Review of Three Qualitative Studies of Family Presence During Resuscitation

Despite recommendations to allow family presence during resuscitation, mixed attitudes and practices persist in clinical practice today. The findings of three recent qualitative research studies are presented in this review. These phenomenological studies explore the lived experience of family presence from different perspectives. Miller and Stiles (2009) describe the experiences of hospital nurses, Maxton (2008) focuses on parental perceptions, and Mcmahon-Parkes, Moule, Benger, and Albarran (2009) study the attitudes and beliefs of patients themselves. This article presents an analysis of these study findings and overall conclusions related to family presence during resuscitation

Regulation Of Choline Acetyltransferase In Rat Hippocampal Synaptosomes

Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT; EC 2.3.1.6) catalyses the biosynthesis of acetylcholine (ACh) from choline and acetylCoenzyme A in cholinergic neurons. Within nerve terminals, this enzyme exists in both cytosolic and membrane-bound forms, although the role of the latter fraction is not clear. ChAT is clearly subject to long-term regulation (over periods of hours to days), likely through alterations in protein synthesis, however very little is known about short-term regulation (seconds to minutes). Therefore, the goals of this study were to determine the mechanisms of short-term regulation of ChAT activity and to elucidate the physiological role of membrane-bound ChAT in ACh biosynthesis.;Using synaptosomes prepared from rat brain hippocampus as a model of intact nerve terminals, approximately 80% of total ChAT activity was found in the cytoplasm and could be further divided into a water-soluble fraction (20%) and sodium phosphate-soluble fraction (60%), while the remaining ChAT (15-20%) appeared to be membrane-bound. Interestingly, only the specific activity of membrane-bound ChAT was significantly increased, in a calcium-dependent manner, following depolarization of intact synaptosomes by both 40 mM KCl and 50 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M veratridine, agents which induce ACh release and subsequent choline uptake. Since W-7, an inhibitor of calcium-calmodulin kinase II, attenuated the depolarization-induced activation of membrane-bound ChAT, protein phosphorylation was examined as a mechanism of short-term regulation. Under resting conditions, only cytosolic ChAT appeared to exist as a phosphoprotein, the abundance of which was calcium-dependent. Furthermore, the pattern of phosphorylation neither correlated with enzyme activity, nor was altered by nerve terminal depolarization. Since the specific activity of cytosolic ChAT was not altered by any experimental manipulation, it was subdivided into water-soluble and sodium phosphate-soluble enzyme fractions. Subsequently, it was found that reduction of intracellular calcium concentration, by lowering the extracellular calcium concentration, reduced membrane-bound ChAT and water-soluble ChAT activities and concomitantly increased sodium phosphate-soluble ChAT activity. These alterations in specific activity were accompanied by parallel changes in both the V{dollar}\sb{lcub}\rm max{rcub}{dollar} and the amount of ChAT-immunoreactive protein in each fraction, suggesting translocation of the enzyme between cytosolic and membrane-bound pools and within cytosolic pools. Finally, to assess the physiological role of membrane-bound ChAT, an experimental strategy was developed based upon the observation that enzyme activity was sensitive to alterations in chloride ion concentration. Under these conditions membrane-bound ChAT did not appear to regulate basal ACh biosynthesis.;In summary, translocation of enzyme protein may be involved in the short-term regulation of ChAT activity within cholinergic nerve terminals. Furthermore, cytosolic ChAT appeared to play the predominant role in the regulation of basal ACh synthesis

Core professional nursing values as experienced by baccalaureate nursing students who are men

Experts have called for greater diversity in the nursing workforce; however, men remain underrepresented in the nursing profession. The presence of cultural dissonance among male nursing students has been documented in prior research but little is known about their values that are culturally influenced. The purpose of this study was to understand and interpret the meaning of core professional nursing values to male baccalaureate nursing students. The research question was: what is the meaning of core professional nursing values to nursing students who are men. The study setting was an undergraduate baccalaureate school of nursing in the Midwest. Using a purposive, convenience sampling method and van Manen\u27s interpretive phenomenological method, ten semistructured interviews were conducted with nine participants. Documents and images were also analyzed. Data analysis followed the hermeneutic process. The overarching theme of this study was caring, illustrated by the metaphor of a puzzle. In the first theme, entering program with pieces of the puzzle of caring, participants\u27 personal values aligned with those of the nursing profession and professional values began to form before the nursing education experience. The second theme, finding more pieces of caring, included subthemes of disconnect and change in professional nursing values during the nursing program. Caring as patient-centered relationships (theme three) involved patient interactions, honesty, teamwork, respect and dignity, and privacy/confidentiality. A fourth theme of caring as helping was described in subthemes of altruism, empathy/compassion, advocacy, and competency and safety. Solving the puzzle of caring was theme five, as participants described learning through clinical experiences, both recognizing values and failing to see them demonstrated in nursing practice. Implications for nurse educators include values clarification and development, experiential teaching strategies, cultural sensitivity, teamwork, and conflict management. Inclusive workplace environments, where nursing and organizational practices reflect professional values, may enhance nurse satisfaction, recruitment, retention, and patient care. Further research is needed; strategies to enhance professional values development and core professional nursing values in different cultures warrant further study. Theories of nursing values that are culturally appropriate could be developed and tested. Implications for public policy include academic-practice partnerships, inclusive admission and hiring practices that promote diversity, and identification of common values in the profession

