Individual differences in plasma catecholamine and corticosterone stress responses of wild-type rats:Relationship with aggression

Plasma noradrenaline (NA), adrenaline (A), and corticosterone (CS) responses to social and nonsocial stressors were studied in male members of a strain of wild-type rats, widely differing in their level of aggression. The aggressiveness was preliminarily established by measuring the latency time to attack (ALT) a male intruder in a standard resident-intruder test. Animals were then provided with a jugular vein cannula for blood sampling during stress exposure. Implanted rats were randomly assigned to 3 experimental treatments: social stress (defeat experience, SD), nonsocial stress (presentation of a shock-prod, SP) and control (animals undisturbed in their home cages, CTR). A significant correlation was found between ALT and the amount of time spent in burying the probe in SP rats: the more aggressive the animal, the higher the rate of burying behavior. SD induced a much stronger effect on plasma NA, A, and CS concentrations than SP. A significant negative correlation was found between ALT scores and values of the area under the response time curve for NA and A, in both SD and SP situations: the more aggressive the animal the higher the catecholaminergic reactivity to the stressors. On the contrary, no evidence of a correlation between aggressiveness and plasma corticosterone responses was found neither in SD nor in SP rats. These findings in an unselected strain of wild-type rats confirmed that an aggressive/active coping strategy is associated with a high sympathetic-adrenomedullary activation and support the concept of individual differentiation in coping styles as a coherent set of behavioral and neuroendocrine characteristics. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc

Orbital bleeding in rats while under diethylether anaesthesia does not influence telemetrically determined heart rate, body temperature, locomotor and eating activity when compared with anaesthesia alone

The question addressed was whether orbital bleeding in rats, while under diethylether anaesthesia, affects their locomotor activity, body core temperature, heart rate rhythm and eating pattern. Roman High Avoidance (RHA) and Roman Low Avoidance (RLA) rats were used to enhance generalization of the results. Orbital bleeding when the rats were under diethylether anaesthesia was compared with diethylether anaesthesia alone. To take into account any effects of handling, the rats were also subjected to sham anaesthesia. The RHA rats urinated more during anaesthesia, needed more time to recover from the anaesthesia and showed a greater endocrine stress response to diethylether anaesthesia when compared with the RLA rats. During anaesthesia, the RHA rats showed a greater fall of body temperature and bradycardia than did the RLA rats. Diethylether anaesthesia reduced locomotor activity in the RHA rats, but had no effect in the RLA rats. In neither RHA nor RLA rats did anaesthesia plus orbital puncture, versus anaesthesia alone, influence body temperature, heart rate rhythm, locomotor and eating activity. The lack of effect of orbital puncture occurred both in the short term (within 2 h) and long term (within 48 hours) and thus this study indicates that orbital puncture had, at least with respect to variables measured in the present study, no effect superimposed on that of diethylether anaesthesia

A hybrid radiation detector for simultaneous spatial and temporal dosimetry

In this feasibility study an organic plastic scintillator is calibrated against ionisation chamber measurements and then embedded in a polymer gel dosimeter to obtain a quasi-4D experimental measurement of a radiation field. This hybrid dosimeter was irradiated with a linear accelerator, with temporal measurements of the dose rate being acquired by the scintillator and spatial measurements acquired with the gel dosimeter. The detectors employed in this work are radiologically equivalent; and we show that neither detector perturbs the intensity of the radiation field of the other. By employing these detectors in concert, spatial and temporal variations in the radiation intensity can now be detected and gel dosimeters can be calibrated for absolute dose from a single irradiation

