How financial cutbacks affect job quality and care of the elderly

Based on case studies in 12 nursing homes in the United Kingdom, the authors illustrate how financial cutbacks affect job quality and the quality of care. The dimensions of job quality that suffered most were those directly related to the ability of workers to provide care: reductions in staffing, longer working hours, and work intensification. Cuts to labor costs eroded the quality of workers’ jobs in all 12 homes but with two differential outcomes: in seven homes, care quality was maintained, and in five homes, it deteriorated. Care quality was maintained in homes where a patient-centered care approach and remaining job quality allowed workers to develop work-arounds to protect residents from spillover effects. Care quality declined in homes where custodial approaches to care and low job quality did not provide workers the time or resources to protect residents or to maintain prior levels of care. A tipping point was reached, leading to a spillover into impoverished care

Type I interferon causes thrombotic microangiopathy by a dose-dependent toxic effect on the microvasculature

Many drugs have been reported to cause thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), yet evidence supporting a direct association is often weak. In particular, TMA has been reported in association with recombinant type I interferon (IFN) therapies, with recent concern regarding the use of IFN in multiple sclerosis patients. However, a causal association has yet to be demonstrated. Here, we adopt a combined clinical and experimental approach to provide evidence of such an association between type I IFN and TMA. We show that the clinical phenotype of cases referred to a national center is uniformly consistent with a direct dose-dependent drug-induced TMA. We then show that dose-dependent microvascular disease is seen in a transgenic mouse model of IFN toxicity. This includes specific microvascular pathological changes seen in patient biopsies and is dependent on transcriptional activation of the IFN response through the type I interferon α/β receptor (IFNAR). Together our clinical and experimental findings provide evidence of a causal link between type I IFN and TMA. As such, recombinant type I IFN therapies should be stopped at the earliest stage in patients who develop this complication, with implications for risk mitigation

Stardust melodies: an exhibition of sheet music from the Rare Books Collection 22 June - 5 September 2011

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 22 June - 5 September 2011 Opening address given by Dr. Joel Crotty, Senior Lecturer, School of Music, Monash University. Before recordings and radio conveyed the latest popular tunes, sheet music was the means of mass marketing the latest musical vogues and hits: Charles K. Harris's 1892 song, After the Ball, reportedly sold 5 million copies. Sheet music, and illustrated sheet music in particular, preserves an evocative record of our musical, cultural and social past. It is also a repository of personal memories, especially – in the words of the song, "Stardust" – 'the memory of love's refrain'

Cookbooks: the Sandy Michell collection: an exhibition of material from the Monash University Rare Books Collection 22 March - 31 Mat 2011

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 22 March - 31 May 2011 Opening address given by Rita Erlich, former editor, The Age Good Food Guide. This exhibition celebrates the gift of valuable seventeenth to nineteenth century French and English cookbooks made by Alexandra (Sandy) Michell, beginning in 1988. The collection has been further developed and expanded to include a fine collection of early Australian cookbooks, and a selection of twentieth century material

20th century poetry: Britain and America: an exhibition from the Rare Books Collection 14 June - 27 September 2013

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 14 June - 27 September 2013. Opening address given by Dr. John Hawke, Lecturer, School of English, Communications and Performance Studies. This Rare Books Collection exhibition features T.S. Eliot, the Beat poets, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, among others

In Fairy Land: an exhibition of fairy tale books from the Rare Books Collection 6 March - 7 June 2013

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 6 March - 7 June 2013. Opening address given by Dr. Rebecca do Rozarion, Lecturer, School of English, Communications and Performance Studies. This Monash University Library Rare Books Collection exhibition of fairy tale books shows their long history. Items range from early street literature and simple Japanese crepe paper editions to lavish gift books illustrated by famous artists

Men of Stamina, women who Dare: an exhibition of advertising material from the Rare Books Collection 27 March - 5 June 2014

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 27 March - 5 June 2014. Opening address given by Gene Bawden, Deputy Head, Design (Communication Design), Faculty of Art Design and Architecture, Monash University. This Rare Books collection exhibition of advertisements and advertising ephemera surprises us as it reveals signs of changing social values in Australia and internationally over time. Thus, each item is an important cultural artefact and social document. The items on display are but a fraction of such material held in Rare Books. The library has been collecting advertising materials and other ephemera since the early 1990's in support of research by social historians

Judging a book by its cover: dust jackets in the Monash University Library Rare Books Collection 26 June - 30 September 2014

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 26 June - 30 september 2014. Opening address given by Des Cowley, Rare Printed Collections Manager, State Library of Victoria. This exhibition of dust jackets in the Rare Books Collection shows how these covers have changed from being a simple cover for protection to the main vehicle for advertising a book. From the Edwardian period onwards publishers began to lavish their design effort on the jacket rather than the book cover and we see jacket design start to reflect trends in commercial art. This exhibition includes dust jackets from 1860 to the recent deluxe limited edition Penguin Designer Classics series, and those designed by well-known artists and engravers Salvador Dali, Edward Bawden, John Farleigh, Robert Gibbings, Barnett Freedman, Eric Gill, E. McKnight Kauffer, Sidney Nolan and many more

The body in the library: an exhibition of detective fiction from the Rare Books Collection 15 March - 8 June 2012

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 15 March - 8 June 2012 Opening address given by John Loder, author of Australian crime fiction: a bibliography, 1857-1993. Dip into this exhibition of detective fiction from the Rare Books Collection and you will discover not only the delights enjoyed by readers of popular fiction in former times but also some of the key templates of the literature of crime. You will discover anew that crime is an almost irresistible prospect in a book