Changing student mental health nurses attitudes towards younger and older people through teaching : a qualitative longitudinal study

Aim: This paper reports on a qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) study investigating the effectiveness of an innovative teaching session focusing on changing the beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes of mental health nursing students towards older and younger people. Methods: A QLR design was used to enable exploration of change over time. A pre, post and follow-up approach was implemented over six months, using multiple data collection methods. A Cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis approach was applied.Results: Post-session themes of: stop and think; shock and surprise; different rules for different people; and new understanding of age-related attributes, were identified. Follow-up revealed changes of: wider awareness of discriminations, more open minded, sensitivity to discrimination across the life course, changed approaches to practice, question everything, ignore age. Longitudinal analysis of individual change demonstrated that real world, attitude-focused teaching was effective in changing student attitudes to younger and older people. Conclusion: Change was complex and non-binary, raising students’ self-awareness and enabling generalisation of change to wider practice issues

Scintigraphic assessment of bone status at one year following hip resurfacing : comparison of two surgical approaches using SPECT-CT scan

Objectives: To study the vascularity and bone metabolism of the femoral head/neck following hip resurfacing arthroplasty, and to use these results to compare the posterior and the trochanteric-flip approaches. Methods: In our previous work, we reported changes to intra-operative blood flow during hip resurfacing arthroplasty comparing two surgical approaches. In this study, we report the vascularity and the metabolic bone function in the proximal femur in these same patients at one year after the surgery. Vascularity and bone function was assessed using scintigraphic techniques. Of the 13 patients who agreed to take part, eight had their arthroplasty through a posterior approach and five through a trochanteric-flip approach. Results: One year after surgery, we found no difference in the vascularity (vascular phase) and metabolic bone function (delayed phase) at the junction of the femoral head/neck between the two groups of patients. Higher radiopharmaceutical uptake was found in the region of the greater trochanter in the trochanteric-flip group, related to the healing osteotomy. Conclusions: Our findings using scintigraphic techniques suggest that the greater intra-operative reduction in blood flow to the junction of the femoral head/neck, which is seen with the posterior approach compared with trochanteric flip, does not result in any difference in vascularity or metabolic bone function one year after surgery

Comparison of SPECT bone scintigraphy with MRI for diagnosis of meniscal tears

BACKGROUND: Scintigraphy has been considered as competitive to MRI, but limited data are available on the accuracy of single photon emission tomography (SPECT) compared with MRI for the assessment of meniscal tears. Our objective was to assess the value of SPECT in comparison to MRI. METHODS: Between January 2003 and March 2004, sixteen patients were studied with both modalities and the accuracy rates of SPECT scan results, and MRI findings in the diagnosis of meniscal tears were compared. Arthroscopy was the gold standard. RESULTS: The respective sensitivity rate, specificity rate, and positive and negative predictive accuracies of MRI were 89%, 94%, 93%, and 79% and for SPECT those were 78%, 94%, 94%, and 88%. There was good agreement on the presence or absence of tears between two modalities (κ statistic = 0.699). CONCLUSION: SPECT and MRI are both valuable imaging techniques. SPECT is a useful alternative when MRI is unavailable or unsuitable and it is beneficial when more possible accuracy is desired (such as when MRI results are either inconclusive or conflict with other clinical data)

Sustained Action of Developmental Ethanol Exposure on the Cortisol Response to Stress in Zebrafish Larvae and Adults

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedThis study was supported by the National Centre for the replacement, refinement and reduction of animals in research

A novel immunoscintigraphy technique using metabolizable linker with angiotensin II treatment

Immunoscintigraphy is a tumour imaging technique that can have specificity, but high background radioactivity makes it difficult to obtain tumour imaging soon after the injection of radioconjugate. The aim of this study is to see whether clear tumour images can be obtained soon after injection of a radiolabelled reagent using a new linker with antibody fragments (Fab), in conditions of induced hypertension in mice. Fab fragments of a murine monoclonal antibody against human osteosarcoma were labelled with radioiodinated 3′-iodohippuryl N-ɛ-maleoyl-L-lysine (HML) and were injected intravenously to tumour-bearing mice. Angiotensin II was administered for 4 h before and for 1 h after the injection of radiolabelled Fab. Kidney uptake of 125I-labelled-HML-Fab was much lower than that of 125I-labelled-Fab radioiodinated by the chloramine-T method, and the radioactivity of tumour was increased approximately two-fold by angiotensin II treatment at 3 h after injection, indicating high tumour-to-normal tissue ratios. A clear tumour image was obtained with 131I-labelled-HML-Fab at 3 h post-injection. The use of HML as a radiolabelling reagent, combined with angiotensin II treatment, efficiently improved tumour targeting and enabled the imaging of tumours. These results suggest the feasibility of PET scan using antibody fragment labelled with 18F-fluorine substitute for radioiodine. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Analyzing the Impacts of Dams on Riparian Ecosystems: A Review of Research Strategies and Their Relevance to the Snake River Through Hells Canyon

