bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Implementation of routine biochemical validation and an ‘opt out’ referral pathway for smoking cessation in pregnancy
Authors: Bauld Linda , Hackshaw Lucy , Ferguson Janet , Coleman Tim , Taylor Gordon , Salway Ruth 
Published: November 2012

AbstractAimsTo introduce an ‘opt out’ referral pathway for smoking cessation in pregnancy and to compare different methods for identifying pregnant smokers in maternity care.DesignPilot study that analysed routine data from maternity and smoking cessation services with biochemical validation of smoking status.SettingDudley and South Birmingham, England.ParticipantsA total of 3712 women who entered the referral pathway—1498 in Dudley and 2214 in South Birmingham.MeasurementsRoutine monitoring data on smoking at maternity booking, referral to smoking cessation services, number of women who set quit dates set and short‐term (4‐week) self‐report smoking status. Comparison of self‐report, carbon monoxide (CO)‐validated and urinary cotinine‐validated smoking status for a subsample (n = 1492) of women at maternity booking.FindingsIn Dudley 27% of women who entered the opt out referral pathway were identified as smokers following CO testing. Of those referred to the smoking cessation services, 19% reported stopping smoking at 4‐week follow‐up. In South Birmingham 17% were smokers at booking, with 5% of those referred recorded as non‐smokers at 4 weeks. The number of women quitting did not increase during the study when compared with the previous year, despite higher referral rates in both areas. An optimum cut‐off CO measurement of 4 parts per million (p.p.m.) was identified for sensitivity and specificity.ConclusionThe introduction of an opt out referral pathway between maternity and stop smoking services resulted in more women being referred for support to quit but not higher numbers of quitters, suggesting that automatic referral may include women who are not motivated to stop and who may not engage with services. Routine carbon monoxide monitoring introduced as part of a referral pathway should involve a cut‐off of 4 p.p.m. to identify smoking in pregnancy.
Immediate allergic cross‐reactivity to levobupivacaine and ropivacaine
Authors: Calderon A. L. , Diot N. , Benatir F. , Christin F. , Hautin É. , Truc C. , Allaouchiche B. , Boselli E. 
Published: November 2012

SummaryAllergic reactions to amide local anaesthetic agents are rare. We report the case of a 74‐year‐old man who suffered anaphylaxis, presenting with cardiovascular collapse, immediately after receiving regional anaesthesia on two separate occasions, the first involving the use of levobupivacaine and the second using ropivacaine. Skin testing revealed positive reactions to both levobupivacaine and ropivacaine, and negative reactions to articaine and lidocaine. Severe allergic reactions can be caused by the amide local anaesthetic drugs, levobupivacaine and ropivacaine.
Quantitative analysis of pheromone‐binding protein specificity
Authors: Katti S. , Lokhande N. , González D. , Cassill A. , Renthal R. 
Published: November 2012

AbstractMany pheromones have very low water solubility, posing experimental difficulties for quantitative binding measurements. A new method is presented for determining thermodynamically valid dissociation constants for ligands binding to pheromone‐binding proteins, using β‐cyclodextrin as a solubilizer and transfer agent. The method is applied to LUSH, a Drosophila odorant‐binding protein that binds the pheromone 11‐cis vaccenyl acetate (cVA). Refolding of LUSH expressed in Escherichia coli was assessed by measuring N‐phenyl‐1‐naphthylamine (NPN) binding and Förster resonance energy transfer between LUSH tryptophan 123 (W123) and NPN. Binding of cVA was measured from quenching of W123 fluorescence as a function of cVA concentration. The equilibrium constant for transfer of cVA between β‐cyclodextrin and LUSH was determined from a linked equilibria model. This constant, multiplied by the β‐cyclodextrin‐cVA dissociation constant, gives the LUSH‐cVA dissociation constant: ∼100 nM. It was also found that other ligands quench W123 fluorescence. The LUSH‐ligand dissociation constants were determined to be ∼200 nM for the silk moth pheromone bombykol and ∼90 nM for methyl oleate. The results indicate that the ligand‐binding cavity of LUSH can accommodate a variety ligands with strong binding interactions. Implications of this for the Laughlin, Ha, Jones and Smith model of pheromone reception are discussed.
REVIEW: Reducing the ecological consequences of night‐time light pollution: options and developments
Authors: Gaston Kevin J. , Davies Thomas W. , Bennie Jonathan , Hopkins John 
Published: November 2012

Summary

Much concern has been expressed about the ecological consequences of night‐time light pollution. This concern is most often focused on the encroachment of artificial light into previously unlit areas of the night‐time environment, but changes in the spectral composition, duration and spatial pattern of light are also recognized as having ecological effects.

