Critique and Appraisal of a Study on the Attitudes Towards Organ Donor Advocacy Scale

Excerpt: The recent study by Floden, Lennerling, Fridh, Rizell and Forsberg [1] concluded that using the Attitude Towards Organ Donor Advocacy Scale (ATODAS) is ready for use in future research studies because it has good psychometric properties for measuring ICU nurses’ attitudes towards advocacy on behalf of potential and actual organ donors. However, that conclusion is not supported by the data in the study because of lack of evidence of measurement validit

Perspectives of healthcare providers on the nutritional management of patients on haemodialysis in Australia: An interview study

Objective To describe the perspectives of healthcare providers on the nutritional management of patients on haemodialysis, which may inform strategies for improving patient-centred nutritional care. Design Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted until data saturation, and thematic analysis based on principles of grounded theory. Setting 21 haemodialysis centres across Australia. Participants 42 haemodialysis clinicians (nephrologists and nephrology trainees (15), nurses (12) and dietitians (15)) were purposively sampled to obtain a range of demographic characteristics and clinical experiences. Results Six themes were identified: responding to changing clinical status (individualising strategies to patient needs, prioritising acute events, adapting guidelines), integrating patient circumstances (assimilating life priorities, access and affordability), delineating specialty roles in collaborative structures (shared and cohesive care, pivotal role of dietary expertise, facilitating access to nutritional care, perpetuating conflicting advice and patient confusion, devaluing nutritional specialty), empowerment for behaviour change (enabling comprehension of complexities, building autonomy and ownership, developing self-efficacy through engagement, tailoring self-management strategies), initiating and sustaining motivation (encountering motivational hurdles, empathy for confronting life changes, fostering non-judgemental relationships, emphasising symptomatic and tangible benefits, harnessing support networks), and organisational and staffing barriers (staffing shortfalls, readdressing system inefficiencies). Conclusions Organisational support with collaborative multidisciplinary teams and individualised patient care were seen as necessary for developing positive patient-clinician relationships, delivering consistent nutrition advice, and building and sustaining patient motivation to enable change in dietary behaviour. Improving service delivery and developing and delivering targeted, multifaceted self-management interventions may enhance current nutritional management of patients on haemodialysis

A systems approach to social entrepreneurship

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Program Evaluation Policy, Practice, and the Use of Results

This scholarly commentary addresses the basic questions that underlie program evaluation policy and practice in education, as well as the conditions that must be met for the evaluation evidence to be used. The evaluation questions concern evidence on the nature and severity of problems, the programs deployed to address the issues, the programs’ relative effects and cost-effectiveness, and the accumulation of evidence. The basic conditions for the use of evidence include potential users’ awareness of the evidence, their understanding of it, as well as their capacity and incentives for its use. Examples are drawn from studies conducted in the United States and other countries, focusing on evaluation methods that address the questions above

eHealth interventions for people with chronic kidney disease

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: This review aims to look at the benefits and harms of using eHealth interventions in the CKD population

The Role of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Self-perceptions of Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

The present study compared the teacher ratings and self-perceptions of two groups of children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties: a) Those with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and b) those with average or below average levels of hyperactivity and attention. Results showed that the ADHD group was rated more poorly by teachers in academic, social, and behavioural domains. This group also inflated their competency ratings in these domains relative to teacher report more than the comparison group.La présente étude compare les différences entre la manière dont les enseignants perçoivent deux groupes d’enfants ayant des difficultés affectives et (ou) comportementales et celle dont les enfants se perçoivent eux-mêmes : a) Un groupe souffrant du trouble d’hyperactivité avec déficit de l’attention (TDAH) et b) Un groupe ayant des niveaux d’hyperactivité et d’attention moyens ou inférieurs à la moyenne. Les résultats ont mis en évidence que le groupe était moins bien noté par les enseignements dans les domaines scolaire, social et comportemental. En comparaison des enseignants, ce groupe a davantage surestimé ses compétences dans ces domaines que le groupe témoin

