A Study of AIDS Policies as Reported by Practical Nursing Programs of Indiana

Many of the nation’s nursing schools have yet to develop AIDS policies. Without such policy implementation, nursing educators face many problems. A recent study of nursing programs in Nebraska revealed that none of the schools’ policies met all of the twenty-one criteria set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American College Health Association (ACHA). The purposes of this study were to determine how many of Indiana’s practical nursing programs have created or implemented AIDS policies and to compare and contrast those policies with the criteria set by Witmer (1992), the CDC, and the ACHA. A self-reporting questionnaire was sent to 24 practical nursing programs in Indiana. Of the 24 surveys mailed, 13 (54%) were returned. All of the submitted policies were deficient in meeting the suggested criteria set forth by the CDC and the ACHA

Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: Cause, Effect, or Both?

The infectiousness of the index case and the susceptibility of the exposed host mediate the sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Infectiousness of the index case is determined by the inoculum of HIV and viral factors that favor transmission. Persons with primary infection, late stage disease, or low CD4 counts appear to transmit HIV with greater efficiency, presumably through increased viral burden in genital secretions. Susceptibility to HIV infection is determined by hereditary resistance factors, acquired immunity, site of exposure to the virus, and integrity of local barriers (e.g., vaginal epithelium). Hereditary resistance factors, such as cell surface receptors required for transmission of some viral variants, have been identified in studies of exposed, but uninfected persons. Acquired immunity, including protective cytotoxic T lymphocyte or antibody responses, may be important in persons repeatedly exposed to HIV who do not become infected. Sexual practices also affect susceptibility, with receptive anal intercourse having the highest risk, followed by vaginal intercourse and fellatio. Similarly, women are more susceptible to infection than men, through vaginal intercourse. In general, any factor affecting excretion of HIV or the number of receptive cells can be expected to affect the efficiency of transmission

Psychiatric Manifestation of Vitamin B-12 Deficiency: An Update

Psychiatric manifestations of vitamin B-12 deficiency are reviewed from 1986 to the present. Specific clinical entities reviewed include depression, organic psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, childhood manifestations and dementia. We recommend that consideration be given to B-12 deficiency as an etiological factor in some cases of depression, organic psychosis, certain childhood disorders and dementia. Routine screening of people overage 65 is addressed

Marek's Disease Virus Down-Regulates Surface Expression of MHC (B Complex) Class I (BF) Glycoproteins during Active but not Latent Infection of Chicken Cells

AbstractInfection of chicken cells with three Marek's disease virus (MDV) serotypes interferes with expression of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC or B complex) class I (BF) glycoproteins. BF surface expression is blocked after infection of OU2 cells with MDV serotypes 1, 2, and 3. MDV-induced T-cell tumors suffer a nearly complete loss of cell surface BF upon virus reactivation with 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BUdR). The recombinant virus (RB1BUS2gfpΔ) transforming the MDCC-UA04 cell line expresses green fluorescent protein (GFP) during the immediate early phase of viral gene expression. Of the UA04 cells induced to express the immediate early GFP, approximately 60% have reduced levels of BF expression. All of the reactivated UA04 and MSB1 tumor cells expressing the major early viral protein pp38 display reduced levels of BF. Thus, BF down-regulation begins in the immediate early phase and is complete by the early phase of viral gene expression. The intracellular pool of BF is not appreciably affected, indicating that the likely mechanism is a block in BF transport and not the result of transcriptional or translational regulation

Development and Assessment of a Patient-Centered Care Curriculum

The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the development and implementation of a pilot offering of the patient-centered care (PCC) curriculum sponsored by a partnership of schools of allied health and nursing and a local health care system. The objective of this interdisciplinary track is to increase the competency of allied health and nursing graduates to function in health care teams in both PCC and non-PCC hospital environments, thus improving the effectiveness of patient care. The elective track consists of two courses; a third course is under consideration. Students and faculty participating in the elective track were surveyed to assess their attitudes toward change and patient-centered care. Generally, participants believed that they could work well together but were not convinced of the viability of the PCC. Although the curriculum is still in its implementation stage and the nursing participation became minimal, this study aids in understanding opinions of nursing and allied health faculty and students regarding a new PCC curriculum

Survey of nucleon electromagnetic form factors

A dressed-quark core contribution to nucleon electromagnetic form factors is calculated. It is defined by the solution of a Poincare' covariant Faddeev equation in which dressed-quarks provide the elementary degree of freedom and correlations between them are expressed via diquarks. The nucleon-photon vertex involves a single parameter; i.e., a diquark charge radius. It is argued to be commensurate with the pion's charge radius. A comprehensive analysis and explanation of the form factors is built upon this foundation. A particular feature of the study is a separation of form factor contributions into those from different diagram types and correlation sectors, and subsequently a flavour separation for each of these. Amongst the extensive body of results that one could highlight are: r_1^{n,u}>r_1^{n,d}, owing to the presence of axial-vector quark-quark correlations; and for both the neutron and proton the ratio of Sachs electric and magnetic form factors possesses a zero.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures, 12 tables, 5 appendice

Linkage design effect on the reliability of surface-micromachined microengines driving a load

The reliability of microengines is a function of the design of the mechanical linkage used to connect the electrostatic actuator to the drive. The authors have completed a series of reliability stress tests on surface micromachined microengines driving an inertial load. In these experiments, the authors used microengines that had pin mechanisms with guides connecting the drive arms to the electrostatic actuators. Comparing this data to previous results using flexure linkages revealed that the pin linkage design was less reliable. The devices were stressed to failure at eight frequencies, both above and below the measured resonance frequency of the microengine. Significant amounts of wear debris were observed both around the hub and pin joint of the drive gear. Additionally, wear tracks were observed in the area where the moving shuttle rubbed against the guides of the pin linkage. At each frequency, they analyzed the statistical data yielding a lifetime (t{sub 50}) for median cycles to failure and {sigma}, the shape parameter of the distribution. A model was developed to describe the failure data based on fundamental wear mechanisms and forces exhibited in mechanical resonant systems. The comparison to the model will be discussed

Technological Devices in the Archives: A Policy Analysis

Doing research in the archive is the cornerstone of humanities scholarship. Various archives institute policies regarding the use of technological devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, and cameras in their reading rooms. Such policies directly affect the scholars as the devices mediate the nature of their interaction with the source materials in terms of capturing, organizing, note taking, and record keeping for future use of found materials. In this paper, we present our analysis of the policies of thirty archives regarding the use of technology in their reading rooms. This policy analysis, along with data from interviews of scholars and archivists, is intended to serve as a basis for developing mobile applications for assisting scholars in their research activities. In this paper we introduce an early prototype of such a mobile application— AMTracker.Informatio