River damming provides a dominant human impact on river environments worldwide, and while local impacts of reservoir flooding are immediate, subsequent ecological impacts downstream can be extensive. In this article, we assess seven research strategies for analyzing the impacts of dams and river flow regulation on riparian ecosystems. These include spatial comparisons of (1) upstream versus downstream reaches, (2) progressive downstream patterns, or (3) the dammed river versus an adjacent free-flowing or differently regulated river(s). Temporal comparisons consider (4) pre- versus post-dam, or (5) sequential post-dam conditions. However, spatial comparisons are complicated by the fact that dams are not randomly located, and temporal comparisons are commonly limited by sparse historic information. As a result, comparative approaches are often correlative and vulnerable to confounding factors. To complement these analyses, (6) flow or sediment modifications can be implemented to test causal associations. Finally, (7) process-based modeling represents a predictive approach incorporating hydrogeomorphic processes and their biological consequences. In a case study of Hells Canyon, the upstream versus downstream comparison is confounded by a dramatic geomorphic transition. Comparison of the multiple reaches below the dams should be useful, and the comparison of Snake River with the adjacent free-flowing Salmon River may provide the strongest spatial comparison. A pre- versus post-dam comparison would provide the most direct study approach, but pre-dam information is limited to historic reports and archival photographs. We conclude that multiple study approaches are essential to provide confident interpretations of ecological impacts downstream from dams, and propose a comprehensive study for Hells Canyon that integrates multiple research strategies

Local Control of Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

We investigated the mechanisms of excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs) and fetal ventricular myocytes (hFVMs) using patch-clamp electrophysiology and confocal microscopy. We tested the hypothesis that Ca2+ influx via voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channels activates Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) via a local control mechanism in hESC-CMs and hFVMs. Field-stimulated, whole-cell [Ca2+]i transients in hESC-CMs required Ca2+ entry through L-type Ca2+ channels, as evidenced by the elimination of such transients by either removal of extracellular Ca2+ or treatment with diltiazem, an L-type channel inhibitor. Ca2+ release from the SR also contributes to the [Ca2+]i transient in these cells, as evidenced by studies with drugs interfering with either SR Ca2+ release (i.e. ryanodine and caffeine) or reuptake (i.e. thapsigargin and cyclopiazonic acid). As in adult ventricular myocytes, membrane depolarization evoked large L-type Ca2+ currents (ICa) and corresponding whole-cell [Ca2+]i transients in hESC-CMs and hFVMs, and the amplitude of both ICa and the [Ca2+]i transients were finely graded by the magnitude of the depolarization. hESC-CMs exhibit a decreasing EC coupling gain with depolarization to more positive test potentials, “tail” [Ca2+]i transients upon repolarization from extremely positive test potentials, and co-localized ryanodine and sarcolemmal L-type Ca2+ channels, all findings that are consistent with the local control hypothesis. Finally, we recorded Ca2+ sparks in hESC-CMs and hFVMs. Collectively, these data support a model in which tight, local control of SR Ca2+ release by the ICa during EC coupling develops early in human cardiomyocytes

Application of In Vivo Induced Antigen Technology (IVIAT) to Bacillus anthracis

In vivo induced antigen technology (IVIAT) is an immuno-screening technique that identifies bacterial antigens expressed during infection and not during standard in vitro culturing conditions. We applied IVIAT to Bacillus anthracis and identified PagA, seven members of a N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase autolysin family, three P60 family lipoproteins, two transporters, spore cortex lytic protein SleB, a penicillin binding protein, a putative prophage holin, respiratory nitrate reductase NarG, and three proteins of unknown function. Using quantitative real-time PCR comparing RNA isolated from in vitro cultured B. anthracis to RNA isolated from BALB/c mice infected with virulent Ames strain B. anthracis, we confirmed induced expression in vivo for a subset of B. anthracis genes identified by IVIAT, including L-alanine amidases BA3767, BA4073, and amiA (pXO2-42); the bacteriophage holin gene BA4074; and pagA (pXO1-110). The exogenous addition of two purified putative autolysins identified by IVIAT, N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidases BA0485 and BA2446, to vegetative B. anthracis cell suspensions induced a species-specific change in bacterial morphology and reduction in viable bacterial cells. Many of the proteins identified in our screen are predicted to affect peptidoglycan re-modeling, and our results support significant cell wall structural remodeling activity during B. anthracis infection. Identification of L-alanine amidases with B. anthracis specificity may suggest new potential therapeutic targets

Adaptive Management of Riverine Socio-ecological Systems

If ongoing change in ecosystems and society can render inflexible policies obsolete, then management must dynamically adapt as a counter to perennial uncertainty. This chapter describes a general synthesis of how to make decision-making more adaptive and then explores the barriers to learning in management. We then describe how one such process, known as adaptive management (AM), has been applied in different river basins, on which basis we discuss AM’s strengths and limitations in various resource management contexts