The Lived Experience of Caring and Knowing in Senior Nursing Students

Caring is identified as a central and defining feature of professional nursing. Yet, there is little explicit emphasis on the philosophy and substance of caring in the traditional nursing program. Rather, caring is subsumed by the pressing need to stay current with expanding definitions of nursing competence and increased knowledge required by licensing boards. The purpose of this phenomenological investigation was to better understand the lived experiences of caring and knowing as expressed by senior nursing students near completion of the nursing program. Eighteen sen ior nursing students, within one month of graduation, participated in this interview study in which they were asked to describe themselves in the nursing role and to focus on particular interactions they have experienced with patients. Descriptions of caring behaviors identified by students included listening empathy, helping, being with, not rushing, being competent, genuineness, physical comforting, touch, communication, teaching, seeing or creating positive results, and patient advocacy. Most students described the progression from fear and anxiety in the initial days of patient care to more security in their nursing practice by the time of this study. Some students spoke with greater richness and more detail about their caring interactions with patents. These green thumb caring qualities expressed by roughly half of the students included: reverence for the patient, making a difference by maintaining hopeful possibility and a commitment to the patient\u27s well-being, personal involvement, and participating in a reciprocal relationship with the patient. Students who did not express caring occasions in as much detail and did not have recollections of patients in which they were able to articulate interpersonal care were, in most cases, found to express insecurity of either a personal nature or insecurity in the concepts and procedures involved in professional nursing. A minor theme among this group of nursing students was a pre-occupation with procedures, pathophysiology, and technology. Implications for improving nursing student self-confidence, self-esteem, and carmg behaviors are presented. In summary, these implications are for more reflective teaching and learning in nursing education, modeling of caring behaviors by faculty, both in their interactions with students and with patients, empowering student nurses in their developing nursing practice, providing more clinical time in which students have experience with, and responsibility for, patient care, and using teaching methods which provide students the opportunity to understand the human experiences of caring and suffering through literature and the arts

The Association between Treatment Components and Mental Health Outcomes Among Young Children Exposed to Violence

Background: When treating violence-exposed children, clinicians often modify psychotherapy protocols or use only a subset of treatment components (e.g., a clinical technique, strategy). However, there is little evidence of the effectiveness of individual treatment components. Our study aimed to determine: i) the best fitting factor structure of individual treatment components; ii) the association of child characteristics (i.e., demographics, treatment dosage, environmental risk factors) with mental health outcomes (i.e., post-treatment internalizing and externalizing symptoms); and iii) the association of individual treatment factors (i.e., sets of treatment components) with mental health outcomes. Methods: A sample of 459 violence-exposed children aged 1.5–5 years was examined. Principal component analyses were conducted to factor-analyze 22 child treatment components and 18 caregiver treatment components, respectively. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between child and caregiver treatment factors and outcomes. Results: Children who received grief work showed significant improvement in externalizing symptoms. Children of caregivers who received parent training, attachment skills building, psychoeducation about domestic violence, safety planning, and anger management training showed significantly less externalizing symptom improvement. Gender, race/ethnicity, and treatment dosage were also associated with outcomes. Conclusion: This is the first study to examine treatment components in a sample of young children exposed to violence with a standardized quantitative measure. Our findings suggest that acknowledging children’s loss and sorrow expressed through externalizing behavior and helping them process bereavement may help alleviate their symptoms. Clinical recommendations are discussed

Will the Global Financial Crisis Change the Development Paradigm?

The depth and breadth of the current crisis has led many to suggest it will fundamentally change development thinking and practice. We review four ways in which the crisis may affect the ‘development paradigm’: changes to global economic governance; new thinking on development policy; opportunities to institutionalise social protection; the implementation of a Green New Deal. The global financial crisis may change the development paradigm through its impact on the attitudes of developing country policymakers towards the prevailing policy prescriptions, rather than through major structural changes in global economic governance. Although the geopolitical and attitudinal changes will be significant, it is likely that the development paradigm after the crisis will be similar to that before. A greater tendency for developing countries to explore new development models and to rely on their own analysis and knowledge to fashion solutions to their problems, could be a positive outcome of this crisis

