Information theoretical analysis of differences in information transmission in cerebellar Purkinje cells across species

Abstract from the 23rd Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting CNS 2014. © 2014 Kidd et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise statedThe dendrite of the cerebellar Purkinje cell is one of the most complex structures in the mammalian brain, receiving more than 150,000 synaptic inputs. It is also one of the most extensively modelled neurons in the mammalian brain, with theoretical analysis of the input-output relationships in its dendrite extending back 40 years. While most of this experimental and modelling work has been conducted using mammalian neurons, it has also often been noted that overall cerebellar structure as well as the general morphology of Purkinje cells has been highly conserved in all vertebrate species. The work described here seeks to identify conserved features of Purkinje cell function by examining the relationship between structure and function in a range of vertebrate species from fish to mammalsPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Health literacy practices in social virtual worlds and the influence on health behaviour

This study explored how health information accessed via a 3D social virtual world and the representation of ‘self’ through the use of an avatar impact physical world health behaviour. In-depth interviews were conducted in a sample of 25 people, across 10 countries, who accessed health information in a virtual world (VW): 12 females and 13 males. Interviews were audio-recorded via private in-world voice chat or via private instant message. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The social skills and practices evidenced demonstrate how the collective knowledge and skills of communities in VWs can influence improvements in individual and community health literacy through a distributed model. The findings offer support for moving away from the idea of health literacy as a set of skills which reside within an individual to a sociocultural model of health literacy. Social VWs can offer a place where people can access health information in multiple formats through the use of an avatar, which can influence changes in behaviour in the physical world and the VW. This can lead to an improvement in social skills and health literacy practices and represents a social model of health literacy

Greening the judiciary

Much of South Africa’s environmental law is relatively new. Most of SouthAfrica’s judges received their formal legal educations before promulgation of the major part of our environmental law and almost certainly beforeenvironmental law was taught at universities. In recent years, there have been increasing instances of cases involving environmental matters coming to the courts. How are judges performing in these cases? It would appear that the judges’ performance is rather 'chequered' in environmental cases, which suggests that the judiciary needs to become more attuned to environmental law. I call this process, for purposes of this note, ‘greening the judiciary’. What I mean by this is not that judges must decide all environmental cases in a way that favours the environment, but that they must correctly consider, interpret and apply the relevant environmental law, and give environmental considerations appropriate deliberation. This note aims to identify, in admittedly somewhat general terms, the current state of environmental decision-making by judges and to suggest what needs to happen for such decisions to be improved

Measurement of the elastic scattering cross section of neutrons from argon and neon

Background: The most significant source of background in direct dark matter searches are neutrons that scatter elastically from nuclei in the detector's sensitive volume. Experimental data for the elastic scattering cross section of neutrons from argon and neon, which are target materials of interest to the dark matter community, were previously unavailable. Purpose: Measure the differential cross section for elastic scattering of neutrons from argon and neon in the energy range relevant to backgrounds from (alpha,n) reactions in direct dark matter searches. Method: Cross-section data were taken at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) using the neutron time-of-flight technique. These data were fit using the spherical optical model. Results: The differential cross section for elastic scatting of neutrons from neon at 5.0 and 8.0 MeV and argon at 6.0 MeV was measured. Optical-model parameters for the elastic scattering reactions were determined from the best fit to these data. The total elastic scattering cross section for neon was found to differ by 6% at 5.0 MeV and 13% at 8.0 MeV from global optical-model predictions. Compared to a local optical-model for 40Ar, the elastic scattering cross section was found to differ from the data by 8% at 6.0 MeV. Conclusions: These new data are important for improving Monte-Carlo simulations and background estimates for direct dark matter searches and for benchmarking optical models of neutron elastic scattering from these nuclei

The development, implementation and evaluation of a shared care model of nursing in a tertiary hospital using participatory action research and practice development

