Storytellers as partners in developing a genetics education resource for health professionals.

Advances in genetics are bringing unprecedented opportunities for understanding health and disease, developing new therapies and changes in healthcare practice. Many nurses and midwives lack competence and confidence in integrating genetics into professional practice. One approach to enhance understanding of genetics is to simulate clinical exposure through storytelling.

Issues in prognostication for hospital specialist palliative care doctors and nurses: a qualitative inquiry.

Background: Patients with advanced life-limiting diseases have high information needs concerning prognosis yet discussions between patients and healthcare professionals are either avoided or inaccurate due to over-optimism. Available prognostic models are problematic. Literature indicates that hospital specialist palliative care professionals are frequently asked to prognosticate, although their experience of prognostication is unknown.

An effective oral health promoting message?

This paper questions the effectiveness of current oral health promoting activities in reducing social inequalities in oral health. An attempt is made to address the needs of dental professionals and nutritionists in communicating an understanding of biological aspects of the aetiology of caries and erosion. With a clear understanding of the disease process oral health promoters can possibly reduce social inequalities in oral health.

The GAMY Project: young people's attitudes to genetics in the South Wales valleys.

This paper explores young people's attitudes to genetics. It describes a qualitative study involving a group of teenagers in a deprived South Wales valley town over a period of 18 months. The GAMY (Genetics and Merthyr Youth) Project involved a series of interactions with participants, including 2 interviews, 4 group days and 4 genetics tasks through which these young people learned about, and then reflected upon, issues relating to genetics and health.

Student nurses' experience of their first death in clinical practice.

Background: It is important to understand how student nurses might feel when confronted with a dying patient, so that appropriate support and education can be offered prior to their placement. This paper aimed to explore student nurses' experiences of their first death in clinical practice to help identify educational, training, and support needs.

Methodology: A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted and data was collected using a focus group involving five student nurse participants.

Emergency and intensive care: assessing and managing the airway.

Airway assessment and management skills are vital in an emergency department (ED) as they are the most sensitive indicator of patient deterioration. Problems as common as head injury or alcohol intoxication are associated with an inadequate airway or diminished respiratory function and can cause a patient's condition to decline rapidly. Maintaining a patient's airway and facilitating breathing is the main priority in any emergency situation, although achieving airway control can be difficult.

A systematic review of issues around antenatal screening and prenatal diagnostic testing for genetic disorders: women of Asian origin in western countries.

Antenatal screening has become standard practice in many countries. However, not all pregnant women choose to be tested. In the UK, the incidence of some birth defects is found to be higher in babies of Asian women than in those of women from other ethnic groups, while there is some evidence suggesting that ethnic minorities, especially Asian women, are less likely to undergo antenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis, the reasons for which are unclear.

Genomic education resources for nursing faculty.

Purpose: The increasing recognition regarding the relevance of genomics across the scope of nursing healthcare practice has resulted in the drive to integrate appropriate genomic knowledge and skills into nurse education and training. In this final article of the series Genetics-Genomics and Nursing Education, we will look at genetic and genomic education resources and the factors that influence both their creation and use.

Organizing Construct: In considering nurse education from faculty and student perspectives, four identified areas of need have been used as the organizing constructs: guidance (what should be taught and at what level of complexity); support and training; access to genetics professionals and service users; and quality resources.

Estimation of tidal ventilation in preterm and term newborn infants using electromagnetic inductance plethysmography.

Tidal volume (VT) measurements in newborn infants remain largely a research tool. Tidal ventilation and breathing pattern were measured using a new device, FloRight, which uses electromagnetic inductive plethysmography,and compared simultaneously with pneumotachography in 43 infants either receiving no respiratory support or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).Twenty-three infants were receiving CPAP (gestational age 28 ± 2 weeks, mean ± SD) and 20 were breathing spontaneously (gestational age 34 ± 4 weeks).

Views of nurse mentors about their role.

The nurse mentor is important in the personal and professional development of undergraduate nurses, ensuring that nursing students are competent and well prepared for practice at the point of registration. The importance of a rigorous evidence base for mentors and fellow nurse educators to use to inform education and practice should not be overlooked. This article seeks to expand this knowledge base and acquire research data that is relevant, topical and in line with the latest thinking to support best practice in nurse mentorship and nursing student education.

The dynamic roles of intracellular lipid droplets: from archaea to mammals.

During the past decade, there has been a paradigm shift in our understanding of the roles of intracellular lipid droplets (LDs). New genetic, biochemical and imaging technologies have underpinned these advances, which are revealing much new information about these dynamic organelles. This review takes a comparative approach by examining recent work on LDs across the whole range of biological organisms from archaea and bacteria, through yeast and Drosophila to mammals, including humans.

