bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fractionation of dissolved organic carbon from soil solution with immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography
Authors: Paunovic I. , Schulin R. , Nowack B.
Published: November 2007

The presence and identity of Cu‐complexing ligands in soil solution strongly affects biogeochemistry, bioavailability and the fate of Cu in soils. In this study, we compared the influence of heavy metal pollution, vegetation and soil type on the amount and characterization of ligands able to form ternary complexes with Cu in soil solution. For separation and characterization, we applied immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) combined with fluorescence spectroscopy. All separated IMAC‐fractions exhibited excitation‐emission wavelengths of humic‐like fluorescence (240–285/365–434 nm). Protein‐type fluorescence (270–280/295–365 nm) and fluorescence at 330–340/375–385 nm were detected only in the retained fraction whereas carboxylate‐type fluorescence (300–310/420–430 nm) was observed only in the non‐retained fraction. These findings are in agreement with the behaviour of model ligands. The IMAC‐retained ligands represented between 5 and 30% of dissolved organic carbon. The soil type and the vegetation had the largest influence on the quality and quantity of Cu ligands able to form ternary complexes. In the topsoil, the IMAC retained fraction was greater in soil without vegetation (16%) compared with soil with vegetation (12%). A larger amount (75%) of the protein‐type ligands able to form ternary complexes with Cu was found in soil with vegetation compared with plant‐free soil (69%). Metal pollution also affected the composition of the extracted ligands; the fraction with protein‐type ligands decreased from 75% in unpolluted to 65% in the polluted topsoil. The results show that IMAC‐retained ligands are related to the biological activity in soils.
Determination of refractory organic matter in marine sediments by chemical oxidation, analytical pyrolysis and solid‐state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Authors: De La Rosa J. M. , González‐Pérez J. A. , Hatcher P. G. , Knicker H. , González‐Vila F. J.
Published: November 2007

Seeking to quantify the amount of refractory organic matter (ROM), which includes black carbon‐like material (BC), in marine sediments, we have applied a two‐step procedure that consists of a chemical oxidation with sodium chlorite of the demineralized sediments followed by integration of the aromatic C region in the remaining residues by solid‐state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The efficacy for lignin removal was tested by analytical pyrolysis in the presence of tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH). Riverine, estuarine and offshore marine sediment samples were collected from the southwest Atlantic coast of Spain, a site of geological and environmental interest. Measured contents of BC‐like material ranged between 3.0 and 45.7% of the total organic carbon. Greater relative BC contents were found in riverine sediments close to urban areas, which show an elevated input of anthropogenic organic material. The contents of BC‐like material in offshore marine sediments (5.5–6.1%) were similar to those previously reported for these kinds of samples. However, NMR and pyrolysis‐GC/MS of the isolated ROM reveals that abundant refractory aliphatic organic material remains in most of the marine samples after chlorite oxidation. We suggest that this pool of aliphatic carbon may play an important role as a stable carbon pool within the global C cycle.
Percolation characteristics of a water‐repellent sandy forest soil
Authors: Wessolek G. , Schwärzel K. , Greiffenhagen A. , Stoffregen H.
Published: November 2007

In a tracer experiment TDR transect measurements were made to study percolation behaviour in a 120‐year‐old pine stand (Pinus sylvestris) on a water‐repellent sandy soil (Haplic Arenosol). The experiment (with potassium iodide) showed an 80% labelling of the total flow in organic layers, whereas the area of transport in the mineral soil was sharply reduced to 12–30%. The average diameters of these preferential flow paths were about 8–15 cm. The TDR measurements indicate a homogeneous flow only for a short period from February until April. At this time of the year preferential flow is insignificant, because the soil is at approximately field capacity and not repellent to water. During summer (May to September) the soil dries out, and most precipitation results in preferential flow during this period. For any daily rainfall exceeding 10 mm, water infiltrates down to 1 m depth in the soil, which nevertheless, is still within the root zone. This kind of deep percolation results in the subsoil’s wetting to field capacity (pF 1.8) earlier than the topsoil. A one‐dimensional numerical model (SWAP) was used to simulate mean water balance with hydraulic functions with and without a water‐repellency term. From the results of our tracer experiment we showed that the de‐watering process in spring could be simulated well using the traditional piston flow concept, while the rewetting behaviour could be described more realistically using the mobile–immobile concept for water repellency.
Challenges in developing fish‐based ecological assessment methods for large floodplain rivers
Authors: DE LEEUW J. J. , BUIJSE A. D. , HAIDVOGL G. , LAPINSKA M. , NOBLE R. , REPECKA R. , VIRBICKAS T. , WIŚNIEWOLSKI W. , WOLTER C.
Published: November 2007

