Ecotoxicology of marine biotoxins in bivalve shellfish

A small proportion of harmful algae produce toxins which are harmful to human health. Strict monitoring programmes are in place within Ireland and the EU to effectively manage risk to human consumers of shellfish species that have accumulated marine biotoxins in their tissues. However, little is known about the impacts of HABs on shellfish health. This study used Solid Phase Adsorption and Toxin Tracking (SPATT) for the passive sampling of algal biotoxins at Lough Hyne Marine Nature Reserve in West Cork, Ireland. Spatial and temporal monitoring of the incidence of a wide range of lipophilic toxins was assessed over a 4-month period. Active sampling accumulated sufficient quantities of toxin for use in subsequent experimentation. In addition to commonly occurring Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) toxins, Dinophysis toxin-1 and Pinnatoxin-G were both detected in the samples. This is the first identification of these latter two toxins in Irish waters. The effects of the DSP toxin okadaic acid (OA) were investigated on three shellfish species: Mytilus edulis, Ruditapes philippinarum and Crassostrea gigas. Histological examination of the gill, mantle and hepatopancreas tissues revealed varying intensity of damage depending both on the tissue type and the species involved. At the cellular level, flow cytometric analysis of the differential cell population distribution was assessed. No change in cell population distribution was observed in Mytilus edulis or Ruditapes philippinarum, however significant changes were observed in Crassostrea gigas granulocytes at the lower levels of toxin exposure. This indicated a chemically-induced response to OA. DNA fragmentation was measured in the haemolymph and hepatopancreas cells post OA-exposure in Mytilus edulis and Crassostrea gigas. A significant increase in DNA fragmentation was observed in both species over time, even at the lowest OA concentrations. DNA fragmentation could be due to genotoxicity of OA and/or to the induction of cell apoptosis

Integrating psychological and nursing knowledge: Developing an interdisciplinary reflective tool to assess undergraduate nursing students' communication skills

Recent reviews of undergraduate nursing curricula highlight a number of recommendations. Among these are the need for increased interdisciplinary integration of modules, reduction in student assessments and more self-directed learning and reflection. In light of these recommendations, the teaching and assessing of therapeutic interpersonal skills for nursing practice psychology for healthcare was examined. This paper will outline the development of an interdisciplinary reflective assessment tool to help students integrate psychological and nursing knowledge for practice. As a result of on-going team meetings between nursing and psychology lecturers, some core areas pertinent to first year student nurses, and that were central threshold concepts for both disciplines, were identified for assessment. These included stress, self-care management and empathy. This interdisciplinary assessment has potential to enhance critical thinking, self-discovery, reinforce learning and promote personal and professional growth and development in student nurses

External allomorphy and lexical representations

Many cases of allomorphic alternation are restricted to specific lexical items but at the same time show a regular phonological distribution. Standard approaches cannot deal with these cases because they must either resort to diacritic features or list regular phonological contexts as idiosyncratic. These problems can be overcome if we assume that allomorphs are lexically organized as a partially ordered set. If no ordering is established, allomorphic choice is determined by the phonology- in particular, by the emergence of the unmarked (TETU). In other cases, TETU effects are insufficient, and lexical ordering determines the preference for dominant allomorphs

Nursing and midwifery students' stress and coping during their undergraduate education programmes: An integrative review

Objectives: The aim of this review is to examine the literature related to the sources of stress, coping mechanisms and interventions to support undergraduate nursing and midwifery students to cope with stress during their undergraduate education. Design: Integrative literature review. Data Sources: The databases CINAHL, PubMed and PsycINFO were searched for articles published between 2010 and 2016. Search terms in various combinations were used for example; student nurse, student midwife, undergraduate, stress, coping and interventions. Review Methods: An integrative review based on Whittemore and Knafl's approach was used to conduct the review. Results: The search generated 25 articles that met the inclusion criteria. The key sources of stress emanated from clinical, academic and financial issues but predominantly from the clinical environment. Students used a variety of coping strategies, both adaptive and maladaptive. These appear to be influenced by their past and present circumstances such as, their needs, what was at stake and their options for coping. Interventions for student nurses/midwives to cope with stress were varied and in the early stages of development. Mindfulness showed some promising positive results. Interventions focussed on the individual level excluding the wider social context or organisation level. Conclusions: Stress is pervasive in all aspects of undergraduate nursing and midwifery education. Nursing and midwifery educators need to be aware of this impact and provide appropriate support to students in both the clinical and academic environments. Further research is needed to capture the experience of stress from the students' perspective as well as the barriers and facilitators to supporting students from the preceptors'/mentors' perspectives. Finally, more intervention studies are needed to identify and compare what interventions are effective in supporting students to cope with stress during their undergraduate education