Here, we examine the potential consequences for organisms of five management options to reduce night‐time light pollution. These are to (i) prevent areas from being artificially lit; (ii) limit the duration of lighting; (iii) reduce the ‘trespass’ of lighting into areas that are not intended to be lit (including the night sky); (iv) change the intensity of lighting; and (v) change the spectral composition of lighting.

Maintaining and increasing natural unlit areas is likely to be the most effective option for reducing the ecological effects of lighting. However, this will often conflict with other social and economic objectives. Decreasing the duration of lighting will reduce energy costs and carbon emissions, but is unlikely to alleviate many impacts on nocturnal and crepuscular animals, as peak times of demand for lighting frequently coincide with those in the activities of these species. Reducing the trespass of lighting will maintain heterogeneity even in otherwise well‐lit areas, providing dark refuges that mobile animals can exploit. Decreasing the intensity of lighting will reduce energy consumption and limit both skyglow and the area impacted by high‐intensity direct light. Shifts towards ‘whiter’ light are likely to increase the potential range of environmental impacts as light is emitted across a broader range of wavelengths.
Synthesis and applications. The artificial lightscape will change considerably over coming decades with the drive for more cost‐effective low‐carbon street lighting solutions and growth in the artificially lit area. Developing lighting strategies that minimize adverse ecological impacts while balancing the often conflicting requirements of light for human utility, comfort and safety, aesthetic concerns, energy consumption and carbon emission reduction constitute significant future challenges. However, as both lighting technology and understanding of its ecological effects develop, there is potential to identify adaptive solutions that resolve these conflicts.
The Last Glacial Maximum distribution of South African subtropical thicket inferred from community distribution modelling
Authors: Potts Alastair J. , Hedderson Terry A. , Franklin Janet , Cowling Richard M. 
Published: November 2012

AbstractAimSouthern Africa lacks the palaeo‐archives needed to infer regional vegetation history. The megadiverse subtropical thicket of South Africa, locally termed the Albany subtropical thicket (AST), is postulated to have experienced severe reductions in range during the Pleistocene glacial periods. Here we test this glacial contraction hypothesis using spatial predictions from climate envelope models to explore the distributions of the AST vegetation subtypes at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).LocationSouth Africa.MethodsWe used an ensemble approach to assess the variability of predictions due to the many methodological decisions made during the modelling process. Five sources of uncertainty were included: initial locality data sets, selected climate parameters, statistical methods, LGM global climate models and threshold criteria.ResultsThe last three sources of uncertainty contributed significantly to the variation in projected LGM distributions. Nonetheless, estimates of gain, loss and turnover in range between present and past scenarios indicate dramatic range reduction and turnover during the LGM for all AST subtypes. Arid and valley thickets experienced the most severe reductions with an overall decline in elevation and concomitant fragmentation, whereas mesic thicket had a reduced but fairly continuous range.Main conclusionsOur results suggest that the Pleistocene glacial periods saw dramatically reduced distributions of AST subtypes, supporting the glacial contraction hypothesis. Potential LGM refugia were identified and extreme bottlenecks were predicted for species from all AST subtypes during the LGM. Watersheds were also more likely to be strong barriers to gene flow during the LGM due to the retraction of thicket subtypes into basin valleys.
Phytophagous insect community assembly through niche conservatism on oceanic islands
Authors: Hembry David H. , Okamoto Tomoko , McCormack Gerald , Gillespie Rosemary G. 
Published: November 2012