Abstract  Large European floodplain rivers have a great diversity in habitats and fish fauna, but tend to be heavily modified. The complexity of these river systems and their multiple human impacts pose considerable challenges for assessment of their ecological status. This paper discusses: (1) the application of historical information on fish fauna and habitat availability to describe reference conditions; (2) responses of fish assemblages to human disturbance by comparing various rivers and river segments with different impacts and/or time series within rivers; (3) the role of floodplain water bodies in ecological assessment; and (4) monitoring of large rivers using different gears and sampling designs for main channels and floodplain habitats. The challenge for the future is to standardise and calibrate sampling methods and data to enhance the potential for ecological assessment of large rivers.
Assessing perturbation of river fish communities in the Iberian Ecoregion
Authors: FERREIRA T. , CAIOLA N. , CASALS F. , OLIVEIRA J. M. , DE SOSTOA A.
Published: November 2007

Abstract  A spatially based approach was used to analyse the response of fish‐based metrics to human impacts in the Iberian Peninsula. A fish‐based typology was established that distinguished one salmonid type (fish assemblages dominated by Salmo trutta fario L.), two mixed types (S. trutta fario associated with different cyprinids) and six cyprinid types (dominated by different species of barbel [Barbus spp.], nase [Chondrostoma spp.] or chub [Leuciscus spp.]). These types broadly correspond to different forms of ecosystem functioning, ranging from the cold, northern and high altitude sections to warmwater, lowland and southern sections. Twenty metrics were identified that responded to disturbance – four to 14 per fish type. The highest correlations were −0.795 for abundance of Squalius sp. and segment (localised) disturbance and 0.754 for abundance of limnophilic specimens and water quality disturbance. Disturbance of segment, habitat and hydrological regime yielded more metric responses in western Iberian fish types, while that of habitat and water quality gave more in north‐eastern Iberian fish types. Global (catchment scale) disturbance generally gave more responsive metrics and higher correlations than partial disturbances. All guilds were represented and a number of metrics were responsive across fish types – namely native species, alien abundance, water column (natives), eurytopic and invertivorous (natives). However, several metrics were only reactive in one or a few types, such as benthic and S. trutta fario in north‐western mixed fish type. Different trends in metric reaction occurred for total abundance in north‐western mixed fish type, and for eurytopic and phytophilic (natives) in the north‐eastern fish types.
Fish‐based methods for assessing European running waters: a synthesis
Authors: SCHMUTZ S. , COWX I. G. , HAIDVOGL G. , PONT D.
Published: November 2007

Abstract  The European Union, Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires monitoring of riverine fish fauna. When the WFD came into force in 2000, most of the EU member states did not have fish‐based assessment methods compliant to WFD requirements. Therefore, the objectives of FAME (http://fame.boku.ac.at), a project under the fifth R&D Framework Programme of the European Commission were to develop, evaluate and implement a standardised fish‐based method for assessing the ecological status of European running waters. This paper synthesises the outputs of FAME and defines future research needs. Two different methodologies were used: the so‐called spatially based modelling and the site‐specific modelling, the latter leading to the European Fish Index (EFI). The advantage of the EFI is that, despite being a single index, it is applicable to a wide range of environmental conditions across Europe precluding the need for inter‐calibration. The EFI will support the WFD towards harmonised/standardised assessment and management of running waters in Europe, thus enabling comparative analyses of the ecological status of running waters across Europe.
Stream food web response to a salmon carcass analogue addition in two central Idaho, U.S.A. streams
Authors: KOHLER ANDRE E. , RUGENSKI AMANDA , TAKI DOUG
Published: November 2007

1. Pacific salmon and steelhead once contributed large amounts of marine‐derived carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus to freshwater ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America (California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho). Declines in historically abundant anadromous salmonid populations represent a significant loss of returning nutrients across a large spatial scale. Recently, a manufactured salmon carcass analogue was developed and tested as a safe and effective method of delivering nutrients to freshwater and linked riparian ecosystems where marine‐derived nutrients have been reduced or eliminated.

2. We compared four streams: two reference and two treatment streams using salmon carcass analogue(s) (SCA) as a treatment. Response variables measured included: surface streamwater chemistry; nutrient limitation status; carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes; periphyton chlorophyll a and ash‐free dry mass (AFDM); macroinvertebrate density and biomass; and leaf litter decomposition rates. Within each stream, upstream reference and downstream treatment reaches were sampled 1 year before, during, and 1 year after the addition of SCA.

3. Periphyton chlorophyll a and AFDM and macroinvertebrate biomass were significantly higher in stream reaches treated with SCA. Enriched stable isotope (δ15N) signatures were observed in periphyton and macroinvertebrate samples collected from treatment reaches in both treatment streams, indicating trophic transfer from SCA to consumers. Densities of Ephemerellidae, Elmidae and Brachycentridae were significantly higher in treatment reaches. Macroinvertebrate community composition and structure, as measured by taxonomic richness and diversity, did not appear to respond significantly to SCA treatment. Leaf breakdown rates were variable among treatment streams: significantly higher in one stream treatment reach but not the other. Salmon carcass analogue treatments had no detectable effect on measured water chemistry variables.

