'Ready to hit the ground running': alumni and employer accounts of a unique part-time distance learning pre-registration nurse education programme

Background This study explored the impact of The Open University’s (OU) pre-registration nursing programme on students’ employability, career progression and its contribution to developing the nursing workforce across the United Kingdom. Designed for healthcare support workers who are sponsored by their employers, the programme is the only part-time supported open/distance learning programme in the UK leading to registration as a nurse. The international literature reveals that relatively little is known about the impact of previous experience as a healthcare support worker on the experience of transition, employability skills and career progression. Objectives To identify alumni and employer views of the perceived impact of the programme on employability, career progression and workforce development. Design/Method A qualitative design using telephone interviews which were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim prior to content analysis to identify recurrent themes. Settings Three geographical areas across the UK. Participants Alumni (n=17) and employers (n=7). Inclusion criterion for alumni was a minimum of two years post-qualifying experience. Inclusion criteria for employers were those that had responsibility for sponsoring students on the programme and employing them as newly qualified nurses. Results Four overarching themes were identified: Transition, Expectations, Learning for and in practice, and Flexibility. Conclusions Alumni and employers were of the view that the programme equipped them well to meet the competencies and expectations of being a newly qualified nurse. It provided employers with a flexible route to growing their own workforce and alumni the opportunity to achieve their ambition of becoming a qualified nurse when other more conventional routes would not have been open to them. Some of them had already demonstrated career progression. Generalising results requires caution due to the small, self-selecting sample but findings suggest that a widening participation model of pre-registration nurse education for employed healthcare support workers more than adequately prepares them for the realities of professional practice

A Protective Role for Heme Oxygenase-1 in INS-1 Cells and Rat Islets that are Exposed to High Glucose Conditions

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been described as an inducible protein that is capable of cytoprotection via radical scavenging and the prevention of apoptosis. Chronic exposure to hyperglycemia can lead to cellular dysfunction that may become irreversible over time, and this process has been termed glucose toxicity. Yet little is known about the relation between glucose toxicity and HO-1 in the islets. The purposes of the present study were to determine whether prolonged exposure of pancreatic islets to a supraphysiologic glucose concentration disrupts the intracellular balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and HO-1, and so this causes defective insulin secretion; we also wanted to evaluate a protective role for HO-1 in pancreatic islets against high glucose levels. The intracellular peroxide levels of the pancreatic islets (INS-1 cell, rat islet) were increased in the high glucose media (30 mM glucose or 50 mM ribose). The HO-1 expression was induced in the INS-1 cells by the high glucose levels. Both the HO-1 expression and glucose stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) was decreased simultaneously in the islets by treatment of the HO-1 antisense. The HO-1 was upregulated in the INS-1 cells by hemin, an inducer of HO-1. And, HO-1 upregulation induced by hemin reversed the GSIS in the islets at a high glucose condition. These results suggest HO-1 seems to mediate the protective response of pancreatic islets against the oxidative stress that is due to high glucose conditions

Diquat Derivatives: Highly Active, Two-Dimensional Nonlinear Optical Chromophores with Potential Redox Switchability

In this article, we present a detailed study of structure−activity relationships in diquaternized 2,2′-bipyridyl (diquat) derivatives. Sixteen new chromophores have been synthesized, with variations in the amino electron donor substituents, π-conjugated bridge, and alkyl diquaternizing unit. Our aim is to combine very large, two-dimensional (2D) quadratic nonlinear optical (NLO) responses with reversible redox chemistry. The chromophores have been characterized as their PF_6^− salts by using various techniques including electronic absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Their visible absorption spectra are dominated by intense π → π^* intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) bands, and all show two reversible diquat-based reductions. First hyperpolarizabilities β have been measured by using hyper-Rayleigh scattering with an 800 nm laser, and Stark spectroscopy of the ICT bands affords estimated static first hyperpolarizabilities β_0. The directly and indirectly derived β values are large and increase with the extent of π-conjugation and electron donor strength. Extending the quaternizing alkyl linkage always increases the ICT energy and decreases the E_(1/2) values for diquat reduction, but a compensating increase in the ICT intensity prevents significant decreases in Stark-based β_0 responses. Nine single-crystal X-ray structures have also been obtained. Time-dependent density functional theory clarifies the molecular electronic/optical properties, and finite field calculations agree with polarized HRS data in that the NLO responses of the disubstituted species are dominated by ‘off-diagonal’ β_(zyy) components. The most significant findings of these studies are: (i) β_0 values as much as 6 times that of the chromophore in the technologically important material (E)-4′-(dimethylamino)-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate; (ii) reversible electrochemistry that offers potential for redox-switching of optical properties over multiple states; (iii) strongly 2D NLO responses that may be exploited for novel practical applications; (iv) a new polar material, suitable for bulk NLO behavior