AbstractAimTo determine whether a community of phytophagous insects on oceanic islands (the fauna of insects feeding internally on Glochidion trees in south‐eastern Polynesia) was assembled predominantly through niche conservatism or adaptive radiation.LocationThe islands of south‐eastern Polynesia (southern Cook, Austral, Society, Tuamotu‐Gambier and Marquesas archipelagos) in the Cook Islands and French Polynesia.MethodsInternally feeding insects were collected as larvae from 23 endemic species of Glochidion (Euphorbiaceae s.l., Phyllanthaceae: Phyllanthus s.l.) trees on 20 islands in south‐eastern Polynesia, reared and identified. Rearing records were compared with host records previously known from the literature and museum collections of closely related taxa in Asia and Australasia.ResultsNinety per cent of insect specimens collected fall into five taxa previously known to attack Glochidion in Asia and Australasia (≥ 6000 km distant), indicating a strong role for niche conservatism in the assembly of this community. Three of these taxa, two seed‐feeding moths (Gracillariidae: Epicephala; Tortricidae: Tritopterna) and a leaf‐mining moth (Gracillariidae: Diphtheroptila) are only known from Phyllanthaceae or Euphorbiaceae s.l. on continents. Two more taxa, another leaf‐mining moth (Gracillariidae: Caloptilia) and a leaf‐rolling moth (Tortricidae: Dudua), contain many species known only from Phyllanthaceae on continents, and are also very likely to represent examples of niche conservatism. Conversely, many numerically dominant insect taxa known from Glochidion on continents (such as parasitoid Hymenoptera) are not reported from south‐eastern Polynesia. This indicates that the insular community represents a subset of those taxa from the continental community, consistent with the well‐established Pacific diversity gradient.Main conclusionsThese findings indicate that niche conservatism can play an important role in the assembly of phytophagous insect communities on oceanic islands, despite the constraints that specialization might be expected to pose on successful establishment. As a result of this niche conservatism, these communities may represent less species‐rich versions of continental tropical communities rather than non‐analogue insular ecosystems.
Violence in the nursing workplace – a descriptive correlational study in a public hospital
Authors: Chen Kang‐Pan , Ku Yan‐Chiou , Yang Hsiu‐Fan 
Published: November 2012

Aims and objectives.  To explore the prevalence, types and sources of violence in the nursing workplace and to assess the factors related to violence.Background.  Workplace violence in nursing is not a new phenomenon; in recent years, much more attention has been paid to the issue in Taiwan. Few studies, however, have investigated the overall distribution of violence and the reasons for not reporting these incidents in nursing workplaces.Design.  This descriptive, correlational study used structured questionnaires to collecting information about workplace violence experienced by nurses over the last year.Methods.  Nurses (n = 880) working in a public hospital in southern Taiwan were invited to complete the questionnaires, with a response rate of 89·9%.Results.  Nurses working in outpatient units and emergency rooms experienced more frequent violence than those on surgical wards and intensive care units.Conclusion.  These findings provide evidence of workplace violence in hospitals and may aid hospital and nursing administration to reduce and control violence.Relevance to nursing practice.  These results provide evidence in relation to the importance of effective communication training to nurses and will assist hospital administrations in establishing higher‐quality, healthy workplace environments.
Impact of action cues, self‐efficacy and perceived barriers on daily foot exam practice in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with peripheral neuropathy
Authors: Chin Yen‐Fan , Huang Tzu‐Ting , Hsu Brend Ray‐Sea 
Published: November 2012

Aims and objectivesTo identify the effects of health belief model factors on daily foot‐exam practice among diabetes mellitus patients with peripheral neuropathy.BackgroundDaily foot exams are one of the most important self‐care behaviours that prevent the occurrence of diabetic foot ulcers and subsequent amputation. Although daily foot exams were under‐practiced in patients with peripheral neuropathy, few studies have explored modifiable social‐psychological factors related to daily foot exams.DesignA cross‐sectional survey was used to collect the data.MethodsA total of 277 patients with diabetes and peripheral neuropathy were recruited from two hospitals in northern Taiwan. The Family APGAR and Diabetic Foot Ulcer Health Belief Scale (DFUHBS) were used to measure family support and health belief factors respectively. Data on foot‐exam practice, perceived self‐efficacy and action cues were collected through the use of structured questionnaires. The data were analysed using logistic regression.ResultThe regression model revealed that select action cues (recommendations from family, friends, or health professionals), perceived self‐efficacy and perceived barriers interactively influenced the participants' daily foot‐exam practice.ConclusionFactors related to daily foot‐exam practice were identified. Specifically, action cues played a significant role in motivating daily foot‐exam practice in this group.Relevance to clinical practiceThis study recognises modifiable factors that influence the daily foot‐exam practice of patients with diabetes and peripheral neuropathy. Using the findings of this study, health professionals can design interventions that aim to modify the above factors as a means to promote daily foot‐exam practice.
Parental self‐efficacy and its measurement – an evaluation of a parental self‐efficacy measurement scale
Authors: Purssell Edward , While Alison 
Published: November 2012