A blinded determination of H0H_0 from low-redshift Type Ia supernovae, calibrated by Cepheid variables

Presently a ${>}3\sigma$ tension exists between values of the Hubble constant $H_0$ derived from analysis of fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background by Planck, and local measurements of the expansion using calibrators of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We perform a blinded reanalysis of Riess et al. 2011 to measure $H_0$ from low-redshift SNe Ia, calibrated by Cepheid variables and geometric distances including to NGC 4258. This paper is a demonstration of techniques to be applied to the Riess et at. 2016 data. Our end-to-end analysis starts from available CfA3 and LOSS photometry, providing an independent validation of Riess et al. 2011. We obscure the value of $H_0$ throughout our analysis and the first stage of the referee process, because calibration of SNe Ia requires a series of often subtle choices, and the potential for results to be affected by human bias is significant. Our analysis departs from that of Riess et al. 2011 by incorporating the covariance matrix method adopted in SNLS and JLA to quantify SN Ia systematics, and by including a simultaneous fit of all SN Ia and Cepheid data. We find $H_0 = 72.5 \pm 3.1$ (stat) $\pm 0.77$ (sys) km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ with a three-galaxy (NGC 4258+LMC+MW) anchor. The relative uncertainties are 4.3% statistical, 1.1% systematic, and 4.4% total, larger than in Riess et al. 2011 (3.3% total) and the Efstathiou 2014 reanalysis (3.4% total). Our error budget for $H_0$ is dominated by statistical errors due to the small size of the supernova sample, whilst the systematic contribution is dominated by variation in the Cepheid fits, and for the SNe Ia, uncertainties in the host galaxy mass dependence and Malmquist bias.Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures, 13 tables; accepted for publication in MNRA

The SkyMapper Transient Survey

The SkyMapper 1.3 m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory has now begun regular operations. Alongside the Southern Sky Survey, a comprehensive digital survey of the entire southern sky, SkyMapper will carry out a search for supernovae and other transients. The search strategy, covering a total footprint area of ~2000 deg2 with a cadence of $\leq 5$ days, is optimised for discovery and follow-up of low-redshift type Ia supernovae to constrain cosmic expansion and peculiar velocities. We describe the search operations and infrastructure, including a parallelised software pipeline to discover variable objects in difference imaging; simulations of the performance of the survey over its lifetime; public access to discovered transients; and some first results from the Science Verification data.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures; submitted to PAS

Exile Vol. XI No. 1

FICTION By the Fire of the Chief by Peggy Schmidt 9-17 From the Diary of a Vanishing Man by Ed Brunner 19-29 Dialogue by Ken Booth 35-37 POETRY Johnny Joe by Bill West 6-7 Caterpillar by Barb Bergantz 17 Poem by Bonnie McCarthy 29 The Queen by Hugh Wilder 31 The Clown by Barb Bergantz 32 Poem by Gretchen Schenck 33 Treatise on Cosmology by P. M. Grout 37 Stimulus by Susan Sherwood 37 Depot by Susan Sherwood 39 GRAPHICS Pen and Ink by Dave Goodwin 7 Pen and Ink by Ramona Gibbs 8 Pen and Ink by Tod Riddell 18 Charcoal by Dave Goodwin 30 Woodcut by Parker Waite III 34 Woodcut by Lela Giles 3

The ANU WiFeS SuperNovA Program (AWSNAP)

This paper presents the first major data release and survey description for the ANU WiFeS SuperNovA Program (AWSNAP). AWSNAP is an ongoing supernova spectroscopy campaign utilising the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the Australian National University (ANU) 2.3m telescope. The first and primary data release of this program (AWSNAP-DR1) releases 357 spectra of 175 unique objects collected over 82 equivalent full nights of observing from July 2012 to August 2015. These spectra have been made publicly available via the WISeREP supernova spectroscopy repository. We analyse the AWSNAP sample of Type Ia supernova spectra, including measurements of narrow sodium absorption features afforded by the high spectral resolution of the WiFeS instrument. In some cases we were able to use the integral-field nature of the WiFeS instrument to measure the rotation velocity of the SN host galaxy near the SN location in order to obtain precision sodium absorption velocities. We also present an extensive time series of SN 2012dn, including a near-nebular spectrum which both confirms its "super-Chandrasekhar" status and enables measurement of the sub-solar host metallicity at the SN site.Comment: Submitted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA). Spectra publicly released via WISeREP at http://wiserep.weizmann.ac.il