A new mammalian model system for thalidomide teratogenesis : Monodelphis domestica

We thank the members of the Sears Lab and J. Marcot for discussion of ideas presented in this manuscript, and the DAR at the University of Illinois for insights into animal husbandry. We also thank the Suarez Lab for the use of equipment. This research was supported by National Science Foundation (1257873) and University of Illinois Research Board (16056) grants to K.E.SPeer reviewedPostprin

First records of the genus azadinium (dinophyceae) from Puget Sound, Washington State

Lipophilic toxins, in particular those associated with diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), are an emerging threat to shellfish harvesting in Washington State. While Washington was the first state to implement the routine testing of shellfish for DSP toxins in 2012 after the occurrence DSP in Sequim Bay, WA in 2011, there continue to be occasional reports of DSP-like illnesses likely tied to the consumption of shellfish from Puget Sound. To address these illness of unknown etiology, we began a Monitoring and Event Response to Harmful Algal Blooms project in 2015 to identify whether species of the genus Azadinium were present in Puget Sound. This small dinoflagellate, in particular A. poporum, A. spinosum, and A. dexteroporum, have been shown in other parts of the world to produce azaspiracids, lipophilic toxins which can produce DSP-like symptoms. The presence of the genus Azadinium was confirmed in whole water samples collected from several SoundToxins sites in Puget Sound based on the use of molecular probes. Here we report the establishment of Azadinium cultures from sediment samples from Puget Sound including A. obesum, A. cuneatum, A. poporum, A. dalianense. The production of a new azaspiracid, named AZA-59, was confirmed by liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy in several isolates of A. poporum. This first confirmation of the presence of the genus Azadinium in Puget Sound and the first report of azaspiracid on west coast of the U.S., underlining the potential risk of azaspiracid shellfish poisoning in this region

Characterisation of the Fusarium graminearum-Wheat Floral Interaction

Fusarium Ear Blight is a destructive fungal disease of cereals including wheat and can contaminate the crop with various trichothecene mycotoxins. This investigation has produced a new β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter strain that facilitates the quick and easy assessment of plant infection. The constitutively expressed gpdA:GUS strain of Fusarium graminearum was used to quantify the overall colonisation pattern. Histochemical and biochemical approaches confirmed, in susceptible wheat ear infections, the presence of a substantial phase of symptomless fungal growth. Separate analyses demonstrated that there was a reduction in the quantity of physiologically active hyphae as the wheat ear infection proceeded. A simplified linear system of rachis infection was then utilised to evaluate the expression of several TRI genes by RT-qPCR. Fungal gene expression at the advancing front of symptomless infection was compared with the origin of infection in the rachis. This revealed that TRI gene expression was maximal at the advancing front and supports the hypothesis that the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol plays a role in inhibiting plant defences in advance of the invading intercellular hyphae. This study has also demonstrated that there are transcriptional differences between the various phases of fungal infection and that these differences are maintained as the infection proceeds

Evidence of two deeply divergent co-existing mitochondrial genomes in the Tuatara reveals an extremely complex genomic organization

Animal mitochondrial genomic polymorphism occurs as low-level mitochondrial heteroplasmy and deeply divergent co-existing molecules. The latter is rare, known only in bivalvian mollusks. Here we show two deeply divergent co-existing mt-genomes in a vertebrate through genomic sequencing of the Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), the sole-representative of an ancient reptilian Order. The two molecules, revealed using a combination of short-read and long-read sequencing technologies, differ by 10.4% nucleotide divergence. A single long-read covers an entire mt-molecule for both strands. Phylogenetic analyses suggest a 7–8 million-year divergence between genomes. Contrary to earlier reports, all 37 genes typical of animal mitochondria, with drastic gene rearrangements, are confirmed for both mt-genomes. Also unique to vertebrates, concerted evolution drives three near-identical putative Control Region non-coding blocks. Evidence of positive selection at sites linked to metabolically important transmembrane regions of encoded proteins suggests these two mt-genomes may confer an adaptive advantage for an unusually cold-tolerant reptile