Omvårdnadsprogrammet i relation till hemtjänstarbete

Av omvårdnadspersonalen inom äldreomsorgen saknar fyra av tio formell yrkesutbildning för sitt arbete. Eftersom hemtjänstpersonalens arbetsuppgifter innefattar såväl hushållsarbete, att vårda svårt sjuka och döende personer, människor med olika grad av psykisk sjukdom, missbruk som olika typer av funktionshinder, bör utbildningen möta detta kompetensbehov. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur vårdbiträden som har gått omvårdnadsprogrammet upplever att den kunskap och kompetens de skaffat sig under utbildningstiden kommer till användning i hemtjänstarbetet. Metoden som använts är en kvalitativ intervjustudie, där 11 personer som genomgått omvårdnadsprogrammets utbildning intervjuats. Respondenterna är fördelade på sex hemtjänstlag. Vid analysen av intervjuerna kategoriserades materialet på följande sätt: Arbetsinnehåll, Kunskapsbehov i hemtjänsten samt Tillämplighet av omvårdnadsprogrammets innehåll i hemtjänsten. Resultatet visar att de flesta av respondenterna upplevde att utbildningen var bra och tillförde mycket som de har nytta av i sitt arbete, men den påvisar även vissa brister i relation till hemtjänstarbetet. Exempelvis upplevs kunskaperna i psykiatri som bristfälliga. Studien visar också att respondenterna är medvetna om den sociala och existentiella dimensionen i sitt arbete genom att de ofta i sina svar återkom till bemötandefrågor. Flera av respondenterna som läst kursen Social omsorg framhåller den bland de kurser som de har mest nytta av i sitt dagliga arbete. Med utgångspunkt från det resultat studien visar, skulle vissa kurser behöva läggas till och då främst kurser i psykiatri och socialpsykiatri samt att kursen social omsorg bör vara obligatorisk

Unreamed intramedullary tibial nailing - Fatigue of locking bolts

Between January 1990 and October 1993 toe investigated 72 consecutive patients who had an unreamed tibial nail inserted for fractures of the tibial shaft; 75 per cent (N = 54) were closed fractures and 25 per cent (N = 18) were open fractures. The mean follow up was 15.2 months. Of the patients 91.7 per cent (N = 66) were interlocked, 58 per cent (N = 38) statically and 42 per cent (N = 28) dynamically. Union rate was 98.6 per cent, time to union was 18.5 weeks, 17.3 weeks for closed fractures, 22 weeks for open fractures. Shortening greater than 1 cm occurred in 1.4 per cent (N = 1), varus and valgus deformity in 4.1 per cent each (N = 3). There was no rotational deformity. Of the locking bolts 30 per cent broke 8-10 weeks after partial weight bearing was allowed. Electron microscopy investigations showed that failure of the bolts was due to fatigue. It was not associated with any clinical problems with regard to union times or incidence of malunion. Bolt failure is however a problem if you try to remove the nail. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Lt

Physiological and Behavioral Effects of Chronic Intracerebroventricular Infusion of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in the Rat

The present study was conducted to investigate the long-term effects of chronic elevation of centrally circulating levels of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) on behavior and physiology. For this purpose ovine CRF was infused continuously for a period of 10 days into the lateral ventricle of rats with the aid of osmotic pumps (calculated CRF delivery was 4.9 µg/day). Changes in daily rhythms in body temperature and home cage motor activity were recorded telemetrically during the infusion period. The most prominent physiological findings were a delayed body weight gain and a long-lasting hyperthermia following CRF infusion. The peptide treatment furthermore increased adrenal weight and suppressed the weight of the thymus at the end of the experiment. Behaviorally, CRF administration elicited a short-lasting increase in activity during the light phase and an increased anxiety in an elevated plus-maze 1 week after the start of infusion. The similarities between the present results and the long-term changes previously described in behaviorally stressed rats indicate that chronically elevated levels of CRF in the brain might play an important role in the induction and persistence of stress-related behavioral and physiological disorders.

Acetabular revisions using a cementless oblong cup: five to ten year results

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the results of acetabular revisions with the use of an oblong revision cup that is designed with its longitudinal diameter elongated relative to its transverse diameter. Between 1996 and 2001, 62 hips in 60 patients underwent an acetabular revision with the insertion of a LOR acetabular component. Seven hips were lost to follow-up or the patients died; the remaining 55 hips (53 patients) remained in follow-up for an average of 7.2 years (range: 5.0–10.1 years). One socket was revised for aseptic loosening, and another was operated on for a late polyethylene liner dissociation. The average Harris hip score (HHS) improved from 34 to 79. Results were rated as excellent in 16 hips, good in 28, fair in six and poor in three. Radiographic analysis demonstrated an improvement in the average vertical displacement of the hip centre: 49 hips had a well-fixed, bone-ingrown cup and four had a stable fibrous union. For large superolateral acetabular bone deficiencies, this implant facilitated a complex reconstruction without the need for bulk structural acetabular bone grafts, provided good clinical results and showed satisfactory stability at the midterm follow-up