4. Our results suggest that SCA addition successfully increased periphyton and macroinvertebrate biomass with no detectable response in streamwater nutrient concentrations. Correspondingly, no change in nutrient limitation status was detected based on dissolved inorganic nitrogen to soluble reactive phosphorus ratios (DIN/SRP) and nutrient‐diffusing substrata experiments. Salmon carcass analogues appear to increase freshwater productivity.

5. Salmon carcass analogues represent a pathogen‐free nutrient enhancement tool that mimics natural trophic transfer pathways, can be manufactured using recycled fish products, and is easily transported; however, salmon carcass analogues should not be viewed as a replacement for naturally spawning salmon and the important ecological processes they provide.
Feedbacks between phosphorus deposition and canopy cover: The emergence of multiple stable states in tropical dry forests
Authors: DeLONGE MARCIA , D'ODORICO PAOLO , LAWRENCE DEBORAH
Published: November 2007

Dry forests represent a large percentage of tropical forests and are vulnerable to both anthropogenic and natural disturbances, yet important aspects of their sensitivity to disruption remain poorly understood. It is particularly unclear how changes in land‐use or tropical storm patterns may affect the resiliency of phosphorus (P)‐limited neotropical forests. In these systems, vegetation is sustained in the long‐term by atmospheric P‐inputs through rainfall, dust, or fog. Past research supports the idea that dust and fog deposition are dependent on canopy density (e.g. leaf area index). Thus, the canopy may function as a ‘trap’ for P, enabling a positive feedback between vegetation and P‐deposition. We developed a conceptual model to investigate how Neotropical vegetation may respond to reduced P‐deposition due to canopy losses. The model suggests that a canopy‐deposition feedback may induce bistable vegetation dynamics; under some conditions, forests may be unable to naturally recover from relatively small disturbances.
Temperature and vegetation effects on soil organic carbon quality along a forested mean annual temperature gradient in North America
Authors: FISSORE CINZIA , GIARDINA CHRISTIAN P. , KOLKA RANDALL K. , TRETTIN CARL C. , KING GARY M. , JURGENSEN MARTIN F. , BARTON CHRISTOPHER D. , MCDOWELL S. DOUGLAS
Published: November 2007

Both climate and plant species are hypothesized to influence soil organic carbon (SOC) quality, but accurate prediction of how SOC process rates respond to global change will require an improved understanding of how SOC quality varies with mean annual temperature (MAT) and forest type. We investigated SOC quality in paired hardwood and pine stands growing in coarse textured soils located along a 22 °C gradient in MAT. To do this, we conducted 80‐day incubation experiments at 10 and 30 °C to quantify SOC decomposition rates, which we used to kinetically define SOC quality. We used these experiments to test the hypotheses that SOC quality decreases with MAT, and that SOC quality is higher under pine than hardwood tree species. We found that both SOC quantity and quality decreased with increasing MAT. During the 30 °C incubation, temperature sensitivity (Q10) values were strongly and positively related to SOC decomposition rates, indicating that substrate supply can influence temperature responsiveness of SOC decomposition rates. For a limited number of dates, Q10 was negatively related to MAT. Soil chemical properties could not explain observed patterns in soil quality. Soil pH and cation exchange capacity (CEC) both declined with increasing MAT, and soil C quality was positively related to pH but negatively related to CEC. Clay mineralogy of soils also could not explain patterns of SOC quality as complex (2 : 1), high CEC clay minerals occurred in cold climate soils while warm climate soils were dominated by simpler (1 : 1), low CEC clay minerals. While hardwood sites contained more SOC than pine sites, with differences declining with MAT, clay content was also higher in hardwood soils. In contrast, there was no difference in SOC quality between pine and hardwood soils. Overall, these findings indicate that SOC quantity and quality may both decrease in response to global warming, despite long‐term changes in soil chemistry and mineralogy that favor decomposition.
Crohn’s disease patients homozygous for the 3020insC NOD2 mutation have a defective NOD2/TLR4 cross‐tolerance to intestinal stimuli
Authors: Kullberg Bart Jan , Ferwerda Gerben , De Jong Dirk J. , Drenth Joost P. H. , Joosten Leo A. B. , Van der Meer Jos W. M. , Netea Mihai G.
Published: November 2007

