increase in hepatic and cardiac catalase activity, the decreased levels of glutathione disulfide in the heart, and the increased cardiac and renal levels of lipid peroxidation.

Effects of combined quercetin and coenzyme Q(10) treatment on oxidative stress in normal and diabetic rats.

Reactive oxygen species may be actively involved in the genesis of various pathological states such as ischemia-reperfusion injury, cancer, and diabetes. Our objective was to determine if subacute treatment with combined antioxidants quercetin and coenzyme Q(10) (10 mg/kg/day ip for 14 days) affects the activities of antioxidant enzymes in normal and 30-day streptozotocin-induced diabetic Sprague-Dawley rats. Quercetin treatment raised blood glucose concentrations in normal and diabetic rats, whereas treatment with coenzyme Q(10) did not.