Whole grain foods and health - A Scandinavian perspective

The food-based dietary guidelines in the Scandinavian countries that recommend an intake of minimum 75 g whole grain per 10 MJ (2,388 kcal) per day are mainly derived from prospective cohort studies where quantitative but little qualitative details are available on whole grain products. The objective of the current paper is to clarify possible differences in nutritional and health effects of the types of whole grain grown and consumed in the Scandinavian countries. A further objective is to substantiate how processing may influence the nutritional value and potential health effects of different whole grains and whole grain foods. The most commonly consumed whole grain cereals in the Scandinavian countries are wheat, rye, and oats with a considerable inter-country variation in the consumption patterns and with barley constituting only a minor role. The chemical composition of these different whole grains and thus the whole grain products consumed vary considerably with regard to the content of macro- and micronutrients and bioactive components. A considerable amount of scientific substantiation shows that processing methods of the whole grains are important for the physiological and health effects of the final whole grain products. Future research should consider the specific properties of each cereal and its processing methods to further identify the uniqueness and health potentials of whole grain products. This would enable the authorities to provide more specific food-based dietary guidelines in relation to whole grain to the benefit of both the food industry and the consumer

Vital sign documentation in electronic records: The development of workarounds.

Workarounds are commonplace in healthcare settings. An increase in the use of electronic health records has led to an escalation of workarounds as healthcare professionals cope with systems which are inadequate for their needs. Closely related to this, the documentation of vital signs in electronic health records has been problematic. The accuracy and completeness of vital sign documentation has a direct impact on the recognition of deterioration in a patient's condition. We examined workflow processes to identify workarounds related to vital signs in a 372-bed hospital in Sweden. In three clinical areas, a qualitative study was performed with data collected during observations and interviews and analysed through thematic content analysis. We identified paper workarounds in the form of handwritten notes and a total of eight pre-printed paper observation charts. Our results suggested that nurses created workarounds to allow a smooth workflow and ensure patients safety

Concentrated oat β-glucan, a fermentable fiber, lowers serum cholesterol in hypercholesterolemic adults in a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Soluble fibers lower serum lipids, but are difficult to incorporate into products acceptable to consumers. We investigated the physiological effects of a concentrated oat β-glucan on cardiovascular disease (CVD) endpoints in human subjects. We also compared the fermentability of concentrated oat β-glucan with inulin and guar gum in a model intestinal fermentation system. METHODS: Seventy-five hypercholesterolemic men and women were randomly assigned to one of two treatments: 6 grams/day concentrated oat β-glucan or 6 grams/day dextrose (control). Fasting blood samples were collected at baseline, week 3, and week 6 and analyzed for total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin, homocysteine and C-reactive protein (CRP). To estimate colonic fermentability, 0.5 g concentrated oat β-glucan was incubated in a batch model intestinal fermentation system, using human fecal inoculum to provide representative microflora. Fecal donors were not involved with the β-glucan feeding trial. Inulin and guar gum were also incubated in separate serum bottles for comparison. RESULTS: Oat β-glucan produced significant reduction from baseline in total cholesterol (-0.3 ± 0.1 mmol/L) and LDL cholesterol (-0.3 ± 0.1 mmol/L), and the reduction in LDL cholesterol were significantly greater than in the control group (p = 0.03). Concentrated oat β-glucan was a fermentable fiber and produced total SCFA and acetate concentrations similar to inulin and guar gum. Concentrated oat β-glucan produced the highest concentrations of butyrate at 4, 8, and 12 hours. CONCLUSION: Six grams concentrated oat β-glucan per day for six weeks significantly reduced total and LDL cholesterol in subjects with elevated cholesterol, and the LDL cholesterol reduction was greater than the change in the control group. Based on a model intestinal fermentation, this oat β-glucan was fermentable, producing higher amounts of butyrate than other fibers. Thus, a practical dose of β-glucan can significantly lower serum lipids in a high-risk population and may improve colon health

