Perceived caring attributes and priorities of pre-registration nursing students throughout a nursing curriculum underpinned by person-centredness

Aim\ud This paper explores pre-registration nursing students’ caring attributes development through a person-centred focused curriculum.\ud Background\ud Developing caring attributes in student nurses to the point of registration has historically been challenging. Globally, curricula have not yet demonstrated the ability to sustain and develop caring attributes in this population, despite its centrality to practice.\ud Design and Methods\ud This longitudinal cohort study tracked how university pre-registration nursing students (N = 212) developed their caring attributes over the three years of their programme using repeated measures at the end of each year with the same cohort. The Caring Dimensions Inventory (35 item version with 25 caring items under three constructs (technical, intimacy and supporting) and 10 inappropriate or unnecessary construct items) was used and data analysed using Mokken Scaling Analysis to create a hierarchy of actions that students deemed as caring. Repeated measures of analysis of variance enabled evaluation of changes in responses over time.\ud Results\ud Students developed their caring attributes throughout their programme, ranking 22 out of 25 as caring (with statistical significance) at the end of year one, 18 at the end of year two and all 25 caring items at the end of their final year. No unnecessary or inappropriate construct items were ranked as caring at any data collection point. Participants consistently ranked assisting a person with an activity of living, listening to a patient, and involving them in their care as the most caring actions

Food fortification and biofortification as potential strategies for prevention of vitamin D deficiency

Hypovitaminosis D (vitamin D deficiency) is widespread throughout the world. The cutaneous production of vitamin D through sunlight can be limited by several factors (e.g. skin pigmentation, sunscreen usage and, increasingly, indoor lifestyle). Thus, diet has become an important strategy to increase vitamin D intake and status {blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]}. However, there are a limited number of foods that naturally contain vitamin D, and concentrations can vary significantly between and within species. The need for vitamin Dfortified foods (including via direct fortification and biofortification) to support the adequacy of vitamin D status is a corollary of several limitations to synthesise vitamin D from sunlight. Ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) can be found in some mushrooms and animalderived foods, respectively. Evidence has shown vitamin D3 is more effective than vitamin D2 at raising 25(OH)D blood concentrations. The vitamin D metabolite, 25(OH)D3, is present in animal-derived foods (e.g. meat, eggs and fish), and several intervention trials have shown 25(OH)D3 to be more effective at raising blood 25(OH)D concentrations than vitamin D3. In addition, 25(OH)D3 supplements may prove to be preferable to vitamin D3 for patients with certain clinical conditions. However, there is limited evidence on the effects of 25(OH) D3-fortified foods on human vitamin D status and health, both in the general population and patients with certain conditions, and long-term randomised controlled trials are needed in this area

Developing approaches for linear mixed modeling in landscape genetics through landscape-directed dispersal simulations

Dispersal can impact population dynamics and geographic variation, and thus, genetic approaches that can establish which landscape factors influence population connectivity have ecological and evolutionary importance. Mixed models that account for the error structure of pairwise datasets are increasingly used to compare models relating genetic differentiation to pairwise measures of landscape resistance. A model selection framework based on information criteria metrics or explained variance may help disentangle the ecological and landscape factors influencing genetic structure, yet there are currently no consensus for the best protocols. Here, we develop landscape-directed simulations and test a series of replicates that emulate independent empirical datasets of two species with different life history characteristics (greater sage-grouse; eastern foxsnake). We determined that in our simulated scenarios, AIC and BIC were the best model selection indices and that marginal R-2 values were biased toward more complex models. The model coefficients for landscape variables generally reflected the underlying dispersal model with confidence intervals that did not overlap with zero across the entire model set. When we controlled for geographic distance, variables not in the underlying dispersal models (i.e., nontrue) typically overlapped zero. Our study helps establish methods for using linear mixed models to identify the features underlying patterns of dispersal across a variety of landscapes.Endangered Species Recovery Fund (WWF, Environment Canada, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)US Bureau of Land ManagementUS Geological SurveyWyoming Game and Fish Departmen

FKBPL and SIRT-1 Are Downregulated by Diabetes in Pregnancy Impacting on Angiogenesis and Endothelial Function

Diabetes in pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes including preterm birth. Although the mechanisms leading to these pregnancy complications are still poorly understood, aberrant angiogenesis and endothelial dysfunction play a key role. FKBPL and SIRT-1 are critical regulators of angiogenesis, however, their roles in pregnancies affected by diabetes have not been examined before in detail. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the role of FKBPL and SIRT-1 in pre-gestational (type 1 diabetes mellitus, T1D) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Placental protein expression of important angiogenesis proteins, FKBPL, SIRT-1, PlGF and VEGF-R1, was determined from pregnant women with GDM or T1D, and in the first trimester trophoblast cells exposed to high glucose (25 mM) and varying oxygen concentrations [21%, 6.5%, 2.5% (ACH-3Ps)]. Endothelial cell function was assessed in high glucose conditions (30 mM) and following FKBPL overexpression. Placental FKBPL protein expression was downregulated in T1D (FKBPL; p<0.05) whereas PlGF/VEGF-R1 were upregulated (p<0.05); correlations adjusted for gestational age were also significant. In the presence of GDM, only SIRT-1 was significantly downregulated (p<0.05) even when adjusted for gestational age (r=-0.92, p=0.001). Both FKBPL and SIRT-1 protein expression was reduced in ACH-3P cells in high glucose conditions associated with 6.5%/2.5% oxygen concentrations compared to experimental normoxia (21%; p<0.05). FKBPL overexpression in endothelial cells (HUVECs) exacerbated reduction in tubule formation compared to empty vector control, in high glucose conditions (junctions; p<0.01, branches; p<0.05). In conclusion, FKBPL and/or SIRT-1 downregulation in response to diabetic pregnancies may have a key role in the development of vascular dysfunction and associated complications affected by impaired placental angiogenesis