Mutations in nucleotide‐binding oligomerization domain‐2 (NOD2), leading to defective recognition of bacterial peptidoglycans, are associated with Crohn’s disease. The underlying mechanism that results in increased inflammation in the guts of the patients bearing NOD2 mutations is still unclear. We hypothesized that NOD2 engagement leads to cross‐tolerance to stimulation of Toll‐like receptors (TLR), and we investigated whether patients with Crohn’s disease who bear NOD2 mutations display a disturbed NOD2/TLR cross‐tolerance. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells preincubated with NOD2 ligands were specifically down‐regulated for the production of tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) induced by the TLR4 ligand lipopolysaccharide, as well as by intestinal microorganisms, whereas the production of anti‐inflammatory cytokines was not modulated. While in cells isolated from patients with Crohn’s disease with the wild‐type NOD2 allele, the NOD2 engagement led to a similar cross‐tolerance to TLR4‐dependent stimulation of TNF‐α, the cross‐tolerance between NOD2 and TLR4 was absent in the cells of five patients homozygous for the 3020insC NOD2 mutation, leading to uninhibited release of TNF‐α by TLR4 ligands and intestinal bacteria. In conclusion, we propose the absence of NOD2/TLR4 cross‐tolerance as a central mechanism for the increased susceptibility to Crohn’s disease in individuals with NOD2 mutations.
Optimisation of the medium composition for production of protease and soybean peptides by Bacillus subtilis SHZ using response surface methodology
Authors: Yu Bo , Lu Zhao‐Xin , Bie Xiao‐Mei , Lu Feng‐Xia , Huang Xian‐Qing
Published: November 2007

Responses surface methodology was employed to enhance the production of protease and soybean peptides by Bacillus subtilis SHZ. For screening of medium composition significantly influencing protease and soybean peptides yield, the two‐level Plackett–Burman design was used. Among thirteen variables tested; KH2PO4, glucose and defatted soybean flour (DSF) were selected based on their high significant effect on both protease activity and soybean peptides yield. Then, a three‐level Box–Behnken design was employed to optimise the medium composition for the production of the protease and soybean peptides in submerged fermentation. Mathematical models were then developed to show the effect of each medium composition and their interactions on the production of protease and soybean peptides. The model estimated that, the maximal protease activity (320 ± 1 U mL−1) could be obtained when the concentrations of glucose, KH2PO4, DSF were set at 8–9 g L−1, 2–3 g L−1, 55–65 g L−1, respectively; while a maximal yield of soybean peptides (8.5 ± 0.1 g L−1) could be achieved when the concentrations of glucose, KH2PO4, DSF were set at 7–9 g L−1, 3–4 g L−1 and 55–58 g L−1, respectively. These predicted values were also verified by validation experiments.
Younger‐onset Alzheimer's disease: learning from the experience of one spouse carer
Authors: WILLIAMS OLWEN , KEADY JOHN , NOLAN MIKE
Published: November 2007

There are estimated to be 17 000 younger sufferers of dementia currently living in the UK. At present, individualized service and practice initiatives for younger sufferers and their carers remain fragmented and poorly developed. This is despite potential additional caregiving stressors caused by the age of onset, such as financial difficulties due to disruption in the work pattern, children still living at home, and the sufferer's decreased life expectancy.

Drawing on an individual carer's personal case history, this article details a spouse carer's individual experience of her husband's decline through the stages of younger‐onset Alzheimer's disease. Pointers for policy and practice for younger sufferers and their carers are drawn from this case history and a role for the community psychiatric nurse is outlined.
Dependency, skill mix and grade mix and their effects on health visiting practice
Authors: GIBBINGS SALLY M.
Published: November 2007

The use of dependency in assessing types of skill mix and of grade mix in health‐visiting practice is discussed.

With regard to the present system, where computer information systems may be used to give an indication of the skill mix required, the emphasis on efficiency rather than effectiveness is discussed. Note is made of the disproportionate emphasis of physical over psychological, social and emotional needs.

The implications of skill mix and grade mix in the community setting are discussed, with special reference to the advent of health‐care assistants, nursery nurses, and other non‐health‐visiting staff.

Finally, the inevitable influence of politics on health care, and its relationship to skill mix, grade mix and dependency is considered.
Utilizing Peplau's psychodynamic theory for stroke patient care
Authors: JONES ADRIAN
Published: November 2007

A theory which enables the recipient of care to identify health‐care needs is paramount.

Hildegard Peplau's (1952) theory of psychodynamic nursing enables this process to occur in collaborative identification and resolution of need.

The psychodynamic approach can direct the user to focus on the psychosocial problems created by a stroke.

The advantages and limitations of the theory are still to be investigated with the continued application to varied clinical situations.

There is a need to generate an expanded research‐based taxonomy of psycho‐social interventions for this client group.
Partnership in care: parents' views of participation in their hospitalized child's care
Authors: COYNE IMELDA T.
Published: November 2007

This paper describes parents' experiences of participation in their hospitalized child's care on a general surgical paediatric ward.

The findings indicate that parents chose to participate because of concern for the child's emotional welfare. Influencing‐ factors included sense of parental duty, past experiences with hospitals, and concern for consistency of care.

Parents' readiness to care was encouraged by a supportive family network, support from other parents, familiarity and experience with care.

Parents were willing to adapt their parenting skills in order to be able to care for their child at home and were willing to perform more care provided it did not cause pain for the child, had the nurses' approval and increased their confidence and competence as carers.

