Nurses' work at night: mixing methods with multiple family members

This paper discusses the methodology of current research exploring experiences of nurses' work at night by consulting multiple family members, and drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methods.Participants include female and male qualified hospital nurses, together with their spouses/partners and children aged 8-18 years. Methods include an initial joint interview with the couple; nurses, spouses/partners and children completing audio sleep diaries and paper diaries concerning food, sleep and mood each day for two weeks which include a period of consecutive night shifts; and a final interview, with each nurse, spouse/partner and child being interviewed separately. Individual interviews include questions about diary data from the preceding two weeks, together with more general questions.Although there is considerable sociological knowledge concerning families and relationships, very few studies elicit multiple family members' accounts. This approach presents opportunities for developing in-depth understanding of night work and its place within different family members' lives. It allows consideration of how night work is viewed and understood from both individual and shared perspectives. Data are presented to demonstrate how these methods provide detailed insights about the social organisation of night work and associated sleeping and eating in relation to other paid work, unpaid work, school, meals, family and couple time together. This includes considering intersections between bodily and social priorities through diary-based accounts of specific, embodied experiences and more general reflections on night work and its consequences in the context of family life

Shortwave infrared imaging with J-aggregates stabilized in hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles.

Tissue is translucent to shortwave infrared (SWIR) light, rendering optical imaging superior in this region. However, the widespread use of optical SWIR imaging has been limited, in part, by the lack of bright, biocompatible contrast agents that absorb and emit light above 1000 nm. J-Aggregation offers a means to transform stable, near-infrared (NJR) fluorophores into red-shifted SWIR contrast agents. Here we demonstrate that J-aggregates of NIR fluorophore IR-140 can be prepared inside hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) to result in nanomaterials that absorb and emit SWIR light. The J-aggregates inside PEGylated HMSNs are stable for multiple weeks in buffer and enable high resolution imaging in vivo with 980 nm excitation

Bright chromenylium polymethine dyes enable fast, four-color in vivo imaging with shortwave infrared detection.

Optical imaging within the shortwave infrared (SWIR, 1000-2000 nm) region of the electromagnetic spectrum has enabled high-resolution and high-contrast imaging in mice, non-invasively. Polymethine dyes, with their narrow absorption spectra and high absorption coefficients, are optimal probes for fast and multiplexed SWIR imaging. Here, we expand upon the multiplexing capabilities in SWIR imaging by obtaining brighter polymethine dyes with varied excitation wavelengths spaced throughout the near-infrared (700-1000 nm) region. Building on the flavylium polymethine dye scaffold, we explored derivatives with functional group substitution at the 2-position, deemed chromenylium polymethine dyes. The reported dyes have reduced nonradiative rates and enhanced emissive properties, enabling non-invasive imaging in mice in a single color at 300 fps and in three colors at 100 fps. Combined with polymethine dyes containing a red-shifted julolidine flavylium heterocycle and indocyanine green, distinct channels with well-separated excitation wavelengths provide non-invasive video-rate in vivo imaging in four colors

Shortwave infrared polymethine fluorophores matched to excitation lasers enable non-invasive, multicolour in vivo imaging in real time.

High-resolution, multiplexed experiments are a staple in cellular imaging. Analogous experiments in animals are challenging, however, due to substantial scattering and autofluorescence in tissue at visible (350-700 nm) and near-infrared (700-1,000 nm) wavelengths. Here, we enable real-time, non-invasive multicolour imaging experiments in animals through the design of optical contrast agents for the shortwave infrared (SWIR, 1,000-2,000 nm) region and complementary advances in imaging technologies. We developed tunable, SWIR-emissive flavylium polymethine dyes and established relationships between structure and photophysical properties for this class of bright SWIR contrast agents. In parallel, we designed an imaging system with variable near-infrared/SWIR excitation and single-channel detection, facilitating video-rate multicolour SWIR imaging for optically guided surgery and imaging of awake and moving mice with multiplexed detection. Optimized dyes matched to 980 nm and 1,064 nm lasers, combined with the clinically approved indocyanine green, enabled real-time, three-colour imaging with high temporal and spatial resolutions