Coping with stressful events: a pre-post-test of a psycho-educational intervention for undergraduate nursing and midwifery students

Background: Knowledge of coping mechanisms is important for nursing and midwifery students to cope with stressful events during undergraduate education. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a psycho-educational intervention “Coping with Stressful Events” with first year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students. Design: A quasi-experimental, one-group pre-post-test. Settings: One school of nursing/midwifery in one university in Ireland. Participants: A convenience sample of all first year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students (n = 197). Of these 166 completed the pretest and 138 students completed the post test. Methods: Using the COPE Inventory questionnaire (Carver et al., 1989) data was collected pre and post-delivery of the psycho-educational intervention “Coping with Stressful Events” by two research assistants. Data were analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 22 (NY, USA). Results: Results demonstrated improved coping skills by students. There were statistically significant differences between pre and post intervention for some coping subscales. For example, the mean subscale scores were lower post-intervention for restraint and mental disengagement, and higher for use of emotional and instrumental social support indicating improved coping strategies. Conclusions: This intervention has the potential to influence undergraduate nursing and midwifery students coping skills during their first year of an undergraduate programme

Four-year longitudinal impact evaluation of the action for children UK neglect project : outcomes for the children, families, action for children, and the UK

Neglect has a devastating impact on children and is the most pervasive form of child maltreatment in the United Kingdom. The study purpose was to establish outcomes for neglected children following structured assessment and intervention to ascertain what worked and why it worked. This prospective cohort study included 85 cases of neglected children under 8 years of age from 7 centers across the United Kingdom. Data were collected between 2008 and 2012 through serial quantitative recording of the level of concern about neglect. Serial review of qualitative casefile data was undertaken for detail of assessment, interventions, and evidence of outcomes for the child. Data analysis was undertaken by paired t-test, Chi Square, descriptive statics for categorical data, and, for narrative data, identification of recurring factors and patterns, with correlation of presenting factors, interventions, and outcomes. Paired t-test demonstrated significant decrease in overall Action for Children Assessment Tool scores between assessment (M = 43.77, SD = 11.09) and closing the case (M = 35.47,SD = 9.6, t(84) = 6.77, p < 0.01). Improvement in the level of concern about neglect was shown in 79% of cases, with only 21% showing no improvement. In 59% of cases, concern about neglect was removed completely. Use of the assessment tool fostered engagement by parents. The relationship between lack of parental engagement and children being taken into care was statistically significant, with a large effect size (χ2 10.66, df1, p = 0.0001,OR = 17.24). When parents refused or were unable to respond positively to the intervention, children benefited from an expedited move into care

Capturing the whole-school food environment in primary schools

Abstract Objective: The school food environment is an ideal setting for encouraging healthy dietary behaviour. We aimed to develop an instrument to assess whole-school food environments; test the instrument in the school setting; and demonstrate its use to make food environment recommendations. Design: School food environment literature and UK school food guidance was searched to inform instrument items. The instrument consisted of (i) an observation proforma capturing canteen areas systems, food presentation and monitoring of food intake, and (ii) a questionnaire assessing food policies, provision and activities. The instrument was tested in schools and used to develop school food environment recommendations. Descriptive analyses enabled narrative discussion. Setting: Primary schools. Participants: An observation was undertaken at schools in urban and rural geographical regions of Northern Ireland of varying socio-economic status (n=18). School senior management completed the questionnaire with input from school caterers (n=16). Results: The instrument captured desired detail and potential instrument modifications were identified. School food environments varied. Differences existed between food policies and how policies were implemented and monitored. At many schools there was scope to enhance physical eating environments (n=12, 67%) and food presentation (n=15, 83%); emphasise healthy eating through food activities (n=7, 78%); and increase parental engagement in school food (n=9, 56%). Conclusions: The developed instrument can measure whole-school food environments in primary schools and also enabled identification of recommendations to enhance school food environments. Further assessment and adaptation of the instrument is required to enable future use as a research tool or for self-assessment use by schools