Lack of information, non‐negotiation of roles, inadequate facilities, feelings of anxiety and loneliness were the difficulties parents experienced.
What kind of nurses do patients want?
Authors: WEBB CHRISTINE , HOPE EVIN
Published: November 2007

This article discusses whether certain aspects of ‘New Nursing’ which involve changes in nurse‐patient relationships and the emphasis of the nurse's role fit with patients' preferences for their care.

It reports on a study investigating these issues, and concludes that patients in general want a warm and friendly style of nursing, but a substantial minority do not agree with the use of patients' first names.

Patients' evaluations of the most important nursing activities focus on listening to patients' worries, teaching them about their conditions, and relieving pain.
Impaired autonomy–the challenge of caring
Authors: SINES DAVID
Published: November 2007

The aim of this paper is to present an informed argument in favour of changing power relationships between learning disability nurses and their clients and to do so through an examination of the influence that they have on quality of life issues for people whose autonomy is impaired.

The challenge of empowerment and enhanced autonomy is considered to be at the ‘cutting edge’ of the learning‐disability agenda with its increasing focus on the provision of supported living opportunities for clients in the community.

Features related to institutional methods of care delivery continue to exist in some services and as a result clients may still be expected to conform to the dominant themes of time, order, control and regimentation,

The application of social and environmental engineering techniques to the field of learning disability care is prerequisite for the development of more positive alternatives to the mental‐handicap hospital as a focus for care provision.

The main requirement for persons whose autonomy is impaired will be the promotion of equal power sharing between clients and carer. This process will involve a number of transactional considerations such as advocacy, risk taking and shared action planning.

The emergence of a new paradigm for nursing practice will result in the solution for shifting the balance of power in the emergent world of consumerism for clients whose autonomy is impaired.
Patients' perceptions of the quality of psychiatric nursing care: findings from a small‐scale descriptive study
Authors: BEECH PAULA , NORMAN IAN J.
Published: November 2007

This study tested a development of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) (Flanagan, 1954) in a field‐study to gather incidents of high‐ and low‐quality nursing care as perceived by 24 patients with mental‐health problems in two admission wards of a psychiatric hospital. The development of the CIT used took the form of an interactive, guided interview, developed previously for the same purpose with other groups of patients and their nurses and is discussed in detail elsewhere. This paper describes the results of the study which throws light on patients' perceptions of high‐ and low‐quality nursing care in an acute‐care setting.

Qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed 239 indicators of high‐ and low‐quality psychiatric nursing care which were grouped into six main categories. Patients' responses indicated the importance attached to the therapeutic functions of the psychiatric nurse, in particular the value placed by patients on nurses being active listeners. Aspects of practice most often identified as of poor quality included nurses' failure to explain their actions, the negative impact of nurses' group behaviour on ward atmosphere, their inadequate knowledge base and the negative consequences of inadequate staffing.

The CIT fulfilled its potential as an interactive method of eliciting the views of this patient group of the quality of nursing care.
Whooping‐cough vaccination: historical, social and political controversies
Authors: DYSON SIMON
Published: November 2007

New acellular whooping cough vaccines may have the effect of leading us to forget that infectious diseases such as whooping cough have declined in the context of particular historical, social conditions and persist in the context of particular types of social inequalities.

The debates over the existence of damage from whole‐cell whooping cough vaccine, and the respective risks of the vaccine and the disease arc still unresolved owing to methodological limitations of studies on both sides of the argument.

One‐sided health ‘education’ campaigns on whooping cough vaccine have questionable ethics, and suppression of dissenting views is counterproductive.

Health professionals and parents have a right to know the political context of the debate.
Quality audit – a review of the literature concerning delivery of continence care
Authors: SWAFFIELD JEAN
Published: November 2007

This paper outlines the role of quality audit within the framework of quality assurance, presenting the concurrent and retrospective approaches available.

The literature survey provides a review of the limited audit tools available and their application to continence services and care delivery, as well as attempts to produce tools from national and local standard setting. Audit is part of a process; it can involve staff, patients and their relatives and the team of professionals providing care, as well as focusing on organizational and management levels.

In an era of market delivery of services there is a need to justify why audit is important to continence advisors and managers. Effectiveness, efficiency and economics may drive the National Health Service, but quality assurance, which includes standards and audit tools, offers the means to ensure the quality of continence services and care to patients and auditing is also required in the purchaser/provider contracts for patient services.

An overview and progress to date of published and other a projects in auditing continence care and service is presented. By outlining and highlighting the audit of continence service delivery and care as a basis on which to build quality assurance programmes, it is hoped that this knowledge will be shared through the setting up of a central auditing clearing project.
Assessing health needs in people with severe learning disabilities: a qualitative approach
Authors: CALLAN LYNN , GILBERT TONY , GOLDING KATHY , LOCKYER TERI , RAFTER KATHY
Published: November 2007

Summary

The nursing assessment, and the contribution it makes to the identification of an individual's health needs, is often a complex and multidimensional process. This is always true when the individual concerned has a severe learning disability.

