Creativity on the edge of chaos.

The health care environment is chaotic, with many threats and problems. Despite nursing's resulting discomfort, being able to see the opportunities and the potential within such complexity is freeing. The author illustrates the use of creative thinking in formulating deliberate responses to the unpredictability of chaos.

Cenocladamide, a dihydropyridone alkaloid from Piper cenocladum.

A dihydropyridone alkaloid, cenocladamide, and a derivative of piplartine, 4'-desmethylpiplartine were isolated along with piplartine from the leaves of Piper cenocladum. The structures of the new compounds were determined by spectroscopic methods and by comparison to piplartine. Concentrations of these amides in plants with and without ant mutualists, are compared.

Relative strengths of top-down and bottom-up forces in a tropical forest community.

We tested integrative bottom-up and top-down trophic cascade hypotheses with manipulative experiments in a tropical wet forest, using the ant-plant Piper cenocladum and its associated arthropod community. We examined enhanced nutrients and light along with predator and herbivore exclusions as sources of variation in the relative biomass of plants, their herbivores (via rates of herbivory), and resident predaceous ants. The combined manipulations of secondary consumers, primary consumers, and plant resources allowed us to examine some of the direct and indirect effects on each trophic level and to determine the relative contributions of bottom-up and top-down cascades to the structure of the community.

Trophic cascades in a complex terrestrial community.

To test for direct and indirect effects of a top predator on three lower trophic levels, we conducted two multiyear predator addition experiments in a tropical wet forest. Periodic additions of a top predator (predatory clerid beetle) to a wet forest understory shrub caused a reduction in the predatory beetle's prey (a predatory ant), increased herbivory, and reduced leaf area of the plant. These effects occurred whether beetles were added to naturally occurring shrubs or to reproductive fragments, suggesting fitness effects of top predators through three trophic levels.

Music therapy as a nursing intervention.

1. Music, a universal language with many purposes, can be used in the health care setting to aid in stress reduction and anxiety. 2.

The importance of sequestered iridoid glycosides as a defense against an ant predator.

We reared larvae ofJunonia coenia Hubner (Nymphalidae) on artificial diets with trace concentrations of iridoid glycosides and on leaf diets with higher concentrations of iridoid glycosides. We offered these caterpillars to predacious ants and observed the effects of the following on predation: diet (artificial vs. leaf), site (ant colonies in dry vs.

Use of degree-days to time aerial spraying in west-central Colorado.

Seasonal fluctuations in Culex and Aedes were followed from 1984 to 1987 using degree-days (degree Days). The annual population maxima of a "mosquito season" can be predicted. Culex first becomes a problem at about 1,550 degree Days and disappears at 2,675 degree Days.

Occurrence of Cryptosporidium in home daycare centers in west-central Colorado.

Thirty white middle-class 5 yr olds from home daycare centers were examined for Cryptosporidium. Five fecal samples were collected from each child, over a 3-wk period, concentrated by sedimentation, and stained by a modified acid-fast technique. Nine children were positive (30%), 6 of these were asymptomatic (5 of these were under 2 yr old).