Aims and objectivesTo field test a parental self‐efficacy scale regarding its acceptability and feasibility and to describe parental self‐efficacy in a convenience sample of parents with children aged 6 years old or less.BackgroundSelf‐care within families is increasingly emphasised in health policy as a means of maximising healthcare resources. This study reports the field testing of a scale designed to measure parental self‐efficacy.DesignCross‐sectional survey of parents of children aged 6 years old or less.MethodsSubjects were recruited through a parenting internet website (n = 84) and local parenting and community organisations (n = 68) and asked to complete a questionnaire containing the scale. Data collection took place between January and August 2011.ResultsThe scale, previously validated with an expert panel of professionals, gathered information about parental self‐efficacy when administered either directly or through an on‐line data collection portal, although there were more missing data when administered via the Internet. Although convenience and self‐selecting samples precluded parameter estimation, areas of concern highlighted were difficulties differentiating children with serious illnesses and the use of the Personal Child Health Record. Use of the Internet was widespread, as was use of community pharmacists and nursery staff.ConclusionAlthough the primary purpose was not to collect specific data, the data indicated the continuing concern of parents regarding serious illness and where additional investment may be required to meet parental needs and expectations.Relevance to clinical practiceThe previously validated scale can be used to collect information about parental self‐efficacy either through a paper questionnaire or the Internet. Although there was slightly more missing data from the Internet version, the ease of its administration makes this an attractive option. Parents generally reported high levels of self‐efficacy and satisfaction with services; however, the scale was able to identify areas where further investment might be useful.
Emergency healthcare experiences of women living with intimate partner violence
Authors: Reisenhofer Sonia , Seibold Carmel 
Published: November 2012

Aim and objectivesTo explore healthcare experiences of Australian women living with intimate partner violence (IPV) and consider how these influence their understanding of IPV and sense of self.BackgroundDespite international campaigns condemning violence against women, IPV remains a worldwide problem and recent Australian community attitudes demonstrate ongoing beliefs condemning women in abusive relationships. Women experiencing IPV are over‐represented in healthcare‐seeking populations; however, they are rarely identified as experiencing abuse and are often not provided care directed towards achieving ongoing safety. While women seek empathetic healthcare, disclosure of abuse often results in being judged negatively or blamed.DesignA grounded theory study drawing on Clarke's (Sage Publications, London, 2005) analytic approach of situational analysis.MethodsSemi‐structured interviews conducted with seven women. Data was analysed using nvivo 8 software within a Situational Analysis framework.ResultsFour major categories were identified: Accessing healthcare: challenges and barriers; Care women need vs. care women receive; Discourses of IPV and constructions of self; and Acknowledging IPV: moving on and re‐constructing self. Women faced significant challenges in accessing emergency healthcare and healthcare then often lacked empathy. Women created an understanding of self from a world dominated by an abusive partner and needed assistance re‐labelling their experiences as IPV. Healthcare professionals who provided empathetic care were instrumental in assisting this process, enhancing women's abilities to explore options for limiting abuse and assisting them to enhance their self‐efficacy and reconstruct a positive sense of self.ConclusionsHealthcare is one of the few avenues women living with IPV have to receive emotional and physical support. Healthcare that ignores psychosocial issues further damages women's sense of self.Relevance to clinical practiceWomen require timely information and empathetic support from healthcare professionals to assist them in understanding and labelling their experiences as IPV. This enhances women's ability to feel deserving of, and ideally achieve, a life without violence.
Development and validation of an instrument to measure the burden experienced by community health volunteers
Authors: Gau Yueh‐Mei , Buettner Petra , Usher Kim , Stewart Lee 
Published: November 2012

Aims and objectivesTo develop and validate a scale to measure the burden experienced by community health volunteers.BackgroundResearch demonstrates the burden experienced by informal carers is substantial. There is no available information about the burden placed on community health volunteers, nor is there a scale developed for the purpose of measuring their burden.DesignAn instrument development and psychometric analysis study was undertaken.MethodsExploratory principal component factor analysis was applied to investigate the internal structure of the new scale.ResultsThe initial item pool derived from literature review and experts resulted in 44 items linked to volunteer burden. The final scale includes 20 items with a content validity index of 0·86 and Cronbach's alpha for test (0·82) and retest (0·77). The reliability coefficient of the test–retest results was 0·63 [95%‐confidence interval = (0·44, 0·77)]. Principal component analysis identified five underlying factors: Factor 1 items are related to personal and family matters; factor 2 items are related to administrative issues; factor 3 items concern the community support; factor 4 items are related to organisational matters; and factor 5 items concern issues of adequate health promotion delivery.ConclusionThe 20 item instrument designed to measure the burden on community health volunteers in Taiwan showed good internal consistency, content validity and construct validity. The findings infer that the scale may be an effective measure of the burden experienced by community health volunteers. Further testing of this scale within other countries that make use of community health volunteers is required to confirm the results.Relevance to clinical practiceAs volunteers play an important role in supporting the work of community health nurses, the new scale provides a means for nurses to assess volunteers' level of burden and develop interventions as required.