The nurse should develop the assessment in partnership with individuals who may experience major communication difficulties, or have unappreciated levels of perceptual or cognitive dysfunction. They may also live with the ongoing possibility that their affective or behavioural responses may be misinterpreted as ‘challenging behaviour’.

This case study focuses upon one particular young man with a severe learning disability living in a community home. Drawing upon the principles of qualitative research methods, especially those of ‘grounded theory’, this study aims to demonstrate how these can be used to develop a uniquely person‐centred assessment.

A systematic process of observation, analysis and reflection produces a detailed picture of the individual and his or her particular health states.

The strength of this approach is threefold. Firstly, the person is considered as an active participant and remains the central focus. Secondly, in contrast to many other forms of assessment, the person is viewed as dynamic with ever changing needs. Thirdly, the process of nursing judgement is made explicit and integrated into the assessment process.
Nursing home residents' perceptions of relocation
Authors: NAY RHONDA
Published: November 2007

Summary

The lived experience of relocating to a nursing home is explored from the perspective of 19 residents of Australian nursing homes.

The interpretative research methodology is informed by hermeneutic phenomenology.

In‐depth interviews were conducted with 19 nursing home residents living in nursing homes in NSW. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed to identify emergent themes.

The themes are described and interpreted to provide an understanding of the relocation experience.
The art of clinical supervision
Authors: TITCHEN ANGIE , BINNIE ALISON
Published: November 2007

Summary

Helping nurses to become effective and confident as primary nurses involves developing their interpersonal skills, sharpening their decision‐making and nurturing their creativity. In our action research study, we found that traditional methods of ward teaching did not help to promote this kind of professional growth. We therefore developed, tested and refined three distinct strategies for clinical supervision which specifically aimed to foster more thoughtful and more sensitive nursing practice. Very importantly, we found that these approaches to supervision were feasible and practical to use in a busy hospital ward.

In this paper, we describe the three supervision strategies, using a clinical story to illustrate what each demands from the supervisor and what it offers the nurse under supervision. We also suggest ways in which expert nurses can be helped to become effective clinical supervisors.
Complementary therapies in practice: the ethical issues
Authors: NORTON LAVINIA
Published: November 2007

Summary

This article explores some of the ethical issues associated with the use of complementary therapies in practice.

The adopted terminology and related concepts are clarified. The term ‘complementary therapy’ is compared and contrasted with ‘alternative medicine’ and ‘non‐conventional therapy’.

The increasing emphasis on holistic nursing care is also discussed.

Ethical issues of patient choice, informed consent and the principle of beneficence are examined in relation to complementary therapies.

The article highlights the obligation of the nurse, midwife or health visitor to provide or facilitate holistic care including complementary therapies, such as massage or aromatherapy, for those clients who request such care, and where it can be demonstrated that there will be benefits for the patient.

It is concluded that nurses should consider the possibility of incorporating or facilitating certain complementary therapies in their practice in order to benefit their patients. There is a corresponding need for an appropriate knowledge base, founded on nursing research, into the effectiveness and outcomes of complementary therapies. In addition, relevant educational courses should be developed.
Stress among student nurses: is it practical or academic?
Authors: RHEAD M. M.
Published: November 2007

Summary

Previous research into stress among student nurses has only concentrated on the practical aspects of nursing and has ignored stress caused by the academic side of training. In comparing Registered General Nurse (RGN) and Diploma of Higher Education in Nursing (Dip. HE Nursing) students using a modified nurses stress scale, the intensity of stress was investigated.

It was hypothesized that there would be a difference in the total stress scores between the two pre‐registration education courses as well as within the practical and academic elements.

Dip. HE Nursing students were significantly more stressed than RGN students, but equally for practical and academic elements. RGN students were significantly more stressed on the practical elements. Factors analysis clearly identified two factors: (i) the practical elements, and (ii) the academic elements of nursing. A third factor was also identified and this was related to stress induced by issues concerning death and suffering in the patient.

These results have implications for the development of the nurse education course (Dip. HE Nursing) which is still in its infancy.
The nutritional management of acute renal failure
Authors: GARRETT BERNARD MARK
Published: November 2007

Summary

Acute renal failure (ARF) is a syndrome in which the kidneys are unable to excrete the products of metabolism. The failure of renal function is rapid in its onset but potentially reversible. It occurs rapidly, within 8 weeks of renal injury resulting in a rapid increase in serum urea and creatinine concentrations in patients with previously normal renal function.

It is a condition traditionally associated with a high mortality rate, often due to the complications of sepsis, delayed wound healing and disrupted haemocoagulation. Survivability has been demonstrated to be improved by early appropriate nutritional support (Bartlett et al., 1986) although in practice this is often difficult to achieve as nutritional support is complex. In the past high morbidity and mortality rates were related to infections and inadequate nutritional intake. This resulted from unnecessary protein restrictions in an attempt to control uraemic symptoms (Thomas, 1988).