The Walkback Test: A Study to Evaluate Suit and Life Support System Performance Requirements for a 10 Kilometer Traverse in a Planetary Suit

As planetary suit and planetary life support systems develop, specific design inputs for each system relate to a presently unanswered question concerning operational concepts: What distance can be considered a safe walking distance for a suited EVA crew member exploring the surface of the Moon to "walk-back" to the habitat in the event of a rover breakdown, taking into consideration the planned EVA tasks as well as the possible traverse back to the habitat? It has been assumed, based on Apollo program experience, that 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) will be the maximum EVA excursion distance from the lander or habitat to ensure the crew member s safe return to the habitat in the event of a rover failure. To investigate the feasibility of performing a suited 10 km Walkback, NASA-JSC assembled a multi-disciplinary team to design and implement the Lunar Walkback Test . The test was designed not only to determine the feasibility of a 10 km excursion, but also to collect human performance, biomedical, and biomechanical data relevant to optimizing space suit design and life support system sizing. These data will also be used to develop follow-on studies to understand interrelationships of such key parameters as suit mass, inertia, suit pressure, and center of gravity (CG), and the respective influences of each on human performance

Electron transfer and protein engineering studies of the soluble methane monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 2003.Vita.Includes bibliographical references.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Chapter 1. Introduction: Electron Transfer in Biological Systems In many biological processes, including oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthesis, electron transfer reactions play vital roles. Electrons must be transported at catalytically relevant rates and with specificity to prevent indiscriminate electron transfer that would quickly bring cells to equilibrium. To meet these requirements, biological systems employ a panoply of organic and inorganic redox centers, most of which are sequestered within proteins. In addition to protecting a cofactor from undesirable reactions, the surrounding protein environment tunes its redox properties and mediates specific contacts with other molecules. This brief overview describes the types of redox centers used in biology, the application of electron transfer theory to physiological systems, the kinetic complexity introduced by interprotein interactions, and general mechanisms for regulating biological electron transfer. Chapter 2. Expression and Site-Directed Mutagenesis of the Reductase Component of Soluble Methane Monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) ... Chapter 3. Expression and Characterization of Ferredoxin and Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide-Binding Domains of the Reductase Component of Soluble Methane Monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) ... Chapter 4. Intermolecular Electron Transfer Reactions in Soluble Methane Monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath): A Role for Hysteresis in Protein Function.(cont.) Chapter 5. Domain Engineering of the Reductase Component of Soluble Methane Monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) ... Chapter 6. Expression in Escherichia coli of the Hydroxylase Component of Soluble Methane Monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath)by Jessica L. Blazyk.Ph.D

Interventions for improving health literacy in people with chronic kidney disease

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: This review aims to look at the benefits and harms of interventions for improving health literacy in patients with CKD

Time for change: a new training programme for morpho-molecular pathologists?

The evolution of cellular pathology as a specialty has always been driven by technological developments and the clinical relevance of incorporating novel investigations into diagnostic practice. In recent years, the molecular characterisation of cancer has become of crucial relevance in patient treatment both for predictive testing and subclassification of certain tumours. Much of this has become possible due to the availability of next-generation sequencing technologies and the whole-genome sequencing of tumours is now being rolled out into clinical practice in England via the 100 000 Genome Project. The effective integration of cellular pathology reporting and genomic characterisation is crucial to ensure the morphological and genomic data are interpreted in the relevant context, though despite this, in many UK centres molecular testing is entirely detached from cellular pathology departments. The CM-Path initiative recognises there is a genomics knowledge and skills gap within cellular pathology that needs to be bridged through an upskilling of the current workforce and a redesign of pathology training. Bridging this gap will allow the development of an integrated 'morphomolecular pathology' specialty, which can maintain the relevance of cellular pathology at the centre of cancer patient management and allow the pathology community to continue to be a major influence in cancer discovery as well as playing a driving role in the delivery of precision medicine approaches. Here, several alternative models of pathology training, designed to address this challenge, are presented and appraised