Heterogeneity within the Asian American community

BACKGROUND: Educational interventions are grounded on scientific data and assumptions about the community to be served. While the Pan Asian community is composed of multiple, ethnic subgroups, it is often treated as a single group for which one health promotion program will be applicable for all of its cultural subgroups. Compounding this stereotypical view of the Pan Asian community, there is sparse data about the cultural subgroups' similarities and dissimilarities. The Asian Grocery Store based cancer education program evaluation data provided an opportunity to compare data collected under identical circumstances from members of six Asian American cultural groups. METHODS: A convenience sample of 1,202 Asian American women evaluated the cultural alignment of a cancer education program, completing baseline and follow-up surveys that included questions about their breast cancer knowledge, attitudes, and screening behaviors. Participants took part in a brief education program that facilitated adherence to recommended screening guidelines. RESULTS: Unique recruitment methods were needed to attract participants from each ethnic group. Impressions gained from the aggregate data revealed different insights than the disaggregate data. Statistically significant variations existed among the subgroups' breast cancer knowledge, attitudes, and screening behaviors that could contribute to health disparities among the subgroups and within the aggregate Pan Asian community. CONCLUSION: Health promotion efforts of providers, educators, and policy makers can be enhanced if cultural differences are identified and taken into account when developing strategies to reduce health disparities and promote health equity

'Collaborative critique' in a supervisor development programme

Supervision of research degrees is currently undergoing significant re-evaluation, as the research environment itself responds to new and ongoing external policy and funding pressures, internationalisation, increasing cross-disciplinarity and the proliferation of sub-specialisations amongst other factors. The Exploring Supervision Program is designed to aid new supervisors of research students to find effective ways of negotiating supervision in the context of this changing academy. To this end, a workshop facilitation approach is employed that we call ‘collaborative critique’, a technique designed to extend understandings of complex situations through discussion and debate stimulated by narrative, case studies and role plays. Here, we outline the rationale of collaborative critique and then demonstrate how it is used in a workshop on working in the multicultural academy.Cally Guerin and Ian Gree

The doctoral studies paradox: Indigenous cultural paradigms versus Western-based research practices

This is an exploratory conceptual paper regarding the ontological and epistemological premises that are present in the enrollment of Indigenous peoples in doctoral programs at higher education institutions (HEIs). The paradoxical nature of navigating through distinct points-of-view about two distinct cultural perspectives, that of the doctorate representing a culminating recognition of a professional culture based on Western tradition and the norms and values of Indigenous cultures. There are personal risks involved in undergoing an education predicated on conflicting messages paradoxes represent from prior personal and collective experience and from institutional dicta and expectations. This paper looks at how an individual brings these elements together in a transformative manner that accepts or rejects governmental preference for enhanced participation by Indigenous peoples in doctoral education programs

Introduction: Spiritualism and the Supernatural, 1870–1925

Spiritualism and the supernatural have long been sources of fascination for the woman writer. In the nineteenth century and beyond, ghost stories by women were published alongside autobiographical reflections on the afterlife, first-hand accounts of séances and philosophical and psychoanalytical musings on theosophy, mysticism and the subconscious. An excellent recent collection The Female Fantastic: Gendering the Supernatural in the 1890s and 1920s (2019) calls attention to the positioning of women writers at the forefront of radical enquiry into the border between life and death, identifying them as important producers of experimental fantastic fiction and involved in the exchange of ideas about esoteric religions and occult practices. As Lizzie Harris McCormick, Jennifer Mitchell and Rebecca Soares point out, however, much of the scholarship on the supernatural and the fantastic lacks a specific focus on female-authored narratives.1 In an earlier special issue of Women’s Writing (2008) on “Victorian women and the Occult”, focussing on writers such as Florence Marryat and E. Nesbit, Tatiana Kontou argued that, “both women and the occult challenge the extent of what is natural and/or supernatural and defy containment in Victorian literature and culture”.2 And yet this defiance of boundaries has still not been fully mapped fourteen years later. There is more to be said about “gendering the supernatural”, about the diversity and depth of women writers” responses to their rapidly changing environments, to increasingly popular ways of communicating with the dead and to shifting transnational understandings of the otherworldly