To a large extent survivability of ARF has still not been greatly improved even with modern antibiotics and the careful dietary assessment of ARF patients. This reflects the complexity of managing patients with this condition. However, appropriate dietary management of ARF patients is essential to improve their long‐term prognosis. Although the precise form this takes remains a contentious issue amongst clinicians.
Assessing patient satisfaction. Part 1. The research process
Authors: PONTIN DAVID J. T. , WEBB CHRISTINE
Published: November 2007

Summary

The research reported in this article formed part of a project evaluating nursing developments in four demonstration wards in one health authority, and the article focuses on evaluation of patient satisfaction.

The evaluation of patient satisfaction is a topic surrounded by much methodological debate and therefore it was necessary to clarify the issues involved at the planning stage of the study.

The ‘process’ aspects of evaluating patient satisfaction will be discussed here, while the content of patient interviews will be the subject of Part 2.
The training needs of health care support workers: results of a study of workers and their managers
Authors: Moseley Laurence G , Davies Moira , Evans Linda E
Published: November 2007

Aims and objectives.  This study was designed to assess the training needs of health care support workers. In the past, opinions on the topic have been varied, but were rarely based on empirical evidence.

Design and methods.  The study was designed as a self‐report questionnaire survey of health care support workers and their managers in six units in health and social care, using as its basis 32 descriptors from the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework, levels 1 and 2. The achieved sample was 117, giving a 77% response rate.

Results.  Thirty‐five per cent of respondents thought that health care support workers were ‘unable’ to perform six or more of the 32 descriptors used, whilst on the criterion of being ‘less than able’, the figure was 64%. Support workers and their managers agreed closely (rho = 0·8) on where the difficulties lay in achieving Knowledge and Skills Framework competencies. Those difficulties lay particularly in two areas: (1) biomedical/physiological knowledge and (2) data‐handling.

Conclusions.  We concluded that the numbers in need of training were substantial and the areas of need were the two identified above.

Relevance to clinical practice.  The main implications for clinical practice are that (a) for those who supervise or mentor health care support workers, there should be a greater concentration on the more scientific areas of expertise and (b) a similar emphasis is needed for those who train mentors or supervisors. These implications will become more important over time as scientific knowledge about medicine and health care increases.
The rhetoric of caring and the recruitment of overseas nurses: the social production of a care gap
Authors: Allan Helen
Published: November 2007

Aims and objectives.  I will argue that overseas nurse recruitment is the consequence of a care gap, which arose from several policy shifts in the 1990s and in part from the rhetoric of a normative moral discourse in the UK which claims that caring is the moral essence of nursing. I will suggest that this discourse has masked the uncoupling of caring from nursing practice and that this uncoupling places the overseas nurses in a contradictory position.

Background.  In an increasingly competitive global labour market, the UK is faced with a nursing shortage and has been recruiting trained nurses from abroad (NMC 1993–2002).

Design and methods.  This paper is based on two related, qualitative studies using semi‐structured focus groups and individual interviews. The first explored the experiences of overseas nurses in the UK and the second investigated the equal opportunities and career progression of overseas nurses in the UK.

Results.  The data from these studies challenge the normative UK value that caring is at the heart of nursing. These data are the lens through which we see this contradiction explicitly played out. Overseas nurses observe that caring (as undertaken by health care assistants in care homes) is not nursing yet caring is being passed down the line as a process that marginalizes the overseas nurses and at the same time devalues their skills. I do not argue that overseas nurses care at a higher standard (although this may be the case) just that they care differently, that they expected UK nurses to deliver basic care and, instead, experience UK nursing practice as less autonomous and of a lower standard than they expected.

Conclusions.  I argue that the overseas nurses’ views help us understand the processes by which the uncoupling of caring from nursing has come about.

Relevance to clinical practice.  This paper discusses a workforce issue which is directly relevant to clinical practice because it focuses on the meaning of care; what is caring, what are caring activities and how are these represented in the discourse on caring in the literature? This paper also reveals significant worries among nursing managers about how to staff the nursing workforce and what nurses should be doing in the clinical areas.
Academics’ perceptions of the professional or clinical doctorate: findings of a national survey
Authors: Ellis Lorraine
Published: November 2007

Aims and objectives.  The aim of this study was to report the perceptions of senior academics’ working in institutions of higher education towards professional doctorates for the health and social care professions.

Background.  The professional doctorate is a product of its time introduced for the purpose of developing and improving clinical practice. The extent to which this has been realised, however, has yet to be determined, there being little empirical or theoretical work in this field. This research is an attempt to begin to produce an evidence base in this area by reporting the views of those stakeholders responsible for delivering the curriculum and its intended aim of improving clinical practice.