For the last decade there has been a growing body of international evidence demonstrating the adverse effects on patient care caused by the continued international shortage of registered nurses (RN). One solution being explored in hospitals in Australia is to change their staffing mix by recruiting more graduate RNs, enrolled nurses (EN) and introducing unregulated workers (nursing assistants) as a strategy to increase the nursing workforce. To assist with managing the varied skill mix, hospitals have investigated team nursing as an alternative to the established RN dependent patient allocation model of nursing delivery. There is no conclusive evidence that demonstrates the impact of one model of care as compared to another in terms of satisfaction, quality and cost of care.Major deficits exist in team based nursing research. These are largely due to the small scale of the studies; focus on its use in medical and surgical wards and limited evaluation measures for staff and patients’ satisfaction and patient outcomes. Consequently, these studies have not demonstrated team nursing as an effective model in supporting nurses deliver care nor as a model that ensures the provision of quality patient care. This study addresses these deficits and provides a strong evidence base for the use of team based nursing in tertiary hospitals to both support nursing staff and contribute to positive patient outcomes.The purpose of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate a team based model (subsequently coined Shared Care Model or SCM), that supported the different levels of skill mix in the provision of safe care for patients admitted to 21 nominated wards (571 beds) at the study hospital. The impact the SCM had on nurses’ workload, team approach to organisation and provision of nursing care, culture of support, nursing rounds, bedside and board handover were investigated. In addition, the impact the SCM had on patient satisfaction, patient complaints and adverse incidents was investigated.The philosophical base for this study was critical social theory and the methodology participatory action research (PAR), underpinned by principles and processes of emancipatory practice development (ePD). Data instruments included validated staff and patient satisfaction questionnaires and the study hospital’s clinical incident and complaint management’s electronic systems and databases.The major findings of the study were statistically significant increases in learning opportunities and more manageable workloads associated with a less experienced nurse working with a more experienced nurse. However, this did not have an overall statistically significant effect on improving the culture of support nor ensuring manageable workloads. Statistically significant reductions were found in the four major adverse events measured of medications, falls, injuries and behaviour. Patient satisfaction was statistically significantly improved in relation to discharge planning and there were significant reductions in complaints associated with the manner in which patient were treated by nurses. Despite maintaining high levels of patient satisfaction throughout the study period there were statistically significantly more complaints in relation to the quality of clinical care. These findings establish that combinations of RNs of different levels of experience when working together as a team either in pairs or with unregistered staff provides safe patient care for a diverse range of clinical specialities

Prioritising the care of critically ill children: a pilot study using SCREEN reduces clinic waiting times

Objective In low-resource settings, childhood mortality secondary to delays in triage and treatment remains high. This paper seeks to evaluate the impact of the novel Sick Children Require Emergency Evaluation Now (SCREEN) tool on the waiting times of critically ill children who present for care to primary healthcare clinics in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods We used a pre/postevaluation study design to calculate the median waiting times of all children who presented to four randomly chosen clinics for 5 days before, and 5 days after, the implementation of SCREEN. Findings The SCREEN programme resulted in statistical and clinically significant reductions in waiting times for children with critical illness to see a professional nurse (2 hours 45 min to 1 hour 12 min; p<0.001). There was also a statistically significant reduction in the proportion of children who left without being seen by a professional nurse (25.8% to 18.48%; p<0.001). Conclusions SCREEN is a novel programme that uses readily available laypersons, trained to make a subjective assessment of children arriving at primary healthcare centres, and provides a low cost, simple methodology to prioritise children and reduce waiting times in low-resource healthcare clinics

A comparison of two bathing methods : Effects on the haemodynamic and subjective responses of low risk patients within 48 hours post myocardial infarction

The purpose of this within subject experimental study was to determine what effect showering by nurses, as compared to bed bathing patients, has on the haemodynamic and subjective responses of low risk patients within 48 hours of having a myocardial infarction. The sample consisted of 50 patients, 8 female and 42 male, with a mean age of 61 years (SD = 10). Twenty-five were randomly assigned to a bed bath, then a shower over 2 consecutive days and the other 25 to the reverse order. The haemodynamic responses consisted of heart rate, rate pressure product (RPP), blood pressure, cardiac rhythm, ST segment changes, arterial oxygen consumption (Sa02) and chest pain. Each of these responses was measured prior to, during, immediately afterwards and 5 minutes after each bathing method. Ratings of perceived exertion and a short questionnaire were completed after both bathing methods to assess patients\u27 subjective responses. The only significant difference in the cardiovascular responses to both bathing methods was an increase in the Sa02 measurement, during the shower (p \u3c .05). Twelve patients had abnormal cardiovascular responses to the bed bath and 7 to the shower which were not significant (p \u3e.05). Either a fall in systolic blood pressure, or changes in heart rate or rhythm accounted for the abnormal cardiovascular responses. Patients overwhelmingly demonstrated their preference for a shower (p \u3c .05). The findings of this research demonstrated that showering low risk patients in the first 48 hours post myocardial infarction does not increase myocardial oxygen demands. Low risk patients can mobilise sooner and therefore be discharged earlier, thus resulting in savings in health care costs and an enhanced sense of patient well being