Life story resources in dementia care: a review.

PURPOSE: Life story work has a relatively long tradition in the caring sciences and is recognised as an important component of dementia care and practice. However, to date, there has not been a review of accessible life story resources. The paper aims to discuss these issues. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Following a systematic approach to identification and inclusion, 11 life story resources were reviewed to ascertain areas of commonality and divergence between the materials. FINDINGS: The authors were able to group the analysis under eight areas and at the end of this process, it was uncertain if life story work is a formal staff intervention or an informal activity that people with dementia and their families could engage in. Resources also varied in terms of whether the life story information was organised in a chronological way, or with topics of interest/discussion or with a combination of both. Life story evaluation and its impact on the life of the person with dementia is in need of development. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Across the resources the authors identified four reasons to do life story work which the authors have named as: emotional connections; interactional connections; building new connections and practical care connections. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS: There was limited guidance aimed at helping people with dementia to develop and compile their own life story. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This paper provides new insights into the usefulness, future directions and content of life story resources in dementia care. It will be of interest to those in health and social care as well as people living with dementia

The Use of Geogrids in Mitigating Pavement Defects on Roads Built over Expansive Soils

This study was conducted to investigate the potential benefits of using geogrids in mitigating pavement defects notably roughness and longitudinal cracking on pavements built over expansive soils. The seasonal changes of expansive soils (periodic wetting and drying) cause detrimental effects on the overlying road pavements. Such detrimental behavior of expansive soils was simulated in a controlled laboratory environment through allowing cyclic wetting and drying of an expansive soil underlying a pavement section. The shrink/swell effects of the expansive soil subgrade were examined through monitoring its change in moisture, and measuring deformation of overlying pavement section. The experimental study suggested that a geogrid layer in a reinforced pavement section can reduce surface differential shrinking and swelling deformation resulting from underlying expansive soils by a factor of 2 and 3 respectively in comparison to unreinforced section. Given that an oedometer test which is typically used to predict swelling potential of expansive soils is known to overpredict in-situ soil swell, experimental program also investigated quantitatively the extent to which the oedometer can overestimate swelling behaviour of the real-field scenarios. It was found that oedometer percent swell can overpredict in-situ swelling behaviour of the expansive soil by a factor ranging between 2 and 10 depending upon the period over which the in-situ expansive soil has been in contact with water

Proving Our Maternal and Scholarly Worth: A Collaborative Autoethnographic Textual and Visual Storying of MotherScholar Identity Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pivoting to remote work as female academics and to schooling our children from home as mothers in March 2020 marked a dramatic shift in how we enact our MotherScholar identities. This collaborative autoethnographic study employs a modification of interactive interviewing and photovoice to produce verbal and visual text of COVID-19 MotherScholar identity work for analysis. Thematic analysis results in themes of maternal interruptions, professional interruptions, maternal recognition, and professional recognition. Of note, our MotherScholar interactivity functioned as identity work as we sought and granted legitimacy to one another’s’ COVID-19 MotherScholar identities. Of particular concern to us is how institutions of higher education are (dis)enabling socially supportive MotherScholar interactivity during COVID-19 conditions that persist at the time of this writing and how they intend to address social support needs sustainably into the future

Clinical implications of Plasmodium resistance to atovaquone/proguanil: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Atovaquone/proguanil, registered as Malarone®, is a fixed-dose combination recommended for first-line treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in non-endemic countries and its prevention in travellers. Mutations in the cytochrome bc1 complex are causally associated with atovaquone resistance. Methods: This systematic review assesses the clinical efficacy of atovaquone/proguanil treatment of uncomplicated malaria and examines the extent to which codon 268 mutation in cytochrome b influences treatment failure and recrudescence based on published information. Results: Data suggest that atovaquone/proguanil treatment efficacy is 89%-98% for P. falciparum malaria (from 27 studies including between 18 and 253 patients in each case) and 20%-26% for Plasmodium vivax malaria (from 1 study including 25 patients). The in vitro P. falciparum phenotype of atovaquone resistance is an IC50 value >28 nM. Case report analyses predict that recrudescence in a patient presenting with parasites carrying cytochrome b codon 268 mutation will occur on average at day 29 (95% CI: 22, 35), 19 (95% CI: 7, 30) days longer than if the mutation is absent. Conclusions: Evidence suggests atovaquone/proguanil treatment for P. falciparum malaria is effective. Late treatment failure is likely to be associated with a codon 268 mutation in cytochrome b, though recent evidence from animal models suggests these mutations may not spread within the population. However, early treatment failure is likely to arise through alternative mechanisms, requiring further investigation

Developing a digital learning version of a mentorship training programme

This article describes the experience of one university team in developing, delivering and evaluating an online Nursing and Midwifery Council-approved mentorship programme for nurses and midwives who support pre-registration students in practice. Although the authors are confident of the quality of the educational provision, this article does not discuss this programme as an exemplar of best practice, but aims to share the learning gained from the experience of introducing a digital learning version of a mentorship course