Design.  A modified version of illuminative evaluation was designed to map the range of perceptions and intended outcomes of the professional doctorate.

Methods.  Fifty‐five academics from 41 institutions of higher education were telephone interviewed and their perceptions of the professional doctorate elicited, together with a content analysis of the curriculum documents.

Results.  Academics’ views fell into one of three broad categories: enthusiastic, ambivalent and sceptical.

Conclusions and relevance to practice.  Academics’ perceptions of the professional doctorate may have a bearing on whether the stated aim of the curriculum and improvements in clinical practice is realised. Academics are responsible for the recruitment of students and the quality of the educational experience. Respondents’ perceptions raise questions about their commitment to professional doctorates relative to PhD, factors that will be considered during stages two and three of this research where the views of students and sponsors will be reported.
Field validation of experimental challenge models for IPN vaccines
Authors: Ramstad A , Romstad A B , Knappskog D H , Midtlyng P J
Published: November 2007

Atlantic salmon S1/2 pre‐smolts from the VESO Vikan hatchery were assigned to study groups, i.p. immunized with commercially available, multivalent oil‐adjuvanted vaccines with (Norvax Compact 6 – NC‐6) or without (Norvax Compact 4 – NC‐4) recombinant infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) antigen. A control group received saline solution. When ready for sea, the fish were transported to the VESO Vikan experimental laboratory, where two identical tanks were stocked with 75 fish per group before being transferred to 10 °C sea water and exposed by bath to first passage IPNV grown in CHSE‐214 cells. The third tank containing 40 fish from each group was challenged by the introduction of 116 fish that had received an i.p injection of IPNV‐challenge material. The remaining vaccinated fish were transported to the VESO Vikan marine field trial site and placed in two identical pens, each containing approximately 53 000 fish from the NC‐6 group and 9000 fish from the NC‐4 group. In the experimental bath challenge trial, the cumulative mortality was 75% and 78% in the control groups, and the relative percentage survival (RPS) of the NC‐6‐immunized fish vs. the reference vaccine groups was 60% and 82%, respectively. In the cohabitation challenge, the control mortality reached 74% and the IPNV‐specific vaccine RPS was 72%. In both models, the reference vaccine lacking IPNV antigen gave a moderate but statistically significant non‐specific protection. In the field, a natural outbreak of infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) occurred after 7 weeks lasting for approximately 3.5 months before problems due to winter ulcers became dominating. During this outbreak, mortality in the NC‐4 groups were 33.5% and 31.6%, respectively, whereas mortality in the NC‐6 groups were 6.9% and 5.3%, respectively, amounting to 81% IPNV‐specific protection. In conclusion, the IPN protection estimates obtained by experimental challenges were consistent between tanks, and were confirmed by the field results.
Microhabitat selection of Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg on different salmonids
Authors: Heinecke R D , Martinussen T , Buchmann K
Published: November 2007

The microhabitat selection of the ectoparasite Gyrodactylus salaris (Lærdalselva strain, Norway) was investigated concurrently with studies on the parasite population growth on five strains of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., and a strain of Danish rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum). The salmon used were hatchery‐reared parr of East Atlantic strains [River Conon (Scotland), River Storå (western Denmark) and River Ätran (western Sweden)] and Baltic strains [Lule and Ume (eastern Sweden)]. The location and numbers of parasites were recorded on anaesthetized fish once a week from week 0 to week 8. The mean abundance of G. salaris steadily increased to high levels on the River Conon, Storå and Ätran strains until the end of the experiment. The mean abundance of G. salaris on the two Baltic strains (River Lule älv and River Ume älv) initially increased but after 4–7 weeks the growth of the parasite infrapopulations decreased markedly. The Danish rainbow trout strain showed the lowest abundances of all the fish species and strains. Gyrodactylus salaris preferentially selected the fins and head region when colonising the hosts (all species and strains). Increasing percentages of G. salaris on the tail fins of the East Atlantic strains and rainbow trout were found during the course of infection, whereas the two Baltic salmon strains experienced a decreasing percentage of parasites in this microhabitat.
The aetiology of spinal deformity in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.: influence of genetic factors on the frequency and severity in freshwater stages
Authors: Sullivan M , Guy D R , Roberts R J , Manchester N J
Published: November 2007

A radiographic study was carried out on 2‐year groups of pre‐smolt parr to detect the comparative frequency of vertebral change in a range of defined pedigreed families of high growth rate of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., reared under identical conditions. The observed frequency of deformity was related to the observed deformity level in the seawater parental generation, and to a potentially uncontrolled environmental determinant, i.e. stripping date. High and low parental deformity groups of families were found to produce offspring that had very similar levels of radiographically detectable spinal deformities in the pre‐smolt parr, suggesting no genetic link. With regard to stripping date, the overall incidence was nearly half that seen in the preceding year (8.7% cf 16.6%). However, a non‐significant trend to fewer radiographic spinal deformities was seen in the later stripping period.