Phlebitis: treatment, care and prevention.

Peripheral venous catheter-associated phlebitis is caused by inflammation to the vein at a cannula access site. It can have a mechanical, chemical or infectious cause. Good practice when inserting a cannula, including appropriate choice of device and site, can help to prevent phlebitis.

Effects of long-term anabolic androgenic steroid administration on respiratory function.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of resistance training and long-term anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) administration on respiratory function. Subject groups consisted of AAS users (n = 9) who were still using AAS at time of testing (SU); AAS users (n = 6) who had been abstinent for > 3 months (SA), bodybuilding controls (n = 8) (BC), and (n = 8) sedentary male controls (SC). FEV(1), FVC, and PEF were measured.

Critical appraisal of the recent data published on the link between insulin and cancer.

Recent publications indicate a possible association between newer analogue insulin Glargine and cancer. However all these data were observational in nature and subject to lot of methodological errors. It is practically impossible to derive at a cause and effect relationship based on these observational studies.

Using differential reinforcement of low rates to reduce children's requests for teacher attention.

We evaluated the effectiveness of full-session differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior (DRL) on 3 primary school children's rates of requesting attention from their teacher. Using baseline rates of responding and teacher recommendations, we set a DRL schedule that was substantially lower than baseline yet still allowed the children access to teacher assistance. The DRL schedule was effective in reducing children's requests for assistance and approval, and the teacher found the intervention highly useful and acceptable.

A national health inequalities fund for Wales: concept, design and implementation.

Objectives: To evaluate the potential for a national innovation fund, in the context of devolved health policy, to stimulate local action to deliver national priorities, using as a case study the conception, design and implementation of the £30m Welsh Assembly Government's (WAG) Inequalities in Health Fund (IiHF) 2001-08.

Methods: Multi-method evaluation of the national and local conception, design and implementation of the Fund, using analysis of documentary evidence, interviews and focus groups with national (Wales) officials and more than 170 local managers and professionals. The field work was carried out between October 2004 and June 2007.

Supporting the lecturer to deliver high-fidelity simulation.

In response to a shortage of clinical practice placements for pre-registration nurses and midwives, nursing faculties have been examining alternative ways to support students to develop their clinical skills, with simulation being one of the more popular methods. In a nursing context, simulation is often used to replicate a clinical setting, such as a hospital ward or the patient's home. Some universities have introduced clinical suites that enable replication of clinical environments and offer the use of human patient simulators to mimic patient-focused scenarios.

Exploratory study to evaluate the provision of additional midwifery support to teenage mothers.

Objective: To evaluate the provision of psychosocial interventions of potential benefit to pregnant teenage women.

Study Design: Pre-test/post-test, controlled, experimental design.

Methods: One hundred and sixty-four pregnant teenage women received usual midwifery care or usual midwifery care plus additional psychosocial support.

Operational temperature regulates anodic biofilm growth and the development of electrogenic activity.

The operational temperature of microbial fuel cell reactors influences biofilm development, and this has an impact on anodic biocatalytic activity. In this study, we compared three microbial fuel cell (MFC) reactors acclimated at 10°C, 20°C and 35°C to investigate the effect on biomass development, methanogenesis and electrogenic activity over time. The start-up time was inversely influenced by temperature, but the amount of biomass accumulation increased with increased temperatures, the 10°C, 20°C and 35°C acclimated biofilms resulted in 0.

Exercise-induced oxidative-nitrosative stress is associated with impaired dynamic cerebral autoregulation and blood-brain barrier leakage.

The present study examined whether dynamic cerebral autoregulation and blood-brain barrier function would become compromised as a result of exercise-induced oxidative-nitrosative stress. Eight healthy men were examined at rest and after an incremental bout of semi-recumbent cycling exercise to exhaustion. Changes in a dynamic cerebral autoregulation index were determined during recovery from continuous recordings of blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery (MCAv) and mean arterial pressure during transiently induced hypotension.

Illness representations and distress in women undergoing screening for familial ovarian cancer.

Women with a familial or genetic predisposition to ovarian cancer are at significantly increased risk of developing the disease, and this warrants effective risk management strategies. A clinical trial of ovarian cancer screening (OCS) is being conducted to establish the effectiveness of this risk management strategy. This article reports data from its psychological partner study which aims to evaluate the psychological effects of OCS.

Mechanical devices for urinary incontinence in women.

Background: ncontinence can have a devastating effect on the lives of sufferers with significant economic implications. Non-surgical treatments such as pelvic floor muscle training and the use of mechanical devices are usually the first line of management, particularly when a woman does not want surgery or when she is considered unfit for surgery. Mechanical devices are inexpensive and do not compromise future surgical treatment.